Program Note

This was due not only to the savage rhythmic ostinati and searing harmonies of Stravinsky’s revolutionary score, but also to the equally primitive and suggestive choreography of the Ballet Russe’s premier dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky. Undoubtedly caught off-guard, the audience’s expectations for another saccharin work celebrating the joys of springtime were crushed by a flood of music which was brutal, savage and, to their ears, chaotic.
Rhythm and dissonance are the most immediately striking features of The Rite of Spring; these elements alone have had an enormous, even seminal, influence on twentieth century music.
 

In addition, the score is a veritable thesaurus of orchestral effects. Like Rimsky-Korsakov (with whom he studied), Stravinsky employs orchestral color with great subtlety and is very sensitive in the balancing of wind and string sonorities.
The manner in which Stravinsky fragments the melodic material to achieve convincing structural unity is the work’s technical triumph. The combination of driving rhythm with melodic fragments reminiscent of Slavic folk song gives the work an overwhelming elemental power. The displaced accents often occur in the pauses between these folk song fragments, their position being determined by the fragments’ irregular length. Stravinsky’s score, finished on March 29, 1913, shows an affinity for primitive music that rivals that of Bartok. Many of the original themes, as well as those borrowed from folk music, are of narrow compass, seldom extending beyond four or five notes. The accompaniment consists of tiny, repetitive ostinato figures. Harmonies, though often sharply dissonant, are sustained over many bars like the bagpipe drones of primitive folk music. 
 

Part I - The Adoration of the Earth
I. Introduction: Lento tempo rubato. Solo bassoon in the high register intones a plaintive Lithuanian folk tune. It is dawn and as the world wakes more instruments are added until there are six independent layers of melody. 
II. Harbingers of Spring; Dance of the Adolescents: Tempo giusto. A heavy stamping rhythm with violent off­beat accents begins this section. The savage harmony is a bitonal combination of an E major triad with a seventh chord on E-flat. 
III. Game of the Abduction: Presto. A breathless frantic section is punctuated by sharp chords from the full orchestra.
IV. Spring Rounds: Tranquillo sostenuto e pesante -Vivo - Tranquillo. A primitive melody for four flutes and four solo violas is performed in a stream of parallel dissonant chords over a heavy, dragging ostinato figure. 
V. Game of the Rival Cities: Molto Allegro. Another four-note melody is heard between explosive outbursts of the full orchestra. 
VI. Entrance of the Celebrant: Molto Allegro. A stark new theme played by four horns in 8va announces the entrance of the sage. Ostinati of varied length and metric inflection create a labyrinth of sound. 
VII. Adoration of the Earth (The Sage): Lento. Accompanied by four soft bars of mystical harmonies, the old man leans down to kiss the earth. 
VIll. Dance of the Earth: Prestissimo. Over clashing polyrhythms between the percussion and the orchestra, this concluding section of Part I rises to a frenetic pitch of excitement, with tiny fanfare figures in the horn, wild swirling violin passages and heavy syncopated chords from the brass. 
 

Part II - The Sacrifice 
IX. Introduction: Largo. Stravinsky gave this the subtitle “The Pagan Night.” 
X. Mysterious Circle of the Adolescents: Andante con
moto. The strings are divided into thirteen parts for some of the delicate effects of this section. A rapid increase of tempo and heavy chords repeated eleven times lead into the next section. 
XI. Glorification of the Chosen One: Vivo. Here Stravinsky combines brilliant orchestration with constantly changing meters to produce music of savage fury. 
Xll. Evocation of the Ancestors: Vivo. Sudden dramatic crescendos from the timpani and bass drum alternate with fanfare-like chords from the winds and brass. 
XIII. Ritual of the Ancestors: Lento. From a gentle
pulsing accompaniment, this section rises to a great tutti and subsides to almost nothing. 
XIV. Sacrificial Dance of the Chosen One. This dance, in which the chosen one dances herself to death, is the germ of the entire concept of the Rite. Rhythmically it is the most complex and violent, and sustains an amazing pitch of tension. 
The Rite of Spring is scored for a very large orchestra; it fully explores the limits of orchestral sound and technique. Stravinsky made several revisions of the score and in 1943 he undertook to re-score the Sacrificial Dance both to facilitate its performance and to clarify its sound. This revision will be used in this evening’s performance.
 

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