Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

Cambridge Music Handbooks

by Peter Hill, Julian Rushton (Editor)

The Rite of Spring is Stravinsky's most revolutionary work. This comprehensive guide tells in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition, of the stormy rehearsals that led to the scandalous premiere in 1913, and of Stravinsky's later betrayal of the ballet's first choreographer, Nijinsky. Peter Hill probes beneath the surface of the music to reveal an architectural conception of unsuspected guile and subtlety. He provides a detailed discussion of the work in performance and a hard-hitting conclusion, which poses a radical challenge to the orthodox view of the work.

Genres: Music, Classical Music

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

[Darren Cormier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at the Boston Public Library for research on a short story/novella idea.
Interesting historical aspects into the composition of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring, and into the performance of the ballet itself.
As someone who is not a trained musician, a large portion of the book was over my head. I still read it to try to learn as much as I could--even if it was just terminology--but since I can't read sheet music, most of the analysis and commentary sections I didn't understand.

Still for my research purposes, this provided great insight and background on this influential avant-garde piece, and the controversy over its first performance.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short book provides both historical context and analysis of The Rite of Spring, plus an overview of tempi used in recordings of the work by Stravinsky and others. Hill does a good job of debunking some of the myths that have sprung up regarding the piece, especially those propagated by Stravinsky himself as his ambitions for the work changes. The analysis is quite technical, but Hill writes with sufficient clarity that it was easy to follow. Hill illuminates the ways in which the Rite makes use of the octatonic scale and the way rhythms are layered and developed.

[Ed · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole (slim) book about everything-Rite...a little dry, a bit technical in parts, and I wish the recording section were more comprehensive.