In 1975, the legendary Pina Bausch choreographed a production of The Rite of Spring on a stage entirely covered with earth. This is a choice which would have certainly pleased Stravinsky, since his composition was meant to answer a call from Nature: in a literal sense, one could say, given that the musician wrote in his Chronicle of My Life that the idea of the Rite was a true revelation for him, like a waking dream! The scenes celebrate a pagan world rooted in Russian folklore. At the premiere of the work in 1913, criticism and disapproval was rampant, but as Bausch declared at the time: “It is almost insignificant if a work gains the understanding of the public [...] We are not here to please, we cannot dispense with challenging the spectator.” Stravinsky would have supported this idea!
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medici.tv is the best online platform for streaming Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring live, on replay or VOD, offering you a virtual ticket to the most exciting concerts with the world’s best artists and orchestras captured in HD video. A pagan work in the literal sense of the term, The Rite of Spring was crafted by Stravinsky in a trance-like state. The composer writes, “I saw in my imagination the spectacle of a great pagan sacred rite: the old sages, seated in a circle, observed a dance at the death of a young girl, who they sacrified to make the god of Spring favorable to them.” Discover Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring on medici.tv!
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“Nature just knows instinctively how to stay in harmony. It’s mechanical. Everything does its part.” These words do not come from Stravinsky, but from the film Midsommar (2019). Just like The Rite of Spring, this horror film narrates a pagan ritual which finishes with human sacrificies to the gods of Nature. “Instead of growing old and dying in pain and shame, we give our lives. [...] Before they are spoiled.” It is not suprising that the ferocity and apparent primal instinct of the Rite disturbed audiences during its premiere, although the ritual celebration of the dialectic between Life and Death was acclaimed by artists including Debussy, Ravel, and D’Annunzio. The troubling force of attraction of this revolutionary ballet is more relevant than ever: the atavistic connection with the Earth and its unfathomable laws, the spirit of the community that emerges from its collective dance speaks powerfully to our present time. Harmonize with Nature and take part in this hym to life which is Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring on medici.tv!