Reading through both articles of what really went on during the premier of “The Rite of Spring” seems to be very controversial. Some accounts say that there was more applaud then distaste and vice versa. However, one thing is clear in that there were people that night who did not enjoy Stravinsky’s new sound combined with Nijinsky’s choreography. Stravinsky’s score for “The Rite of Spring” contradicted every rule about what music should be at the time which left plenty of room for resentment. Although it was not just the music that disturbed the audience. Once the curtains opened, the audience was exposed to ‘knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumping up and down’ which was described as jerking rather than dancing. These two types of performances combined together proved to be a disaster for that night in Paris. It is hard to believe that there would be so much outrage for something so seemingly innocent at the time. Stravinsky’s as well as Nijinsky’s intentions did not meet the crowds expectations which resulted into an unruly response. In 1973, a performance at the Carnegie Hall in New York City of the “Four Organs” by Steve Reich received mixed responses. Like Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”, both performances earned applause and booing but, resulted in some type of riot at the end. In Reich’s performance, the audience yelled for the music to stop with report from one of the performers claiming that an elderly woman walked towards the stage and banging her head on it crying, “Stop, stop, I confess.” Although there were no challenges of a duel or the amount of arrests made at “Four Organs” performance compared to “The Rite of Spring”, there was still much controversy and outcry for ending the performances early on. Overall, I find it hard to believe that there was such an intense hatred for either of the performances. Although, I was not there so it is unclear what I would have done at either of those performances. Perhaps I could have been the one banging my head on the stage or challenging a fellow audience member to a duel.
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