Editing Igor Stravinsky (section)

==== Religious crisis and international touring ====
[[File:Alexandra Danilova and Serge Lifar in Apollon Musagete.jpg|alt=Two dancers pose in front of a rocky background|thumb|[[Alexandra Danilova]] and [[Serge Lifar]] in ''{{Lang|fr|[[Apollon musagète]]}}'']]
The Stravinsky family moved again in September 1924 to [[Nice]], France. The composer's schedule was divided between spending time with his family in Nice, performing in Paris, and touring other locations, often accompanied by de Bosset.{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=5. France: the beginnings of neo-classicism, 1920–25}} At this time, Stravinsky was going through a spiritual crisis onset by meeting Father Nicolas, a priest near his new home.{{Sfn|White|1979|p=85}} He had abandoned the Russian Orthodox Church during his teenage years, but after meeting Father Nicolas in 1926 and reconnecting with his faith, he began regularly attending services.{{Sfn|White|1979|pp=85, 89}}{{Sfn|Copeland|1982|p=565}} From then until moving to the United States,{{Efn|Stravinsky's religious affiliation after moving to the United States is difficult to determine; in 1953, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' reported that he "is fairly regular in his attendance at Los Angeles's Russian Orthodox Church" but Stravinsky refuted this point in the margins of his copy.{{Sfn|V. Stravinsky|Craft|1978|p=653}}}} Stravinsky diligently attended church, participated in charity work, and studied religious texts.{{Sfn|Taruskin|1996|p=1618}} The composer later wrote that he was contacted by God at a service at the [[Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua]], leading him to write his first religious composition, the {{Lang|la|Pater Noster}} for [[a cappella]] choir.{{Sfn|White|1979|p=90}}

In 1925, Stravinsky asked the French writer and artist [[Jean Cocteau]] to write the libretto for an operatic setting of [[Sophocles]]' tragedy ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' in Latin.{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=6. Return to the theater, 1925–34}} The May 1927 premiere of his opera-oratorio ''[[Oedipus rex (opera)|Oedipus rex]]'' was staged as a concert performance since there was too little time and money to present it as a full opera, and Stravinsky attributed the work's critical failure to its programming between two glittery ballets.{{Sfn|White|1997|p=120}}{{Sfn|Boucourechliev|1987|pp=167, 174}} Furthermore, the influence from Russian Orthodox vocal music and 18th-century composers like [[Handel]] was not well received in the press after the May 1927 premiere; neoclassicism was not popular with Parisian critics, and Stravinsky had to publicly assert that his music was not part of the movement.{{Sfn|White|1997|p=117}}{{Sfn|White|1979|p=91}} This reception from critics was not improved by Stravinsky's next ballet, ''{{Lang|fr|[[Apollon musagète]]}}'', which depicted the birth and apotheosis of [[Apollo]] using an 18th-century {{Lang|fr|[[ballet de cour]]}} musical style. [[George Balanchine]] choreographed the premiere, beginning decades of collaborations between Stravinsky and the choreographer.{{Sfn|Boucourechliev|1987|pp=174, 177–178}}{{Sfn|White|1997|p=122}} Nevertheless, some critics found it to be a turning point in Stravinsky's neoclassical music, describing it as a pure work that blended neoclassical ideas with modern methods of composition.{{sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=6. Return to the theater, 1925–34}}

A new commission for a ballet from [[Ida Rubinstein]] in 1928 led Stravinsky again to Tchaikovsky. Basing the music on romantic ballets like ''[[Swan Lake]]'' and borrowing many themes from Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky wrote ''[[The Fairy's Kiss]]'' with [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s tale ''[[The Ice-Maiden]]'' as the subject.{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=6. Return to the theater, 1925–34}}{{Sfn|White|1997|pp=128–130}} The November 1928 premiere was not well-received, likely due to the disconnect between each of the ballet's sections and the mediocre choreography, of which Stravinsky disapproved.{{Sfn|White|1997|p=130}}{{Sfn|White|1979|p=94}} Diaghilev's fury with Stravinsky for accepting a ballet commission from someone else caused an intense feud between the two, one that lasted until the impresario's death in August 1929.{{Efn|Stravinsky later looked back on their friendship with happiness, recalling in his autobiography, "He was genuinely attracted by what I was then writing, and it gave him real pleasure to produce my work ... These feelings of his, and the zeal which characterized them, naturally evoked in me a reciprocal sense of gratitude, deep attachment, and admiration for his sensitive comprehension, his ardent enthusiasm, and the indomitable fire with which he put things into practice."{{sfn|Stravinsky|1936|pp=154–155}}}}{{Sfn|Boucourechliev|1987|p=181}} Most of that year was spent composing a new solo piano work, the [[Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra|Capriccio]], and touring across Europe to conduct and perform piano;{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=6. Return to the theater, 1925–34}}{{Sfn|Stravinsky|1936|p=157}} the Capriccio's success after the December 1929 premiere caused a flurry of performance requests from many orchestras.{{Sfn|White|1979|p=98}} A commission from the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] in 1930 for a symphonic work led Stravinsky back to Latin texts, this time from the book of [[Psalms]].{{Sfn|Boucourechliev|1987|pp=184–185}} Between touring concerts, he composed the choral ''[[Symphony of Psalms]]'', a deeply religious work that premiered in December of that year.{{Sfn|White|1997|pp=138–139}}