Igor Stravinsky’s music-writing went through what we refer to as his “Russian period”, a term with many connotations. Most broadly placed between 1907 and 1920 (although some scholars narrow that gap), it is a time period in which Stravinsky composed a number of works based on Russian ideas, with a strong focus on national folklore. However, there is still some mystery as to why Stravinsky chose to focus on this. Was the shift toward such nostalgic or perhaps nationalist music a fully conscious or deliberate one, and if so, did that inspiration strike long before his “Russian period” music was composed? When Stravinsky made such prolonged use of material inspired by (or outright native to) his homeland, why did he do so right around the time he moved away from Russia to Paris, in 1911? Was he influenced in some way by Russian nationalism in the years leading up to World War I and the Russian revolution? Did these two dramatic shifts in the Russian political landscape perhaps give him cause to end his “Russian period” of art-making?