Igor Stravinskij: Pulcinella, suite from the ballet

The impulse for writing the ballet Pulcinella came from Sergei Diaghilev, founder and director of the Ballets Russes. In order to liven up the repertoire, he dug up the Neapolitan folk work and spent a long time persuading Stravinsky – in the end successfully – to adapt the music by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. It is not often we encounter the sly lad by the name of Pulcinella on stages in the Czech Republic, so it is all the more extraordinary that we are able to hear the suite from the music for this charming work.