Igor Stravinsky's THE RITE OF SPRING, A Premiere Wrapped In Praise And Riot

There was an important anniversary in the world of music this weekend. Most of my musical posts usually concern people. This one is about a composition in the forefront of a revolution in sound at the end of the Edwardian era. On May 29, 1913 the 30 year-old composer, Igor Stravinsky, made music history in Paris. The event was the premiere of the ballet, The Rite of Spring. Like his earlier work for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, it was experimental and revolutionary. When combined with primitive choreography and a human sacrifice theme some in the audience were dazzled while others were infuriated to the point of riot. 

The violence subsided rather quickly, the anger simmered a bit longer and Stravinsky's imaginative compositions went on to have a huge impact on music and the arts. At the forefront stands The Rite of Spring - Stravinsky produced several arrangement throughout his life - as one of the most widely recorded and performed  works in the world. It remains as fresh in 2025 as it was in 1913. In that century its innovative energy in sound and rhythm has been re-patterned by the likes of Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, Philip Glass and many others.

Photo from 1913 showing original costumes

In the early 1980's the original choreography was meticulously reconstructed after being lost for almost six decades. A few years after its completion it was presented by the Joffre Ballet. Several adaptations based on the original costuming and set design have appeared over rhe last forty years. In my opinion the Jofre production remains the better representation of what that 1913 audience both heard and saw. Here is Part 1 - all three available on YouTube - of their performance.

Some say the most productive experiments often make the biggest messes until they are better understood. The genius and madman in Stravinsky would very much agree. 

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo from First Nights: Five Musical Premieres by Thomas F. Kelly. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000.

Text:
Igor Stravinsky entry, wikipedia.org