What happened at the premiere of The Rite of Spring?



The premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is perhaps the most famous scandal in the history of the performing arts. It took place on the evening of 29 May 1913, at the brand-new Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, in front of a glittering audience.

The riot at the Rite: the premiere of The Rite of Spring.

Article written by: Ivan Hewett
Published:

What happened at the premiere of the ballet The Rite of Spring?

Backstage at the premiere, Nijinsky shouted at the dancers while Diaghilev tried to suppress a possible riot by flashing the house lights. Stravinsky himself fumed at the audience’s response to his music. If nothing else, the ballet’s premiere managed to instill in the audience the true spirit of the music.

What happened at the premiere of The Rite of Spring in May 1913?

The ballet was first performed by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Theatre du Champs-Élysées in Paris on 29 May 1913 and famously caused a riot. Many people in the audience were so outraged by Stravinsky’s avant-garde score, and Nijinsky’s choreography, that they thought it seemed like the work of a madman.

What major event took place at the premiere in Paris of The Rite of Spring?





Of all the scandals of the history of art, none is so scandalous as the one that took place on the evening of 29 May 1913 in Paris at the premiere of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring. The Rite descended into a riot, the story goes.

Who was at the premiere of The Rite of Spring?

The Rite of Spring

Le Sacre du printemps The Rite of Spring
Music Igor Stravinsky
Based on Pagan myths
Premiere 29 May 1913 Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris
Original ballet company Ballets Russes

Did rite of spring cause a riot?

All the rumours about The Rite of Spring suggested this new ballet would be more than usually primitive. Igor Stravinsky, the composer, had scored a massive hit the previous year with Petrushka, a ballet in which three puppets enact a story of love and jealousy.
The riot at the Rite: the premiere of The Rite of Spring.

Article written by: Ivan Hewett
Published:

What happens at the end of The Rite of Spring quizlet?

Discuss the ending of the ballet of The Rite of Spring. Ballet ends with the dramatic ‘Sacrifical Dance’, in which a pagan girl called ‘The Chosen One’ dances herself to death as a sacrifice to the god of spring.



Why did the audience riot at the premiere of Rite of Spring?



Stravinsky himself believed that the crowd “came for Scheherazade or Cleopatra, and they saw the Sacre du Printemps”, and were therefore upset at the level of dissonance in the score, the jerky movements of the dancers and the rapidly twittering sounds from the woodwind section.

Why was The Rite of Spring important?

The Rite of Spring sparked a revolution which may be considered truly political in nature; a sociological confrontation which elicited spontaneous combustion in the music world and from which point, nothing would ever be the same.