Choral Movements for Prince Ivan, the Firebird and the Grey Wolf mj316
‘Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf’ is one of two different tales about the Firebird included in Alexander Afanasyev’s magisterial Russian Fairy Tales. The other, somewhat shorter, story is ‘The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa’. Both are examples of ‘volshebnaia skazka’ – best translated as ‘wonder tales’, to distinguish these highly imaginative folktales, which don’t involve fairies, from the literary ‘fairy tales’ of writers like Anderson and the ‘fairy legends’ recording local encounters with fairies in Western Europe. The Firebird is a feminine symbol of inspiration; it’s said that wherever one of her feathers falls a new artistic tradition will appear. The Grey Wolf’s wisdom and shape-changing powers are redolent of a folk belief in wizards who were also werewolves. Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird is loosely based on this tale, drawing also on other Russian wonder tales.
Ivan is the ubiquitous hero of many Russian stories – the analogue of ‘Jack’ in English tradition, the ever-youthful everyman to whom unexpected things happen and who always seems to be trying to grow up. So it’s not outrageously against the odds that ‘Ivan’ should be the protagonist of both stories.