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Happy Century, Rite of Spring

Today marks the hundredth anniversary of the premiere in Paris of the greatest religious musical composition of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky's ballet, Le Sacre du Printemps.
Happy Century, Rite of Spring
Part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of Le Sacre du printemps. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NikolaiRoerichRite1.jpg
Mark Silk
Part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of Le Sacre du printemps. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NikolaiRoerichRite1.jpg

Part of Nicholas Roerich’s designs for Diaghilev’s 1913 production of Le Sacre du printemps. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NikolaiRoerichRite1.jpg

Today marks the hundredth anniversary of the premiere in Paris of the greatest religious musical composition of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, Le Sacre du Printemps. The work consists of a series of pagan Russian rituals to celebrate the arrival of spring, culminating in the selection of a young girl as a sacrificial victim who dances herself to death.

A couple of decades ago, National Public Radio conducted a little contest in which listeners were asked to mash up the title of a famous piece of classical music with the title of popular movie. I’m proud to say that one of the winners was my entry, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre du Printemps. Take that, sacred tree!


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