Ballets Russes at a time when he was virtually unknown to compose the music for "The Firebird", after the composer Anatoly Lyadov proved unreliable, and this was instrumental in launching Stravinsky's career in Europe and the United States of America. Stravinsky's early ballet scores were the subject of much discussion. "The Firebird" (1910) was seen as an astonishingly accomplished work for such a young artist (Debussy is said to have remarked drily: "Well, you've got to start somewhere!"). Many contemporary audiences found "Petrushka" (1911) to be almost unbearably dissonant and confused. "The Rite of Spring" (1913) nearly caused an audience riot. It
Picasso and the Ballets Russes said, ""Parade" is my best bottle of wine. I do not like to open it too often." Picasso's sets and costumes for the Ballets Russes are now considered symbols of "the progressive art of their time, and [they] have only become more celebrated and better appreciated over the past century." Nevertheless, according to his biographer, John Richardson, "Picasso's Cubist followers were horrified that their hero should desert them for the chic, elitist Ballets Russes." It was the onset of World War I that prompted him to leave Paris and live in Rome, where the Ballets Russes rehearsed. He also was