A Century Of Le Sacre Du Printemps - The Rite Of Spring

Igor Stravinky's Rite of Spring premiered in Paris in May 1913

I enjoy a wide range of music, some of it written yesterday, some of it written more than a thousand years ago. Though it would be a challenge to choose favorites in this broad world of sound, I have no problem  identifying music that leaves me astonished. Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps is such a piece. No question it is primal,  primitive, raw, and vastly different from anything in the concert hall in 1913. It is as fresh in 2013 as it was a century ago. It is a piece of art and, as with all art, will not appeal to every taste. That is to be expected. What may not be expected is the fact that Le Sacre du Printemps is one of the most widely recorded and performed symphonic works in the world. Leonard Bernstein said it is "the most important piece of music of the 20th century."

Below you will find two videos. The first video  is Part One - of three parts - of the Joffrey Ballet's 1987 reconstruction of the 1913 performance featuring the choreography of the legendary dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky, and costume and stage design by Nicholas Roerich. Context is everything, so I think it's important to listen to this music in the medium for which it was composed. If you choose to watch this ballet, be aware that the audience rioted during the premiere.  They were not expecting what the Wikipedia post describes as a piece with "many features that were novel for its time, including experiments in tonality, metre, rhythm, stress, and dissonance."

On the other hand, listeners may prefer to focus on the concert version, first performed in 1914. Over the years, Stravinsky made several revisions to the original score. Here is a 1960 recording featuring the Columbia Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer. Readers who are familiar with the music will soon discover that this recording is unlike any other; however, it is the realization of Stravinsky's vision and it is, I believe, the one we should hold sacred.