Pétrouchka Scènes Burlesques en 4 Tableaux d'Igor Strawinsky et Alexandre Benois. Réduction pour piano à quatre mains par l'auteur. [Reduction for piano 4-hands]

Berlin, Moscou, Leipzig, New-York: Édition Russe de Musique [PN R.M.V. 150], 1912. Folio. Contemporary half black calf with marbled boards, label of the Parisian music rental firm Rouart-Lerolle to upper, marbled endpapers. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (named cast list referring to first production of 1911, in French), [i] (synopsis in Russian and French), [i] ("general remarks" in Russian and French), [i] (blank), [i] (dedication to A. Benois), [i] (blank), 7-84, [ii] (blank) pp. Photographic transfer from engraved plates. With "ROME MAI 1911" and printer's note "Imp. C. G. Röder, Leipzig." to lower outer corner of p. 84.

Rouart Lerolle and "5" handstamps to title and first four leaves.

Binding worn, rubbed, bumped, and abraded; hinges split; small label with "143" in manuscript to upper board. First Edition, first issue. Kirchmeyer 12-4. De Lerma P17. Crawford p. 533.

Distinguishing imprint to title below crest found in the first issue is as follows:

PROPRIÉTÉ DE L'ÉDITEUR POUR TOUS PAYS / ÉDITION RUSSE DE MUSIQUE / (RUSSISCHER MUSIKVERLAG G.M. (above) BH (below)/ FONDÉE PAR S. ET N. KOUSSEWITZKY / BERLIN MOSCOU LEIPZIG NEW-YORK / POUR LA FRANCE ET SES COLONIES: MUSIQUE RUSSE, PARIS, 3 RUE DE MOSCOU / POUR L'ANGLETERRE ET SES COLONIES; THE RUSSIAN MUSIC AGENCY, LONDRES W.I, 34 PERCY STREET

"The emergence of Stravinsky as a modernist, with an individual manner unlike any other, can be dated with some precision to his early work on Petrushka. In March 1910, during the later stages of composing The Firebird, he had experienced the famous 'fleeting vision' out of which The Rite of Spring was to grow. But when Diaghilev and Nijinsky visited him in Lausanne in September 1910 they found him at work on something quite different, a concert piece for piano and orchestra called 'Petrushka's Cry'. Together with a 'Russian Dance' composed soon afterwards, this music was to form the basis of the ballet which Diaghilev instinctively urged him to write instead. ...

It is from the systematic attempt to render [the] particular flavour of traditional Russian life into music that Petrushka derives many of its freshest and most original qualities. ...

Looked at in general terms, [the] opening sequence of Petrushka is a prototype of later Stravinskian form. Its underlying rhythmic design may not be complex in the same way as that of The Rite of Spring or the later Russian works, but its intricacy of rhythmic detailing and its mixture of a highly fluid pattern of melodic stress with an inert background harmony laid the groundwork for a technique which, through many changes of superficial style, was to serve him for the rest of his life." Walsh: The Music of Stravinsky, pp. 24-29.

"Petroushka proved just as successful with the public and critics as The Firebird had been; but it was undoubtedly a more original work. In the first place, Stravinsky had been able to play a leading part in the construction of the scenario, which had not been the case with The Firebird. Secondly, whereas the music of The Firebird showed that the pupil had learnt all that his master had had to teach him, in Petrushka for the first time the authentic voice of the new master is heard." TNG Vol. 18, pp. 244-245.

Petrushka, one of Stravinsky's best-known and loved works, represents the essence of Diaghilev's monumental Ballets Russes era. The ballet received its first performance, with the incomparable Nijinsky in the title role, at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 13 June 1911, conducted by Pierre Monteux, with choreography by Fokine and designs by Alexandre Benois.