The day seems to have passed, thankfully, for at least one development sparked by Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (1913): the concert review in ersatz, proto-Dr. Seuss-style verse, e.g.:

Who wrote this fiendish Rite of Spring

What right had he to write the thing,

Against our helpless ears to fling

Its crash, clash, cling, clang, bing, bang, bing?

And then to call it Rite of Spring,

the season when on joyous wing

The birds melodious carols sing

And harmony's in everything!

He who could write the Rite of Spring,

If I be right, by right should swing!

While lynching the composer—which the anonymous author in the Boston Herald of February 9, 1924 appears to advocate in his last couplet—seems a bit excessive as a pan, one must remember that such vituperations only added to the air of succès de scandale that had surrounded Rite since its Paris premiere some ten years earlier. Certainly, the impact of this legendary event (as well as similarly "colorful" receptions to the work elsewhere) expedited its recognition as an all-around seminal occurrence and achievement in the social history and art of the twentieth century. In understanding early reactions to Rite, it is worth considering that while Stravinsky was at a relatively early stage in his career, a cadre of older, well-known, more traditionally aligned composers—Strauss, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius, Elgar, and yes, Rachmaninov—remained active and retained a good deal of currency with audiences. At the same time, the scenario adopted by the Rite collaborators—Stravinsky, folklorist and artist Roerich, choreographer Nijinsky, impresario Diaghilev—was far from the usual genteel, sentimental, and romantic themes that had theretofore dominated ballet. This collection of "Scenes from Pagan Russia" (the work's subtitle) concerns itself with an exploration of nature, both human and that of the earth itself, through the rituals of renewal—ultimately, human sacrifice—of an earlier, "primitive" society.

The titles of the ballet's two main sections, "A Kiss of the Earth" and "The Exalted Sacrifice," as well as those of their internal divisions, make clear both the ritualistic, sacred, and inviolable progression of events reenacted via music and choreography, and the elements of that progression. Stravinsky skillfully sustains and continually heightens a sense of brutal inevitability over the span of the whole work while encapsulating more specific elements in individual scenes. The Introduction raises the curtain on the earth itself, the distinctive bassoon solo plaintively establishing a hushed, reverent mood. More complex colors—which Stravinsky achieves through extreme instrumental ranges (as in the above instance), special playing techniques, and endlessly changing combinations drawn from his greatly expanded orchestra—gradually emerge and expand, only to be cut off subito by a remnant of the original bassoon theme. "The Augurs of Spring" begins with one of the most famous chords in music history, a crunching bitonal sonority hammered relentlessly in a constant 2/4 meter metrically undermined by unpredictably shifting accents.

Comparable instances of such rhythmic and harmonic harshness abound throughout the work, these elements assuming, along with instrumental color, both individual and collective roles in a manner analogous to those of the characters. Like the musical elements Stravinsky uses in their portrayal, the girls, youths, and elders function together within the identity of their society, at the same time assuming and asserting individual roles in relation to one another. The action forges ahead in an increasingly frenzied trajectory, finding culmination—in a sort of primal equivalent of cold logic—in the charged, uncompromising sacrifical dance which ends both the ballet and the cycle of its ritual.

© All Music Guide

The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps; version for piano 4-hands)

As Serge Diaghilev, the impresario who created the fusion of music, dance, costumes, staging, and publicity which was Le sacre du printemps, liked to say, the work was the twentieth century's Ninth Symphony, the work which forever and completely changed the way that music was written and heard. Although a failure at its premiere in 1913, Le sacre was triumphantly rehabilitated in 1914 as a concert piece. However, the intervention of the First World War and the subsequent dislocation caused by the collapse of the Russian and the Austrian Empires drastically curtailed performances of Le sacre and, until the full score was published in 1921, the only way a larger musical public had of hearing the music was through the piano duet reduction of the score Stravinsky prepared, which was published in 1913. Although the piano duet version necessarily eliminated the coloristic aspects and the instrumental affects of the score, it did preserve the melodic, harmonic, and but most importantly the rhythmic aspects of the score. With instrumental colors removed, Le sacre sounds even more brutally, even violently, rhythmic. Thus, while music lovers were able to hear the music of Le sacre, they were hearing it literally in black and white.

© All Music Guide