The Rite Of Spring
By:
Carl V. Johnson
Jack Galliett
Stravinsky was a man of not only new ideas, but of extremely unthought of ideas that were originally rejected by audiences. One piece that really brings out Stravinsky's extravagant mind is the Rite of Spring. “The concept behind The Rite of Spring, developed by Roerich from Stravinsky's outline idea, is suggested by its subtitle, "Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts"; in the scenario, after various primitive rituals celebrating the advent of spring, a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and dances herself to death”(Wikipedia, Rite of Spring). The piece has been scarcely played and when it was premiered, the performance actually caused a riot. The reason for this riot, the music was so alien in the pitches, chords, and rhythm to audience that they disapproved and made it almost impossible, by shouting and causing so much noise, for the musicians and dancers to continue, even to the point of the stage directors shouting the time at the dancers so that they were with the music of the orchestra. The time signature’s of the piece was so inconsistent and conflicting that it made it hard and even sometimes impossible to conduct.
(Recording and animated score: https://youtu.be/5IXMpUhuBMs?list=PLk5n9boSmJ80DYl3IYj6V7B75tCdWN9A0)
Stravinsky made an unusual choice in writing so many different time signatures for the piece when, it could have been written of four/four time. Instead he choose to write in time signatures such as five/sixteen and two/eight. This “madness” creates a feel of time and rhythm that could be called free rhythm. In Bonnie Wade’s book, Thinking Musically, she talks about free rhythm and organized time in music. She uses a soloist in Indian music culture to show that a performer might start with a set rhythm, but later in the solo he might sound different from the original time, but in fact the musician is still working within the original tempo. Like the beginning of the Rite of Spring, the lone bassoon player starts the piece with a beautiful melody that feels like a free time rhythm, but is actually in an organized time signature. Later in the piece, Stravinsky uses more odd time signatures to create different settings. Abigail
Wagner does a great job of describing the reasons for his madness and what they time signatures are designed to create:
Instead
of
using
meter
as
the
basis
for
his
music,
Stravinsky
made
the
elements
of
pulse
and
rhythmic
gestures
paramount.
During
the
Augurs
of
Spring,
and
elsewhere
throughout
the
work,
Stravinsky
turns
the
orchestra
into
a
giant
percussion
instrument
by
giving
the
typically
melodic
stringed
instruments
repetitive,
harsh
eighth
notes
(0:00‐1:12).
Spring
Rounds
uses
an
ostinato
of
heavy
bow
strokes
alternated
with
offbeat
pizzicato
(plucked
strings)
underneath
the
woodwind
melody
(0:23). In
the
Glorification
of
the
Chosen
One
and
the
Sacrificial
Dance,
each
measure
is
a
word
in
Stravinsky’s
rhythmic
vocabulary.
Each
section
is
composed
of
six
to
ten
“words”
repeated
in
different
combinations,
giving
a
sense
of
flow
through
reiteration,
but
creating
tension
by
leaving
expectations
of
a
pattern
unfulfilled
(McQuinn).
Throughout
the
work,
cleverly
planned
durational
contrasts
are
prevalent
among
concurrent
notes,
as
well
as
at
the
big‐picture
harmonic
level.
The
Dance
of
the
Earth
contains
triplets
against
sixteenth
notes,
three
notes
in
the
same
space
as
four,
creating
a
chaotic
whirlwind
effect
(0:29).
In
the
Introduction
to
Part
One,
the
accelerating
pace
of
trading
melodies
among
the
wind
instruments
builds
tension
and
excitement,
evoking
the
chaos
of
spring time
and
the
emergence
of
new
life
(1:37‐2:25).
Stravinsky’s
music
is
rhythmically
alive,
though
in a
different
sense
than
the
conventional
one
to
which
Gray’s
mind
is
bound.” (Abigail Wagner)
It is ingenious that Stravinsky thought to use random accents and time signatures to create a ‘free’ feeling of rhythm that is designed to represent the earth . In the movement titled Sacrificial Dance, he does a great example of the accents and time signatures to create order out of chaos (Score:https://youtu.be/wZtWAqc3qyk?list=PLk5n9boSmJ80DYl3IYj6V7B75tCdWN9A0)(Time signature counting: https://youtu.be/zuHn6DOrILs?list=PLk5n9boSmJ80DYl3IYj6V7B75tCdWN9A0).
This piece is truly a work of art and innovation. Stravinsky lead the modern composers to creating more pieces like the rite, but nothing is quite the same. This piece is the a nightmare to the music theorist, but piece that is able to speak to the world of the creativity that music can be.
Works Cited
"The Rite of Spring." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Sept. 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring>.
Taylor, MDr. Melanie Foster, Dr. "Igor's "Rite"" : Analysis of The Rite of Spring. N.p., 15 June 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2015. <http://igorsrite.blogspot.com/2009/06/analysis-of-rite-of-spring.html>.
Wade, Bonnie C. Thinking Musically: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.
Wagner, Abigail. "A Different Kind of Rhythm." A Different Kind of Sound (n.d.): n. pag. Lawrence.edu. Web. 27 Sept. 2015. <https://www.lawrence.edu/mfhe/www_web_student/Everyone/A%20Different%20Type%20of%20Rhythm.pdf>.
Carl Johnson: Youtube Videos, Researching web, Writing
Jack Galliett: Researching book, Pictures, Writing
