RITE OF SPRING
And “ Scaramouche ” itself was the name of a classic clown figure in the Italian commedia dell ’ arte . Later that same year , Milhaud transformed the incidental music into a tiny three-movement suite for two pianos , using a theme from his overture to another play production for the second movement . In 1939 , he transcribed this piano piece into the version for saxophone and orchestra we hear tonight . ( Yet another incarnation was an edition for clarinet and orchestra prepared for Benny Goodman in 1941 .) Complementing his choice of the jazz-friendly saxophone as the solo instrument , Milhaud made his brighttoned orchestra sound very much like a popular dance band .
Instrumentation : Two flutes including piccolo , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , two trumpets , two trombones , percussion and strings .
LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS ( THE RITE OF SPRING )
Igor Stravinsky
Born in Oranienbaum , Russia ; June 17 , 1882 ; died in New York City , NY , April 6 , 1971
The premiere of The Rite of Spring in Paris in 1913 has come down to us as perhaps the wildest evening in the history of classical music . This was the third of the spectacular Russian ballet scores Stravinsky had created for Serge Diaghilev ’ s Ballets Russes ensemble , which had become the sensation of pre-World War I Paris . The two previous ballets , The Firebird and Petrouchka , had been rapturously received . But the music for The Rite was much more advanced : a revolutionary statement that the 19 th century was gone for good . In its savage rhythms , harmonic dissonances and orchestral effects , it brutally embodied the “ fleeting vision ” of pagan Russia Stravinsky said had inspired him . “ I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite : sage elders , seated in a circle , watched a young girl dance herself to death . They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring .”
Stravinsky remembered that infamous performance on May 29 , 1913 at the
Théâtre Champs-Elysées , conducted by Pierre Monteux and with choreography by the Russian superstar dancer Nijinsky . Fistfights broke out in the audience between those who liked the piece and those who didn ’ t . Furious , Stravinsky rushed backstage where Nijinsky was shouting out the beats to the dancers and Diaghilev alternately turning the house lights on and off in a vain attempt to calm the fracas . Once the riot began , the audience was probably reacting more to the choreography or simply its own frenzy than the score itself , since the music became virtually inaudible .
The story of this catastrophe is well known , but it had a less-told sequel that turned the fortunes of The Rite of Spring completely around . On April 5 , 1914 , again in Paris , Monteux led its concert premiere — without any dancers and controversial choreography — and this time the performance was an overwhelming success . The audience erupted in a cheering ovation , and enthusiastic fans bore Stravinsky out of the hall on their shoulders .
However , The Rite of Spring was — and remains — a shocking work . Stravinsky had a very different image of the coming of spring than we do in America . In Russia , when winter ’ s legacy of snow and ice begins to melt and swell the streams , the effect is much more extreme than our soft breezes and flowering fruit trees . Stravinsky referred to it as “ the violent Russian spring that seems to begin in an hour and was like the whole world cracking .” To express this raw elemental force and the passionate response it must have evoked among pagan Russians , he created music of unprecedented violence .
In his score , Stravinsky wrote : “ Music exists if there is rhythm , as life exists if there is a pulse .” And it is indeed rhythm — in powerful repetitive ostinatos , constantly changing meters , and brutal pileups — that dominates this score and reaches a climax of violent energy in Part II ’ s “ Glorification of the Chosen One ” and the final “ Sacrificial Dance .” Throughout the 19 th century , rhythm had been the stepchild of European concert music , trailing behind melodic allure and harmonic richness . Europeans essentially looked down on intricate rhythms as belonging to “ primitive ” musical cultures . Stravinsky showed them what they were missing .
Along with pounding percussion — and in this score even the string instruments join the percussion section — Stravinsky created his pagan world through strikingly original writing for the wind instruments : the primeval sound of a high bassoon opening the work ; cool , high woodwinds setting an ominously eerie nocturnal atmosphere at the beginning of Part II ; an “ elderly ” sounding English horn leading the penultimate “ Ritual of the Old Men ,” and savagely snarling brass throughout . Stravinsky provided his own terse scenario for The Rite :
“ First Part : ‘ The Adoration of the Earth .’ [ Daytime ] The spring celebration … the pipers pipe and the young men tell fortunes .… Young girls with painted faces come in from the river in single file . They dance the spring dance . Games start . The Spring Khorovod [ round dances ]. The people divide into two groups opposing each other . The holy procession of wise old men … interrupts the spring games .… The people pause trembling .… The old man blesses the earth .… The people dance passionately on the earth , sanctifying it and becoming one with it .
“ Second Part : ‘ The Great Sacrifice .’ At night , the virgins hold mysterious games walking in circles . One of the virgins is consecrated and is twice pointed to by fate , being caught twice in the perpetual circle . The virgins honor her , the chosen one , with a marital dance .… They invoke the ancestors and entrust the chosen one to the old wise men . She sacrifices herself in the presence of the old men in the great holy dance .”
Instrumentation : Three flutes , two piccolos , alto flute , four oboes , two English horns , three clarinets , two bass clarinets , E-flat clarinet , four bassoons , two contrabassoons , eight horns including two Wagner tubas , four trumpets , piccolo trumpet , bass trumpet , three trombones , two tubas , timpani , percussion and strings .
Notes by Janet E . Bedell , © 2018
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