two years after he composed the piano version, stravinsky re-arranged the "circus polka" for an orchestra. this version was premiered along with "four norwegian moods" by the boston symphony orchestra in january 1944 with stravinsky as director. during the following months a number of charity concerts to support the u.s. army fighting in world war ii were held and broadcast over the radio. stravinsky reported that after one such broadcast he received a telegram from an elephant called bessie who had taken part in the ballet in 1942, and whom he then met in los angeles. after listening to another such broadcast, charles de gaulle ordered the sheet music for the piece and took it back home to france. the orchestration soon became part of the repertoire of many orchestras and is popular to this day, especially at children's concerts.