1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,639 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: show that sings the high and the low notes of 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 1: everyday history. I'm Gabe Lusier, and today we're talking about 5 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: one of the most infamous disturbances in classical music history, 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: the time when a new ballet triggered an audience revolt 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: in a Paris theater. The day was May twenty ninth, 8 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen. Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Right of Spring made 9 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: its inauspicious debut at the Theatra des Champs Elici in Paris. 10 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: The piece, known in French as Le Sacre du Printon, 11 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: is now regarded as one of the most pioneering and 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: influential ballets of the twentieth century. But because it was 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: such a radical departure from traditional ballet, especially in its choreography, 14 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: the Parisians at the premiere gave it a chile and 15 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: in some cases, violent reception. Originally titled The Victim, the 16 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: ballet centers on a pagan celebration of spring and culminates 17 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,960 Speaker 1: with the human sacrifice of a virgin girl known as 18 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: the Chosen One, who dances herself to death in the 19 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: show's climax. It was the third major project from Russian 20 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:33,039 Speaker 1: born composer Igor Stravinsky, following his highly acclaimed Firebird in 21 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: nineteen ten and Petrushka in nineteen eleven. All three productions 22 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: were mounted with the support of Russian impresario Sergei Diagilev, 23 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: who had brought Stravinsky to Paris to work with his 24 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: all Russian ballet company, the Ballet Rous. With the Right 25 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: of Spring, Stravinsky continued his career long push to break 26 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: from the conventions of the day and explore new musical territory. 27 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: But while other composers of the era can find their 28 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: experimentation to concert halls and opera houses, Stravinsky dared to 29 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: bring challenging music into the traditionally conservative realm of ballet. 30 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: In place of the elegant, harmonious music that audiences were 31 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: used to in works like Swan Lake, Stravinsky's Right delivered 32 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: dissonant notes, complex harmonies, and atonal melodies, along with plenty 33 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: of percussion. To compliment this somewhat jarring approach to the medium, 34 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: Sergei Diagiliv recruited the famous dancer Vaslov Nazinsky to handle 35 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: the choreography revolutionary in his own right. Nazinsky drew inspiration 36 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: from ancient Egyptian wall paintings, two dimensional depictions of humans, 37 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: in which the subject's face, waste, and limbs appear in profile, 38 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,959 Speaker 1: but their eye and shoulders are shown facing frontally. Nazinsky 39 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: sought to capture this unusual set style by having the 40 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: ballerinas keep their feet flat in their knees straight during jumps. 41 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: This led to great discomfort on their part and resulted 42 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: in movements that looked clunky and awkward compared to the smooth, 43 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: graceful steps of classical ballet. Nazinski's bold decisions raised some 44 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: concerns during rehearsals, but the show moved forward regardless, with 45 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: the ballet's premiere taking place on May twenty ninth, nineteen thirteen. 46 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: Here's a taste of what they heard that night. The 47 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: audience backlash was almost immediate. Pretty soon, the uproar was 48 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: so loud that the dancers couldn't hear the music, prompting 49 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: Nazinsky to stand on a chair backstage and call out 50 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: dance steps just to keep things moving. Diagilev tried to 51 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: restore order by frantically turning the house lights off and on, 52 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: but it was no use. Arguments broke out amongst the crowd, 53 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: with some denouncing Stravinsky's work and others rising to defend it. 54 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: These shouting matches devolved into violence before long, as the 55 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: well dressed patrons laid into each other with canes, umbrellas, 56 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: and even with their bare fists. Taken on its own, 57 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,679 Speaker 1: the ballet's music likely wouldn't have provoked such a vicious 58 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: response from the audience, but when paired with the jagged, 59 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: unnatural movements of Nazinsky's choreography, many in attendance felt like 60 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: they were being mocked. The spectators couldn't even take solace 61 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: in the dancer's costumes, as there were no ballerinas in 62 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: Tutus to be seen. Instead, the dancers wore rough tunics 63 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: and stylized masks to better evoke the pagan tribesmen they 64 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: were portraying. All of this together created the sense among 65 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 1: traditionalists that what they were watching wasn't actually ballet as 66 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,239 Speaker 1: they knew it, but an ugly parody of the form. 67 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: The crowd was so incensed by this unwelcome subversion that 68 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: the police had to be called in to calm things down. 69 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: At intermission, forty of the most unruly patrons were kicked 70 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: out of the theater, and the stage manager made a 71 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: desperate plea for civility. During the show's second half, these 72 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: efforts seemed to pay off, and the production was allowed 73 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,039 Speaker 1: to continue without interruption. There were even curtain calls for 74 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: the dancers, as well as for Stravinsky and even Nazinski. 75 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,599 Speaker 1: The show continued for the next several nights, and while 76 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: the crowds were never all that receptive to the performance, 77 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: they at least weren't as openly hostile as those at 78 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: the premiere. For his part, Stravinsky sat out those shows, 79 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: as he contracted typhoid fever portly after opening night and 80 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: was too sick to make it to the theater. He 81 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: got to read all about it in the press, though, 82 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,600 Speaker 1: and as you might expect, the ballet was almost universally 83 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: panned by critics. Thankfully, the negativity surrounding The Right of 84 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:19,359 Speaker 1: Spring was short lived. The following year, the piece was 85 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: performed again in Paris, this time as an orchestral work 86 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: without the dancers. In that more open minded setting, the 87 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: Right finally found its audience. In fact, the show went 88 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: over so well that the cheering spectators were said to 89 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: have hoisted the composer up on their shoulders in Triumph. 90 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: Six years after that dramatic reappraisal, the ballet Rousse took 91 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: another crack at the Right with new choreography and costumes, 92 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,919 Speaker 1: and that too proved successful. By the nineteen twenties, Stravinsky's 93 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: Right of Spring was being performed all over Europe as 94 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: well as in the United States, and from that point 95 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: on it was widely embraced as one of the great 96 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 1: musical works of the twentieth century. In fact, the music 97 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: became so mainstream that in nineteen forty Walt Disney used 98 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: it for the dinosaur sequence in the animated feature film Fantasia. 99 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: It's strange to think that the same music that nearly 100 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: incited Ariot in Paris was used to score a Disney 101 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: movie less than three decades later, but that just goes 102 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: to show you how ahead of the curve Stravinsky and 103 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: his collaborators really were. Their bold work made dissonant music 104 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: more palatable to a general audience, and the musical world 105 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: today is that much richer for their daring. I'm Gabe 106 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: blues Gay and hopefully you now know a little more 107 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like 108 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: to keep up with the show, you can follow us 109 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and 110 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to 111 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: send them my way by writing to This Day at 112 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Casby Bias for producing the show, 113 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 114 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class.