The Rite of Spring year while Stravinsky was occupied with his second major commission for Diaghilev, the ballet "Petrushka". In July 1911 Stravinsky visited Talashkino, near Smolensk, where Roerich was staying with the Princess Maria Tenisheva, a noted patron of the arts and a sponsor of Diaghilev's magazine "World of Art". Here, over several days, Stravinsky and Roerich finalised the structure of the ballet. Thomas F. Kelly, in his history of the "Rite" premiere, suggests that the two-part pagan scenario that emerged was primarily devised by Roerich. Stravinsky later explained to Nikolai Findeyzen, the editor of the "Russian Musical Gazette", that the first part
The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in "Narodnye russkie skazki". It is one of many tales written about the mythical Firebird. It is Aarne-Thompson type 531. Other tales of this type include "Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful", "Corvetto", "King Fortunatus's Golden Wig", and "The Mermaid and the Boy". Another, literary variant is Madame d'Aulnoy's "La Belle aux cheveux d'or", or "The Story of Pretty Goldilocks". A royal huntsman found a feather of the firebird and, though his horse warned him against it, picked it up.