The Rite of Spring is a ballet by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, premiered on May 29, 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. It is considered one of the first examples of Modernism in music and is noted for its brutality. Stravinsky described the piece as “a musical-choreographic piece”. Much of the physicality of The Rite of Spring can be traced to metrical displacement, the movement of the dancers.
The Rite of Spring is a collection of short pieces, specifically 13 pieces between one and five minutes each, that have been performed by various artists since its premiere. The text to this song was included in the “Letters and Documents” section of Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring”. The text to this song was written by Henry Cowell (1897-1965) and was included in the “Letters and Documents” section of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”.
Stavinsky’s third work for the Paris-based Ballet Russe, “The Rite of Spring”, emerged in 1921, following “The Firebird” of 1910 and “Petrushka” of 1911. The riot that greeted the Rite of Spring only found its analytical counterpart some 70 years later. Since then, scores of choreographic works to Stravinsky’s celebrated music have been released, with the most commonly used citation styles being APA and MLA.
📹 Episode 10: The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
It doesn’t get more radical than this – Igor Stravinsky’s groundbreaking ballet and the story of that “Riot at the Rite”!
Why was Rite of Spring so controversial?
On May 29, 1913, Les Ballets Russes in Paris performed The Rite of Spring, a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. The performance was characterized by a rhythmic score and primitive scenario, setting scenes from pagan Russia. The complex music and violent dance steps, depicting fertility rites, initially sparked unrest, leading to a riot. The Paris police intervened but only restored limited order, causing chaos for the rest of the performance.
Despite this, Sergei Diaghilev, the director of Les Ballets Russes, praised the scandal as “just what I wanted”. The ballet completed its run of six performances without further disruption. The piece is considered a 20th-century masterpiece and is often heard in concert. In 1988, the Joffrey Ballet reconstructed Nijinsky’s original setting, televised nationally on PBS, 75 years after its premiere.
Is Rite of Spring a ballet or symphony?
The Rite of Spring, a ballet by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913, and is considered one of the first examples of Modernism in music. The piece is known for its brutality, barbaric rhythms, and dissonance, with its opening performance being one of the most scandalous in history. The piece was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev, the impresario of the Ballets Russes, and developed by Stravinsky with the help of artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich.
The production was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, and its sets and costumes were designed by Roerich. The Rite of Spring, inspired by Russian culture, challenged the audience with its chaotic percussive momentum, making it a startlingly modern work.
When was Rite of Spring published?
Igor Stravinsky’s 1913 work, The Rite of Spring, revolutionized 20th-century music by embracing the unconscious and driving it with pure gut feeling. In turn-of-the-century St. Petersburg, Russian artists revolted against European influences and sought to establish a nationalist, Russian identity. Stravinsky’s teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, was a powerful figure in this movement, as the music seemed designed with no apparent order but driven by pure gut feeling.
Is The Rite of Spring out of copyright?
This work is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and countries with a copyright term of life+50 years. However, it is not in the public domain in countries with a copyright term of life+70 years, including all EU countries, unless an exception applies. Works protected by copyright can only be used with the copyright holder’s permission. The work may not be in the public domain in all countries.
What did audiences find shocking about The Rite of Spring?
Stravinsky believed that the crowd, who had seen the Sacre du Printemps, were upset by the dissonance in the score, dancers’ movements, and the woodwind section’s rapid sounds. The storm broke when the curtain opened, and the composer reacted by saying “go to hell” to the naive and stupid people. Contrary to popular belief, the riot was likely not due to the shock of the music, exotic choreography, or Roerich’s bizarre settings, but rather by anti-Russian, anti-Diaghilev, and anti-Nijinsky factions in Paris who were determined to disrupt proceedings before music was heard.
Why didn’t people like Rite of Spring?
The Rite of Spring, a ballet by Igor Stravinsky, premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913, and was expected to be a major cultural event due to the talent involved. The Ballets Russes, or “Russian Ballet”, was a hot ticket due to the Eastern exoticism of previous productions, such as Firebird and Petrushka, both composed by Stravinsky. The audience was shocked by the ugly costumes, heavy choreography, and harsh music, which was expected to shock the audience.
The choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky, was known for his shocking and often risqué choreography, such as his 1912 performance of Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune. The audience was shocked and with good reason.
What genre is Le Sacre du printemps The Rite of Spring?
The Rite of Spring, a 1913 ballet by Ballets Russes, was premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The ballet was set in Russian Modernism and featured music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, and set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. The ballet’s innovative rhythmic structures, timbres, and use of dissonance have made it a seminal 20th-century composition.
Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein praised the work for its sophisticated handling of primitive rhythms and its ability to create the best dissonances, asymmetries, polytonalities, and polyrhythms. The ballet’s music has been praised for its sophisticated handling of primitive rhythms and its use of dissonance.
Is Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring an opera?
The Rite of Spring is a ballet and orchestral concert work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company. The avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation when first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913. The music achieved equal or greater recognition as a concert piece and is widely considered one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century.
Stravinsky was a young, virtually unknown composer when Diaghilev recruited him to create works for the Ballets Russes. The concept behind The Rite of Spring, developed by Nicholas Roerich from Stravinsky’s outline idea, is suggested by its subtitle, “Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts”. The scenario depicts various primitive rituals celebrating the advent of spring, after which a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and dances herself to death.
The ballet was not performed again until the 1920s, when a version choreographed by Léonide Massine replaced Nijinsky’s original, which saw only eight performances. Massine’s production was the forerunner of many innovative productions directed by the world’s leading choreographers, gaining work worldwide acceptance. In the 1980s, Nijinsky’s original choreography was reconstructed by the Joffrey Ballet in Los Angeles.
Stravinsky’s score contains many novel features for its time, including experiments in tonality, metre, rhythm, stress, and dissonance. The music is considered one of the first modernist works and is one of the most recorded works in the classical repertoire.
Is Maurice Ravel public domain?
Ravel’s most famous work, “Ravel’s most famous work”, officially entered the public domain on May 1, 2016, after his death in 1937. Although it became free of rights on May 1, 2016, the civil court of Nanterre may decide to return it. ALTIUS, an independent Belgian law firm, has a 90-plus team of passionate, professional, and personal lawyers who bring their unique brand of passion and expertise to the job.
Why did Igor Stravinsky write The Rite of Spring?
In his autobiography, Igor Stravinsky recounts a sudden, fleeting vision he had while composing The Firebird in 1910. In this vision, he observed a solemn pagan rite in which sage elders observed a young girl dancing to her death.
Is Stravinsky in public domain?
The author’s works are in the public domain in the United States due to their publication prior to January 1, 1929. Furthermore, they are in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 52 years or less. It is also possible that they may be in the public domain in countries with longer native copyright terms that apply the shorter term to foreign works.
📹 Reference Recording: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring. Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez (cond.) Sony Classical.
Always worth repeating: I was told by one of the players (early 70’s) that the entire Sacrificial Dance on this recording was the orchestra/engineers’ SOUND CHECK at the beginning of the morning session!! They played through it, after which everyone agreed that there was no reason to repeat it, since it could not have been played better. LR
Of course, this is the reference. And your explanation why is spot on. Another interesting argument is that Boulez in the exact same year wrote THE reference article about rhythm in Le Sacre (“reference” for very similar reasons as you mention) : “Stravinsky remains” in “Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship”. My personal top among my more than 100 Rite recordings is his 1991 remake – also with Cleveland. Here is why (quote from my comment to your Stravinsky ballets review): In his book “Testaments Betrayed”, Milan Kundera writes about “Le Sacre”: “It is because it is beautiful that the girl’s murder is so horrible”. In his second Cleveland recording, Boulez reminds us that in addition to being violent and shocking, “Le Sacre du Printemps” is also a work of extraordinary beauty. The Cleveland Orchestra plays effortlessly with incredible precision, but Boulez doesn’t (as many conductors do) simply use the score as an opportunity to “show off” . He chooses to underplay many of the outer effects. Instead, the emphasis is on the broad lines and the inner logic of the music. His sense of timing is second to none. This is the recording of “Le Sacre” I can listen to as a coherent musical flow and not a sequence of different dances. That is not to say that this is an undangerous or smooth version. When the music asks for it, Boulez unleashes the power and virtuosity of this fantastic orchestra. Try to compare the 1991 “Glorification d’élue” with the praised version from 1969 or Chaillys with the same orchestra.
Boulez made an even earlier recording of the Rite with the French Radio and TV Orchestra for Nonesuch as I remember. I had the LP at the time and found it very exciting, but not nearly as well played as his first Cleveland one which as you said remains the reference. My current favorite is Chailly’s Cleveland recording for Decca that you also mentioned.
I bought both the Ozawa/Chicago/RCA and Boulez/Cleveland/Columbia at the times they were each released on LPs in 1968 and 1969, respectively. You made it sound as if Ozawa came in the wake that followed after Boulez. No, not so. Yes, Boulez nailed down a marker on the ‘modern’ interpretation of the work, but I’ll say Ozawa/Chicago matches Boulez/Cleveland for the other requisite qualities you mentioned, and has just a slight edge for overall performance impact quality.
I first heard of this work thanks to the Orchestra! series with Dudley Moore and Sir Georg Solti. My first recording was a cassette tape by Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. I have acquired others on record and CD since then as well, including Bernstein and Ozawa, but I haven’t tried Boulez yet.
This Boulez recording has never been out of the catalog. From the 1980s onward, it was available in the budget-priced CBS Great Performances series. Therefore, if you happen to want this release on vinyl LP, get the Great Performances version which (like others in this particular series) are audiophile re-cuttings from the original master tapes, pressed on impeccably quiet vinyl, and pretty commonplace on the used market.
If Pierre Boulez has a recording of any piece, I almost always listen to it. His recordings are not always the best or my favorite — his insistence on following a score down to the tiniest articulation or dynamic marking can really hurt him on any music that needs expressive flexibility or singing lines. But I always hear something on his recordings that I don’t hear in others. It could be a simple as an inner voice or bass line that normally gets buried. But I always learn something new. I’ve always marveled at how, if you look at the score for Rite of Spring, the opening movement seems like it should be a muddy mess of parts. But Stravinsky orchestrated it in such a way that you really can hear everything independently (he was a very underrated orchestrator). And that’s even more true in the Boulez recording. The transparency he gets is fantastic. It’s a great recording to learn the piece.
This reference series it’s appearing step by step with a Gramophone selection – but instead focus on English interpreters, we have American orchestras. It’s OK. But Funny. For a critic of Gramophone, “Turning to virtuoso orchestras, the three versions that lead the field, the BPO and Karajan (DG), the Concertgebouw and Sir Colin Davis (Philips) and the Philadelphia and Muti (HMV)” For another: Detroit/Dorati, Philh.O./Markevitch; Kirov/Gergiev – Boulez is not mentioned in both.
With respect to Boulez, my personal reference recording is Ancerl’s. Among other things, it was the first recording that got the rhythms of the Sacrificial Dance section right. Pre dating Boulez. Even if I don’t fully agree with some of tempos that Ancerl took. I enjoy this recording nonetheless. Not to mention, he did the final chord of the whole piece better than anybody!
I have always though that a reference recording comes from a certain imprimatur, as Monteux was the first conductor of The Rite of Spring, from which one might infer that the mono RCA might have been chosen, but there are sound limitations and orchestral imperfections. You have often criticized the composer’s own Columbia stereo recording for its sound quality, orchestral performance, and Stravinsky’s relentless pace. Boulez has been quoted as saying that Stravinsky had no gift for conducting. Yet for years I have read of the importance of the conductor’s own recording as a reference to how he wanted it played. It was the first version I heard and owned, and I treasure it and its unimpeachable authority, although I appreciate other points of view and acknowledge better-sounding and played recordings. Boulez would not be one of them.
Interesting to note that, whereas the Cleveland Orchestra’s fear of Szell may have affected their behavior when world-class guest conductors were on the podium in his absence, the same did NOT apply to the staff conductors. Marcia Hansen Kraus’ book “George Szell’s Reign” details the shameful treatment that Robert Shaw received at the hands of the players when in charge of orchestral concerts (Szell surely knew about this; why he ever allowed it to continue is a mystery), and I personally witnessed ..on several occasions…the lousy treatment that Associate Conductor Louis Lane received…the worst of it when Szell was still very much alive. LR
My favorite version of The Rite of Spring since childhood has been the USSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov. I’ve listened to it so many times that other versions just seem wrong to me. Since you don’t mention it here I wonder if you’ve heard it, and if so I’d appreciate your comments as to its quality relative to the versions you’ve mentioned here. Thank you.
I have a question: How did Cleveland end up with one of the top US orchestras? like all the rest make sense. boston, chicago, new york, Philadelphia. but Cleveland?? I live in Ohio, and I’ve always lived with the assumption that nothing great comes out of Cleveland. Was it simply just having szell? is there some history I’m missing?
Absolutely agree! I got it first on LP, then CD and always felt like hearing the performance was like reading the score: you hear everything on the page! If I recall correctly, this won a grammy for classical engineering, which doesn’t surprise me. (PS: I was also a fan of Boulez’s Sacre on Nonsuch a few years before the Cleveland recording. I loved the deep bass drum on that one too)