Rioting with Stravinsky: A particular analysis of the Rite of Spring

Abstract

The riot that greeted the Rite of Spring only found its analytical counterpart some 70 years after its premiere, with factions headed by Pieter van den Toorn, Richard Taruskin and Allen Forte. But the analytical tussle was hardly a genuine riot in as much the differing camps subscribed to a premise of authenticity in order to stabilise the work under a universal concept: the result was a Rite unified by theory. The scholars may have battled with each other, but the music was not allowed to have its own riot. This article suggests a more contingent analysis of the Rite, focussing on the rebellion of the particular against the universal. The point is not to champion an anarchic or barbaric reading of the music, which is often attributed to the work because of the ballet's violent content, but to open the possibility of a new order that arises from the rioting particular. © 2008 The Author.