The Rite of Spring

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The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, commonly referred to by its original French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
title, Le Sacre du Printemps is a ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
with music by the Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
, original choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky

Vaslav Nijinsky

Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent. Nijinsky was one of the most gifted male dancers in history, and he grew to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations....
, and original set design and costumes by archaeologist and painter Nicholas Roerich

Nicholas Roerich

Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian Painting, philosopher and Theosophy. He was the father of Tibetologist George de Roerich and artist Svetoslav Roerich ....
, all under impresario

Impresario

Impresario, from the Italian language impresa, an enterprise or undertaking, Origin: mid 18th century, from Italian impresa, ?undertaking.? New Oxford American Dictionary. Impresa: enterprise; deed; company....
Serge Diaghilev. The music is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential, and most reproduced compositions in history. Its innovative complex rhythmic structures, timbres, and use of dissonance have made it a seminal 20th century composition.

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Name

While the Russian title literally means "Sacred Spring", the English title is based on the French title under which the work was premiered, although sacre is more precisely translated as "consecration". It has the subtitle "Pictures from Pagan Russia" (French: Tableaux de la Russie païenne).

Composition and critical reception

The idea for the ballet was originally conceived by the painter Nikolai Roerich, although Stravinsky later claimed it as his own. Roerich shared his idea with Stravinsky in 1910, which was a fantasy vision of pagan ritual (his fleeting vision of a young girl dancing herself to death). While composing The Firebird
The Firebird

The Firebird is a 1910 ballet by Igor Stravinsky and choreographed by Michel Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the Firebird that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor....
, Stravinsky began forming sketches and ideas for the piece, enlisting the help of Roerich. Though he was sidetracked for a year while he worked on Petrushka (which he intended to be a light burlesque

Burlesque

Burlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration. Prior to Burlesque becoming associated with striptease, it was a form of Parody music in which an opera or piece of classical theatre is adapted in a broad, often risqu? style very different from that for which it was originally known....
as a relief from the orchestrally-intense work already in progress), The Rite of Spring was composed between 1912 and 1913 for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes

Ballets Russes

The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company which performed under the directorship of Sergei Diaghilev between 1909 and 1929. Some of their places of residence included the Th??tre Mogador and the Th??tre du Ch?telet, though they worked in many countries, including England, the U.S.A., and Spain....
. Roerich was an integral part of the creation of the work, drawing from scenes of historical rites for inspiration; Stravinsky referred to the work-in-progress as "our child". After undergoing revisions almost up until the very day of its first performance, it was premiered on May 29 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

The Th??tre des Champs-?lys?es is a Parisian theatre, famous for being the place of the scandal related to the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring in 1913....
in Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
and was conducted by Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conducting. Born in Paris, France, rue de la Grange Bateli?re. Monteux later became an American citizen....
. Stravinsky would later write that a better translation to English would have been "The Coronation of Spring".

The Ballets Russes staged the first performance. The intensely rhythmic score and primitive scenario—a setting of scenes from pagan Russia—shocked audiences more accustomed to the demure conventions of classical ballet. Vaslav Nijinsky

Vaslav Nijinsky

Choreography

Choreography , is the art of making structures in which movement occurs. The term dance composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures....
was a radical departure from classical ballet. Stravinsky would later write in his autobiography of the process of working with Nijinsky on the choreography, stating that "the poor boy knew nothing of music" and that Nijinsky "had been saddled with a task beyond his capacity." While Stravinsky praised Nijinsky's amazing dance talent, he was frustrated working with him on choreography. This frustration was reciprocated by Nijinsky with regard to Stravinsky's patronizing attitude: "...so much time is wasted as Stravinsky thinks he is the only one who knows anything about music. In working with me he explains the value of the black notes, the white notes, of quavers and semiquavers, as though I had never studied music at all...I wish he would talk more about his music for Sacre, and not give a lecture on the beginning theory of music."

The complex music and violent dance steps depicting fertility rites first drew catcalls and whistles from the crowd. At the start with the opening bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the Bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher....
solo, the audience began to boo loudly due to the slight discord in the background notes behind the bassoon's opening melody. There were loud arguments in the audience between supporters and opponents of the work. These were soon followed by shouts and fistfights in the aisles. The unrest in the audience eventually degenerated into a riot

Classical music riot

A classical music riot is violent, disorderly behavior that occurs upon the premiere of a controversial piece of european classical music. The usual respectful and sedate manner of classical music audiences means that any sort of rough behavior, ranging from catcalls to shoving, can be seen as a comparative 'riot'....
. The Paris police arrived by intermission, but they restored only limited order. Chaos reigned for the remainder of the performance, and Stravinsky himself was so upset on account of its reception that he fled the theater in mid-scene, reportedly crying. Fellow composer Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns

Charles-Camille Saint-Sa?ns was a French composer, organist, Conductor , and pianist, known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre , Samson and Delilah , Havanaise , Introduction and Rondo capriccioso , and his Symphony No....
famously stormed out of the première (though Stravinsky later said "I do not know who invented the story that he was present at, but soon walked out, of the premiere.") allegedly infuriated over the misuse of the bassoon in the ballet's opening bars.

Stravinsky ran backstage, where Diaghilev was turning the lights on and off in an attempt to try to calm the audience. Nijinsky stood on a chair, leaned out (far enough that Stravinsky had to grab his coat-tail), and shouted counts to the dancers, who were unable to hear the orchestra (this was challenging because Russian numbers are polysyllabic above ten, such as eighteen: vosemnadsat).

Although Nijinsky and Stravinsky were despondent, Diaghilev (a Russian art critic as well as the ballet's impresario) commented that the scandal was "just what I wanted". The music and choreography were considered barbaric and sexual and are also often noted as being the primary factors for the cause of the riot, but many political and social tensions surrounding the premiere contributed to the backlash as well.

The ballet completed its run of seven performances amid controversy, but experienced no further disruption. The same performers gave a production of the work in London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
later the same year. Both Stravinsky and Nijinsky continued to work, but neither created pieces in this percussive and intense style again. The United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
premiere was in 1924 in a concert (that is, non-staged) version.

Stravinsky composed a piano four-hands version before finishing the orchestral score. The composer was continually revising the work for both musical and practical reasons, even after the premiere and well into ensuing years. The transcription for piano four-hands was performed with Debussy; since Stravinsky composed the Rite, as with his other works, at the piano, it is natural that he worked on the piano version of the work concurrently with the full orchestral score. It was in this form that the piece was first published (in 1913, the full score

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of musical notation; like its analogs?books, pamphlets, etc.?the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens....
not being published until 1921 by Editions Russe de Musique). Owing to the disruption caused by World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, there were few performances of the work in the years following its composition, which made this arrangement

Arrangement

In music, an arrangement is either a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet....
the main way in which people got to know the piece. This version is still performed quite frequently, as it does not require the massive forces of the full orchestral version.

Stravinsky also made two arrangements of the Rite for player piano. In late 1915, the Aeolian Company in London asked for permission to issue both the Rite and Petrushka on piano roll, and by early 1918 the composer had made several sketches to be used in the more complex passages. Again owing to the war, the work of transcribing the rolls dragged on, and only the Rite was ever issued by Aeolian on standard Pianola rolls, and this not until late 1921, by which time Stravinsky had completed a far more comprehensive re-composition of the work for the Pleyela, the brand of player piano manufactured by Pleyel in Paris.

The Pleyela/Pianola master rolls were not recorded using a "recording piano" played by a performer in real time, but were instead true "pianola" rolls, cut mechanically/graphically, free from any constraints imposed by the ability of the player. Musicologist William Malloch observed that on these rolls the final section is at a considerably faster tempo, relative to the rest of the composition, than in the generally-used orchestral score. Malloch opines—based upon this evidence, the composer's revisions of the orchestral score, and a limited number of very early phonographic recordings of performances—that Stravinsky originally intended the faster tempo, but found that significant numbers of orchestral players at the time were simply unable to manage the rhythmic complexity of the section at that tempo, and accordingly revised the tempo markings. The Zander recording includes both the pianola version, and the orchestral Rite with the faster tempo restored to the final section. A low-fidelity recording is available from .

Themes

The Rite of Spring is a series of episodes depicting a wild pagan spring ritual: "... the wise elders are seated in a circle and are observing the dance before death of the girl whom they are offering as a sacrifice to the god of Spring in order to gain his benevolence," said Stravinsky, of the imagery that prompted the genesis of the work. Though the music is capable of standing alone, and was a great success in the concert hall, in conception it is inextricably tied to the action on stage. The Rite is divided into two parts with the following scenes (there are many different English translations of the original titles; the ones given are Stravinsky's preferred wording followed by the original French in parenthesis):

Part I: Adoration of the Earth

Introduction
The Harbingers of Spring (Dances of the Young Girls) (Les augures printaniers, Danses des adolescentes)
Ritual of Abduction (Jeu du rapt)
Spring Rounds (Round Dance) (Rondes printanières)
Ritual of the Rival Tribes (Jeu des cités rivales)
Procession of the Sage (Cortège du sage)
The Adoration of the Earth (Adoration de la terre)
Dance of the Earth (Danse de la terre)

Part II: The Sacrifice

Introduction
Mystic Circles of the Young Girls (Cercles mystérieux des adolescentes)
The Glorification of the Chosen One (Glorification de l'Élue)
Evocation of the Ancestors (Évocation des ancêtres)
Ritual Action of the Ancestors (Action rituelle des ancêtres)
Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One) (Danse sacrale (l'Élue))

Though the melodies draw upon folklike themes designed to evoke the feeling of songs passed down from ancient time, the only tune Stravinsky acknowledged to be directly drawn from previously-existing folk melody is the opening, first heard played by the solo bassoon. Several other themes, however, have been shown to have a striking similarity to folk tunes appearing in the Juskiewicz anthology of Lithuanian folk songs.

Musical characteristics

Stravinsky's music is harmonically

Harmony

In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously, and chord s, actual or implied, in music. The word is related to the word "harmonic" which implies related wavelengths of waves....
adventurous, with prominent use of dissonance for the purposes of color and musical energy. Rhythmically, it is similarly adventurous, a number of sections having constantly changing time signatures and off-beat accents. Stravinsky used asymmetrical rhythms, percussive dissonance

Dissonance

Dissonance has several meanings, all related to conflict or incongruity:*Consonance and dissonance in music are properties of an interval or chord...
, polyrhythms, polytonality

Polytonality

The musical use of more than one key simultaneity is polytonality. Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time.A well-known, controversial example is the fanfare at the beginning of the second tableau of Igor Stravinsky's ballet, Petrushka....
, layering of ostinati

Ostinato

In music, an Ostinato is a motif or phrase which is persistently repetition in the same musical voice. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody....
(persistently repeated ideas) and melodic fragments to create complex webs of interactive lines, and is influenced by primitivism

Primitivism

Primitivism , or more accurately, "soft primitivism" -- the opinion that life was better or more moral during the early stages of mankind or among primitive peoples and has deteriorated with civilization -- is a response to the perennial question of whether the development of complex civilization and technology has benefited or harmed mankin...
(specifically, West African tribal art). An example of primitivism can be seen below (from the opening of the final section, the "Sacrificial Dance"):

Stravinsky, the Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance

According to George Perle

George Perle

George Perle was a composer and music theory. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. A student of Ernst Krenek, Perle composed with a technique of his own devising called "twelve-tone tonality," which is different from, but related to, twelve-tone technique ....
(1977 quoted in 1990) the "intersecting of inherently non-symmetrical diatonic elements with inherently non-diatonic symmetrical elements seems...the defining principle of the musical language of Le Sacre and the source of the unparalleled tension and conflicted energy of the work". This idea is elaborated more fully by Van Den Toorn, who gives a detailed analysis of the pitch structure of the piece in terms of diatonically-derived tetrachords intersecting with symmetrical 'partitions' of the octatonic scale.

Like the symmetrical partitioning of the twelve-tone scale in Le Sacre, the work's diatonicism may be explained in terms of interval cycle

Interval cycle

In music, an interval cycle is the collection of pitch classes created by starting with a certain note and going up by a certain interval until the original note is reached ....
s more simply and coherently than in terms of traditional modes or major and minor scales. With the single exception of interval[-class] 5, every interval[-class] from 1 through 6 partitions an octave into equal segments. A seven-note segment of the interval-5 cycle [C5], telescoped into the compass of an octave, divides the octave into unequal intervals: 'whole-steps' and 'half-steps'".

The boundary of what Perle considers the principal theme from the Introduction, following the solo bassoon head motif in measures 1-3, is a symmetrical tritone divided by minor thirds, making an interval-3 cycle (C 3) (p. 19). Like Varese's Density 21.5
Density 21.5

Density 21.5 is a piece of music for solo flute written by Edgard Var?se in 1936 and revised in 1946. The piece was composed at the request of Georges Barr?re for the premiere of his platinum flute, the density of platinum being close to 21.5 grammes per cubic centimetre ....
, "it partitioned the interval of a tritone into two minor thirds and differentiated these by twice filling in the span of the upper third--first chromatically and then with a single passing note--and leaving the lower third open". The theme repeats "truncated" in 7-9, the head motif only in 13, and then fully, transposed down a half step, fifty three measures later, 66, at the end of the movement with "cb-bb-ab instead of the head motif's c-b-a" (p. 81-82).

Like Density 21.5, it "implies the complete representation of each partition of the C3 interval cycle." C3₀ begins in the head motif's c-b-a and is completed by the main theme which immediately follows (see example above). However, "the otherwise atonal C 3 cycle is initiated by a minor third that is plainly diatonic and tonal" (p. 83). Thus The Rite of Spring has something in common with No. 33 of Bartok's 44 Violin Duets, "Song of the Harvest", which, "juxtaposes tonal and atonal interpretations of the same perfect-4th tetrachord

Tetrachord

Traditionally, a tetrachord is a series of four tones filling in the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion. In modern usage a tetrachord is any four-note segment of a scale or tone row....
" (p. 86).

The enduring celebrity of The Rite of Spring is partly due to its constant discussion and analysis by musicologists and music theorists. Allen Forte

Allen Forte

Allen Forte is a music theory and musicologist. He was born in Portland, Oregon and fought in the Navy at the close of World War II before moving to the East Coast....
, Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music and Conducting....
and Van den Toorn have given analyses of the work's structure in terms of abstract relations of rhythm and pitch, arguing for a modernist understanding of its musical language. On the other hand, Richard Taruskin

Richard Taruskin

Richard Taruskin is an American musicologist, music historian, and critic who has written about the theory of performance, Russian music, fifteenth-century music, twentieth-century music, nationalism, the theory of modernism, and analysis....
's monumental study of Stravinsky's early music gives an explanation of the musical characteristics as fundamentally and directly derived from Russian folk music.

Music of Russia

Russia is a large and extremely culture diverse country, with dozens of ethnic groups, each with their own forms of music. During the period of Soviet Union domination, music was highly scrutinized and kept within certain boundaries of content and innovation....

Instrumentation

The Rite of Spring is scored for an unusually large orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
consisting of the following:

Woodwinds:

Piccolo

The piccolo is a small flute. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger component, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written....

3 Flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
s (3rd doubling Piccolo 2)

Alto Flute

Alto flute

The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the Western concert flute after the fl?te d'amour....

4 Oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy"....
s (4th doubling English Horn 2)

English Horn

Clarinet in E-flat and D

3 Clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
s in B-flat, A (3rd doubling Bass Clarinet

Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet....
2)

Bass Clarinet

Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet....

4 Bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the Bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher....
s (4th doubling Contrabassoon 2)

Contrabassoon

The contrabassoon is a larger version of the bassoon sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences....

Brass

Brass instrument

A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular resonator. They are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments" ....
:

8 Horn

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. It is descended from the natural horn and is informally known as the French horn....
s in F (7th and 8th doubling Wagner Tuba

Wagner tuba

The Wagner tuba is a comparatively rare brass instrument that combines elements of both the Horn and the tuba. It was originally created for Richard Wagner's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen....
s in B-flat)

Trumpet in D

Piccolo trumpet

The smallest of the trumpet family is the piccolo trumpet. The most common of these instruments are built to play in both B-flat and A, with separate leadpipes for each key....

4 Trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
s in C (4th doubling Bass Trumpet

Bass trumpet

The bass trumpet is a type of low trumpet which was first developed during the 1820s in Germany. It is usually pitched in 8' C or 9' B today, but is sometimes built in E and is treated as a transposing instrument sounding either an octave, a sixth or a ninth lower than written, depending on the pitch of the instrument....
in E-flat)

3 Trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
s

2 Tuba

Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped Mouthpiece ....
s

Percussion:

Timpani

Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion instrument family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a drumhead stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass....
(2 players, one with 5 drums, the other with 4 including a Piccolo Timpani)

Bass Drum

Bass drum

A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch . There are three general classifications of bass drums: the concert bass drum, the kick' drum, and the pitched bass drum....

Cymbal

Cymbals are a modern percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various cymbal alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture....
s

Tam-tam

Crotales

Crotales , sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, Tuned percussion bronze or brass disks. Each is about 4 inches in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base....
(antique cymbals) in A-flat and B-flat

Triangle

Triangle (instrument)

The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the Percussion instrument family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape....

Tambourine

The tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the Percussion instrument family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils"....

Güiro

Strings

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
:

Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s I, II (16), (14)

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
s (12)

Violoncellos (10)

Double Bass

Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
es (8)

Stravinsky scored the instruments of the orchestra in unusual and uncomfortable sounding registers

In music, a register is the relative "height" or Range of a note, Musical set theory of Pitch es or pitch classes, melody, part, Musical instrument or group of instruments....
(ranges) in the Rite of Spring, often emulating the strained sounds of untrained village voices. An instance of this is heard in the very opening bassoon solo which reaches to the highest notes of the instrument's range. The composer also called for instruments that, before the Rite of Spring, had rarely been scored for in orchestral music, including the alto flute

Alto flute

The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the Western concert flute after the fl?te d'amour....
, piccolo trumpet

Piccolo trumpet

The smallest of the trumpet family is the piccolo trumpet. The most common of these instruments are built to play in both B-flat and A, with separate leadpipes for each key....
, bass trumpet

Bass trumpet

Wagner tuba

Güiro

The g?iro is a percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a wooden stick along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound....
. The use of these instruments, combined with the aforementioned manipulation of instrumental ranges, gave the piece a distinctive sound.

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American classical music composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers." Copland's music achieved a balance between modernism music and American folk styles....
, in his 1951–52 Charles Eliot Norton

Charles Eliot Norton

Charles Eliot Norton, was a leading United States author, social critic, and professor of art. He was a militant idealist, a progressive social reformer, and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries considered the most cultivated man in the United States....
lectures, characterized the Rite of Spring as the foremost orchestral achievement of the 20th century.

Reconstruction of Ballet

Although Nijinsky's choreography was poorly preserved, this choreography and Roerich's costuming and set design were reconstructed by dance historian Millicent Hodson, art historian Kenneth Archer, and choreographer Robert Joffrey, for performance by the Joffrey Ballet

Joffrey Ballet

The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. It is one of the foremost ballet companies in the world....
from 1987-89.

Influence on Dance

The music is used as a standard of dance troupes around the world, including for choreography by Pina Bausch

Pina Bausch

Philippine "Pina" Bausch is a modern dance choreography and a leading influence in the development of the Tanztheater style of dance. She is the artistic director and choreographer of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch company, based in Wuppertal in Germany....
and Sir Kenneth MacMillan. Different from the long and graceful lines of traditional ballet, arms and legs were sharply bent in Nijinsky's choreography. The dancers danced more from their pelvis than their feet, a style that later influenced Martha Graham

Martha Graham

Martha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Igor Stravinsky had on music, Pablo Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture....
. The "anti-ballet" aspects of the Nijinsky choreography (body components curled inward not opened outward, body pulled down not lifted up, steps heavy not light, focus on grotesqueness not elegance) as well as the controversial, violent, pagan, or primitivist thematic material, greatly influenced Hijikata and Tamano method Butoh

Butoh

is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally "performed" in white-body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion, with or witho...
. While Stravinsky felt Nijinsky could not understand his music, Nijinsky found that his dancers could not follow the complex musical score. Nijinsky developed a method of pounding a large board on the floor, whereby the dancers could "feel" cues . Nijinsky's method of pounding on the floor with a board was adopted by Israeli choreographer Moshe Efrati, who led a company that includes deaf dancers.

Disney's Fantasia

The Rite of Spring was further popularized through Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was a multiple Academy Award-winning American film producer, film director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist....
's Fantasia
Fantasia (film)

Fantasia is a 1940 in film List of animated feature-length films produced by Walt Disney, and is the third film in the List of Disney theatrical animated features#official canon....
(1940

1940 in film

The year 1940 in film involved some significant events....
), an animated

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of Motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways....
feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial Film distributor in Movie theater and being the "main attraction" of the screening ....
in which imaginative visual images and stories are added to classical music. Stravinsky's own 1961 recording of the work for Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label founded in 1888.Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders....
included liner notes

Liner notes

Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes....
by him, transcribed from an interview

Interview

An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee....
for which the audio still exists. Therein, he stated that he received $1,200 (his share of a total $5,000) for the use of his music in the film, explaining that since his music was not copyright

Copyright is a form of intellectual property which gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation; after which time the work is said to enter the public domain....
ed for use in the USA it could be used regardless of whether he granted permission or not, but that Disney wished to show the film in other countries. In order for the music to follow the animated story concerned, much of Part I either was omitted entirely or was moved to, or repeated at, the end. Stravinsky described the performance as "execrable" and thought the segment as a whole "involved a dangerous misunderstanding".

The Walt Disney studios countered his assertions with detailed reports and photographs of Stravinsky's visit to the studio in which he was shown an early version of the sequence. "Ah, yes! That is just what I meant, I suppose!" he chuckled. He is seen in various photographs smiling and holding animation reference maquette

Maquette

A maquette is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished architectural work or a sculpture. It is used to visualize and test shapes and ideas without incurring the cost and effort of producing a full scale product....
s, and after seeing the piece, he gave Disney rights to film The Firebird in any subsequent version of Fantasia.

The Disney studios maintain they were completely surprised by his turn of opinion in later years. Stravinsky claimed he signed over the rights for The Firebird to the Disney studios only after Walt Disney personally threatened him and told him he was going to film The Firebird whether he liked it or not, so he might as well sign over the rights and be paid for it. The Disney family maintains that Stravinsky was being disingenuous. Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney

Roy E. Disney

Roy Edward Disney Order of St. Gregory the Great was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy O. Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded....
later used The Firebird in his production of Fantasia 2000
Fantasia 2000

Fantasia 2000 is an United States animated film feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures....
. (The Firebird was also used in the pastiche

Pastiche

The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. The word has two competing meanings, meaning either a "wikt:hodgepodge" or an imitation....
of Fantasia, Allegro non troppo
Allegro non troppo

Allegro non troppo is a Bruno Bozzetto Animation film released in 1977. The film is a parody of Walt Disney Company's Fantasia , though possibly more of a challenge to Fantasia than parody status would imply....
.)

The Rite of Spring is the fourth piece to be played in the film, illustrated by "a pageant, as the story of the growth of life on Earth" according to the narration (read by Deems Taylor

Deems Taylor

Deems Taylor was a United States of America composer, music critic, and promoter of classical music.Taylor was born in New York City and educated at New York University ....
). The sequence shows the beginning of simple life forms, evolution up to the dinosaurs, and their eventual destruction. The movie was not considered successful at the time, but has since been hailed as an ambitious and imaginative use of animation for "serious" art.

The Rite of Spring sequence featured four parts:

The Beginning of the Earth

A trip through space
Space

Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which Physical body and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physics usually consider it, with time, to be part of the boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime....
Volcano
Volcano

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or Crust , which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface....
es and boiling lava
Lava

Lava is molten Rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. When first expelled from a volcanic vent, it is a liquid at temperatures from 700 ?C to 1,200 ?C ....
and magma
Magma

Magma is molten Rock that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and may also exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles....
as they form the surface of the earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...

Prehistoric Life

Amoeba
Amoeba

Amoeba is a term used either to describe protists that move by crawling via pseudopods, or to refer to a genus that includes species that move by this mechanism....
s and other microscopic
Microscopic

Microscopic is a term used to describe objects smaller than those that can easily be seen by the naked eye and which require a lens or microscope to see them clearly....
life forms
Sea anemone
Anemone

Anemone , is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones. They are closely related to Pasque flowers and Hepaticas ; some botanists include both of these genera within Anemone....
s
Various primitive life
The Evolution
Evolution

In biology, evolution is change in the heritability trait of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. These changes are caused by a combination of three main processes: variation, reproduction, and selection....
of a fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
Pterosaurs, Plesiosaurs, and Mosasaurs explore their marine home

The Age of the Dinosaurs

A panoply of Dinosaurs rule the Earth.
A battle in which a Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus

Tyrannosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur. The famous species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture around the world....
defeats a Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus is a genus of Stegosauria Thyreophora dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well....
A global drought causes the extinction of the Dinosaurs

Life then on

A huge earthquake
Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph....
followed by a tsunami
Tsunami

A is a series of ocean surface wave that is created when a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. The Japanese term is literally translated into " harbor wave."...
A solar eclipse
Eclipse

An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when one celestial object moves into the shadow of another. The term is derived from the ancient Greek noun , from verb , "I cease to exist," a combination of prefix , from preposition , "out," and of verb , "I am absent"....
A pan of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
as the screen fades

As a film score

Subsequent film composers have been influenced by The Rite of Spring and sometimes make indirect or direct references to the work. For example, for the original Star Wars
Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
, John Williams wrote a cue for a scene in the Dune Sea of Tatooine

Tatooine

Tatooine is a setting for many key scenes in the Star Wars saga, and it appears in every Star Wars saga except The Empire Strikes Back. Since it is the home planet of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, it is also one of the most iconic planets in the Star Wars universe....
that begins with a permutation of the introduction to Part II of The Rite of Spring. Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith was an American film score composer from Los Angeles, California. Goldsmith was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards , and also won four Emmy Awards....
's score for Peter Hyams

Peter Hyams

Peter Hyams is an American screenwriter, film director and cinematographer, probably best known for directing the 1984 sci-fi adventure 2010 , Capricorn One and the comic book adaptation Timecop....
' science-fiction classic Outland
Outland (film)

Outland is a 1981 in film science fiction film written and directed by Peter Hyams.Set on Jupiter's moon Io , it has been described as a space Western, that is, a Western set in the future, and indeed bears obvious thematic resemblances to High Noon....
can be heard to draw on Stravinsky's score at several points. The specific motivation for such reference/homage/borrowing is not always apparent, but in the sleeve notes of the special edition of the soundtrack of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, John Williams is quoted as saying that he broke one of his own cardinal rules, in that he listened to Lucas' temp track

Temp track

A temp track is an existing piece of music or sound which is used during in film production during the editing phase. It serves as a guideline for the mood or atmosphere the Film director is looking for in a scene....
. The similarity between this Star Wars passage and the Introduction of Part II of Stravinsky's work suggest that George Lucas had used this very piece as music for that scene. This work also echoes in John Williams's theme to Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
's 2005 adaptation of War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds (2005 film)

War of the Worlds is a 2005 in film science fiction-disaster film based on H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin....
. The opening bars of the piece form a theme used in the animated TV series The Animals Of Farthing Wood.

Partial list of recordings

Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conducting. Born in Paris, France, rue de la Grange Bateli?re. Monteux later became an American citizen....
conducting the "Grand Orchestre Symphonique," Disque Gramophone, recorded 1929 (premier recording)
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Stokowski was a famous orchestral conducting, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted....
conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is an orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is historically considered to be one of the "Big Five " American orchestras....
, Victor, recorded 1929-30 (first US recording)
Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, Fantasia
Fantasia (film)

Fantasia is a 1940 in film List of animated feature-length films produced by Walt Disney, and is the third film in the List of Disney theatrical animated features#official canon....
film soundtrack, recorded 1939 (abridged)
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux

Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conducting. Born in Paris, France, rue de la Grange Bateli?re. Monteux later became an American citizen....
conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five "....
, RCA
RCA

RCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. Today, the RCA is owned by the France conglomerate Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson....
, recorded 1951 (mono)
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was a multi-Emmy-winning and Academy Award for Original Music Score nominated American Conductor , composer, author, music lecturer and Piano....
conducting the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States, organized during 1842. Based in New York City, the Philharmonic performs most of its concerts at Avery Fisher Hall....
, Columbia
Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label founded in 1888.Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders....
, recorded 1958.
Igor Markevitch
Igor Markevitch

Igor Markevitch was a Ukrainians composer and conducting....
conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, EMI
EMI

The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
, recorded 1959 (reissued on Testament)
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Columbia Symphony Orchestra

The Columbia Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra formed by Columbia Records. It provided a vehicle for some of Columbia's better known recording artists to record using only company resources....
, Columbia, recorded 1960
Karel Ancerl
Karel Ancerl

Karel Ancerl was a Czechs Conducting, known for his performances of contemporary music and for his interpretations of music by Czech composers....
conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

The Cesk? filharmonie is a symphony orchestra based in Prague and is the best-known and most respected orchestra in the Czech Republic. It was voted 20th place of the top 20 best orchestras in the World in a 2008 survey organized by the British magazine Gramophone ....
, Supraphon
Supraphon

Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech Republic record label, it is oriented mainly on publishing classical music....
, recorded 1963
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conducting, one of the most renowned 20th-century conductors. His obituary in The New York Times described him as "probably the world's best-known conductor and one of the most powerful figures in classical music." Karajan conducted the Berlin Philharmonic for thirty-five years....
conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

The Berlin Philharmonic , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra....
, Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon

Deutsche Grammophon is a Germany classical record label, now part of the Universal Music Group. The company has long been known for its high standards of high fidelity....
, recorded 1964
Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa

is a Japanese conducting, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic music works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera....
conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five "....
, RCA, recorded 1968
Bernard Haitink
Bernard Haitink

Bernard Johan Herman Haitink Order of the Companions of Honour Order of the British Empire is a Netherlands conducting and violinist....
conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall....
, Phillips Eloquence
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music and Conducting....
conducting the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra

The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five "....
, Columbia, recorded 1969, and Deutsche Grammophon, recorded 1992
Sir Colin Davis conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philips
Philips Classics Records

Philips Classics Records was started in the 1980s as the new classics record label for Philips Records. It was successful with artists like Andrea Bocelli, Alfred Brendel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St....
, recorded 1976
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conducting, one of the most renowned 20th-century conductors. His obituary in The New York Times described him as "probably the world's best-known conductor and one of the most powerful figures in classical music." Karajan conducted the Berlin Philharmonic for thirty-five years....
conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

The Berlin Philharmonic , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra....
, Deutsche Grammophon, recorded 1977
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel

Lorin Varencove Maazel is a conducting, viola and composer....
conducting the Cleveland Orchestra, Telarc, recorded 1980
Benjamin Zander
Benjamin Zander

Benjamin Zander is an United States conducting from United Kingdom. He is the music director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and a faculty member at the New England Conservatory....
conducting the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, IMP
Imp

An imp is a mythology being similar to a fairy or demon, frequently described in folklore and superstition. The word may perhaps derive from the term ympe, used to denote a young grafting tree....
, with the solo pianola version, played by Rex Lawson, recorded 1990
Alexander Rahbari conducting the BRT Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels, Naxos, recorded 1990
Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit

Charles ?douard Dutoit is a Switzerland conducting, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music. He has made influential modern recordings of Hector Berlioz's Rom?o et Juliette and Maurice Ravel's ballets Daphnis et Chlo? and Ma M?re l'Oie....
conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Orchestre symphonique de Montr?al is a symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with Montreal's Place des Arts as its home....
, London/Polygram
London Records

London Records is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 in music through 1979 in music, then becoming a semi-independent label....
, recorded 1990
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music and Conducting....
conducting the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Arts Centre....
, RM Arts (DVD/VHS), recorded 1993
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael Tilson Thomas , is an United States conducting, piano and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony....
conducting the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony

The San Francisco Symphony is a leading orchestra based in San Francisco, California. The current music director is Michael Tilson Thomas, who has held the position since September 1995....
, RCA/BMG, recorded 1996
Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conducting and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera....
conducting the orchestra of the Kirov Opera, Philips, recorded 1999
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen is a prominent Finland orchestral conducting and composer. He is currently Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London....
conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an United States orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September....
, Deutsche Grammophon, recorded 2006 on Hybrid SACD
Mariss Jansons
Mariss Jansons

Mariss Jansons is a Latvian conducting, the son of conductor Arvid Jansons. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga ghetto....
with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based in Amsterdam. The orchestra is named for its resident venue, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam....
, RCO Live Holland
Holland

Holland is a name in common usage given to two regions in the western part of Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often mistakenly used to refer to the whole of The Netherlands....
, August 2008
Avant-prog
Avant-progressive rock

Avant-progressive rock is a style of music based on rock music that explores unconventional territory, often incorporating non-standard chord progressions, tempo changes within a piece, odd time signatures, avant-garde passages and complex wind instrument and orchestral arrangements....
band Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is a musical group founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1980.The music of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is almost entirely instrumental rock, and incorporates many different musical elements; critic Rick Anderson writes, "Very few bands have ever managed to straddle the worlds of contemporary music music and rock music...
performed cover composition The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, commonly referred to by its original French language title, Le Sacre du Printemps is a ballet with music by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, original choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, and original set design and costumes by archaeologist and painter Nicholas Roerich, all under impresario Serge Diaghilev....
on their albums "Magnetic Flip" (1984) and "Dawn of the Cycads" (2008)

Stravinsky reportedly greeted Leonard Bernstein's 1958 recording with the one-word reaction, "Wow!" In a detailed review of Herbert von Karajan's first 1964 account he derided it as "too polished", "a pet savage rather than a real one", and described Action rituelle des ancêtres as "tempo di hoochie-coochie

Hoochie Coochie Man

"Hoochie Coochie Man" is a 1954 song written by Willie Dixon and first performed by Muddy Waters. The song was a major hit upon its release, reaching number eight on Billboard magazine magazine's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart....
" and "duller than Disney's dying dinosaurs". He concluded: "I doubt whether The Rite can be satisfactorily performed in terms of Herr von Karajan's traditions".

External links

Keeping Score: Revolutions in Music: Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring

Name

Composition and critical reception

Themes

Musical characteristics

Instrumentation

Reconstruction of Ballet

Influence on Dance

Disney's Fantasia

As a film score

Partial list of recordings

See also

External links