Time For An Anniversary

The Arts

      Yes, one hundred years ago today (Wednesday) a musical score premiered that redefined classical music for the 20th Century, and its accompanying ballet redefined modern dance.  If you have already guessed that it was "Le Sacre Du Printemps," otherwise known as "The Rite of Spring" by Igor Stravinsky, then I am impressed.  I truly am.  The Avant Garde work was so different from what concert goers were used to that when it premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913 a riot broke out.  

      Previous to this ballets were all danced by stereotypical ballerinas wearing tutus (the larger ones had to wear four-fours), and men in leotards who appeared to be very in touch with their feminine sides.  The music was all perfectly metrical, and mathematic, and other than a few maverick composers, most musical pieces were named things like Opus 37, and Divertimento in E Flat Major  Divertimento in E Flat Major is actually a great tune, but its title is as boring as a discussion on garden slugs.  The most exciting thing in the classical world had been Chopin, and Franz Liszt (who was really "the world's first rock star" - Anne Anderson, PhD - 1986).   Most men in that era Just went to the opera and to ballets with their binoculars to "cheque ou't le Chics." (which was finally perfected decades later by Arthur Fonzerelli as "checking out chicks").  Renoir even painted this theme in one of his paintings.  Real rebels would use their dessert fork to eat a salad.
      Where was music going before this?  What direction were the greatest creative minds of the era heading at that time?  (The not so great minds were just copying the styles of the status quo).  I can't say for sure, but have a hunch.  I had the privilege once to hear a very rare wax cylinder recording of one of Johannes Brahms' last compositions (it might have actually been his last work, but I can't say for sure - I don't remember).  It begins with an introduction from Maestro Brahms himself.  It was a ragtime piece. 
      Igor Stravinsky wrote The Rite of Spring.  It has great contrapuntal leitmotivs, and seems to change time signatures at will.  Sacre du Printemps uses dissonance as a tool, with a primitive back beat.   Stravinsky was assisted in this collaberation by Vaslav Nijinsky, who was the choreographer.  In the video sample below, it is quite tame compared to Nijinsky's production.  Nijinsky had all the performers dressed in "cave man" clothes (furs and a lot of nothing - a far cry from two-twos and four-fours), and he insisted that they have mud on their feet.

         A modern interpretation of the piece.  It is quite tame compared to the premier.

      Some of the patrons felt that a composition like this was a slap in the face to their social morms (which was partly the intent).  Combined with a choreography of half naked people jumping around like apes defending their territory, it was as if someone had dropped a fecal bomb in their Cheerios.
      Many of the patrons stood up in their seats (a big cultural no-no in that era - this was the Victorian era, after all).  They started screaming things not nice for "small ears" and booing loudly.  Other patrons applauded the artistic ingenuity (actually, not literally).  They also stood up in their seats, and they started to loudly shout "bravo."  They also shouted thing not nice for small ears, but these expletives were not directed at the stage, but rather at the patrons who were shouting "boo."  They probably called them things like "uncultured #!!&*@$ troglodytes, which probably confused the ballet dancers who were dressed like and portraying uncultured #!!&*@$ troglodytes.  It was that sort of thing that the "nay" side was shouting at them. 
      The Rite of Spring was both a catalyst for change and an evidence for changes that were already in motion  

Walt Disney also did an interpretation of the piece in "Fantasia" - a cartoon not as geared for children as his normal fare