The Rite of Spring is Stravinsky's most revolutionary work. This important new book provides a comprehensive guide to the work, telling in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition, of the stormy rehearsals which led to the scandalous premiere on 29 May 1913, and of Stravinsky's later betrayal of the ballet's first choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky. At the same time, in a radical reassessment of the work's musical values, Peter Hill probes beneath the surface of the music to reveal an architectural conception of unsuspected guile and subtlety. A feature of the book is a detailed discussion of the work in performance, drawing on recordings by the Rite's greatest interpreters, Stravinsky himself included. Finally, the significance of the Rite is thoroughly reviewed in a hard-hitting conclusion which poses a radical challenge to the orthodox view of the work.
- ISBN13 9780521627146
- Publish Date 23 November 2000
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 9 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Cambridge University Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 184
- Language English