Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.
Stravinsky's "Riot"of Spring?
Today's date marks the anniversary of one of the most famous—and notorious—premieres in the history of classical music, that of Stravinsky's "Le sacre du printemps" (The Rite of Spring), in Paris on May 29, 1913. From its first note—sounded by the bassoon at the extreme end of its highest register—Stravinsky's score signaled the start of something radically different. It's also remembered as the occasion of one of the most emotional reactions by any audience: As the music got under way, catcalls and insults were hurled between the composer's supporters and detractors, fistfights broke out, and finally the police were called. There were those, including Pierre Monteux, the conductor of the premiere, who felt the reactions were occasioned more by the dancing and the stage picture than by the music itself, and indeed "The Rite of Spring" has since fared far better in the concert hall than as a ballet. Years later, when Monteux was asked what he thought of the original production, he confessed to everyone's amusement that he actually never saw it, because his eyes were glued to the score. "On hearing this near riot behind me," he wrote, "I decided to keep the orchestra together at any cost, in case of a lull in the hubbub. I did, and we played it to the end absolutely as we had rehearsed it in the peace of an empty theatre."