Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, Part 2

By as early as 1909, composers like Mahler knew that tonality was reaching its breaking point, and composers like Debussy were experimenting with colors and ideas a composer like Brahms wouldn’t have dreamed were possible. Strauss was shocking the world in his own right with his erotic and disturbing opera Salome. Mirroring the roiling tensions all over the world, music was pushing and stretching at its boundaries in ways that it simply hadn’t before. The years from 1900-1914 were a powder keg for the world and also for music, and you could argue that Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was the musical version of the explosion of that powder keg. And it still has a profound impact on music today. So as we go through Part II of the Rite of Spring, The Sacrifice - the narrative section of the piece - we’ll talk a little bit more about the riot that took place at its premiere, but also the reactions to the piece throughout the 20th century. We’ll also look at the influence the piece had on composers from all across the musical spectrum. In just 30 minutes Stravinsky changed the world of music forever and it still causes controversy today. I once was at a performance of the Rite where two elderly patrons of the symphony sat behind me. As one particularly violent section of the piece blasted away, I heard one of them lean over to the other and say, “If they keep playing this modern music all the time, I’m cancelling my subscription.” This took place more than a 100 years after the premiere. How does a piece remain modern for so long? Are there any other parallels in musical history? And how does Stravinsky build a narrative that slowly builds in intensity all the way to the sacrifice of the young girl and the beginning of spring? Join us!