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 original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky, with stage designs and costumes by Nicholas. The piece premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris on May 29, 1913. Stravinsky completed the composition, two parts of roughly equal length (Adoration Of The Earth and The Sacrifice), by the beginning of 1912 and finished the instrumentation by late spring.
The Rite of Spring is often held up as a masterwork that changed modern music forever. It sparked the most famous riot in music history when it was premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Walt Disney made a deal with Stravinsky to use the Rite of Spring in his influential 1940 film “Fantasia”, but its influence goes much further. Listening to the piece for this blog, one could indeed hear echoes of it in such films as: Raiders of The Lost Ark, Star Wars, E.T, Psycho, Jaws, Psycho, and The Shining.
Stavinsky’s ballets The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring, originally produced in Paris by Sergei Diaghilev, garnered him international fame. The latter ballet was used in “Fantasia” to soundtrack the sweep of early evolution. Stravinsky grew to hate it, but it has been lauded by jazz musicians, inspired countless film scores, and made Disney dinosaurs dance. Other film music influenced by The Rite include Psycho, Mockingbird, Planet of the Apes, and Jaws.
📹 Stravinsky The Rite of Spring // London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, recorded live at the Barbican …
Is The Rite of Spring difficult to play?
“The Rite of Spring” is a masterpiece in twentieth-century orchestration, known for its catchy and memorable nature. However, it is a challenging piece to play, with the first recording to achieve the desired effect coming from Pierre Boulez with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1969. The piece was considered impossible to play precisely as written before. The composer also enjoys matching music to the season and weather, such as jazz, which can transform “depressing” weather into “atmospheric” ones. “Spring” from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” might match the spring weather in Georgia, but in South Bend, where it’s snowy, hails, and winds, “The Rite of Spring” is more suitable.
Why is Rite of Spring famous?
The Rite of Spring, a 20th-century ballet, is considered one of the most influential works of the 20th century. Its score is the world’s first modernist orchestral work and is one of the most recorded works in the classical repertoire. Over 190 reconstructions and derivations have been mounted on professional stages worldwide, including South African choreographer Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice, which will be on view at Spoleto Festival USA from June 1 to 4.
The Ballets Russes, founded by impresario Diaghilev in 1909, aimed to introduce Russian artists like Stravinsky, Leon Bakst, Michel Fokine, and Rimsky-Korsakov to the Western world. The Rite of Spring was a collaboration between composer Stravinsky, visual artist Nicholas Roerich, and choreographer Nijinsky, celebrating the advent of spring and its darker plot of ritual sacrifice. The ballet received five performances in Paris and four in London before closing due to World War I, a falling out between Nijinsky and Diaghilev, and Nijinsky’s declining mental health.
What movies is The Rite of Spring Stravinsky in?
The list includes films such as Fantasia, A World is Born, Mondo Trasho, Niijinsky, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Additionally, the list includes films such as Nocturne, Bringing Out the Dead, Big River Man, and Mao’s Last Dancer.
What genre is Rite of Spring?
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.
What is the famous chord in Rite of Spring?
The author discusses the versatility of playing two types of chords: those with many notes and those with close together notes. They focus on a family of 7- and 8-note voicings, which can be applied by dropping some notes or playing with someone else. The “Rite of Spring” chord is an E major triad with an Eb7 on top, which is dissonant due to the semitones between notes in the lower structure and one in the upper structure. Despite the dominant seventh chord on top, the chord doesn’t seem to resolve anywhere, making it unsatisfactory for a V-I.
The author prefers to hear this as a chord of rest or stasis, which is useful in atonal contexts or where one wants to suspend tonal gravity without sacrificing interesting harmonic content. The author suggests that the E triad is a fairly normal altered dominant sound, and the natural 11 isn’t as taboo as it once was.
What movies use The Rite of Spring?
Walt Disney collaborated with Stravinsky to use The Rite Of Spring in his 1940 film ‘Fantasia’, but its influence extends to films like Raiders of The Lost Ark, Star Wars, E. T, Psycho, Jaws, Psycho, and The Shining. The work has been influenced by many other scores, and while many cinemagoers may be unaware of Stravinsky’s work, its influence extends to the audio-visual world. Some of the best excerpts from the Rite of Spring are provided.
Who was inspired by Rite of Spring?
The Sacre, a famous composition of the early 20th century, is considered one of the most influential works in classical music. Its 1913 premiere is considered the most important single moment in the history of 20th-century music, and its repercussions continue to reverberate in the 21st century. Stravinsky’s work, known as The Rite, is considered a prophetic work, presaging the “second avant-garde” era in classical composition, where melodies follow speech patterns, rhythms match dance energy, and sonorities have the hardness of life as it is really lived.
Among 20th-century composers most influenced by The Rite are Stravinsky’s near contemporary Edgard Varèse, Aaron Copland, Olivier Messiaen, and Léon Vallas. Varèse was particularly drawn to the “cruel harmonies and stimulating rhythms” of The Rite, which he employed to full effect in his concert work Amériques. Copland adopted Stravinsky’s technique of composing in small sections, which he then shuffled and rearranged, rather than working through from beginning to end. Olivier Messiaen constantly analysed and expounded on The Rite, giving him an enduring model for rhythmic drive and assembly of material.
After the premiere, writer Léon Vallas opined that Stravinsky had written music 30 years ahead of its time, suitable to be heard in 1940. Coincidentally, Walt Disney released Fantasia, an animated feature film using music from The Rite and other classical compositions, conducted by Stokowski. The Rite segment of the film depicted Earth’s prehistory, with the creation of life, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs as the finale. Gunther Schuller, later a composer, conductor, and jazz scholar, was impressed by the film and the Rite of Spring sequence, which overwhelmed him and determined his future career in music.
Before the first gramophone disc recordings of The Rite were issued in 1929, Stravinsky had helped to produce a pianola version of the work for the London branch of the Aeolian Company. He also created a more comprehensive arrangement for the Pleyela, manufactured by the French piano company Pleyel, under whom he signed two contracts in April and May 1921, under which many of his early works were reproduced on this medium. The Pleyela version of The Rite of Spring was issued in 1921, and the British pianolist Rex Lawson first recorded the work in this form in 1990.
Did Stravinsky like the Beatles?
Nikolai Stravinsky, born in Ulyanovsk in 1986, was a passionate music enthusiast who began playing the drum at the age of five. He later studied guitar and piano, with influences from The Beatles. Stravinsky attended a music school and later a dance school, where he studied classical, folk, and pop dances. At 18, he moved to Samara to continue his studies. He graduated in classical guitar studies in 2007 and completed drum studies at the Samara State Institute of Culture in 2013.
Stravinsky worked as a percussionist in the opera and ballet theater’s symphony orchestra for a year and a half. After graduating, Stravinsky joined the band Sugar Plum Fairy (Sugar Plum Fairy), where he began playing guitar and writing lyrics. The band played their first concert in 2005, adopting the name Sugar Plum Fairy from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker. They recorded their first album, “Don’t Think, Don’t Repeat – Just Act”, in Samara and mixed it in Saint Petersburg with the help of local band Animal Jazz. They released their second and last album, “Danse de la Fée Dragée”, in 2010, before breaking up and moving to Moscow.
What does The Rite of Spring symbolize?
Rite of Spring is a traditional Slavic dance that depicts the primitive life of early Slavic tribes, where a virgin is chosen to dance until she dies to bring the Spring. YouTube channel “Classics Explained” offers an animation on the history, symbolism, and reactions of Rite of Spring. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to improve user experience, deliver services, personalize content, and measure advertising effectiveness.
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.
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.
📹 Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps / The Rite of Spring – Jaap van Zweden – Full concert in HD
Het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest o.l.v. Jaap van Zweden speelt tijdens Het Zondagochtend Concert in het Concertgebouw …
Introduction : 0:06 – Les augures printaniers : 3:41 – Jeu du Rapt : 6:52 – Rondes Printanières 8:11 – Jeux Des Cités Rivales : 11:56 – Cortège du sage : 13:50 – Le Sage : 14:32 – Danse de la terre : 14:53 – Introduction : 16:08 – Cercles Mystérieux des Adolescentes 20:26 – Glorification de l’élue : 23:34 – Evocation des Ancêtres : 25:03 – Action Rituelle des Ancêtres : 25:44 – Danse Sacrale (l’élue) : 29:09
I have heard many versions of Rite of Spring, and in my opinion, this is the version I return to the most. The room has such a mellow sound. The high’s are not to sharp, and the bass is warm and rounded. The conductor isn’t trying to make the Symphony more striking than it was intended. The musicians are allowing room for the lead instruments and the lead characters are performing flawlessly. Love it!!!!!
When my younger brother and I were children I used to “turn into a Frankenstein monster” at 3:40 in this article’s score. As I walked stiffly toward him he’d scream and run out of the room. A few minutes later he’d be back, begging “Do it again.” Of course I’ve listened to this countless times since then — I came to love the turbulence, the collisions of improbable instrumental pairings, the sublime overlays of sound, the shifts from overwhelming darkness to shimmering light. It’s amazing that it never gets old.
When I was a child, I was surrounded by music of this kind. I can remember carefully placing an LP of Rite of Spring on the phonograph of a huge old console, and hunkering down right in front of the giant speakers and letting the music just pour over me. Bliss. My favorite symphony of all time. I sometimes now wonder what Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn might think of it if they were brought forward in time, in their prime. Would their genius let them get past the strange, exotic modernness of it and recognize a fellow spirit? I think so.
I went all to way to the Altai Mountains in Siberia just outside the Mongolian border – only to find the very same rythms among local artists. They used mostly drums, a curious local instrument which is neither winds nor percussion and throat singing. Their rythms instantly reminded me of The Rite of Spring.
나를 위한 좌표 <제1부 대지 예찬> (낮의정경) -제1곡 서곡 0:06 -제2곡 봄의 징후와 젊은 남녀의 춤 3:41 -제3곡 유괴의 유희 6:52 -제4곡 봄의 론도 8:11 -제5곡 서로 다투는 부족들의 유희 11:56 -제6곡 현자의 행렬 13:50 -제7곡 대지에의 찬양 14:32 -제8곡 대지의 춤 14:53 <제2부 희생의 잔치> (밤의정경) -제1곡 서곡 : 16:08 -제2곡 젊은 처녀들의 신비한 모임 20:26 -제3곡 선택된 처녀에의 찬미 23:34 -제4곡 조상의 혼을 불러옴 25:03 -제5곡 조상들의 의식 25:44 -제6곡 신성한춤(희생의 춤) 29:09
The rite of spring is one of my favourite pieces of music, primarily because it is so thrilling and challenging to like. Dissonance is not everybody’s cup of tea, particularly people back in 1913,but a lot of innovations and styles in music would not have been present if not for this piece. Stravinsky, you were a genius.
One of the absolute pinnacles of classical music. The ability of Stravinsky to conceive of AND notate this piece never fails to astound me. I have had the privilege of performing it (7th horn/first Wagner tuba), and I can tell you from the inside that it’s not nearly as easy to hold together as a great orchestra like this one makes it seem. Wonderful performance!
World premier conducted by Pierre Monteux in Paris on 29 May 1913. Stravinsky, fearing bodily harm from the audience, escaped by a backstage window. Monteux was unperturbed and persisted, forever to be identified with the event. The “Maitre” founded a school of conducting in Hancock, Maine in 1943 that carries on his wish to mold future conductors and orchestral musicians.
As I said it a few years ago, and my opinion has not changed one bit, this is one of the most brilliant, electric and definitive performances of this piece I have ever heard. Brilliant conducting from Jaap. I love this interpretation from beginning to end and every member of that orchestra is totally ‘in the zone’. Just look at the expression on the principal flute players face while she is counting her rests and listening to the oboe solo – she is really ‘feeling’ the mood of the oboe solo so as to stay in the zone. I am also in love the heroic principal horn player. Such demanding solos, but she looks like Brunhilde and can cope easily. Are the cello player and principal clarinet brothers – their hair style suggest so. Filming also good -BRILLIANT all round.
This is probably my favorite performance of the ROS on YouTube (I prefer Bernstein’s renditions in general, however, as he gets more power out of the orchestra in certain key parts). Aside from a absolutely fantastic performance from the orchestra in general, Zweden physically expresses the incredible precision and exactness this piece demands from every part of the orchestra so perfectly. Best work of music ever written and probably will ever be written. Bravo indeed.
That was a most magnificent version, and i am EXTREMELY picky about this song being performed perfectly. It made my list (top 10 versions of the RoS) within 2 minutes of starting into it. there wasnt room and i wont bump any version.So,im calling it my top 11 version now…thank yoyu for sharing!! my heart filled with joy and my spirit soaring…I thank the Lord that people would spend a large portion of their lives to get this perfect,for our enjoyment!!! this coming from a 56 year old man that also loves Punkrock!!! lol…i really needed this today. nothing else would do .
The Rite of Spring has always been one of my favorite compositions. The scope of young musical genius is unparalleled by Stravinsky with The Rite. Its polyrythmic modernism is breathtaking as his extreme tone color and constant shocking vehemence after relatively peaceful and tranquil periods is addictively distressing. Thank you, Stravinsky, for a once in a century composition.
Introduction : 0:06 Les augures printaniers : 3:41 – Jeu du Rapt : 6:52 – Rondes Printanières 8:11 – Jeux Des Cités Rivales : 11:56 – Cortège du sage : 13:50 – Le Sage : 14:32 – Danse de la terre : 14:53 – Introduction : 16:08 – Cercles Mystérieux des Adolescentes 20:26 – Glorification de l’élue : 23:34 – Evocation des Ancêtres : 25:03 – Action Rituelle des Ancêtres : 25:44 – Danse Sacrale (l’élue) : 29:09
I can imagine the chaos ensuing in the audience on the premier back around 1912/13….. there are parts which literally drop of angst inducing sounds (probably never heard before in those days) although there are incidents (in the early parts) where one feels one is sitting at the opening credits of an Si Fi Movie. (Star Trek?) Listening to this (with a bit of help from historian Philip Blom) makes me want to search for contemporary compositions from 2013…..
First heard Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring when I saw Disney’s FANTASIA. So listening to the music alone was initially like listening to a soundtrack recording. (Hey, there’s more music than I heard in the movie!) Now I can listen to this music without thinking of Disney’s evocation of the earth’s beginnings and pre-human life on earth. The music alone is just a fascinating, bizarre trip to the outer reaches of music!
There are a few basic rules or guidelines that you could learn via a Music Theory class or independent study. My teacher always said that in order to break the rules, you must first know what they are. Based on the “rules” I know, I would say the Stravinsky broke a few, but he knew the language of music (“rules”) and thats what makes him such a great composer.
I can, but I highly doubt that you would be interested in my opinions in such matters. I am currently stuck playing an excerpt from this piece for an audition I have been invited to in a few weeks. The excerpt is the opening solo from the bassoon (starting from a bit before), and the entire part has been written in tenor clef. The part is practically covered with grace notes, and the time signature changes exactly 10 times during this part (which happens to be 28 bars long).
I’m not sure i understand all this discussion over “structure”, “direction”…but I find it hilarious to read people criticizing this piece…hahahaha.. a piece so revolutionary that impresses everybody a hundred years later… it is simply a genious piece…multi tonality and multi rythms used as never before and as never after…a complete mastering of orchestration… unforgettable ambiences… and there is people trying to find here square forms used in classical (Mozart, Haydn) music…
I like to push my listening experience as far as my puny mind can go. I have in that found access to music that is incredible to hear. Much of it I won’t get a chance to revisit. Le sacre du printemps is a work I heard as a boy. I have visited it uncounted times over the years. It is a work that should I see it in expanding my listening efforts compels me to interrupt my music pilgrimage and says, listen to Stravinsky again. It doesn’t get any better than this work. It may get as good, but not any better. I was not disappointed in once again hearing this incredible work.
I don”t know why I fell in love with this music in high school. While other people were listening to hard rock which I could not appreciate I felt no reason why not like this music. I like change and this music gives you a bitter and sweet as you journey through it. Just as in Forest Gump he says, ” life is like a box of chocolates you don’t know what you are going to get next.” That is what I feel in this composition. The tempos look like a lesson in fractions and that’s what is intriguing.
It suddenly break up, the symphony of a continuous streaming, I find in it nothing in comparaison with drama or any frightening story, metrics shouldn’t have always the same aim. It is very pleasant and it arises awareness to avoid stumbling accross obstacles. Instrumental musicians with vigorous tonal symphony
Easily the most ground-breaking piece of our time! And I couldn’t imagine playing this (and I’m a classically-trained musician)… part of being an orchestra is to listen to what everyone else is doing… and if what everyone else is doing is playing, effectively, the wrong note… massive points to anyone that can play this!
haha the part you mentioned, I’m not a huge fan of how he cuts it off suddenly either, I don’t understand why, but the rest I like. For 21:22, I think he doesn’t develop it because it’s meant to lead into 23:29. In 20:27 it’s appearing graceful but there’s a lot of unease and tension in it, why? 22:55 penetrates through this facade, 23:15 it happens again, and then in 23:29 the real purpose is revealed. taking 21:22 further might dull the intensity of 23:29.
I’m not really familiar with classical music in general, I’m into the more challenging kinds of metal/rock music, “progressive” as they call it. A couple of years ago someone told me about this piece and how he liked it, and played me a couple of minutes. I fell off my chair, as we call it in the Netherlands. Every now and then I listen to this piece and I really love it. In a certain way it’s very similar to some of the more technical death metal stuff. It has the same kind of overall dissonance, complexity, darkness and brutality. Stupid Christmas songs everywhere, this is a great antidote. I bet my neighbours behind these thin walls like this as much as I do right now at midnight, let me turn it up a bit more 🙂
This is a great performance, but the camera director/editor was poor: showing what he/she wanted rather than giving us the whole orchestra (at least some of the time) so we could see what we want at certain moments. It’s good to see the conductor from the back in front of the whole orchestra instead of so much close-up in which no orchestra is to be seen.
Anyone going to work for 20,30, 40 years knows exactly what 3:45 entails, an to me RoS remains the quidessential narration of a life full of conflict at work and the energy you have to bring to each day in order to succeed, or to other crafts (avocations) in which one pursues the (flutes) impossible dawns of unrest, longing, and dire love and hate. The RoS is both subtle and hostile like life on this planet, and one’s character is so undefined in the metaphors of this music that the conceiving of one’s spirit again and re-again is timeless, eyeless and borne with suffocated anger. Yet this piece in its own deeprooted shyness rebels against failure throughout the melodies entrained always giving me a mental spectre of my face willing to rise and attack the day.
I mentioned discussing with a professor because while a professor may not necessarily know more, he knows how to communicate his knowledge and ideas in a clear understandable way. Now it’s clear stravinsky knows how to compose pleasing tunes to pleasing subjects (firebird, rossignol) and it’s clear that the dissonance and harshness is intentional, the message of a savage pagan ritual is clearly communicated. My problem is it seems to me that you mistake disliking the idea to the music being bad.
I have studied this piece as a part of my degree, what do you want to know? This piece is quite brilliant, the thematic material pulls the very essence of music back to primitive, almost primal aspects – by emulating that within the modern orchestra, Stravinsky broke into a new era of music. You seem to originally question ‘why spring?’ – do you understand the ritualistic nature behind this work for the ballet which it was originally written?
they almost grilled poor igor alive at it‘s premiere. even in 2000 years this will be avantgarde. at the same time it is such a beautiful, mesmerizing, confising, heavy piece. i mean just look at the harmony and rhythm…it‘s fucking nuts. yet it is one of the creative achievments of modern art! withgood reason! cheers to all freaks who really enjoy stuff like igor, ornette coleman etc
Hacía tanto tiempo que no escuchaba una buena interpretación de esta obra que ya voy por la cuarta audición continuada. Me gusta mucho esta obra de Stravinski y andaba falto de escuchar una buena versión. En muchas interpretaciones hay pasajes que me “rechinan los oídos” tanto que corto su audición, no la soporto. ¡¡¡Bravo por Jaap van Zweden y la orquesta!!!
Great performance. I give the edge to Boulez 69′ (ish) with the Cleveland Orchestra the slight edge. The phrasing, tempo and melodies especially at 8:42 onward in this performance are, I feel, a bit rushed. Check out the Boulez and see if you agree. The piece breathes some what better and unfolds so organically in that performance. I found some of the Bernstein “Le Sacre” to be almost atrocious at times.
The reason that technical challenge has even come up is simply because that is one of the aspects of how music is examined. Does it sound nice? stir the emotion? Does it have complexity? One might argue that Mary Had a Little Lamb stirs a nostalgic emotion. But if someone came along and claimed that it was sweepingly beautiful and staggeringly complex, you’d want some clarification. Similarly, with the slow, plodding, unmelodies in RoS, there has to be something to give it merit. Or not?
Thank you, I apologise for the mild insult, but I was slightly incensed by your comments. However, I actually do find a number of the melodies quite intriguing and musically interesting. Although they may not be conventional, it is because they span a far greater distance and do not conform to the tonal limits to which we are accustomed. The relationships between the notes of the melodies, and indeed the melodies themselves are much more subtle than the conventional tonal relationships; ex.V – I
This is the correct approach to conducting the Rite and I feel sure Stravinsky would approve. The conductor’s gestures are precise, to the point and restrained. Too many conductors (such as e.g. Bernstein, Maazel, etc.) try to “put it across” with interpretive gestures as though they were directing a Mahler symphony, but Stravinsky is as far away from Mahler as one can get. The one thing I don’t like is the “body English” of so many of the performers, which is also a mistake. He should have restrained them, as this sort of thing is also foreign to Stravinsky’s aesthetic. What makes the Rite so revolutionary is not only the harmonies and rhythms but the complete overturning of the romantic aesthetic in favor of the totally impersonal approach we find in so much traditional peasant music, in Russia and elsewhere.
I can really appreciate the idea behind learning music that is beyond one’s ability. All the music I play and try to learn is beyond my ability and I especially enjoy this privilege. Especially when I actually learn how to play something that I should not be able to do based on my skill level. Challenge is a great thing.
Now addressing the actual concept of the work; you have an understanding of paganism, excellent. I disagree with your presumption that we should pick and chose what we retain from our past, but that is a different discussion. Some thematic material is drawn from folk music – eastern Russia and some of the villages where Stravinsky spent his early life still had quite basic ways of making music. Stravinsky pulled these concepts into the orchestra.
For those who can’t understand: this isn’t a dissonant piece, it has very-very, extremely mega super-duper top-notch, probably more than you can comprehend, almost infinitely complicated consonant melody, which sounds great. By the way, composing such pieces takes hell of a good talent, it is process of creating something from complete randomness, shaping it into some theme with no cliches. If you want to hear genuine horribolism, try quarter-tone microtonal music)
And for some reason or another, the dynamic and tempo continuously changes over the course of this part, making it a true pain to get right while playing it with others. I have the part in my hand right now, so I do believe I have my facts correct. While playing as an orchestra, there are many random entries for a variety of different sections within the orchestra, which makes it rather difficult to get to sound right. And if the accuracy is mistaken by one entry, the whole piece falls apart.
Don’t say “it doesn’t engage the brains of listeners,” just say “it doesn’t engage my brain.” It’s a series of musical tableaux. If you’re not an auditory-visual synesthete, if you don’t have a barrage of images flying through your mind when you listen to this, then you don’t. But I do, so it’s possible. I tend to like music anyway that alternates between tonality and atonal dead spaces or dissonant spaces, because it brings the tonal themes into sharp relief.
Question, did Disney do a great service or a travesty to the R.o.S. in Fantasia? I listen to and enjoy the R.o.S. because I saw Fantasia as a child when it first came out (I’m giving away my age here). I’ve seen the R.o.S. with ballet and have not been too inspired by it. But when I listen to just the music I can still see the T.Rex and Stegosaurus duking it out in a life/death struggle (silently cheering for the Stegosaurus, in vain).What Disney did was so out of character for them. A total re-interpretation of the piece (to evolution and dinosaurs), nothing sugar coated (animals are brutally dispatched) and they touched on a topic that is anathema to many (evolution). Any thoughts from anyone on this? BTW, Jaap van Zweden conducts this brilliantly with the correct intensity that this piece deserves.
The opening is in a high register, outside a bassoon players comfort zone. When composed, writing for the instrument like that was pretty radical, but it’s of course more common now. I think you’re looking for difficulty in the wrong places. It doesn’t just equate to many very fast passages, or even just playing in tricky registers. Playing this in an orchestra is generally a huge undertaking in skill and experience. Keeping rhythm and intonating the harmonies are a particular challenge in this.
So I wouldn’t even draw a causal link from her mathematical exploration to RoS. I am glad you could point to a time. What I heard sounded more like a lullaby, written upside down or perhaps backwards. To my ear, I found it rather dull, but I’ve been working on Sueno en la Floresta and V-L Prelude #1 this evening, so my brain is sort of in the wrong gear… I did hear a swell in the mood 21:22, but it disappeared before going anywhere interesting. That’s my issue with RoS. It has no focus.
lotrringereras – I need to re-read what I wrote, because you have clearly misunderstood what I intended to say. I love RoS! It’s actually one of my all-time favorite pieces. I was defending the music against someone else who did not like it. IMHO the next place to listen to RoS is in the middle of the orchestra, completely surrounded by the beautiful music.
Мы начинаем наше космическое путешествие в те времена, когда трава была зеленее и музыка прекраснее, когда еще не было плохой музыки, дабы вернуть давно утерянную формулу хорошей музыки. Рассекая пространство и время, мы слышим звуки божественной музыки, в которой каждая нота находится на своем месте. Это состояние невозможно описать, трудно уловить и легко потерять, но удивительно, на всем протяжении нашего путешествия оно все усиливается и усиливается. В окне иллюминатора пролетают все самые значимые музыкальные и исторические вехи в истории. Важна уже не конечная точка прибытия, а само путешествие, потому что стремление – вот самое главное в нашей жизни, достигнув определенной точки нам обязательно захочется продолжить путешествие дальше. Честно говоря я уже не знаю где мы находимся, достигли мы того самого места? И где это место? Скорее всего мы улетели намного дальше, за пределы пространства времени. Неужели мы так и не нашли формулы? неужели все напрасно? Наше путешествие – вот та самая формула, точнее одна из ее композиций, собранная из обрывков воспоминаний. Вычислить ее невозможно, но нам крупно повезло и мы стали редкими счастливчиками которым открылась одна из идеальных музыкальных композиций. Сможем ли мы когда-нибудь повторить это путешествие… возможно не скоро, но когда-нибудь обязательно, а пока нужно вернуться на землю и передать человечеству данные собранные нашими датчиками. Мы не настолько умны чтобы из полученных данных вычислить формулу, но зато у нас появилась одна из композиций сгенерированных этой идеальной формулой.
David Popper is a composer. Not as gritty as Stravinsky, but definitely challenging. Especially if you want to try some transcriptions. His stuff uses lots of techniques on stringed instruments that are not available on piano that would make it much easier to play their parts on the piano, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s still quite difficult.
Thank you. I don’t know why it took 5 posts of beating around the bush before you could just come out and say it. from 29:00 to? Surely you don’t mean from 29:00 to 30:59. That’s mostly just a bunch of waiting around and repeats. I think the bassoon only plays a few notes twice or maybe 3 times in there… I did read some stuff on the orchestralbassoon site that was amusing. For all its supposed originality, the intro bassoon “solo” is taken from a Lithuanian folk song, then ornamented. Nice.
There are few melodic themes. I think you pointed one out, but if there are others, they would be very difficult to pick out. I read some comments of the ballet performers in the original performance and apparently they complained vocally that they didn’t know what they were supposed to be doing because they couldn’t hear any melodic themes. That is because ‘music’ is generally seen as something that is organized that is picked up on by the brain’s inclination to patterns.
I have given you examples – you seem to have not read my comments in their entirety or looked at some of the suggested material I suggested. The piece jumps from 2/2 to 3/8 to 5/16 time -to name a few – in various passages, with counter-rhythms and rhythmic modulation used. These are techniques which simply cannot be executed by anyone at least not studying towards a performance degree.
And that is very much my point. You feel you don’t have the knowledge to discuss it, and that’s fair. I don’t have the knowledge to discuss the ballet side of it. But the fact that you can take a fairly ‘strong’ conversation like this and go and examine why you like the piece makes me feel that you are in fact quite qualified to discuss it. And if needed, going out and learning more. You don’t have to be a professor to discuss something. If you can substantiate your comment, it’s valid.
Glorious (and morbid) work, brilliantly conducted and played. The strength of the piece is not only the rhythm and scoring, but also the harmonies, which propel the music forward underneath the colourful surface. At the end of the 2nd part (sacrificial dance) the orchestra is ‘flattened’ to mere spasms of rhythm, which dminishes the musical effect, and the ending is particularly lame: in this idiom it is very difficult to ’round-off’ things, it has to either just stop or cut-off with a bang, there is no other option.
This is a great interpretation of Le Sacre du printemps, EXCEPT for their “Glorification de l’élue” at 23:35. The orchestra sounds so tiny, like half their flute section was out sick that day! Depending on the part, this section is marked forte and fortissimo. I will grant the flutes mezzoforte at best! I would think this was a chamber orchestra if there wasn’t article evidence to the contrary. Could the recording setup be to blame? Please, flutes, louder!
I respect that there are different recordings, and that’s great. But that also means there will be disagreements with what the conductor chose. In this case, I don’t think the trombone stuff was loud enough at the 10:39 mark and any time that repeats. However, I will not say that the conductors was bad or the performance was bad. I just think that one specific spot is a little lack luster.
This is just my opinion, but I think this version sounds pretty tame and polished. Maybe it’s just how it’s recorded. They play it well but I don’t feel the fury in this, it’s like they’re holding back what it could possibly be, like they’re playing it but in a more “civilized” way, which, again, in my opinion, shouldn’t be played “politely”. I hope this makes sense.