Prokofiev had begun work on The Fiery Angel in 1919 but other composition projects and concert tours interrupted his progress. Having signed a contract with the Städtische Oper in Berlin to deliver the opera in time for the 1927 - 1928 season, however, the usually facile Prokofiev found it a struggle to finish the work. In the end, he failed to meet the deadline, and the opera was not performed. Subsequent negotiations with other companies collapsed, including those with the Metropolitan Opera in 1930. Prokofiev had earlier fashioned his Symphony No. 3, Op. 44 (1928), from the opera, perhaps hoping it would spur interest in the work.

In any event, Prokofiev left the score in Paris and the opera was not performed in his lifetime. Shortly after the composer's death in 1953, musicologist Hans Swarsensky stumbled across The Fiery Angel manuscript in the vaults of the Paris publisher which had housed the score for 25 years. The opera was finally premiered in 1954 and immediately developed a sort of cult following. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, the work gained greater currency, receiving two major recordings and numerous performances all over the world.

Set in sixteenth-century Germany, the story concerns the disturbed but charismatic teenaged Renata, who, obsessed by visions of the fiery angel (Madiel), seems to bring harm to virtually every character she encounters. Ruprecht pursues her despite many rejections and being drawn into a duel where he is wounded. In the end, after Renata joins a convent and appears to bring evil spirits to its nuns, she is condemned to death by church inquisitors for being a disciple of the devil.

Prokofiev's music is masterful throughout in its unerring sense for atmosphere and drama, for conveying its story's weirdness in relatively conventional ways. While there is plenty of dissonance, there are also many attractive themes, and Prokofiev's scoring is imaginative and masterful. The main theme, a passionate, soaring melody with an arch-like contour is associated with Renata. In the Third Symphony it is the first melody presented after the violent first movement introduction. There is a motif that is heard throughout the opera, also associated with Renata. It appears to be a faster, slightly altered version of the motif that opens Stravinsky's similarly-named ballet, The Firebird, which, of course, also involves a winged creature of fire. Is it to show deference that Prokofiev uses this motif? Or is he relating Renata's fanaticism to Stravinsky, thereby satirizing his rival?

The role of Renata, because of its hysterical nature and vocal demands, is considered one of the most difficult in the repertory. Much of the music in The Fiery Angel is hysterical, in fact, but always dramatically effective: is there anything else in all opera quite like the powerful climax in the convent inquisition scene, where the chorus and singers shriek and scream and the orchestra roils with frenzy?

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