Bass clarinet Nos. 4, 7, 8, and 11, and Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta. All of these works exploit the instrument's dark, powerful lower range. Prokofiev wrote parts for the instrument in his Symphonies Nos. 2–7 and in his ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Sergei Rachmaninoff used the instrument to great effect in his Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 and in his symphonic poem, "Isle of The Dead". Igor Stravinsky also wrote complex parts for the instrument throughout his career, most prominently in his ballets "The Firebird" (1910), "Petrushka" (1911) and "The Rite of Spring" (1913). The bass clarinet has a solo at the opening
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