Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882–1971), a student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, achieved instant world renown in Paris with his ballets for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. On 29 May 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the premiere of The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) ignited the most famous riot in musical history; its asymmetric polyrhythms, biting dissonances, and primal pagan energy tore open the gates of musical Modernism.

Displaying chameleon-like adaptability, Stravinsky later led the Neoclassical movement in the 1920s and 30s with works like Symphony of Psalms and The Rake's Progress, before embracing serialism in his final decades. A citizen of Russia, France, and the United States, he was buried according to his wishes in the Russian Orthodox section of Venice's island cemetery of San Michele.