The most controversial rite of spring ever, in a different light 

 The most scandalous concert of the 20th century is often presented as a watershed. As if people woke up on 30 May 1913 to a new world after the première of The Rite of Spring the night before. Indisputably, that evening at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées had been a significant event. Witnesses with different standpoints confirmed the stories of grumbling in the auditorium, incomprehension among the audience and even loud protest and physical violence. In his review of the year for La Revue de Paris on 1 December 1913, Jacques-Émile Blanche prophesied: 

“The Rite of Spring is a date that will go down in the history of contemporary art.” 

But if we look beyond that mythical première for a moment, we might understand this radical ballet production as part of a wider current of innovation and change in the arts. A broader context in which even the story of the building plays a part. 

 A new kind of ballet – a turbulent première 

Depending on which witness you believe, the audience was most shocked either by the strange sounds and capricious rhythms, or by the angular choreography and the unconventional scenery and costumes. Different sources offer different versions of the story, with different emphases in each case. Incidentally, there were distinct groups in the audience. There were the Parisian elite, who came to watch the latest production by Les Ballets Russes and were probably not prepared for what they were about to see. But there were plenty of bohemians too – in the cheaper seats – who embraced Stravinsky and Nijinsky’s innovations with a free, artistic spirit. 

Igor Stravinsky himself loved to make a big thing of the unique and special nature of the composition and its eventful première, especially in his old age. He had the following to say about The Rite of Spring: 

“I was guided by no system whatsoever in Le Sacre du Printemps. When I think of the other composers of that time who interest me—Berg, who is synthetic (in the best sense), Webern, who is analytic, and Schoenberg, who is both—how much more theoretical their music seems than Le Sacre; and these composers were supported by a great tradition, whereas very little immediate tradition lies behind Le Sacre du printemps. I had only my ear to help me. I heard and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which Le Sacre passed.” 

This quotation creates the impression that Le Sacre was a kind of divine inspiration, a new musical language that had sprung forth out of nothing. Obviously, the truth was a bit more complicated. 

 Paris and its fascination with Russia 

The Rite of Spring was the third ballet that Stravinsky wrote for Les Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev’s company that caused a furore in Europe and made the absolute most of the Parisian fascination with exotic subject matter. Heathen – implicitly primitive – Russia was a popular theme, and the idea of a ritual spring sacrifice was perfect for this audience. In previous seasons, Les Ballets Russes had presented all kinds of fresh, new productions, including Stravinsky’s Petrushka and The Firebird. When the latest ballet was announced, then, the audience had certain expectations, and everyone was perfectly well aware that this wouldn’t be a ballet like Swan Lake, with lyrical melodies and seemingly weightless ballerinas. All the same, The Rite of Spring turned out to be a whole different story to the two previous ballets. 

An important distinction that is too little discussed – certainly in the musicological view of the work – is the absence of Michel Fokine from this production. Fokine had choreographed both of the previous ballets, but suddenly Stravinsky and Diaghilev decided to work with Vaslav Nijinsky. Nijinsky had attracted attention in the previous season as an exceptional dancer, in productions including Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë and especially in Debussy’s L’Après-midi d’un Faune, which he had also choreographed. 

New forms 

Why Stravinsky put Fokine out to pasture is debatable, but his correspondence with Andrei Rimsky-Korsakov (the son of the famous composer and a good friend of Stravinksy) reveals that Stravinsky was greatly inspired by ideas from the world of theatre at that time. In his letters, the composer encourages his friend to read an article by Georg Fuchs. This German thinker, considered the instigator of a major current of innovation in the theatre, was the author of works including Die Schaubühne der Zukunft. Fuchs’ philosophy belonged within a wider socio-political context. In Fuchs’ view, modern theatre needed to use new forms, not just to entertain and inspire people but also to move them and encourage them to take action. Stravinsky was especially moved by the plea for ‘new forms’, as he wrote to Andrei: 

“What could be better and more beautiful than the development of existing artforms? Only one thing: the creation of new forms.” 

We know from the timing of these letters that his fascination with this philosophy corresponded roughly to the period when he resumed work on The Rite of Spring, after a break in which he composed The Firebird. He shared the following conclusion about Fokine with Andrei: 

“I also wanted to write to you about one thing: you are mistaken to attach so much importance to Fokine as a ballet master […]. In general too much significance is accorded to Fokine [...]. If you knew what incredible efforts and unpleasantness the staging of Petrushka cost us – Benois and myself – due to the capricious and despotic, yet insufficiently sensitive Fokine. But we shall speak of that another time...” 

This shows that Stravinsky was well aware that The Rite of Spring needed to be a different sort of ballet, and that Fokine was not a suitable person to give shape to the new ideas. Thus the radical break with his previous work was not so much divine intervention as a result of the insights he found in theatre studies. 

Architecture as part of the theatrical experience (with a Belgian twist) 

Georg Fuchs’ ideas were strongly focused on the experience of the audience. Theatre was supposed to have a direct impact on the viewers, and the architecture of the auditorium also played an important role in that. After all, the distance between the stage and the audience, and the lines of sight, determine how intensely a production is experienced. 

The première of The Rite of Spring was part of the festivities for the opening of a brand new theatre in Paris: the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Henry van de Velde was asked to provide the original design, and he was familiar with the reforming ideas from the world of German theatre. The project was intended to be a modern theatre in which every seat had a good view of the stage. 

Although the final construction plans were adjusted later, this project shows how strongly the innovative ideas about theatre and audience experience were clearly in the air in Paris. It was in that climate of artistic reform that Stravinsky’s radical ballet was born. 

The music 

The score to The Rite of Spring is indeed radical. Stravinsky makes many unconventional choices and takes free composition far further than he had done in Petrushka and The Firebird. The high bassoon solo that begins the piece is just one of the many examples of the original sounds that the composer pulls out of his hat. He often creates new sounds with clever combinations of instruments as well. 

The form and musical logic are also unusual. You might best see this music as a row of big blocks, passages that radiate a certain energy for a certain length of time, which are replaced frequently and abruptly with contrasting blocks. A listener who tries to find an absorbing musical narrative here will get hopelessly lost. The capricious rhythms and angular movements reinforce this all the more. The emotions are raw, unpolished, primal: in short, everything that a civilised audience associated with heathen, primitive Old Russia. 

And here is perhaps the greatest paradox of the entire piece. Because Stravinsky does not only evoke a kind of ritualistic, primordial sound that suits the exotic idea of a heathen rite of spring in a distant, undeveloped country. He also uses folk melodies from Lithuania, Russian and Belarus, as has been extensively demonstrated in analyses of the score. Precisely that view of somewhere authentic, unspoilt, folksy and even primitive resulted in an emphatically modern score that many considered (and still do) to be as ‘ahead of its time’. Effectively, in his close collaboration with Diaghilev and Nijinsky and everyone else involved in the original production, Stravinsky had invented a new form of the kind called for by Georg Fuchs. 

Aside from the controversial première – which some sources believe to have been somewhat staged in order to attract attention – Le Sacre really did turn out to be a key work. Many composers cite this composition as a point of reference. From the American Elliott Carter, who decided to become a composer after a performance of the piece, to the Belgian Luc Brewaeys, who literally knew every note of the score off by heart, this work has remained a source of inspiration for countless composers and musicians. Today, The Rite of Spring also occupies a unique position in orchestral repertoire. The work is on every self-respecting orchestra’s music stand and is put on the programme at least once a year in most concert halls. Nevertheless, every performance still has a great impact on the listener. The pounding rhythms and shrill sounds never miss their mark; the febrile dissonances have an invocatory effect every time. The work always gets under the listener’s skin, exactly as Stravinsky, inspired by Georg Fuchs and others, intended. 

The concert is preceded by a conversation with Klaas Coulembier that takes place at 19:15 pm in the Horta Hall. This encounter will be in French and in Dutch. Free admission.