Why was Histoire du soldat designed for a portable stage and a small group of performers?

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musical performance The universality and innate nature of music, and the pentatonic scale, as demonstrated by singer Bobby McFerrin.

Igor Stravinsky designed The Soldier’s Tale (1918) for a portable stage and a small group of performers primarily due to the constraints imposed by World War I. During this period, the war had disrupted the activities of the Ballets Russes, which had previously served as the primary outlet for his large-scale theatrical works.

Marooned in Switzerland, Stravinsky sought to create a work that was practical and self-sufficient under wartime conditions. By utilizing a seven-piece instrumental ensemble and a format that combined speech, mime, and dance, he developed a production that could be easily transported and performed without the need for the extensive resources of a traditional opera house or a full ballet company.1