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| Igor Stravinsky |
Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” is one of the world’s
most famous and influential works of classical music, and while I’ve known
about it for years, I couldn’t honestly say that I’d ever listened to it from
start to finish. For this reason, I added it to my “bucket list” a couple of
years ago, and I finally took the time to listen to the entire thing on Sunday
night. I was not disappointed.
For those of you unfamiliar with “The Rite of Spring,” it’s
a musical work for an orchestra and ballet composed by Russian composer Igor
Stravinsky, who was just 30 years old when “The Rite” premiered at
the Theatre des Champs-Elysees on May 29, 1913. In all, the work is about 35
minutes long.
One reason that I was curious about listening to the
complete “Rite of Spring” was because it is supposedly so intense that it
actually sparked a riot during its premiere. The work was so unlike what most
music lovers of the time were accustomed to that it caused an uproar in the
theater. Others claim that the pulsating, primal rhythms of the piece sparked
the crowd to violence.
When I got ready to listen to the whole thing for myself, I
just went to YouTube and typed in “Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.” This took me
to a video of a performance that I highly recommend. Published in July 2013 to
mark the 100th anniversary of “The Rite of Spring,” it’s a BBC broadcast of
conductor François-Xavier Roth directing the Les Siècles orchestra in a
performance that used instruments from the period in which “The Rite” was
originally performed. Not only will you see expected instruments like violins,
flutes and clarinets, but I also noticed stiff-bristled brushes, tiny cymbals and other
instruments so unusual that I’m not even really sure what to call them.
I highly recommend that you watch an orchestral performance
of this work for yourself rather than just listening to a recording of the work
without video. In the YouTube video mentioned above, you can see the intensity
of the musicians and the conductor as he pours with sweat during the performance. You also get a good
idea for the complexity and difficulty of the overall work. If you’d like to
watch it for yourself, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq1q6u3mLSM.
I really enjoyed watching this video and taking the
time to listen to “The Rite of Spring” from start to finish. Having now seen
and listened to the entire thing, I can appreciate why it’s so highly regarded
and why it is considered so influential. I was also left with the desire to
watch the YouTube video all over again, the same feeling that I sometimes get when I watch a
really, really good movie. When you consider that I’m talking about a century-old work of classical music, that’s saying a lot.
In the end, how many of you have listened to “The Rite of
Spring” from start to finish? How many of you have seen a live performance of
this musical work? Let us know in the comments section below.
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