L’Oiseau de feu a symphonic concert with the music by Igor’ Stravinskij and Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij. The honorary conductor of Opera Carlo Felice Genova Fabio Luisi will conduct the ensemble Orchestra dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala. Čajkovskij explored through two different perspectives the fascinating interaction of body and movement with music and rhythm, resulting in some of the most fascinating and enjoying musical pages ever written for ballet.
IGOR’ STRAVINSKIJ
L’Oiseau de feu
Suite from the ballet for orchestra n. 3 (1945)
PËTR IL’IČ ČAJKOVSKIJ
Symphony n. 5 in E minor op. 64
Conductor
Fabio Luisi
Orchestra
Accademia Teatro alla Scala
OFFICIAL TOUR PARTNER
One of the protagonists of Parisian musical life in the early 20th century was the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes company. It was Diaghilev who first recognised the extraordinary talent of a young Russian composer still unknown in Europe, Igor Stravinsky, whom he commissioned to write a ballet in December 1909. The subject had been written by Diaghilev and other colleagues from the company, drawing inspiration from a Russian fairy tale in which the protagonist Ivan Zarevich manages to break the spell of the wizard Kašej (who embodies evil) thanks to the Firebird, a mythological creature representing the force of good. A few months after its composition was completed, L’oiseau de feu was staged at the Paris Opera on 25 June 1910. Stravinsky’s music immediately proved to be incredibly innovative. The young composer had not had a structured academic background and was therefore particularly free in his musical expression. L’oiseau de feu is dedicated to Rimsky-Korsakov, who had died two years earlier. With this work, the pupil definitively broke away from the only element of traditional ‘academy’ in his training. Stravinsky’s music immediately impressed audiences and critics alike. The rhythmic element stands out in the alternating dances, a feature that characterises each theme. Rather than formal development, Stravinsky tends towards the repetition and variation of themes, creating a sequence of scenes in which the programmatic content is outlined with great rapidity through an autonomous and overwhelming musical language. L’oiseau de feu soon established itself in concert form, so much so that in 1911 Stravinsky put together a first orchestral suite consisting of six dances, followed by a second in 1919 (with five dances and a smaller ensemble) and a third in 1945. In this third version of the Suite, Stravinsky further lightened the instrumentation and included a total of twelve dances, recovering some of the original material. The 1945 Suite returned to the stage with great success in the New York City Ballet’s choreography.
The Symphony n. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor was composed between spring and summer 1888. After a difficult period, the composer returned to the demanding genre of the symphony eleven years after his previous one. From his correspondence during this period, it emerges that Tchaikovsky alternated moments of enthusiasm with hesitation due to personal problems and a sense of self-doubt. Despite the warm reception it received at its first performance, which he conducted in St Petersburg in the autumn of the same year, the composer said he was uncertain about the quality of his Fifth. In reality, it is now clear that Symphony No. 5 displays remarkable expressive qualities that surpass his previous symphonies. The years between the first four symphonies and the Fifth certainly served to further mature his style and writing, which reached previously unexplored heights. In terms of structure, Tchaikovsky follows the classical-romantic tradition, dividing the symphony into four movements. The first movement introduces the central theme, which will return later, through a dark and mysterious introduction, followed by the first theme, with an almost martial character, and the second, sweeter and more conciliatory. In the Andante, Tchaikovsky inserts two themes, both of great intensity, contrasting with each other and reaching unparalleled heights of expressiveness. The Scherzo has an apparent lightness, which historically belongs to its role, yet a slight tension generates a sense of melancholy and despondency. With the Finale, hope finally emerges, the theme of destiny returns in a major key and with a solemn, triumphant pace. Romantically inspired, with particular reference to Berlioz and Liszt, the choice to use a ‘Leitmotiv’ or ‘fixed idea’, a theme that recurs with variations from movement to movement. This central theme has the sense of a looming destiny, which seems to foreshadow hope in faith amid the general pessimism.
Ludovica Gelpi
