Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Rite of Spring

Stravinsky’s Rite vs Delius’ Cuckoo for Spring

March 20.

Delius’ “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring” is all well and good, but in this month notorious for its whiplash caprice, Leonard Bernstein conducting Stravinsky’s “Le sacre du printemps” is perhaps a better, if not safer, bet.

Then again, from that photo, perhaps the cuckoo is not to be undersold…

Here’s Bernstein, captured in his prime, conducting Stravinsky’s primal masterpiece without a score.

Happy spring?

Perhaps you prefer to decompress with Delius’ romanticized cuckoo.

Both works were first performed in 1913!

March 20, 2025
Rite of Spring Joffrey’s Reconstruction

On the first full day of spring, while the season is still prone to brutal mood swings, it’s a good time to revisit this Joffrey Ballet restoration of the original 1913 production of Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”). The savagery of the scenario – to appease the gods, a prehistoric Slavic tribe elects a maiden to dance herself to death – was bolstered by Nicholas Roerich’s barbaric designs and Vaslav Nijinsky’s aggressively anti-balletic choreography. It certainly stirred the passions of the opening night audience, stoking one of classical music’s most infamous riots.

The ballet was danced only eight times as it was originally conceived. Nijinsky and impresario Serge Diaghilev had a falling out, and when the Ballets Russes revived the work a few years later, it was with new choreography by Léonide Massine. By then, Nijinsky had already been admitted to an asylum, and not for the last time. His increasing instability and death in 1950 led many to believe that his revolutionary conception of the original “Rite” had been lost forever.

Joffrey’s was the first attempt at a reconstruction. It took 16 years and a lot of detective work to bring it to fruition.

How was it accomplished? You can read more about it here.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2013/03/15/rite-of-spring

And watch the video, as I did when it first aired, here.

March 20, 2024
Stravinsky Disney’s Rite of Spring Dinosaur

The composer who spent most of his life driving himself to evolve, terrified of turning into a dinosaur, first became known to many of us from the dinosaur segment in Disney’s “Fantasia.”

Happy birthday, Igor Stravinsky! Fight for your “Rite” to party!

How Walt Disney got “Rite of Spring” right:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/how-walt-disney-got-rite-of-spring-right/2013/06/19/8d008e78-d895-11e2-a9f2-42ee3912ae0e_story.html

“Rite of Spring”: A classic “Fantasia” segment, whether Stravinsky liked it or not:

https://www.yourclassical.org/story/2015/10/05/rite-spring-fantasia

PHOTOS: (left) Disney and Stravinsky; (top to bottom) “The Rite of Spring” segment from “Fantasia;” George Balanchine, Stravinsky, and Disney with Pteranodon model; and Stravinsky caricature by Disney

June 17, 2022
Historical YouTube Classical Music Wishlist

One of this page’s followers, Jim Barclay Jr, has introduced to me the idea of Historical YouTube. This magical – though unfortunately wholly fictional – website would allow one to watch videos captured during any era of music history.

The concept was introduced in the comments section under last week’s Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf birthday post, where Jim remarked it would be near the top of his personal list to be able to witness an actual performance by the string quartet made up of Dittersdorf, Joseph Haydn, Mozart, and Jan Křtitel Vaňhal. He then added a piano recital by Chopin or Liszt.

I too would be eager to hear Liszt. I expanded the roster to include the premiere of “The Rite of Spring,” notorious for having sparked one of classical music’s greatest riots.

Simon Mauer offered the legendary December 1808 marathon that introduced not only Beethoven’s 5th & 6th Symphonies, but also the 4th Piano Concerto, the Choral Fantasy, selections from the Mass in C, and more – an endurance test that left teeth chattering over a span of over four hours.

It was not long after that Jim added a Schubertiade, one of those informal literary-musical salons at which a number of Schubert’s works were first heard. This was eagerly seconded by Simon.

It was then suggested this might be a good idea for an expanded post – a contest, of sorts. So now I’m throwing it open to all of you. What storied classical music events would you most want to see on Historical YouTube™?

November 9, 2020
Classical Music Defies Winter’s Return on WWFM

As we brace ourselves for a double nor’easter, I cast a skeptical eye at the calendar on this, the First Day of Spring. Then I gaze wistfully into my bag full of spring-related CDs. Surely there is some music here suitable for driving away Old Man Winter, a guest who has overstayed his welcome, drunk too much, and broken more than a few valuables.

Following today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, and in defiance of the weather, we’ll offer blood sacrifices to the pagan gods, with Frank Bridge’s “Enter Spring,” Lodewijk Mortelmans’ “The Myth of Spring,” Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” and Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky’s “The Snow Maiden,” all in the interest of appeasing mercurial Nature.

First, we’ll be laying down the Lawes – William Lawes, that is – on today’s Noontime Concert. Join me for a program of Lawes’ consort music, as presented by Parthenia Viols. The performances were recorded at New York’s Church of Saint Luke in the Fields last May. Parthenia will present a concert of “Tomb Sonnets,” featuring works by Josquin des Prez, Carlo Gesualdo, and Giovanni Gabrieli, among others, on March 25 at The Secret Theatre in Long Island City. To find out more, look online at parthenia.org.

We’ll take viol music over vile weather, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

IMAGE: Princeton’s own Patrick McDonnell tells it like it is

March 20, 2018

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