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John Heiss: Stories of "The Rite" Part 4: Genesis of Genius

580 views · Published 23 April 2013 · 7:59 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: New England Conservatory · 2013 · Music

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One hundred years ago, in May 1913, Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, composer Igor Stravinsky, and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky unleashed an artistic tsunami whose shock waves are still being felt a century later. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was visceral, violent, garish, primitive in its explosion of polyrhythms, dissonances, and shrieking orchestral effects. Its use of traditional Russian folk material has been described by music critic Alex Ross as "pulverized motivic bits, piled up in layers, and reassembled in cubistic collages and montages." At the premiere in Paris, conducted by Pierre Monteux, there was literally a riot.
NEC faculty composer, conductor and flutist John Heiss will present a fascinating pre-concert lecture, "Singing the Rite," April 24 at 6:45 pm in Jordan Hall. Through musical examples—recorded, played on the piano, and sung by the audience, he will offer a vivid demonstration of the revolutionary compositional techniques that made the Rite a landmark in music history of the 20th century. Here, he shares his rich inside knowledge of the events leading to the creation of Stravinsky's seminal works: Firebird, Petroushka, and the great Rite of Spring.
For more information: http://necmusic.edu/concerts

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