Cannonball's Classical Music 101 Pt. 5
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- harlequino0
If you like Stravinsky's 'Firebird' suite, then move right on to the real bad boy -- 'Le Sacre du Printemps' (or 'Rite of Spring' for philistines). When that premiered in 1913, people went absolutely apeshit. The opening melody famously features a contrabasson playing in the top of its range, and well, it just goes bananas from there.
It started a riot actually, between the whack sounds and Ninjinsky's 'Bjork video' choreography. It eventually became the fashionable thing to say you were at the premier.Speaking of scandals, check out Debussy's "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" ("Prelude to the afternoon of a faun"). Gorgeous little piece, also choregraphed and premiered by Ninjinsky. However, in this case, people went nuts because people thought he basically masturbated on stage. Never clear if he did or not, but the 'faun' character does have some sort erotic experience.
Music and stage premieres were way more interesting back then.