—————————————————— Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring: The Buzzfest Of Its Day | Rocks Off | Houston | Houston Press | The Leading Independent News Source in Houston, Texas

Classical Music

Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring: The Buzzfest Of Its Day

This weekend, the Houston Symphony performs Igor Stravinsky's ballet Rite of Spring, which, before it was featured alongside a bunch of dying dinosaurs in Walt Disney's Fantasia, was probably most famous for sparking a full-blown riot upon its premiere in Paris in May 1913. Seriously - check out the Wikipedia entry (citations supplied via link):

The complex music and violent dance steps depicting fertility rites first drew catcalls and whistles from the crowd. At the start with the opening bassoon solo, the audience began to boo loudly due to the slight discord in the background notes behind the bassoon's opening melody. There were loud arguments in the audience between supporters and opponents of the work.

These were soon followed by shouts and fistfights in the aisles. The unrest in the audience eventually degenerated into a riot. The Paris police arrived by intermission, but they restored only limited order. Chaos reigned for the remainder of the performance. Fellow composer Camille Saint-Saëns famously stormed out of the première allegedly infuriated over the misuse of the bassoon in the ballet's opening bars, though Stravinsky later said "I do not know who invented the story that he was present at, but soon walked out of, the premiere."

Now that is some punk rock shit right there. Houston Symphony principal conductor and Music Director Hans Graf has located an audio interview with Stravinsky, where the composer talks about the riots. Graf and Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell will discuss the interview, the riots and the ballet in a prelude to the performance at 7:10 p.m. tonight and Saturday and 1:40 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

Also on the program is Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor (Op. 30), played by featured soloist Garrick Ohlsson. You may remember the "Rach 3" as the bane of pianist David Helfgott's (as played by Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush) existence in the 1996 movie Shine.

8 p.m. tonight and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana, 713-224-7575 or www.houstonsymphony.org.

KEEP THE HOUSTON PRESS FREE... Since we started the Houston Press, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Houston, and we'd like to keep it that way. With local media under siege, it's more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" program, allowing us to keep offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food and culture with no paywalls.
Chris Gray has been Music Editor for the Houston Press since 2008. He is the proud father of a Beatles-loving toddler named Oliver.
Contact: Chris Gray