Igor Stravinsky (struh-VIN-skee)  was born in Russia near St. Petersburg. He influenced his contemporaries more than any other composer of the Modern Period. He wrote in many styles and forms: opera, ballet, symphony orchestra, church, and player piano. He wrote Circus Polka for the elephants in the Ringling Brothers' Circus, and Ebony Concerto for "Woody" Herman's dance band. His music has heavy rhythms with irregular and changing meters. No matter what he wrote in which style, one could always tell that it was by Stravinsky.

Stravinsky's father was a leading bass singer in the Russian Imperial Opera. Igor began studying piano at the age of nine, but preferred to improvise or read his father's opera scores instead of practicing his lessons. He attended the university to study law where he met Rimsky-Korsakov, the father of a classmate. Rimsky-Korsakov recognized Igor's talent and offered to teach him composition and orchestration.

In 1906 Stravinsky got married and wrote his first successful ballet, The Firebird. Soon after, he wrote The Rite of Spring and also Petrushka, the sad story of a puppet. All three ballets drew on Russian folklore and folk tunes. He used complex rhythms and dissonant sounds which shocked people of that time. The primitive rhythms and harsh sounds of The Rite of Spring caused a riot in the theater at the first performance. The subtitle reads, "Scenes of Pagan Russia." Stravinsky described it as a solemn pagan rite with sage elders seated in a circle watching a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to please the god of Spring. Stravinsky was clearly the most adventuresome composer of his day. He was perhaps the most influential composer of the twentieth century. Whether composers accepted his ideas or rejected them, they always considered them.

Stravinsky moved to Switzerland in 1917 to avoid the Russian Revolution. From there he moved to France and became a citizen. Both his wife and mother died in 1939. He remarried, moved to Hollywood, and became a citizen of the United States. He was very popular and toured both Europe and the United States playing his compositions.  He died in New York in 1971.