It’s strange that The Nightingale (1914) – a musical fairy tale created for the pleasure of a child‘s imagination – was composed by Igor Stravinsky, author of The Firebird, The Rite of Spring, and The Wedding. The story of
a miraculous bird whose beautiful song touches and heals comes from Hans Christian Andersen. It seems that Stravinsky decided simply to incorporate what was written in the tale into living sound: “And the nightingale
sang so wonderfully that tears came into the emperor’s eyes, and when the tears ran down his cheeks, the nightingale sang still more sweetly, so that it went straight to the heart“. And that’s what we feel as we listen to this music that is emphasized even more by the beauty of Alexander Petrov’s images. The production, originally staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, is for children and adults alike, from age 3 to 103.