Stuck in Switzerland during World War I, Igor Stravinsky was in a pickle. There were no royalties coming from Paris for his ballets, and his home in Russia was off the table due to the revolution. He was slowly going broke.
To keep the wolf from his door, he came up with a miniature stage production based upon an old Russian fairy tale about a returning-home soldier and his Faustian bargains with the devil.
With its small cast and orchestra, l'Histoire du Soldat traveled from town to town, almost like a vaudeville, and it's our featured work this week.