A poor soldier sells his soul, represented by his violin, to the Devil in exchange for a magic book that allows him to predict the future. He returns to his village, but instead of the promised three days, his stay with the Devil lasted three long years. No one in the village recognises him, not even his mother or his fiancée. The soldier acquires material wealth and tries to recover his violin, but loses successive battles with the Devil. Stravinsky wrote The Soldier’s Tale together with the poet C. F. Ramuz, based on Russian folk tales. Conceived as a travelling musical theatre piece for seven instruments, narration, acting and dance, The Soldier’s Tale remains a central work of the 20th century.