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The Rite of Spring: sounds of the century The Rite of Spring: sounds of the century
(6 months later)
A week into the cruellest month, and much of the land remains in winter's grip. In most years, spring and sunshine have already softened these normally temperate islands. But in 2013 it's almost as if the weather gods are using this year's longer than usual frozen inertness to remind us of something elemental lurking untamed beneath our accustomed order.A week into the cruellest month, and much of the land remains in winter's grip. In most years, spring and sunshine have already softened these normally temperate islands. But in 2013 it's almost as if the weather gods are using this year's longer than usual frozen inertness to remind us of something elemental lurking untamed beneath our accustomed order.
A hundred years ago this spring, Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring erupted into a Parisian theatre. From that moment on, music would never be the same again. Stravinsky's theme, he later claimed, was the violence of the Russian spring "that seemed to begin in an hour and was like the whole Earth cracking". His ballet, in which a young girl dances herself to death in a rhythmic frenzy, was earthy and primitive, jaw-dropping stuff for conventional audiences. Stravinsky's score, with its teeming lines, crunching dissonances and irregular rhythms, made the May 1913 premiere one of the most celebrated scandals in music history. The Observer, reviewing the first London performance a few days later, called Stravinsky's Rite "a musical impertinence" and "the perversion of all that is musically artistic". Whoops.A hundred years ago this spring, Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring erupted into a Parisian theatre. From that moment on, music would never be the same again. Stravinsky's theme, he later claimed, was the violence of the Russian spring "that seemed to begin in an hour and was like the whole Earth cracking". His ballet, in which a young girl dances herself to death in a rhythmic frenzy, was earthy and primitive, jaw-dropping stuff for conventional audiences. Stravinsky's score, with its teeming lines, crunching dissonances and irregular rhythms, made the May 1913 premiere one of the most celebrated scandals in music history. The Observer, reviewing the first London performance a few days later, called Stravinsky's Rite "a musical impertinence" and "the perversion of all that is musically artistic". Whoops.
The first night of the Rite was not the first or the last scandal in musical history. It wasn't even the biggest. In the judgment of Alex Ross, whose influential book about 20th century music, The Rest Is Noise, underlies much of the programming at London's Southbank Centre at the moment, that accolade was won a couple of months before the premiere of the Rite, when police were called to a riot in Vienna in March triggered by the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. What matters a century on, however, is not whether the ballet in Paris or the concert in Vienna was the more notorious. It is the fact that 100 years ago, the art of music slipped its old, predictable moorings and leaped boldly and bravely into the modern world.The first night of the Rite was not the first or the last scandal in musical history. It wasn't even the biggest. In the judgment of Alex Ross, whose influential book about 20th century music, The Rest Is Noise, underlies much of the programming at London's Southbank Centre at the moment, that accolade was won a couple of months before the premiere of the Rite, when police were called to a riot in Vienna in March triggered by the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. What matters a century on, however, is not whether the ballet in Paris or the concert in Vienna was the more notorious. It is the fact that 100 years ago, the art of music slipped its old, predictable moorings and leaped boldly and bravely into the modern world.
We are still living with the wonderfully unruly consequences of those breakthroughs. The journey from there to here has taken many paths, with some false trails but plenty of revelatory moments. There has been art music, popular music, political music and folk music. Music of the country and music of the city. Music that only the academic priesthood could understand, and pop music that captured the whole world, some of it composed right here. It has been a journey that reflects the century and no one can say where it is heading next. One day soon, have a listen to the Rite of Spring. Listen to all that energy, life and originality. Pay your respects to Stravinsky and what he unleashed. And who knows, maybe we will also get our own violent spring that gets the whole world cracking once again. It's about time.We are still living with the wonderfully unruly consequences of those breakthroughs. The journey from there to here has taken many paths, with some false trails but plenty of revelatory moments. There has been art music, popular music, political music and folk music. Music of the country and music of the city. Music that only the academic priesthood could understand, and pop music that captured the whole world, some of it composed right here. It has been a journey that reflects the century and no one can say where it is heading next. One day soon, have a listen to the Rite of Spring. Listen to all that energy, life and originality. Pay your respects to Stravinsky and what he unleashed. And who knows, maybe we will also get our own violent spring that gets the whole world cracking once again. It's about time.
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