Le Sacre du Printemp (The Rite of Spring)
Sagittarius
06-01-2013, 10:31 AM
Thursday the 29th of May was the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemp" in Paris in 1913, an event that descended in to chaos but changed the musical world irrevocably and is probably the most influential piece of music of the 20th century. It was written at the behest of Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballet Russe and was choreographed by the most famous male dancer of the day, his lover Vaslav Nijinsky.
The reason for the chaos and the resulting scandal was not only was Stravinaski's music a totally new idiom for the audience but that Nijinsky's choreography broke all the rules of classical ballet with the dancers having their toes pointed inwards and being made to jump up and down numerous times. Stravinsky himself, had no confidence in Nijinsky as a choregorapher and graphically described the dancers as ""knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas".
Stravinsky was an almost unknown composer until his collaboration with Diaghilev and this was the third work that he had written for him, the other two being "The Firebird" in 1910 and "Petrushka" in 1911, both based on Russian folklore. Some musicologists claim to have found traces of Russian folklore in "The Rite of Spring" but Stravinsky always denied this was the case.
To say that "The Rite of Spring" was innovative would be an understatement. Echos of it can be heard in many film scores and has influenced even jazz musicians. This is an interesting article:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadenc...-of-spring
The reason for the chaos and the resulting scandal was not only was Stravinaski's music a totally new idiom for the audience but that Nijinsky's choreography broke all the rules of classical ballet with the dancers having their toes pointed inwards and being made to jump up and down numerous times. Stravinsky himself, had no confidence in Nijinsky as a choregorapher and graphically described the dancers as ""knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas".
Stravinsky was an almost unknown composer until his collaboration with Diaghilev and this was the third work that he had written for him, the other two being "The Firebird" in 1910 and "Petrushka" in 1911, both based on Russian folklore. Some musicologists claim to have found traces of Russian folklore in "The Rite of Spring" but Stravinsky always denied this was the case.
To say that "The Rite of Spring" was innovative would be an understatement. Echos of it can be heard in many film scores and has influenced even jazz musicians. This is an interesting article:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadenc...-of-spring
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