Renard (Stravinsky)

Renard
Comic opera by Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky, drawn by Picasso in 1920
Native title
Ба́йка про лису́, петуха́, кота́, да барана́
LibrettistStravinsky
Based onRussian folk tale

Renard: histoire burlesque chantée et jouée, or The Fox: burlesque tale sung and played, is a chamber opera-ballet for four male voices and 16 instrumentalists written in 1916 by Igor Stravinsky. Its original Russian text, by the composer, derives from a folk tale as collected by Alexander Afanasyev — but the piece has no name in Russian, being titled generically instead as Байка про лису, петуха, кота да барана, or Tale of the Fox, the Cock, the Cat and the Ram. (As with the composer's previous stage work, The Nightingale, this burlesque tale is known by its French name despite being wholly Russian.) The premiere took place in a French translation in Paris on 18 May 1922. Duration: 16–17 minutes.