Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

THE STORY

Following the success of his first two ballets, The Firebird (1910) and Petrushka (1911), for Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballet Russes, Igor Stravinsky was catapulted to the forefront of the modern musical world. Eager to continue fruitful collaboration with the company, Stravinsky resumed working on a sketch he began alongside Petrushka, tentatively named “The Great Sacrifice.” The ballet that resulted, The Rite of Spring, centered on the sacrificial rite of an ancient Slavic tribe, ending with the elders of the tribe selecting a young girl to dance to her death in order to renew the fertility of the soil. Stravinsky used Lithuanian folksong to capture a sense of authenticity, but imparted the score with immense dissonance, metric irregularity, and polyrhythms,—uniting “primitive” with modern.

While tales of violent scandal at the 1913 premiere are likely overblown, The Rite of Spring certainly caused an uproar, in no small part due to its unorthodox choreography. In fact, it was reported that at times the laughter and mockery were so loud one could scarcely even hear the music, despite the orchestra’s massive size.

Despite the premiere, The Rite of Spring is often cited as one of the most influential works of the entire 20th century for Stravinsky’s redefinition of the limits of descriptive musical language.

LISTEN FOR

• The opening bassoon passage, intentionally composed in a dramatically high range of the instrument
• The horrific tramping of the strings in the first movement, offset by repeated passages that layer upon one another—a key feature of Stravinsky’s style 
• The erratic rhythms on display in The Sacrifice, where the chosen young girl dances to her demise

INSTRUMENTATION

Two piccolos, three flutes, alto flute, four oboes, two English horns, three clarinets, two bass clarinets, E-flat clarinet, four bassoons, two contrabassoons, eight horns, four trumpets, three trombones, two tubas, two timpani, percussion, strings

Notes on the music by Andrew Moenning