le sacre du printemps

The ballet which shocked the world into the 20th century

"One day, when I was finishing the last pages of l'Oiseau de feu (The Firebird) in St. Petersburg, I had a fleeting vision which came to me as a complete surprise, my mind at the moment being full of other things. I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite. Sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the God of Spring. I heard and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which Le sacre passed."

So Igor Stravinsky recorded the first intimations of what was to become one of the most remarkable scores of the 20th century. Arguably Stravinsky's most important work, arguably his best, and at the time of its composition arguably the most shockingly controversial work the musical world had yet seen, his ballet about pagan Russia caused an uproar in the Theâtre des Champs-Elysees at its premiere in 1913 - one of the most famous riots in the history of music.

the origins of le sacre

Diaghilev's initial inspiration to commission the young Russian composer to write the Firebird for Ballets Russes' 1910 season in Paris had been extremely fortuitous. Under his patronage, he had gathered together a unique team of choreographers (notably Fokine), designers and dancers (including Nijinsky, Karsavina and Pavlova), and allowed his artistes, composers included, an unprecendented degree of artistic freedom.

Russian composers had, by tradition, been largely unaffected by the prevailing German influences of the 18th and 19th centuries; they explored instead the colourful and inspired by fairytale and legend, a musical world of unorthodox and idiosyncratic harmony and of short, episodic forms, all to picturesque effect - a musical world eminently suited to the demands of opera and ballet, of course. They also turned readily to folksong and dance for a national musical language, and indulged a national love of ritual and liturgy.

Stravinsky proved himself a worthy successor to this Russian tradition (and to his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov) in the brilliant score for Firebird. But his sojourn in Paris had also brought him into direct contact with Debussy, Ravel and all the remarkable developments in French music of the time, and his horizons stretched wider than ever. In the words of William Austín: "He was brought to the abyss of freedom through study with Debussy and through his own tendency 'to search for sensation in all its freshness by discarding the warmed-over, hackneyed, the specious'."

Stravinsky spoke of his vision to his painter friend, Nicholas Roerich, himself a specialist on Slav pagan rite and ritual, and the two collaborated in expanding the idea into a ballet scenario. Diaghilev was immediately attracted to the idea and commissioned a score for the following season. Stravinsky recognised that the music for such a vivid and primitive scenario would require him to delve deep into his imaginative subconscious and to eschew pre-existing musical styles as far as he was able.

Later, Stravinsky was to write: "I was guided by no system whatever in Le sacre du printemps. When I think of the music of the other composers of that time that interest me ... how much more theoretical it seems than Le sacre... Very little tradition lies behind Le sacre du printemps, however, and no theory. 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."