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
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