The house lights dim and the curtain is drawn quickly up into the fly space and you hear an ethereal, unworldly voice singing out high above the rustling bodies in the hall. Unfortunately, that's the last bit of the music you'll hear tonight because you're sitting in the premier of Igor Stravinsky's (1882-1971) latest ballet, the "Rite of Spring" and half the audience just lost their damn minds.
Or just an average week in Springfield |
And that is pretty much what happened on the April evening in a Parisian theatre. Shortly after the introduction of the ballet, the crowd began jeering and heckling the orchestra, giving suggestions on how to proceed and lamenting the unarguably unique style of both music and dance to which they were being treated.
Within the crowd were two main schools of thought. You had your upper-crusters who wanted to hear some pretty, inconsequential ballet and watch some chick with blocks in her shoes bounce around the stage for a few hours. The other camp was essentially in favor of anything that would piss off the old geezers in the balconies.
I'm not sure today's culture can relate... |
Fueled by the dichotomy of classes, they began fighting amongst themselves, eventually turning their mutual wrath upon the orchestra, who never stopped playing. The dancers on stage couldn't hear their musical cues over the roar of the angry crowd turned mob. It got so bad that at one point Nijinsky was shouting the counts from the wings. Over 40 people were removed by force from the concert hall that had erupted in a riot.
The first run continued unabated with a few performances following, but the pallor of that opening night cast a deep shadow upon the work at large. Nijinsky was later cited by Stravinsky for completing his vision almost to perfection, thus placing him side by side with the criticisms lodged solely with the so called "ugly dancing".
However, Stravinsky's music was also not spared from the slings and arrows from the pens of many critics of the day. The score itself sounds to me very metallic in nature. It's like a gigantic machine that's not quite running properly, and the results are sometimes catastrophic. The artists at Disney interpreted it as the beginning and the end of the dinosaurs, embracing the earthen and pugilistic nature of the work.
Today, it's considered a great turning point into the modern era of music, and is often cited by many composers who have come forth since, bringing unique and often initially unpopular ideas to the forefront of musical culture. The choreography to such abrasive music is a challenge to both the dancer and the audience, but I feel Stravinsky truly captured the anguish and despair that one might exhibit when exposed to such a heinous and vile act as human sacrifice.
And how |
Homework: Listen to the first example with your eyes closed. Picture how one might actually dance to this. After you've had enough, watch the second example. Bonus points if you listen/watch the whole thing.
See you next Friday.
-ED
Sources:
www.youtube.com
www.wikipedia.com