Igor Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum, Russia, on June 17, 1882. In the early 1900s, he rose to prominence as a composer for the Ballets Russes, including the contentious The Rite of Spring. Stravinsky moved his family to Switzerland and then France, where he continued to compose works like Renard and Persephone. He completed his famous Symphony in C and became an American citizen after moving to the United States in 1939. Stravinsky died on April 6, 1971, in New York City, with over 100 works to his credit.

On June 17, 1882, Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was born in the Russian resort town of Oranienbaum. His father, Fyodor, a bass singer, and mother, Anna, a talented pianist, raised him in St. Petersburg.

Stravinsky's parents encouraged him to study law after graduating from high school, as they did not want him to follow in their footsteps. Stravinsky became friends with Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, whose father, Nikolai, was a famous composer after enrolling at the University of Saint Petersburg. After his father died in 1902, Stravinsky was given the freedom to pursue his artistic career and became Nikolai Rimsky-pupil. Korsakov's Stravinsky married Catherine Nossenko in 1906, and they had four children together. Sergei Diaghilev, the founder of the Ballets Russes, invited Stravinsky to orchestrate a few Chopin worked for his ballet Les Sylphides in 1909. The Firebird, a collaboration with choreographer Michel Fokine, was commissioned as a result, and when it premiered in Paris in June 1910, it made Stravinsky a household name. The output of Petrouchka in 1911 cemented the composer's reputation, as did the premiere of The Rite of Spring in 1913, which sparked a riot but was soon praised for its innovative score. When World War I broke out, Stravinsky and his family were forced to leave Russia and settle in Switzerland. He used Russian folklore as inspiration for his work to deal with his homesickness, while other compositions displayed a jazz influence. Renard, written between 1915 and 1916, and Les Noces, begun in 1914 but not completed until 1923, are two of the best-known works from his Swiss time.