In our impression, concerts are generally solemn and elegant. People who go to concerts are generally well-educated. They are often well-dressed and elegant. In short, it is difficult to associate music with chaos. But in 1913, a unique concert was performed at the famous Paris Opera House on the Champs Elysées in France. The conductor at the time, Pierre Monte, recalled the scene at the concert this way: "The audience was calm for the first two minutes, but soon after, disgusting, cat-like sounds began to come down from upstairs. Then , the audience downstairs gradually joined in, and the audience began to joke with the neighbors, joking with each other, throwing debris, and everything they could find was gradually launched towards the orchestra pit with us as the target, but we still continued to play. "On that day. In the evening, the 78-year-old French romantic composer Saint-Sa?ns also came to listen to the concert. He just listened to the prelude to this work, said "What the hell kind of music is this?" and walked away. Another countess stood up and shouted: "This is the first time in 60 years that someone has fooled me like this!" There was chaos in the venue, and even the seats were thrown off the orchestra pit, and a large number of police had to come in to maintain order. .
What kind of music can make these "elegant" people so angry? It was the premiere of Il Stravinsky's dance drama "The Rite of Spring".
Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882 in Oranienpom, a suburb of Petersburg. His father, Odore, was the well-known principal bass singer of the Royal Orchestra. My mother is also very musical. Stravinsky has been influenced by the strong musical atmosphere since he was a child. He learned piano at the age of 9 and wanted to be a musician in the future.
But his parents’ intention was to make him an official, so they sent Stravinsky to Petersburg University to study law, but he had no interest in law at all. I still study music in my spare time. In 1902, under the introduction of his classmate Vladimir, he met his father Rimsky-Korsakov, the composer of the "Group of Five" and professor of composition at the Petersburg Conservatory. Later, He received the guidance of Rimsky-Korsakov for three years and completed his first works here: "Piano Concerto No. 1" and "Symphony No. 1". These works of his are greatly influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov and have a strong national flavor.
Later, he was appreciated by Didharev, the manager and choreographer of the Russian Dance Theater. Didharev was a man who dared to break the old and establish the new. He collaborated with Stravinsky for many years and created many famous dance dramas. Such as "The Firebird" and "Petrushka". Both works are drawn from Russian folk art. Although there is an obvious primitivist style in the music, it is still influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov and has a neo-nationalist style. Nonetheless, they demonstrate Stravinsky's sense of uniqueness and innovation.
The dance drama "The Rite of Spring" they collaborated on marked Stravinsky's complete abandonment of new nationalism and his move toward primitivism. It was this work that caused the kind of turmoil described at the beginning of this article and also led to a revolution in modern music.
Primitivism is a musical genre that emerged in Europe and America in the 20th century. Primitivism advocates that music creation should be simple and ordinary, and opposes the emptiness and etherealness of musical works. This has an obvious "anti-impressionism" character. Primitivist music mostly uses ancient myths or folklore in terms of subject matter, pursues original and ancient tunes and rhythms in terms of musical style, but mostly adopts modern composition techniques in terms of technique. Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" can be said to be the manifesto and model of primitivist music in a sense.
The music of "The Rite of Spring" is truly abstract music, with a lot of harsh dissonances, rough asymmetrical rhythms, and many instruments in extreme registers that have never been used before. roar. The use of the piano is unprecedented, and it is actually used as a percussion instrument. Eventually, music was reduced to various rhythms. In terms of orchestration, he used many unprecedented band effects and chords to combine, creating a formidable power.
The theme of the dance drama is to celebrate the creativity and mystery of spring. The opera can be divided into two parts: the first scene uses the spring dance of the girls to show their worship of the earth, with witches and wise elders interspersed in it, adding to the mystery of the atmosphere; the second part is the sacrifice , among the girls playing a mysterious game, one is chosen to sacrifice her life to nature. The entire "The Rite of Spring" is a depiction of a primitive ritual.
Such music and dance would of course conflict with the traditional elegance of art, so it is not surprising that there was such a commotion at the premiere. But when it was repeated a year later, the music was an unprecedented success.
For a work like "The Rite of Spring", people have always had mixed reviews and opinions. But in any case, it has become a representative work of primitivist music, greatly enriched the modernist music of the 20th century, and opened up a new path for future music creation.
Just when "The Rite of Spring" caused a sensation in the world and others followed suit, Stravinsky's creation suddenly took a turn and shouted the neoclassical slogan "Back to Bach". .
Neoclassicism is a new music genre that emerged in the 1920s. They advocate that music creation does not have to reflect society, but should go back to "classics", but this is not a simple return to the past, but a reflection and re-application of the aesthetic principles of the classical period. Classicism pursues calm, objective and balanced classical principles, and pursues moderate and rational emotional expression. After Stravinsky's creation changed, he became a representative composer of neoclassicism.
Stravinsky's neoclassical works include the dance drama "The Soldier's Tale", "Pulcinella", the opera "The Prodigy of the Prodigal Son", etc. Among them, "The Soldier's Story" is a key work in the transition from early primitivism to neoclassicism.
The plot of "The Soldier's Story" is as follows: a soldier went home for vacation and met a devil dressed as an old man on the way. The soldier exchanged his violin for a magic book and stayed in the "old man's" home for three days. But he did not expect that the three days at the "old man's" house would actually be three years in the world. Therefore, when he returned home, others were surprised to see him. His original fiancée had also married and had children. When the soldier met the devil for the second time, the devil turned into a cattle dealer again, and he taught the soldier to get rich by relying on his magic book. When the soldier got tired of his wealth, the devil turned into an old woman and played the violin to the soldier, but he could not make any sound. In anger, the soldier threw away his violin and tore up the grimoire. The soldier became a poor man. When the soldier wandered abroad, he stole the devil's violin and cured the country's princess of her strange disease. Then, the princess wanted to marry him, but the devil came to cause trouble again. The soldier defeated the devil and married the princess. And when they were about to return to the soldier's hometown together, the devil succeeded in taking him away again.
In addition to "The Soldier's Story", Stravinsky also created the neoclassical style oratorio "Oedipus the King" with mixed chorus and the "Symphony of Psalms" for orchestra.
Stravinsky is a legendary figure. He changed his creative style many times and made extraordinary achievements in different styles. Due to his outstanding creations, he received various honors. In addition, Stravinsky once had three nationalities: he was originally from Russia, he became a French citizen in 1934, and later changed to American citizenship in 1945.
Stravinsky finally died in New York on April 6, 1971. In compliance with his lifetime wishes, a funeral was held in Venice, and his body was buried on a small island where the Monastery of San Miguel is located. superior.
Stravinsky composed a large amount of modern music and wrote many theoretical articles throughout his life, which had a huge impact on world music in the 20th century.