The Riot of Time

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