The ballet that incited a riot - Iseult Gillespie

Dive into the history and controversy of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, “The Rite of Spring,” which shattered the conventions of classical ballet.
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Ballet is typically thought of as harmonious, graceful and polished- hardly something that would trigger a riot. But at the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's “The Rite of Spring,” audience members were so outraged that they drowned out the orchestra. People hurled objects at the stage, started fights and were arrested. What caused this shocking reaction? Iseult Gillespie explains the controversy.
Lesson by Iseult Gillespie, directed by WOW-HOW Studio.
Animator's website: www.wow-how.com
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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Christophe Dessalles, Janie Jackson, Dr Luca Carpinelli, Heather Slater, Yuh Saito, Quentin Le Menez, Mattia Veltri, Fabian Amels, Sandra Tersluisen, PnDAA, Hugo Legorreta, Zhexi Shan, Gustavo Mendoza, Bárbara Nazaré, Josh Engel, Natalia Rico, Andrea Feliz, Eysteinn Guðnason, Bernardo Paulo, Victor E Karhel, Sydney Evans, Latora Slydell, Oyuntsengel Tseyen-Oidov, Noel Situ, Elliot Poulin, emily lam, Juan, Jordan Tang, Kent Logan, Alexandra Panzer, Laura Cameron Keith, Jen, Ellen Spertus, Cailin Ramsey, Markus Goldhacker, Leora Allen, Andras Radnothy, Chris, Arpita Singh, Vijayalakshmi, Marc Bilodeau, Peng, Tzu-Hsiang, paul g mohney, Maya Toll, Sebastian Regez, Bruno Hannud, Andreas Voltios, Shubham Arora, Ugur Doga Sezgin and Akinola Emmanuel.

[@shaunyap4090]

It's the Riot of Spring

[@ona9960]

Check out Teodor currentzis conducting the actually riot of spring kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmS5iWljabuHqZY

[@AishaVonFossen]

I see whatcha did there. :P

[@minms38]

"Rite" riot

[@geoleo965]

@@minms38 Thanks for explaining the joke; no, I am not being sarcastic.

[@minms38]

@@geoleo965 thanks you

[@Matt10670]

Stravinsky: Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it.

[@davidribosome4326]

Lmao

[@harlowitter3060]

Yup

[@erichkeithly7182]

Love the joke... Unfortunately most kids have never heard this wonderful piece.

[@dianamations9371]

Hahahaahaha

[@uvn6210]

Erich Keithly ehhh most band and orchestra students have at the least heard of the bassoon solo in the beginning. It’s iconic within the bassoon community!

[@b_uppy]

So actually, the audience wasn't sophisticated enough.

[@noelstar1456]

There's modern speculation that some people were paid to riot to create controversy around the ballet as a form of clever advertising.

[@b_uppy]

@@noelstar1456 Makes sense, who could afford to throw around foodstuffs?

[@KnakuanaRka]

Noel Star No such thing as bad publicity, right?

[@michaelhansell1116]

Or you could say, the audience heard/saw a message they disagreed with and rejected. They were sensitive enough to have received the message and its meaning unlike many audiences today who just hear it as "classical music" (which it is not). There's no reason we always have to accept every message offered to us by an artist - audiences and artists alike have freedom of expression. My point is, maybe the audience understood something back then that today's audiences miss, or we today are dulled to a message that now we accept uncritically. Just a thought!

[@canterlevi]

Michael Hansell I like to think we’ve become more sophisticated and can appreciate what Stravinsky and the choreographer were saying. He was actually ‘ahead of his time’ with The Rite of Spring. We’ve not been dulled, actually, we’ve finally caught up with his thinking.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

As the times have passed, "The Rite Of Spring" was played while Dinosaurs were all gone to extinction in Disney's *_Fantasia._*

[@jasepoag8930]

Thank you, the entire time I was like "Why is this music making me thing of dinosaurs?" I watched Fantasia almost daily as a young child.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

@@jasepoag8930 You welcome. Just watching it last time and it's tragic.

[@BigattckFirecat]

So that was why it made me sad

[@dennysdonuts4918]

I don't remeber liking Fantasia, possibly because I saw it as scary and unnatural, and watching this helps explain why I feel uncomfortable watching it.

[@LupinLovebites]

This is why it's in my top five fave pieces of classical music. It's because dinosaurs are magical, it makes the music so compelling. Prehistory has a score, and that is Rite of Spring.

[@athomicritics]

you should do an episode on "the mute girl of Portici" as "The opera that started a revolution" which started belgian independance

[@kaitlnwhite6809]

Stravinsky did both “The Rite of Spring” and “Firebird” which also both appear in Fantasia. Kudos to him.

[@PADARM]

And kudos to Disney

[@alvexok5523]

I like Firebird. As for Rite of spring, I looked it up just now because I remember how unique the music of it is. But until I scrolled by this video, I totally forgot that there was something said about riots breaking out during the performance, and I remembered that I watched half of this video once before, but never knew until now when (looking it up on Wiki) and seeing the rest of this video the full reason why this piece was so rejected.

[@54Shadowolf]

When you see someone not being graceful in a ballet The audience: someone hold me back

[@jauxro]

I wonder if they felt mocked? As if the performers were saying "look at this horrible dancing! we got _you_ to pay for this! ha!"

[@cardiaccoder9622]

How horrifying

[@mikanchan322]

@@jauxro I'd be kinda mad if I went to a concert and it looked like the band was messing around and the singer purposely wasnt singing in tune

[@namelesssoul104]

I don't think that was the reason, maybe it was the eeriness, the uncanny music and grusome plot showed through a raw threatening dance...... Art creates feelings. This dance was made to create fear and anger throwing the public on edge....I think that's what caused the riot. It means the show was a huge success. If if managed to provoke the audience with feeling to that extent

[@manuelhe46]

@@mikanchan322sound like punk rock

[@merrittanimation7721]

One of my favorite scenes from this ballet is (their interpretation is shown at 2:33) when the sacrificed girl is chosen, and all the other young women not chosen dance in a rhythmic dance which contorts their bodies in strange ways. It's kinda terrifying honestly.

[@sophiatalksmusic3588]

My favourite performance of this ballet has to be the one by the Geoffery Ballet. The dancer really gets into character, and she starts shaking before she starts that final dance, and she looks absolutely terrified. It's amazing!

[@kaitlynreynolds5192]

@@sophiatalksmusic3588 Ballet Russe did a good one in 2008 too

[@musicallydisneyamvs6731]

A good reminder that art is limitless not limited. Love this! Wonderful job.

[@emmalinesheahan4788]

I think it's actually incorrect to refer to the ballet as "Stravinsky's" and I kind of don't appreciate how much Nijinsky was downplayed. Stravinsky was hired by Diaghilev to compose for the Ballet Russe, of which Nijinsky was the lead choreographer at the time. It was a collaborative effort if anything

[@ilovegon75]

They touched on the choreographer too however, ballet will always be ballet. Music is forever changing and evolving. That’s why it’s so important to say that Stravinsky started a riot with his ballet. Lol

[@emmalinesheahan4788]

@@ilovegon75 I'm an actual dancer... Ballet is not always "just ballet." Evan Winther put it nicely. Ballet and dance has been evolving since it's inception; if you think Forsythe or Killian's ballets are the same thing as Petipa and Ivanov's, you're very mistaken. Dance is as much an art form as music, and it's inadequate to Nijinsky and his genius/legacy to paint him and his choreography as an after thought.

[@rubenvo3627]

I believe Diaghilev was more instrumental to Stravinsky´s work than people seem to credit him in this comment section or even in the video itself. (especially later on, e.g. Neoclassicism)

[@evanwinther7061]

Ra Va Very true (I commented and decided to to catch up on my dance history research afterward!)

[@ilovegon75]

Evan Winther as far a technique goes, yes ballet will always be ballet. When you start doing other things then it’s called something else like jazz, hip hop, etc.

[@Jonasanoj]

I knew that the video would be about “The Rite of Spring” as soon as I saw the title, school has taught me something after all! :D

[@Cheshire1501]

In other words, the 1913 version of "how dare you put politcs into my art!"

[@veryberry39]

"stick to what ur good at"

[@Frooti.loopz23]

Humans never change I guess

[@godzillavkk]

Toxic fandom.

[@Edgelordess]

Oh if you thought this was provocative, you need to listen to Shostakovich's works. (though I also love Stravinsky)

[@bradenvester4308]

godzillavkk lol

[@spyrosk.1881]

Fun fact: the last four chords played by the orchestra spell the word "D-E-A-D".

[@-TheCommenter-]

Might want to check that; I believe those notes are in the last chord alone.

[@theemraldwolf5874]

​@-TheCommenter- Yeah you're right it's the last chord they must have just got it mixed up

[@sairbanana7393]

“Composed on the cusp of both the First World War and the Russian Revolution, the Rite of Spring seethes with urgency.” That gave me chills.

[@thesoundsmith]

I was trained (by a poor music teacher) to HATE classical music. Until the Rite of Spring. I LOVED it, and was able to "back into" the earlier classics Mozart et al. One of his greatest triumphs.

[@sebastianelytron8450]

Why can't cows do ballet? Because they lactose.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

Nice

[@abijithp92]

Lactose is a protein

[@this_is_patrick]

@@abijithp92 Cows lactate milk, milk contains the -protein- sugar lactose, lactose = lack toes. It ain't that hard to understand.

[@abijithp92]

@Aiswarya Venugopal മലയാളി ആണോ?

[@abijithp92]

@Aiswarya Venugopal O...wow... I guessed it right.... So are you staying in US or something?

[@donnierussellii4659]

"There's rioting in Paris!" "That's the third one this week!"

[@jengz96]

I remember hearing this on Disney’s Fantasia!

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

I can feel the Dinosaur's extinction while playing this classic song.

[@sarahnichols4439]

I did see the tv film Riot at the Rite that was done in 2005 with Adam Garcia. It is on KZbin

[@AishaVonFossen]

Having grown up a Disney kid, of course I first heard some of this music in Disney's Fantasia, and loved it! That fight with the T-Rex and Stegosaurus? Oh God, one of the best fight scenes in all of animation, hands down! :D I first learned more about this ballet in a music class my first year of college, I was delighted to learn more about it! I can see why the newness of the ballet might upset some people back during its debut, but a full-on riot? Good Lord, I didn't think it worthy of that much anger! LOL And to think that Stravinsky told the dancers to keep going as the audience erupted into a rage, and they did! Good God! When I first heard that this music was from a ballet, I was shocked myself that it was from the ballet, since typically I think of the traditional ballets, like Sleeping Beauty or The Nutcracker, the more "romantic" elements of the genre, as it was put so well. :) But as I've come to accept Rite of Spring for what it is, I like how different it is. The arts are known for ever-evolving, so it's not so far fetched to me that this was weird to audiences when it first came out. For some Halloween, I want to go as the sacrificial maiden, I like the costume, it looks cool, relatively easy to pull off, and warm enough to be out in the cold if I bundle up just right. There, I said it. LOL

[@harlowitter3060]

Ikr

[@lois1677]

I need time travel to see this ballet.

[@feyanormorfol2457]

It still goes on in our days

[@christopheraliaga-kelly6254]

Re.. Stravinsky and Disney: When Disney was making "Fantasia", he heard Stravinsky was in LA. So he invited the composer to see the sequence that used "Rite of Spring". Stravinsky had enjoyed other Disney films and eagerly accepted the invitation. As Disney was busy, he got some employee to accompany Stravinsky. However, The composer was an ultra Russian nationalist who was not impressed with dinosaurs galumphing around to his 'mystical music' and gave the hapless employee a ferocious tirade in the best ripe Slavonic before storming out! When Disney rang up the man he asked: 'Well, what did Mr Stravinsky think of what we did with his music?' 'Errrrrr...It made quite an impression on him...'

[@SergioBobillierC]

The first time I heard this piece of music was in Disney's Fantasia. There the animators successfully used the ballet to convey primal feelings. The scene shows the development of the life on the earth and how harsh it was. It's been more than 20 years since I saw the movie but I recognized the piece instantly and I immediately knew from where. I should say that Disney did a great job mixing the music with the images.

[@osse1n]

It's interesting that one becomes more and more interested in such art well into *the adulthood.*

[@abijithp92]

Means?

[@naznimation]

I’m very interested in such art and I’m 17. There’s no age limit for interest and curiosity.

[@Matheus_Braz]

@@naznimation yo im also 17

[@yuno6124]

I’m 13 y’all, what does that say about me

[@gregcrabling2686]

suga kookie I’m 14.

[@Venderica]

I love this Ballet! I've heard it so many times and I've studied the score in such a way for so many years that I have it almost by heart. Igor Stravinsky is the greatest composer of the 20th Century.

[@daniel_k_music]

I can relate with the score studying for this piece. It's so interesting and unique! I'm more of a Shostakovich fan, though I do have to give credit to Stravinsky because without his dissonant music, who knows if Shostakovich's music would've even become famous at all?

[@subhashchander-uj9fj]

Dance at an Indian wedding also always leads to a riot 😅😂

[@Channibear-ku]

Sahi pakde Hain!

[@sebastiandevosi7043]

ikr

[@abijithp92]

നീയെവുടുന്നു വന്നെടാ മരഭൂതമേ

[@jaykay6249]

why?

[@subhashchander-uj9fj]

@@jaykay6249 the dance of drunken uncles is killer... Literally

[@platonsergiu9454]

Well, now I gotta see this ballet live, no matter what

[@franzkylemagadia9385]

The satisfying relief you feel after the tense bgm and the outstanding edit of the narration.

[@MonkeyIsotope]

Amazing thank you. I was never into these kinds of performances and indeed had that snobby feeling from the few I had seen on TV at some point, until I stumbled on the rite of spring on KZbin one day. Such raw power... The pagan aspect was intensely beautiful. I was very eager to learn more about it and I'll try to go see it soon. Thanks a lot for the explanations, awesome animations as always too

[@patootien]

I grew up on Soviet cartoons and the music sounds very much like the music from those cartoons. It sounds nostalgic to me 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@DemitriVladMaximov]

This was always my favorite part of Fantasia, and the harsh tone and aggressive music fits well in several parts to the jagged and unforgiving landscape of early earth while the slower portions as life rose from single-celled to complex multi-cellular lifeforms. Even though a lot of the paleontology was wrong in that short, it was still a fantastic production and I still watch it to this day....even if the Tyrannosaur Rex looks too much like an Allosaurus and a bunch of other issues.

[@podiumman2]

The Rite of Spring as used in Fantasia was not true to the music of Stravinsky. The conductor Leopold Stokowski butchered it; actually rearranged it.

[@angularsquare8757]

Swear I heard some Star Wars battle music in there. Not to mention Jaws. Staggering great piece.

[@FTNomad]

Everything the narrator said is true, but it is always funny how in many reports of the the Rite of Spring leave out the known fact that Astruc (the theatre manager) and Igor are thought to have encouraged/instigated the disruption of the premiere to increase publicity.

[@fealubryne]

I loved watching/listening to this in Fantasia as a kid, it always felt like something I shouldn't quite be allowed to see back then. Knowing the history of it makes it all the more fascinating.

[@StuartSimon]

There is another ballet that caused an equally notorious riot in the following decade, also in Paris: Darius Milhaud’s work La création du monde (The Creation of the World). You might want to check it out.

[@jrmetmoi]

Stravinsky gave birth to the sound of the movie soundtrack

[@SaxandRelax]

this video is perfect. made me think about something in a different way. impressive considering I've watched it on youtube like 23 times

[@edenicisotope534]

aw man the voice the sound design and the art of this video is so beautiful man

[@andrefrazao9245]

In the meanwhile Debussy and Ravel were having the time of their lives in the audience 😂

[@deniseneuman1958]

When I was learning how to play the bassoon in high school, I had a tutor to help me. He told me this story, about the bassoon figuring prominently in the score and the ballet causing a riot. This was so cool to me. I was learning to play an instrument that helped cause a riot!

[@klarenzcobie6595]

I would literally die because of my ingrown nails if I danced in ballet

[@lakshmiskk484]

Ted-Ed is the best thing that ever happened to KZbin. I'm so grateful for that.

[@quintenschouten1731]

I actually knew this for once! Great video, I love the style!

[@vermadheeraj29]

"The primary purpose of art is to challenge it's audience", funny how artists have been doing exactly that for centuries and the audience still feels outraged and wants to put art in a cage, all the time forgetting that art is the only discipline that has empathy and cares for people the most.

[@OLBICHL]

you sparked my interest... ^^never heard of this before, now I need to find this play!

[@jassenjj]

Here's the music: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJnWg6aerKdop5Y And after 26:00 is the ballet supposedly as it was presented in 1913: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2KuoIF4p6aDhcU

[@canoftoast7306]

All I had to do was read the title and know EXACTLY what they were talking about. I love Rite of Spring.

[@LadyVader33]

Good thing Stravinsky's ''Firebird'' was incorporated in Fantasia 2000. Showed off something more optimistic

[@NKWTI]

The Rite of Spring was famously used as reference music to Star Wars by George Lucas and ultimately repurposed by John Williams for use on the Jawa sandcrawler/desert scene

[@danawinsor1380]

Whoever hasn't already seen it, I recommend The Joffrey Ballet's version of this ballet with a reconstruction of Nijinski's choreography. Amazingly, they were able to find the original costumes and also interviewed dancers who were in the first performance(s). You can find it here on YT.

[@UmamaGoblin]

True greatness tends to come from true controversy

[@Googledeservestodie]

"it opens with a solo bassoon" if anyone ever takes me to a play that starts with an epic bassoon solo I'd be moshing too

[@miro.georgiev97]

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.6 Pathétique also begins with a bassoon solo.

[@miro.georgiev97]

Highly recommend.

[@atsugadri]

How "should" it have started. Not a student of classical western music, so I wouldn't know; when I heard this music my life changed!

[@kokovox]

Great video! We need more videos about culture and art. Thank you for making it!

[@AngelDucattiforever]

One of the best pieces of classical music. Thank you for sharing it.

[@VeronicAM313]

I remember seeing a VHS copy of this ballet in class and thinking, "Is is what caused people to riot back then?"

[@XIanosX]

I saw the thumbnail and my first thought that it must be Le Sacre du printemps. I remember talking about that ballet in High School.

The collaboration involved here will never be duplicated

[@wizardofarts1276]

Now I reallg want to see the original performance. Though I'm sure I'd be disturbed.

[@peterthompson8014]

A huge influence on my favorite genres of music prog rock and Prog metal. In fact it's required listening for any prog musician such as myself. 🙂

[@safy0613]

I want to watch it now 👀

[@emiliya7]

I recognised which ballet it was,because I have read about it on an SAT test.

[@maddyandlauren7382]

How did I know it was going to be the Rite of Spring before even clicking on the video

[@leonchan3157]

That sure was one intense ballet session

[@jennamedlyn]

Actually before the premier of the ballet Stravinsky premiered the orchestral music by itself to great reviews. It was the dancing that defied traditional ballet that turned the Parisian public off. And Stravinsky wasn't the first person to defy music of the 19th century. That honor goes to the French impressionists like Debussy, Satie and Faure. They were defying Germanic and traditional romantic compositional styles in the 1890's.

[@simundumancic2227]

What ballet is the hardest one for guys to sit through? Nutcracker

[@chungyukling8221]

Looool,i had a ad about a ballet class before watching

[@PuprleFox]

I love the music for the Rite of Spring!! It evokes so much emotion

[@floydbrennan9789]

Ah, Stravinsky. The Jim Morrison of classical music! He also died in 1971--the same year that the lizard king did! LOL! I always felt that Stravinsky and Morrison would have gotten along just fine and I wouldn't be surprised if Jim, while reading William Blake poetry, would be listening to "The Rite of Spring" in the background.

[@JoeParrish]

It doesn't open with dancers, the opening bassoon solo and the rest of the introduction is played before anything happens on stage, and strictly speaking there is no atonality. Also, how are the dancers not one with the music? It's well documented that Nijinsky insisted every beat in the score be danced out in some way, in order to reinforce and double the huge rhythmic impact of the music.

[@starcloak]

This was something very new to me, really interesting video❤️

[@bobc3997]

This was the most influential piece of music ever written, a work of pure genius. One way to understand this is going from Newtonian physics to modern physics as explained by Einstein.

[@lizzie3454]

BEAUTIFUL animation!!!

[@naomirhoja6539]

I wish I could give him a high five I love this piece

[@harrisongerdes7078]

the background music sounds like something I've heard in Disney's Fantasia

[@thamesramz]

That's because The Rite of Spring was used in Disney's Fantasia. Its actually the segment with the dinosaurs

[@harrisongerdes7078]

@@thamesramz yeah that's where i heard it.

[@bullcutgaming7749]

Yes, finally a music video. Please more

[@TealPuffin]

One of my favorite pieces of music

[@namelesssoul104]

An art build to be uncanny is most appreciated when a frown is thrown at it.

[@sagebauland4276]

AP music theory teacher taught us about this 3 weeks ago. If this had come out sooner he probably would’ve showed it to us

[@malingpalsu]

The animation omg 😍😍

[@Scarab3271]

I knew it was the Rite of Spring before the video started. Only because I actually listened to the piece.

[@iggyman783]

Imagine throwing hands at a ballet

[@jonathancamarena1999]

Please check out Ayala High School’s 2016 Indoor Percussion program. They have an absolutely amazing show about this exact event.

[@chessematics]

Stravinsky aimed to trigger the raw barbaric people inside his audience, and they proved well they are still ready to do another such maiden sacrifice if they are stimulated to. And amidst all this, Debussy and Ravel yelled "GENIUS! GENIUS!" from the balconies.

[@Suite_annamite]

Everybody should *watch* Jan Kounen's 2009 movie *"Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky"* , starring Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen playing as the titular roles!

[@mjstory1976]

Awesome and informative video

[@fantasticalfox]

I kinda wanna see this ballet now

[@felicia8446]

everyone is talking about the ballet, but did anyone notice the sacrilegious way the string player held the violin?

[@felicia8446]

time: 1:26

[@felicia8446]

and the cello bow hold?

[@jelielenriquez7847]

en que momento dejamos de hacer cosas asi, estoy decepcionado

[@Wikkell]

I knew this was Le Sacre du Printemps the second I saw it listed on my screen😂 legends!

[@NanaBowana]

You had me at riot.

[@something1600]

Sounds like the SCP "The Hanged King's Tragedy."

[@HelgaCavoli]

I guess I shall search this ballet now on KZbin.

[@diamondtiara84]

I think he was creative, innovative, original and definitely NOT boring!

[@majava5282]

I believe another ballet (or play, I am unsure) was the spark that led the citizens of Brussels to riot against the Dutch in 1830. This eventually led to Belgium and Luxembourg becoming independent countries.

[@RichardHannay]

Oh wow... a ballet ad before the video... coincidence??? 🤨

[@ewill3435]

so you're saying the ballet about possession, violence, and bloodshed had a premier audience who broke out into violence and bloodshed as if possessed? *hmmmmmmmmmmmmm*

[@jesseleeward2359]

Witchcraft

[@halfbloodwitch8545]

I had to watch an ad about ballet before watching this video

[@iampie6954]

Once I watched this with my siblings. One of my brothers and I decided to emulate the 1913 Parisians and started fighting.

[@somerandomgal3915]

when you realize, that this ballet could be classified as an SCP or may even be the inspiration behind the tragedy of the hanged king scp

[@annette_lu]

I just had a throwback to TwoSet's video-

[@Pure_KodiakWILD_Power]

you out there watching: don't start acting up 🧐

[@jupitired777]

I can't believe they got so mad they actually started a riot