The Rite of Spring is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the
Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris
season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company, with choreography
by Vaslav Nijinsky and stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich
(pictured). The ballet caused a near-riot in the audience when first
performed, on 29 May 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in
Paris, but rapidly achieved success as a concert piece and later became
recognised as one of the most influential musical works of the
20th century. The score has many novel features, including experiments
in tonality, metre, rhythm, stress and dissonance. The scenario is the
celebration of spring by various primitive rituals, at the end of which
a sacrificial victim dances herself to death. After its explosive
premiere the ballet was not performed until the 1920s, when Léonide
Massine's rechoreographed version was the first of many innovative
productions directed by the world's leading ballet-masters. Providing
"endless stimulation for performers and listeners" alike, The Rite is
among the most recorded works in the classical repertoire.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1453:
With the conquest of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire fell
to the Ottomans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire>
1852:
Swedish operatic soprano Jenny Lind concluded a widely
successful concert tour of the US under the management of showman P. T.
Barnum.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lind_tour_of_America,_1850%E2%80%9352>
1900:
N'Djamena, now the capital of Chad, was founded as Fort-Lamy by
French commander Émile Gentil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%27Djamena>
1953:
New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian Sherpa
mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit
of Mount Everest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay>
1982:
Falklands War: Approximately 1,000 Argentine forces
surrendered, ending the Battle of Goose Green.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Goose_Green>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
apothegm:
A short, witty, instructive saying; an aphorism or maxim.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apothegm>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not
free.
--John F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy>