Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)
Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Date of publication: May 29, 1913
Stravinsky began writing Le Sacre du Primtemps, or The Rite of Spring/The Coronation of Spring in a small house he rented in Clarens, Switzerland. The idea for this Rite came to him while in the middle of composing The Firebird as a commission for the impresario Diaghilev. However, Stravinsky was sidetracked from writing his new ballet for a year, because of his commitment to write Petrushka. In 1911, he returned to The Rite of Spring, the drawings and inspiration provided by an archaeologist Nikolai Roerich. The Rite of Spring's main plot is centered around several primitive rituals that celebrating the arrival of Spring, and afterwards, where a young girl is chosen to be sacrificed and dances herself to death. For its time, The Rite of Spring was extremely progressive, pushing the frontier of tonality, metre, rhythm, dissonance, and stress. When reflecting on the infamous ballet, Stravinsky wrote, “I was guided by no system whatever in Le Sacre du Printemps… I had only my ear to help me; I heard and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which Le Sacre passed.”
When it was premiered on May 29, 1913 in the Théâtre de Champs-Elysées of France, but was met back with harsh criticism and even riots. The music was too contemporary for the time. An uprising against Diaghilev and Nijinsky (a dancer who choreographed the ballet with Stravinsky) gathered and were determined to stop all performances of the Rite of Spring before a single note was played. However, a year later, the same ballet was performed in the Casino de Paris, and was met with much higher approval.
Fun Fact: The ballet dancing was so nontraditional at this time, that many critics labeled it as pornography.
Movements/Episodes:
PART 1: L'Adoration de la Terre
I. Introduction
II. Les Augures printaniers
III. Jeu du rapt
IV. Rondes printanières
V. Jeux des cités rivales
VI. Cortège du sage: Le Sage
PART 2: Le Sacrifice
I. Introduction
II. Cercles mystérieux des adolescentes
III. Glorification de l'élue
IV. Évocation des ancêtres
V. Action rituelle des ancêtres
VI. Danse sacrale (L'Élue)
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