Igor Stravinsky The Rite Of Spring Analysis

The world has always had dance. Whether it be as a form of worship, recreation, work or ritual, people have used movement to express their values and beliefs since the beginning of time. Throughout the years, dance has changed and grown and and taken on many forms of art as different choreographers bring their innovation and creativity to the table. I will be discussing two very different dances that have completely changed modern American dance. Martha Graham’s Lamentation, and George Balanchine’s Serenade.

In the book, Symphony for the City of the Dead, by M.T. Anderson, the author accentuates the composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, to describe the composer’s devotion for his city and country. The novel was set during 1905-1975 in northern Europe and western Russia. When Shostakovich lived in Leningrad, Russia, during World War 2, he wrote symphonies. He expressed his feelings of horror and hope for Russia's victory against the Nazi power in his symphonies. Although, his seventh symphony was the most significant to all globally in this time of war. It brought allied forces together to defeat the Nazi power. M.T. Anderson argued that Russia's dedication in music and nationalist feelings was prominent in obtaining and battling for its own country during

When looking at the periods of dance it can be separated into Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Pre-Romantic, Romantic, Russian Classic, and Ballet Russes before we reach the Twentieth Century. Ballet began during what is known as the Italian Renaissance, and permeated French culture by Catherine de Medici’s marriage to the King of France. The very first endorsed “ballet”, Le Ballet Comique de la Reine performed on October 15, 1581, marked the beginning of theatrical and technical dance performances. During this time our first prominent ballet masters came about, including; Balthasar Beaujoyeaux, Pierre Beauchamp, Domenico of Ferrara, and Guglielmo Ebreo, to name a few. These early ballet masters created and built upon social dance and turned it into a technical spectacle. After much deliberation on what causes the alteration and growth of ballet over time, there was one constant throughout. Ballet masters from the Renaissance to current

Ballet has influenced not only dancers but many other people throughout the world. From the beginning, ballet has had a significant impact on the performing arts for both the performers and spectators. It has played an important role in helping to shape the performing arts into what it is today. The creation and development of ballet brought about a new way of expressing feelings and telling stories as a part of performing arts and has been the foundation for many other dance styles.

Though ballet wasn’t originally intended for women, it was inevitable that the female race would rise above and eventually dominate this powerful yet delicate art. Femininity in ballet developed considerably after the reign of men in this art form during the 15th and 16th centuries, when men in mask and costume portrayed women in productions, and King Louis XIV’s elaborate productions starring himself in the 17th century. The Romantic Era ushered in a real exploration into the roles of gender, and ballets became a woman’s forte, full of love, sexuality, and femininity.

Upon viewing the performance here at UWL titled, “Singing in the Rain,” I was shown a variety of different styles of dance that were discussed during class. This production consisted of many different performers and movements. These movements ranged from tap dancing to line dancing. While there was a variety of different dancing styles, they all had the same common elements of dance.

IC2016 World Premiere Concert has given me a wonderful experience of magnificent pieces of music works. Among those amazing works in the concert, the masterpiece of Prokofiev’s, Romeo and Juliet Suite No.2, 64B was the one who caught my attention the most. This report will discuss how Prokofiev evokes the elements of romantic music in the movements of Romeo and Juliet Suite No.2, 64B by looking at each of the movements.

Stravinsky’s compositions can be divided into three periods during his life; Russian Period, Neo-classicism and Post-war/Serialism. The Rite was composed during the Russian Period and it is here that we start so see a change in compositions throughout Europe as it set in motion towards Serialism. Rhythm, folk melodies, harmonies and form are all central points, it was through his innovative use of rhythms that Stravinsky came to be recognised by Sergi Diaghilev. The founder of Ballet Russes, Diaghilev discovered Stravinsky in Russia and invited him to compose for his ballets. It was here that Stravinsky developed his own style, which we see looming by his irregular rhythms in Firebird and Petrushka.

The son of a composer, Balanchine studied piano from the age of five and had a robust understanding of music.

Writing about a living phenomenon is a complicated effort especially when realizing it is a dynamic, changeable and heterogeneous structure. This happens when we try to study contemporary practices today, in postmodern era, which is definitely a special expression of specific moment. If Modernism, among others, tried to enforce authority, postmodernism brought anarchy. Many things found today in postmodernism can be traced back, transformed of course, in the main modern flows; dadaism, futurism, surrealism. One of the main features of postmodernism is, that it exposed an experiment in different artistic fields as a result of denying conformism, which is introduced from avant-garde theory onwards. Postmodernism, therefore, acts as part of what modernism stood for except that postmodernism at the same time performs as its criticism. The same happens with postmodern theatre and modern theatre. The line is blurred as these two periods are intertwining. If we take a classic theatre as a dividing line between both periods I would say that postmodern theatre is far away from classical definition of drama and its space. It is a performance or happening, intertwined with dance, improvisation and conceptual art. The attitude towards the text changed greatly as today the core of the performance is body and autobiographical stories instead of sceneries from great classical writers.

The word “ballet” brings to mind words such as “grace” or “beauty” when heard by many people. The definition itself states that it is a form of dance that uses precise steps and light, graceful motions. This definition was in the minds of those who attended the Théâtre des Champs-Élysèes in May 1913, but rather they were greeted with the complete opposite. When Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Rite of Spring opened, the audience was greeted with swift, chaotic music that quickly became a whirlwind of sound. The music softened and the curtains opened to a primitive dance, causing mass hysteria throughout the theatre. The audience felt they were being attacked, for they had paid and dressed in ornate gowns to see the beauty and grace they feel reflected who they were, but instead they were shown a primal, barbaric scene. This piece had disrupted the order and harmony that one could associate ballet with.

Composers have the ability to influence how we the audience views and responds to characters and issues. Through viewing and analysing ‘The Shoe Horn Sonata’ by John Misto and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ directed by Steven Spielberg, it is obvious that composers have the ability to impact and influence our views on characters and issues that occur.

Before presenting the field work and in order to set the framework for this research about Multiculturalism in Classical Ballet Companies Nowadays, it is appropriate to define first of all the basic concepts of this study. The key terms, will be described briefly based on what is found in general theoretical works about these concepts and based on the course ‘Discours et Multiculturalité’, taught by Laura Calabrese at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

The evolution of music can be viewed as a linear timeline of key, innovative composers who have far-reaching influences upon the musical continuum and perhaps epitomises the societal views which are relevant to their time period through their canonical pieces. As a result, in order to conduct a case study into any piece of music one must first realise said piece in regards to the concurrent political climate.

He would soon begin to take private music lessons with Rimsky-Korsakov. Whom became like a second father to Igor Stravinsky. Teaching him all about composing and teaching him new different sounds. They would do these private lessons twice weekly, but soon also the man who he became very close with would also pass away in the year of 1908. Not all things were bad for Igor Stravinsky, he has did something that would be extremely unusual now, but what is quite common back in the day. He had married his first cousin by the name of Yekaterina Gavrilovna Nosenko also known as Katya. The couple would soon be married on January 23rd of 1906. Their first two children Theodore and Ludmila were born around the years 1907 and 1908. Even more good news would come Igor Stravinsky’s way in February of 1909 he would create two new orchestra pieces. The first one was Scherzo fantastique, and the second one was named Feu d’artifice. They were both performed at a concert in Saint Petersburg. Luck struck again because Sergei Diaghilev the person who at the time was involved in planning to present the Russian opera and ballet in Paris. He was