On April 4th, 1913, aspiring composer Igor Stravinsky premiered his third ballet at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Montaigne. The theatre had theretofore been known for showcasing cutting-edge contemporary performance art, having hosted names like Claude Debussy, Felix Weingartner, and Anna Pavlova. Stravinsky himself was not a newcomer to the venue; his lauded orchestral work (and accompanying ballet) - "The Firebird" - had been performed nearly a month before to wide acclaim. It was a full house on the night of the fourth.
It became clear that something was wrong almost immediately. From the opening bars of the first movement, the crowd began to murmur, and by the thirteenth and fourteenth movements - movements which chronicle an ancient ritual where a young woman dances herself to death - the crowd was rioting. Most of them were screaming and throwing things at the stage, and some were trampling others in an attempt to leave the theatre. The prevailing thought is that the music was so dissonant that it made people angry that they had wasted their time and money; another is that the more conscientious theatergoers were disgusted with the violence. A third theory, and the one that I hold, is that Stravinsky tapped into something elemental when he wrote Le Sacre Du Printemps - "The Rite of Spring."
The sacrificial dance that the prima ballerina performs is a historical account, hearkening back to the pagan rituals of ancient Russia. At another level, though, the "danse sacrale" is a metaphor for the literal changing of the seasons, winter to spring. In spring we see an abundance of eggs and chicks, paraphernalia which are obviously symbolic of new life. We see recently bloomed flowers. As Christians we associate spring with the Resurrection of Christ, adding an important layer to the motif. The weather begins to warm. But, like a young sibling meeting his new baby brother for the first time, we miss the majority of this birth process, only arriving for the clean, cute, appealing results. What about the mess? The smells? What about the snowdrifts melting to reveal dirt and bones and oil? What about the blood and noise and wrenching of flesh that it takes to deliver a newborn? On my block spring is heralded by the sound of gunshots, the deadly fruit that succeeds a winter of gang hibernation, bullets bursting from gun barrels like buds bursting from the tips of dogwood branches. In fact, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in a recently-thawed Memphis 55 years to-the-day after Stravinsky premiered his third work. Spring is violent folks.
Stravinsky knew this. He knew that humans have, deep down and often tightly controlled, a mean, messy streak. When that streak is starkly exposed, bad things happen. Virgins dance themselves to death in front of roaring fires and chanting pagans. Mobs throw bricks in concert halls, or else flee, trampling anyone in their path. Gangbangers pepper crowded streets with lead. But when that compressed orb of aggression is harnessed, that chaos is channeled into something deliberate, the results can be blisteringly, wildly joyful.
At the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Montaigne, on April 4th,
many were dancing in time with the music.
Le Sacre Du Printemps Playlist
Volume: Loud
(this is a jumble of different genres, but the songs are characterized by underlying motifs from the Rite of Spring like chaos, aggression, passion, dissonance, sexuality, etc.)
Tell Em - Sleighbells
Lost Boys and Girls Club - Dum Dum Girls
Dead Mans Bones - My Body's a Zombie for You
Nosetalgia - Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar (Explicit)
Elephant - Tame Impala
Bizness - tune-yardz
Intimate - Appaloosa
Gold Sounds - Pavement
Pure Morning - Placebo
You (ha ha ha) - Charlie XCX
Age of Adz - Sufjan Stevens
National Anthem - Radiohead
Fun - Speedy Ortiz
Alcohol - Sisyphus
Debaser - Pixies
Ceremony - New Order
Abel - The National
Innocence is Kinky - Jenny Hval (VERY EXPLICIT)
Satellite Skin - Modest Mouse
Todays Lesson - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Riders on the Storm - The Doors
BTSU - Jai Paul
There's That Grin - Deerhoof
Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps - Part 2: Ritual Of The Ancients
