Stravinsky Rite Of Spring Essay

In the world of music, no piece quite received quite the same reception as Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. As a paganistic approach to the rebirth and celebration of nature, the piece astonished audiences with its forceful and earth-like tones. However, the world premiere induced a massive riot throughout the audience, which rendered the orchestra inaudible. The chaos that ensued angered Stravinsky, who was displeased with humanity as a whole. In the Rite of Spring, Stravinsky expressed the magnificent paganistic commodity of the dawn of nature’s renewal. He wished to showcase the primeval qualities of humanity, therefore, his music portrayed primitive and earthy qualities. Stravinsky refrained from giving the melody to strings in order to produce an unheavenly tone, and therefore less-than-human tones. Instead, he handed the feeble melody to the flutes and …show more content…
He expected that there would be criticism, as the patrons who had come to The Rite of Spring expecting a melodious opus that resembled his Firebird or Petrushka were bound to be disappointed. Stravinsky knew criticism was to be expected, but he voiced his opinion on the disrespectful nature of the audience. The audience disrupting the performance abusing The Rite of Spring, which caused the orchestra to be droned out in the midst of the commotion, was inappropriate. Stravinsky wished that the audience would have waited until the end to voice their opinions. Despite the anarchic chaos that ensued during the world premiere of The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky felt confident enough about his work as a composer to answer the critics with a statement degrading the nature of humanity instead of regretting his absurd and barbaric paganistic work of art. The Rite of Spring is one of the most famous pieces of the 20th century, and it has left its mark in the history of music, despite its aggressive and harsh