The Firebird Bakst. For Stravinsky, it was a major breakthrough both with the public and with the critics, Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi in particular hailing Stravinsky as the legitimate heir to The Mighty Handful. "The Firebird"'s success also secured Stravinsky's position as Diaghilev's star composer, and there were immediate talks of a sequel, leading to the composition of "Petrushka" and "The Rite of Spring". "Mark him well—said Sergei Diaghilev to Tamara Karsavina, who was dancing the title role—he is a man on the eve of celebrity..." Stravinsky used several ideas from works by Rimsky-Korsakov in his score. Koschei's "Infernal Dance" borrows the highly chromatic
The Forbidden Rite The Forbidden Rite The Forbidden Rite is a 1962 Australian TV play. It is a filmed ballet - the first ballet written in Australia exclusively for TV. On a Mediterranean island, a tourist party inspects the ruins of a shrine built to the goddess of love. "The Forbidden Rite" was composed by Robert Hughes, a music writer and arranger for the Victorian Symphony Orchestra. It is the first work commissioned for the Alfred Hill Memorial Award. The ballet was choreographed by Rex Reid. The "Sydney Morning Herald" called "The Forbidden Rite" "a triple success for composer Robert Hughes, producer William