[1] In February 1943, upon the personal urging of Orson Welles, Stravinsky began work on a short-lived project composing music for 20th Century Fox's Jane Eyre.
He copied a number of melodies he had selected from an early 19th century American collection of British folk songs, and began to make notes on the film's scenario.
[2][3] While visiting New York City in April of that year, Serge Koussevitzky presented the composer with a commission for a new orchestral work in memory of his wife, Natalia.
[8] The resulting "mild cacophony"[9] heard in the closing moments of its world premiere on October 8, his wife Vera noted, left Stravinsky feeling "sad because [it] was badly played.
"[10] Although he apologized profusely to Koussevitzky in private for his "ridiculous inattentiveness" in proofreading the Ode,[11] Stravinsky never publicly acknowledged any culpability in the botched premiere.