The Nightingale

The Nightingale (Solovyei) is a Russian conte lyrique in three acts by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, based on the tale of The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen, was written by the composer and Stepan Mitussov. Stravinsky had begun work on the opera in 1908, but put it aside for several years after he had received the commission from Sergei Diaghilev for the ballet The Firebird. He completed it in 1914, after he had completed his other two m... more

The Nightingale (Solovyei) is a Russian conte lyrique in three acts by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, based on the tale of The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen, was written by the composer and Stepan Mitussov. Stravinsky had begun work on the opera in 1908, but put it aside for several years after he had received the commission from Sergei Diaghilev for the ballet The Firebird. He completed it in 1914, after he had completed his other two major ballets for Diaghilev, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. Stravinsky subsequently turned aside from large productions to concentrate on chamber music and the piano. The opera's first performance was on 26 May 1914 in the Théâtre National de l'Opéra in Paris, in a production by Sergei Diaghilev, with the singers in the pit and their roles mimed and danced on stage. Stravinsky later prepared a symphonic poem, Le chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale), using music from the opera, in 1917, as a separate concert work. The setting is... less