Begun in 1914, the composition was not completed until April 6, 1923, in Monaco. Its premiere took place on June 13, 1923, at the Théâtre de Gaieté Lyrique in Paris, presented by the Ballets Russes conducted by Ernest Ansermet. Dedicated to Serge Diaghilev, "Les Noces" unfolds in two parts: the first with three tableaux depicting a scene at the bride's house, with the groom and the bride's departure, and the second depicting the wedding feast.
The work is conceived as a cantata, so the singing comes first in Les Noces. Diaghelev heard the first two tableaux in early 1915 and hoped to perform the work in Paris the following summer. But the war and Diaghelev's doubts about taking financial risks with another modernist ballet by Stravinsky in the uncertain circumstances made a performance impossible for several years.
Stravinsky's inspiration for "Les Noces" came in 1912, with the intention of using folk verses from the collections of Afanasiev and Kireievsky. Stravinsky reworked the texts, using both complete texts and fragments, adding archaic and dialect words, onomatopoeia and exclamations, all adapted to his musical needs. Rather than depicting a specific wedding, the work offers a representation of various wedding moments through the use of folk quotations, creating a collection of ritualized expressions. The whole is a collection of clichés and quotations of typical wedding sayings. The final scene (the wedding party) consists mainly of quotations and snippets of conversation. Stravinsky compares this to scenes in James Joyce's Ulysses, where the reader hears fragments of conversations without the connecting line of the conversation. In Les Noces, there are no individual roles; the solo parts personify one type of character, then another, contributing to the ceremonial atmosphere.
The work contains constant invocations of the Virgin Mary and the saints Cosmas and Damian, who were considered wedding saints in Russia and were worshipped in a fertility cult. Words sometimes have a purely associative function. The animals in the wedding scene (the swan and the goose) are folklore figures, creatures who can swim and fly, who tell fantastic stories about the sky and water, and who reflect the superstitions of the peasants.
The scoring of Les Noces preoccupied Stravinsky for a long time. Initial attempts with a large orchestra proved impractical, leading to experimentation with alternatives such as a pianola, harmonium, and cimbalom. Eventually, in 1923, the final version was completed, using an orchestra of four pianos and various percussion instruments to achieve the desired rhythmic and staccato effects.
Although initially received with mixed reviews, "Les Noces" has since come to be regarded as one of Stravinsky's finest and most original achievements. While its London performance in 1926 was criticized, the passage of time has vindicated H. G. Wells' defense, acknowledging the ballet's profound depiction of the peasant soul and its complex, rhythmic, and exciting qualities. Today, Les Noces is celebrated as a timeless masterpiece in the Stravinsky repertoire.Choral Masterworks