Stravinsky had been going through economical problems since he moved to America, partially because he lost the royalties from his works in Europe and had to compose more works to exploit them in America. The Scherzo la russe was first conceived as a work for film use, as it was intended to be featured in The North Star. When the film project was aborted, Stravinsky decided to re-orchestrate it for Paul Whiteman Band. The only two conditions were: the piece had to be easy-listening and it had to fit on a 78 rpm disc. This version for jazz orchestra was premiered in 1944 by Blue Network but, according to Stravinsky scholar Eric Walter White, it didn't seem to be a success. Stravinsky decided to arrange it again in 1945 for symphony orchestra for it to be published and premiered in 1946 at San Francisco.
| Date of composition | 1944 |
| Premiered | March 1946 in San Francisco, CA, United States by Igor Stravinsky |
| First published | 1945 in San Francisco, CA, United States |
| Type | Scherzo |
| Approx. duration | 4 minutes |
| Instruments | Orchestra |
| Autotranslations beta |
Igor Stravinsky: Scherzo à la russe Igor' Fëdorovič Stravinskij: Scherzo à la russe Igor Strawinsky: Scherzo à la russe |