# The Ballets Russes… Firebirds, Fauns and Fighting

An episode of [Classical For Everyone](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1813328568), 19 Feb 2026, 1 h 22 min.

Audio: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/341d0332-89c6-4d02-8970-d32b9a531d5b/CFEP_159_Ballets_Russes.mp3?dest-id=4908285

Much of the 20th century orchestral music that today dominates concert halls and recording studios started as music for ballets. And the best of it started with the Ballets Russes company; which was largely the creation of one man… the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev. It is hard to think of another instance where one man, who was not a composer, has had such an outsize influence on what has come down to us as great and lasting music. And I'm going to play you a selection of that music… from Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Manuel de Falla and Sergei Prokofiev… as well as giving you a little of the Diaghilev and Ballets Russes story.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.