THE RITE OF SPRING( EARTH | SONGS)
laughter, followed by uproar. Shouts from the crowd soon overwhelmed the hall, and Nijinsky was forced to stand on a chair to direct the dancers, by then unable to hear the orchestra. It seems likely, however, that it was Nijinsky’ s choreography, rather than the music itself, that prompted the disturbance( some have called it a riot); only one year later, Stravinsky would return to Paris for a revival and be welcomed a hero.
The music comprises thirteen tableaux, or episodes, organized into two large sections: L’ Adoration de la Terre(“ Adoration of the Earth”), whereby spring is prophesied and celebrations begin, and Le Sacrifice, in which the“ Chosen One” dances herself to death to bring renewal to the earth. Indeed, for many, renewal is precisely what Le Sacre du printemps has come to represent— a story of ritual sacrifice, set in ancient Russia, that would usher in the daring new sounds of 20 th-century modernism, with Stravinsky standing at the vanguard.
Instrumentation: Three flutes( third doubling second piccolo), piccolo, alto flute, four oboes( fourth doubling second English horn), English horn, three clarinets( third doubling second bass clarinet), E- flat clarinet, bass clarinet, four bassoons( fourth doubling second contrabassoon), contrabassoon, eight horns( seventh and eighth doubling Wagner tuba), piccolo trumpet, four trumpets( fourth doubling bass trumpet) piccolo trumpet, three trombones, bass trombone, two tubas, two sets of timpani, antique cymbals, bass drum, cymbals, guiro, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle, and strings.
JACOB JAHIEL is a violist da gamba and PhD student in Historical Musicology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is co-editor of the forthcoming collection of music criticism,“ Defending the Music: Michael Steinberg at the Boston Globe, 1964 – 1976”( Oxford University Press, 2026).
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