Stravinsky, Igor Fyodorovich

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Russian composer, later of French (1934) and US (1945) nationality. He studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and wrote the music for the Diaghilev ballets The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913), which were highly controversial at the time for their use of driving rhythms and bi-tonal harmonies. At the first performance of The Rite of Spring the audience's reaction caused a riot. His works also include symphonies, concertos (for violin and piano), chamber music, and operas; for example, The Rake's Progress (1951) and The Flood (1962).

Stravinsky was one of the most important composers of the 20th century, who arguably determined the course of music for the rest of the century more than any other composer. His versatile work ranges from his neoclassical ballet Pulcinella (1920) to the choral-orchestral Symphony of Psalms (1930). In such works as the Canticum Sacrum (1955) and the ballet Agon (1953–57), he made use of serial techniques; this was only after the death of Arnold Schoenberg in 1951, as during Schoenberg's lifetime Stravinsky was seen as the main opposition to this technique.

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