The Rite of Spring


The only good part of this film is the opening sequence depicting the premiere of The Rite of Spring. During the rest of the movie Stravinsky composes The Rite of Spring. What did I miss? Actually, I missed two hours of doing something more productive watching this mess. (The screenwriters missed a great dialog opportunity: Coco to Igor -- I'll be away for a few days developing a perfume.)

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[deleted]

foolforfilm--He didn't spend the rest of the film composing "Le Sacre"; most of the film is set in or after 1920, years after the premiere of "Le Sacre". He does play some of the music at the keyboard, but he's no longer composing it at that point. And other music of his is also used.
Also, keep in mind that while he conducts a concert near the end of the film, that's not the premiere of "The Rite"; that had been conducted by Pierre Monteux, as shown at the beginning of the film.
I do agree that the recounting of the "Le Sacre" premiere--one of the most famous and important events in the history of classical music--may have been the best part of the film, or close to it. From what I've read about that event, the filmmakers may have actually UNDERDONE the rioting a bit. But they clearly did a lot of research on the event--the dancers' costumes do look like photos I've seen of the originals; Stravinsky did go backstage during the performance; Nijinsky was off in the wings trying to count to the dancers to keep them in sync with the music. Some accounts have Nijinsky standing on a chair while doing this, with Stravinsky holding his coattails.

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So, if not the Rite, what music was he composing during the film? I found it very confusing.

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I'm not certain (I don't know enough about his music of the 1920's), but I have an idea as to at least some of it. There were repeated references in the film to a--or the--card game, and he did write a piece whose French title translates to "Card Game: A Ballet in Three Deals." I'm guessing some of the music we heard was composed for that. If you get a chance to see the film again, check out the closing credits, for two reasons: (1) they appear to list most of the music heard on the sound track; and (2) there's an additional scene after the credits, which you missed if you walked out during the credits. Hope this helps.

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All of Stravinsky's compositions played during the film were listed in the credits. There were at least seven of eight pieces listed.

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He didn't spend the rest of the film composing "Le Sacre"
Although I know the Rite occurred throughout the film as more of an artistic device--Kounen obviously wanted it as the primary theme woven throughout his work for various reasons--Stravinsky could have been still working on the Rite at this time. Per the Wikipedia article, which is accurate on all of this per my other readings (and I'm a bit of a Stravinsky fanatic, so I've read a lot about him): "The composer was continually revising the work for both musical and practical reasons, even after the premiere and well into ensuing years . . . Stravinsky also made two arrangements of the The Rite of Spring for player piano. In late 1915, the Aeolian Company in London asked for permission to issue both the Rite and Petrushka on piano roll, and by early 1918 the composer had made several sketches to be used in the more complex passages. Again owing to the war, the work of transcribing the rolls dragged on, and only the Rite was ever issued by Aeolian on standard pianola rolls, and this not until late 1921, by which time Stravinsky had completed a far more comprehensive re-composition of the work for the Pleyela, the brand of player piano manufactured by Pleyel in Paris."


http://www.rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies

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I was confused too. At the dinner party he stormed out of, they were toasting "to the rite", and they mentioned The Rite a few other times. I assumed that's what he was composing throughout the film. Was he conducting the Rite of Spring at the end?

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Stravinsky made a number of revisions to the Rite throughout his life, so I assumed much of the parts where he's playing it on piano are places where he's doing those revisions. At least one sheet looked like some of the revisions I saw in a book analyzing his work on it.

I'm pretty sure it was the Rite he was conducting at the end. It's a shame there wasn't more about his other compositional activity. Jeu de Cartes (Card Game) wasn't composed until '36.

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This was a later production of "The Rite," choreographed, or so the film states, by Leonid Massine who was Nijinsky's replacement (from age 15) as lead dance and choreographer as well as lover of impressario Seregei Diaghilev. Massine was the man Stravinsky shouted to, "Listen to me, Massine," just before he stormed from the table and went to the piano and played portions of "The Rite."

Massine became one of the first half of the 20th century's most dynamic choreographers and appears as the Shoemaker in the seminal 1948 film, "The Red Shoes." Massine choreographed that character's sinister movements for the dream-sequence ballet which is one of film's greatest moments. (The ballet itself was choreographed by Robert Helpmann, who dances the "hero" in The Red Shoes Ballet.)

I'm sure the earlier poster who mentioned being such a Stravinsky fan knows that only a few weeks after the riotous premiere of "The Rite" that the work was performed again to a more appreciative audience and became an enormous hit in London shortly thereafter. By the time of the film's final moments, "The Rite" had already been accepted as "new" music.

Following choreographer Nijinsky's dismissal (he married a woman and eventually went mad...draw your own conclusions!) from Diaghilev's Ballet Russe, and with the outbreak of World War I a few years later, "The Rite" sort of went back in the closet. I believe the final sequence in this film depicts one of the revivals of the ballet in the 1920s. Massine's choreography (and, I believe, that of Nijinsky's sister, Bronislava) took the place of the lost choreography of Nijinsky, who died in an asylum in the late 1940s---- shortly before "The Red Shoes" was released.

Please excuse my verbosity. I've probably muddied up all this with "maybe's" and some inaccuracies, but I am certain that in the film that Stravinsky is working mainly on revisions to "The Rite" specifically for revival. And also several of the many, many, MANY other works he wrote besides-- including several more theatrical wonders for the Ballet Russe, including the brilliant stage piece, "L'Histoire du Soldat," (A Soldier's Tale) for three actors and wind orchestra.
The haunting piano pieces Stravinsky plays in the film are listed in the credits and the Wind Symphony is as well.

Though the OP is certainly entitled to dislike the film, for many of us who care about music, dance, art, theatre, etc., it's a moving (if slow), fascinating piece that stunningly and atmospherically recreates an era of incomparable artistic growth.... an era that. for me at least, far surpasses our own in true imagination, inspiration and accomplishment. 9/10 for me!

Thanks for reading this--- if you got this far! (Smile)

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Another thing worth pointing out is that one is not necessarily composing whenever one is playing something. I know they show him writing things down in some scenes, but many times they just show him playing. You can certainly play something you've already finished working on, and if it's something you're particularly fond of (or even a bit obsessed with), you might do that often. There are many reasons for this, including that you want to keep some ideas that you're particularly fond of in mind for other pieces.


http://www.rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies

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I'm going to see the ballet The Rite of Spring today!

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It wasn't a mess - you didn't follow the story. He wasn't writing The Rite of Spring (although they play it so much in the scoring that you could be forgiven for thinking so I guess if you didn't pay attention). He did compose some corrections/alterations but it had already been produced and had failed.


"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

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[deleted]

I loved watching the scene of The Rite of Spring! Stravinsky was an amazing composer. I could watch the scene over and over. Very imaginative.

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All of the classical music played during the film were Stravinsky's compositions, except of course the "modern" music of the 1920s. I loved the film!

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