There are at least three transcriptions of the Berceuse from Stravinsky's 1910 ballet The Firebird. The first was done by the composer in 1929. The second was done by the violinist (and dedicatee of the Violin Concerto) Samuel Dushkin in 1931.

According to Dushkin, when he performed his own transcription for Stravinsky, the composer looked unhappy. Dushkin, his feelings bruised, asked if Stravinsky liked his arrangement. Stravinsky answered that "it sounds like Kreisler's arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Chant Hindou." Dushkin replied, "Well, it is rather Oriental, isn't it?" Stravinsky lowered his head and admitted sadly, "Yes, I'm afraid that's the trouble with it" (this exchange appears in Dushkin's "Working With Stravinsky," contributed to Stravinsky, a Merle Armitage Book, edited by Edwin Corle, New York, 1949). Two years later, Stravinsky and Dushkin collaborated on a third transcription of the Berceuse. It still sounds Oriental.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide