Fiery Angel, The

Opera in five acts by Sergey Prokofiev (libretto by the composer after the novel by Valery Bryusov), composed 1919–27. It was first performed (as a concert) in Paris, France, on 25 November 1954, and first produced in Venice, Italy, on 29 September 1955. Themes from the opera are used in Prokofiev's third symphony, in C minor, Op. 33; composed in 1928 and first performed in Paris on 17 May 1929, conducted by Pierre Monteux. The story tells how Renata, possessed by the spirit of her former lover, Heinrich, fails to find release in the passion of her admirer Ruprecht. She is ordered to be burned when she enters a convent and involves the nuns in diabolic possession.