The base 10 anniversaries are always important.  :)  Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring debuted 100 years ago today.  Enjoy his music visualized by Stephen Malinowski and the info from Wikipedia.

Part I: The Adoration of the Earth

 

The opening melody is played by a solo bassoon in a very high register, which renders the instrument almost unidentifiable;[116] gradually other woodwind instruments are sounded and are eventually joined by strings.[117] The sound builds up before stopping suddenly, Hill says, “just as it is bursting ecstatically into bloom”. There is then a reiteration of the opening bassoon solo, now played a semitone lower.[118]

 

The first dance, “Augurs of Spring”, is characterised by a repetitive stamping chord in the horns and strings, based on E-flat superimposed on an triad of E, G-sharp and B.[119] White suggests that this bitonal combination, which Stravinsky considered the focal point of the entire work, was devised on the piano, since the constituent chords are comfortable fits for the hands on a keyboard.[120] The rhythm of the stamping is disturbed by Stravinsky’s constant shifting of the accent, on and off the beat,[121] before the dance ends in a collapse, as if from exhaustion.[117] The “Ritual of Abduction” which follows is described by Hill as “the most terrifying of musical hunts”.[122] It concludes in a series of flute trills that usher in the “Spring Rounds”, in which a slow and laborious theme gradually rises to a dissonant fortissimo, a “ghastly caricature” of the episode’s main tune.[117]

 

Brass and percussion predominate as the “Ritual of the Rival Tribes” begins. A tune emerges on tenor and bass tubas, leading after much repetition to the entry of the Sage’s procession.[117] The music then comes to a virtual halt, “bleached free of colour” (Hill),[123] as the Sage blesses the earth. The “Dance of the Earth” then begins, bringing Part I to a close in a series of phrases of the utmost vigour which are abruptly terminated in what Hill describes as a “blunt, brutal amputation”.[124]

Part II: The Sacrifice

 

Part II has a greater cohesion than its predecessor. Hill describes the music as following an arc stretching from the beginning of the Introduction to the conclusion of the final dance.[124] Woodwind and muted trumpets are prominent throughout the Introduction, which ends with a number of rising cadences on strings and flutes. The transition into the “Mystic Circles” is almost imperceptible; the main theme of the section has been prefigured in the Introduction. A loud repeated chord, which Berger likens to a call to order, announces the moment for choosing the sacrificial victim. The “Glorification of the Chosen One” is brief and violent; in the “Evocation of the Ancestors” that follows, short phrases are interspersed with drum rolls. The “Ritual Action of the Ancestors” begins quietly, but slowly builds to a series of climaxes before subsiding suddenly into the quiet phrases that began the episode.[117]

 

The final transition introduces the “Sacrificial Dance”. This is written as a more disciplined ritual than the extravagant dance that ended Part I, though it contains some wild moments, with the large percussion section of the orchestra given full voice. Stravinsky had difficulties with this section, especially with the final bars that conclude the work. The abrupt ending displeased several critics, one of whom wrote that the music “suddenly falls over on its side”. Stravinsky himself referred to the final chord disparagingly as “a noise”, but in his various attempts to amend or rewrite the section, was unable to produce a more acceptable solution.[79]

1  
Introduction
 		 Introduction  
2 Les Augures printaniers Augurs of Spring The celebration of spring begins in the hills, with pipers piping and young men telling fortunes.
3 Jeu du rapt Ritual of Abduction An old woman enters and begins to foretell the future. Young girls arrive from the river, in single file. They begin the “Dance of the Abduction”.
4 Rondes printanières Spring Rounds The young girls dance the Khorovod, the “Spring Rounds”.
5 Jeux des cités rivales Ritual of the Rival Tribes The people divide into two groups in opposition to each other, and begin the “Ritual of the Rival Tribes”.
6 Cortège du sage: Le Sage Procession of the Sage: The Sage A holy procession leads to the entry of the wise elders, headed by the Sage who brings the games to a pause and blesses the earth.
7 Danse de la terre Dance of the Earth The people break into a passionate dance, sanctifying and becoming one with the earth.

 

 

Part II: Le Sacrifice (The Sacrifice)[9]
8  
Introduction
 		 Introduction  
9 Cercles mystérieux des adolescentes Mystic Circles of the Young Girls The young girls engage in mysterious games, walking in circles.
10 Glorification de l’élue Glorification of the Chosen One One of the young girls is selected by fate, being twice caught in the perpetual circle, and is honoured as the “Chosen One” with a marital dance.
11 Evocation des ancêtres Evocation of the Ancestors In a brief dance, the young girls invoke the ancestors.
12 Action rituelle des ancêtres Ritual Action of the Ancestors The Chosen One is entrusted to the care of the old wise men.
13 Danse sacrale (L’Elue) Sacrificial Dance The Chosen One dances to death in the presence of the old men, in the great “Sacrificial Dance”.