THE RITE OF SPRING (IGOR STRAVINSKY)--SYNOPSIS OF THE DANCE AND THE MUSIC

PART A: THE ADORATION OF THE EARTH

 

Introduction

THE DANCE

The curtain doesn't usually rise up in some productions during the introduction. Some
involve a curtain that rises up to show a primeval forest, the setting for the Rite of Spring.

THE MUSIC
The music starts with a bassoon going just beyond its normal range. Its obvious purpose
is to depict some primeval cry--perhaps a cry of a wolf, or an old hunting call from someone's prehistoric horn. Then the oboe comes in to depict another animal--perhaps
a low-pitched nightingale or even an owl. The other low woodwinds then weave in fourths
to complete the pattern. In the next part, other animal calls are given. The piccolos  and flutes represent bird calls, the horns represent something like worms calling as they inch forward.

Then, on a B-G-Ab-D-E chord cluster droning in the low basses and cello, the animal calls start out with one in the first woodwind, and then the other in the next woodwind, and then increase until a big cacophony of sound appears in the other upper woodwinds, climaxing with a low-pitched, whippoorwill sound in the bassoons. Suddenly, there is a stop, and then the high bassoon comes in once more to start the thematic reprise that started the opening measures, followed by a "Db-Bb-Eb-Bb" ostinato in the middle strings--which will be the main part of the "Dance of the Adolecents.. Then, a brief lull on an F# pedal point, and then the reprise of the 4-note ostinato, quiet, repeats

4 more times...with a sudden segue to the next part...the Auguries of Spring.

The Auguries of Spring

THE DANCE

The curtain now rises to show usually quasi-naked lady dancers, adolescents particularly,
doing strange movements in their bodies that are not really ballet-related. Crouches,
deep knee-bends, monkey and ape poses, and other unusual drops and lunges.  In some
other productions, adolescent men are often added to the mix of ladies.

 THE MUSIC

This part of the music is most striking. We are now in duple meter. The strings, punctuated by horns, do a bichordal element of G-Bb-Db-Eb (the V of the Ab chord) and the E-G#-B-E chord (the regular E chord)--at the same time....forte and with sudden, violent actions. A fragment of the G-Bb-Db-Eb chord, the "Db-Bb-Eb-Bb", appears first in the horns, and then, later on, the strings.

The music eventually gets quiet after a pausing low F from the tuba, preceded by a long Eb note in the brass., as the Db-Bb-Eb-Bb ostinato continues. The high winds now make a new quasi-folk melody. Then, after a rhythmic variation on the bichordal theme in the strings, the crescendo is slow but grand, until the whole orchestra comes in punctuating the folk melody in the upper instruments with sharp accents. Then a segue suddenly to the Ritual of Abduction.

Ritual of Abduction

THE DANCE

Right now, the ladies either get abducted by other ladies, or the men abduct the ladies
in an abduction ritual. Things like play-fighting, rape scenes, cat fights, are the main
actions here.
 

THE MUSIC

Now, the music becomes more irregular and unpredictable. Big meter changes and
irregular meters vying for regular meters make this ballet scene seem like a wild orgy.

Spring Rounds

 THE DANCE

As the title suggests, this is almost like Greek round dancing in the dancers--so mainly, they are either in one circle or in a group of circles.

 THE MUSIC

After long trills on Eb-F on a few of the woodwinds, the music is moderate and almost

processional, on a Eb minor-ninth chord mainly, punctuated by a bass drum. As that
part of the orchestra plays an ostinato--which first holds back in volume and then bursts
out in a full fortissimo with other orchestra members---the "auguries" theme is played
in the upper instruments in the orchestra. Then, a quick but brief shift in scene; the music is suddenly fast and represents something like the "Ritual of Abduction" music heard earlier. Then the music goes back to the trills that started the Spring Rounds in the first place.

Games Of The Rival Clans

THE DANCE

Think of the Sharks and the Jets in Bernstein's West Side Story....but this Rite milieu describes a sort of primitive gang war. Primitive rival clans push each other, strike each other, take sides. Sometimes they dart away or into each other.

THE MUSIC

The music is loud and there are clashes of double thirds that seem to be played wrong (e.g., some wind players play Ab-F, and others play A-F#). It seems like Stravinsky wanted it to sound wrong because most of the ballet is primitive.

The Arrival of the Sage

THE DANCE

The fighting stops as the bass drum, the tuba, and horns come in. The dancers then make way for the sage, who enters the stage usually with a staff, walking slowly until he reaches the center of the stage. The dancers honor the sage usually by raising and lowering the arms in the area.

THE MUSIC

The violins start the passage with a double-third Russian folk melody, and the bass drum plays an irregular rhythm that takes up the rest of the passage. As the violins drop out,
the "G#-F#-G#-A-C#-A" ostinato motive in the tuba (playing at a very high range than normal for a tuba) permeate almost the whole section., and the horns, playing in their high range, have the ostinato on C-D. The whole percussion comes in, including the kettledrums that continue playing the note "D".

The whole orchestra comes in, and suddenly, there is a long stop.

Kiss of the Earth

THE DANCE

This is where the sage goes down on his knees, and then lies forward, and kisses the earth
when the strings make only one chord.  The other dancers remain still.

THE MUSIC
The shortest part of the ballet. Long chords first in the woodwinds, and then one chord in the strings. . All of them are played soft yet slightly in a state of inquietude.

Dance of the Earth

THE DANCE

Usually, the dancers seem to dance in all directions---this is almost like chaos. Some dancers turn, some jump, some stamp, some kick, some go down on their knees--all at irregular times. But most of them stamp because they are honoring the earth. The sage usually remains still in the explosive frenzy of the other dancers.

THE MUSIC

A rhythmic beat in the bass drum with a very quick crescendo leads to a wild tutti.

Harsh chords constantly punch at you in the high winds and the brass.....and the same time, the basses, cellos, and trombones spurt out a rising scalar motive F#-G#-A#-C-D-E.  The 3/4 meter in the part seems almost like it is not exactly 3/4 meter. The part starts loud, and then suddenly soft,

and like in Ravel's Bolero, a gradual crescendo back to loud again as the violins seem to
take a fragment of the Db-Bb-Eb-Db theme in the Auguries of Spring. The harsh chords
then resurface and then an abrupt stop on the 3rd beat ends not only the piece---but Part I as well.
 

PART B: THE SACRIFICE

Introduction

THE DANCE

Usually no dancing on stage. The curtain simply goes up and reveals a different scene.

THE MUSIC

The music is slower. Slow, flowing chords, punctuated by violin harmonics, feel like something taking out of Varèse or Messiaen.

 Next, the oboe brings out a new motive: the notes  Bb Cb, and in the clarinet, Ab, G, F. It then turns into a mid-range ostinato.  The strings and flutes then come in on a Bb13 chords while the oboe and clarinet continue the ostinato.

That ostinato motive then passes to the brass to end the section.

Mystic Circles of the Young Girls

THE DANCE

Now, like the Spring Rounds, there are circle dancers, but all of them are by the female
adolescents. They play with the circles, sometimes making them large, sometimes making them small. Some ladies leer at each other, gaze at each other, or even look at the sky.

On the "Bernstein" motive, this represents the process of choosing the lady who will be

condemned to her sacrificial dance. This occurs two times. The first time, the ladies seem to stop movement in the circle. Then the circle starts again. the second time the theme
comes, the lady is then touched and picked. The other ladies move away from the lady
that is touched. The lone lady represents the one who will be sacrificed in her solo dance.

THE MUSIC

The first part is in C major, now slightly faster, where, in 2/4 meter, the wind instruments, helped by pizzicato strings, play a new folk melody.

The second part involves a tremolo in the upper strings, and several wind instruments play the same fragements of the new folk melody in either 2/4 or 3/4 time.

 The third part, slower than the first two, focuses on the pizzicato rhythm on the strings, and then, a more legato fragment of the folk rhythm reprise in Part A.

All of them are gently rhythmic and represent a moderate order of the moving circles
of the dancers.

The coda is what I call Bernstein's "Somewhere" theme (from West Side Story)...the famous two note motive. But in this case, this indicates the other ladies picking out the lady to be condemned.  The second time the "Somewhere" theme (preceded by the reprise of the folk melody in the third part)this represents that the lady has been chosen. The theme picks up speed, a big crescendo takes place, and
then 11 hammer chords in the whole orchestra segues right into the The Naming And Honoring Of The Chosen One.

The Naming And The Honoring Of The Chosen One

THE DANCE

Now, the lady that has been picked remains there without movement; the other ladies then explode into a jovial orgy to tell the audience that the lady who can't move was chosen to do the sacrificial dance.

THE MUSIC

The whole orchestra, most of the time in fortissimo but in some passages in piano, seems to play like one bass drum. Seems Bartokian in most of the passages----changes of rhythms are constant.

Invocation of the Ancestors

THE DANCE

The elders usually come near the end of the passage....usually coming from the wings of the state. The condemned lady still does not dance at that point.

THE MUSIC

There are two clashes. The low winds and brass, punctuated by timpani, play the notes F#--E-D# several times, and then the high winds and brass spurt staccato chords. The strong loudness of the passage seem to depict that the sacrificial lady had been chosen.

 Ritual Action of the Ancestors

THE DANCE

Typically, the old dancers (ancestors) go around and make several circles around the
motionless lady who is condemned to do the sacrificial dance. Sometimes they
make squares or rectangles around the lady. The other ladies sometimes join in the
ancestors' dancing rituals.

THE MUSIC

Very slow pattern, with the timpani and low strings doing mostly a 4/4 ostinato drum pattern; the top tine, consisting of a English horn grunt  and clarinet response in the soft  patterns, fading away into a very quiet pianississimo.  Then, the clarinet runs 16th notes while the bassoon counters with staccato eighths, and then, two measures of 6/4 in a very loud way for the whole orchestra, and then afterwards, accents by the string orchestra and the wind orchestra with a mixture of triplets and eighths come in, then a brief ffff  (fortississississimo - or very, very, very loud) pattern, and then, back to the beginning of the part, pp (or pianissimo, very soft). The timpani and low strings do the ostinato reprise as the English horn and clarinet do the conversational reprise. Slowly, the instruments drop out until the bass clarinet and low strings/timpani do a broken version of the theme to end. A quick segue to the sacrificial dance comes in.

Sacrificial Dance

THE DANCE

Now, the condemned lady, who had to stand still at the "The Naming and Honoring of the Chosen One", gets her chance to do this deadly dance. The dance is filled with non-ballet as well as ballet moves, as the ancestors watch her die. At the final bars of the music, the lady finally expires. One ending to the dance involves the ancestors and the other ladies picking the dead lady up to the sky---the other involves putting the dead lady on a stone, and then, everyone falls prostrate, indicating that the rite has come to an end.

THE MUSIC

The main meat of the quasi drum-pattern at the start by almost the whole orchestra is the complex composite rhythmic pattern - the 2 + 2+1+ 3+1+1+1; 2+1+2+1+3+1+1+1 pattern, and variants on that rhythmic pattern. All of this leads up to a polyrhythmic climax on the flamenco chord (A-C#-E-Bb) leads to the final orchestra tutti, then a break by trills leading to a quasi-glissando by the flutes upward...then a short pause, and a final blow by the whole orchestra, ending the ballet.