Igor Stravinsky's ballet, The Firebird, was first performed on June 25, 1910. Stravinsky was just twenty-seven years old at the time. Stravinsky was hired by Sergei Diaghilev, the founder of the Ballets Russes company in Paris, France, to compose the ballet. Michel Fokine was responsible for the choreography used in The Firebird. This work is an example of how tradition and innovation can come together to create a piece that has stood the test of time. Aspects such as the use of melody, harmony and rhythm create a distinctly Russian sound. In general, the music follows the traditions established by composers of the past, but at the same time is able to bring originality. The major influences on The Firebird were Russian composers, such as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Pyotr Ilrich Tchaikovsky. The ballet form is where Tchaikovsky's imprint is most evident. The action of the story is carried forward by the dance sequences, which also serve to tie the piece together. The melody is reminiscent of Russian folk song through the use of diatonic and modal melodic lines. Although The Firebird uses chromaticism throughout, most elements of Russian folk song are still harmonized diatonically. In this way, Stravinsky follows the pattern already established by nineteenth-century composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov. Stravinsky's treatment of these Russian folk songs can still be considered more prescient than Rimsky-Korsakov's, despite the influence Rimsky-Korsakov had on Stravinsky. These diatonically harmonized passages are based on major scales; and therefore are tonal in nature. The above-mentioned themes are used to represent the human elements of the ballet, such as the music for Ivan Tsarevich, who is the hero of the story, a...... medium of paper......Works CitedFrancis, Henry . "Sketches for Russian Ballet Collected by Serge Lifar." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol 21, No. 3 (1934): 39-43. Haimo, Ethan and Paul Johnson. Stravinsky Retrospectives. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.Joseph, Charles M., Stravinsky Ballets. Yale University Press, 2012 Tansman, Alexandre. Igor Stravinsky. The man and his music. Translated by Therese and Charles Bleefield. The Sons of GP Putnam, 1949.Van Den Toorn, Pieter. The music of Igor Stravinsky. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983. Walsh, Stephen. Stravinsky's music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA, 1993. Walsh, Stephen. "Stravinsky, Igor." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed 9 April 2014White, Eric. Stravinsky: The composer and his works. London: Faber and Faber, 1979.