Editing Igor Stravinsky (section)

==== Student compositions ====
[[File:Rimsky-Korsakov_Serow_crop.png|alt=Painting of Rimsky-Korsakov wearing glasses, looking left|thumb|[[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]], painted by [[Valentin Serov]] in 1898]]
Despite his musical passion and ability, Stravinsky's parents expected him to study law at the [[University of Saint Petersburg]], and he enrolled there in 1901. However, according to his own account, he was a bad student and attended few of the optional lectures.{{Sfn|Dubal|2003|p=565}}{{Sfn|Stravinsky|Craft|1960|p=27}} In exchange for agreeing to attend law school, his parents allowed for lessons in [[harmony]] and [[counterpoint]].{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=2. Towards 'The Firebird', 1902–09}} At university, Stravinsky befriended Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, son of the leading Russian composer [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]].{{Efn|In his 1936 autobiography, Stravinsky described his admiration for Rimsky-Korsakov and [[Alexander Glazunov]], both leading figures of Russian music at the time: "I was specially drawn to [Rimsky-Korsakov] by his melodic and harmonic inspiration, which then seemed to me full of freshness; to [Glazunov] by his feeling for symphonic form; and to both by their scholarly workmanship. I need hardly stress how much I longed to attain this ideal of perfection in which I really saw the highest degree of art; and with all the feeble means at my disposal I assiduously strove to imitate them in my attempts at composition."{{sfn|Stravinsky|1936|p=11}}{{sfn|White|1997|p=14}}}} During summer vacation of 1902, Stravinsky traveled with Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov to [[Heidelberg]] – where the latter's family was staying – bringing a portfolio of pieces to demonstrate to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. While the elder composer was not stunned, he was impressed enough to insist that Stravinsky continue lessons but advised against him entering the [[Saint Petersburg Conservatory]] due to its rigorous environment. Importantly, Rimsky-Korsakov agreed personally to advise Stravinsky on his compositions.{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=2. Towards 'The Firebird', 1902–09}}{{Sfn|White|1997|p=15}}

After Stravinsky's father died in 1902 and the young composer became more independent, he became increasingly involved in Rimsky-Korsakov's circle of artists.{{Sfn|White|1979|p=26}}{{Sfn|White|1997|p=16}} His first major task from his new teacher was the four-movement [[Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor (Stravinsky)|Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor]] in the style of Glazunov and [[Tchaikovsky]] – he paused temporarily to write a [[cantata]] for Rimsky-Korsakov's 60th birthday celebration, which the elder composer described as "not bad". Soon after finishing the sonata, the student began his large-scale [[Symphony in E-flat (Stravinsky)|Symphony in E-flat]],{{Efn|The Symphony in E-flat was designated Opus 1, though Stravinsky's inconsistent use of Opus numbers makes them futile.{{sfn|White|1997|p=18}}{{sfn|White|1979|p=192}}}} the first draft of which he finished in 1905. That year, the dedicatee of the Piano Sonata, Nikolay Richter, performed it at a recital hosted by the Rimsky-Korsakovs, marking the first public premiere of a Stravinsky piece.{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=2. Towards 'The Firebird', 1902–09}}

After the events of [[Bloody Sunday (1905)|Bloody Sunday]] in January 1905 caused the university to close, Stravinsky was not able to take his final exams, resulting in his graduation with a half-diploma. As he began spending more time in Rimsky-Korsakov's circle of artists, the young composer became increasingly cramped in the stylistically conservative atmosphere: modern music was questioned, and concerts of contemporary music were looked down upon. The group occasionally attended chamber concerts oriented to modern music, and while Rimsky-Korsakov and his colleague [[Anatoly Lyadov]] hated attending, Stravinsky remembered the concerts as intriguing and intellectually stimulating, being the first place he was exposed to French composers like [[César Franck|Franck]], [[Paul Dukas|Dukas]], [[Fauré]], and [[Debussy]].{{Sfn|Walsh|2001|loc=2. Towards 'The Firebird', 1902–09}}{{Sfn|Stravinsky|1936|pp=17–18, 20}} Nevertheless, Stravinsky remained loyal to Rimsky-Korsakov – the musicologist Eric Walter White suspected that the composer believed compliance with Rimsky-Korsakov was necessary to succeed in the Russian music world.{{Sfn|White|1997|p=16}} Stravinsky later wrote that his teachers' musical conservatism was justified, and helped him build the foundation that would become the base of his style.{{Sfn|Stravinsky|1936|p=20}}