Stokie and the Rite

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1930, Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra gave the first staged presentation in America of Igor Stravinsky’s revolutionary ballet The Rite of Spring at Philadelphia’s 4000-seat Opera House — and it was a hot ticket.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted “a milling mob fought and scrambled for entrance to the Opera House … there was a traffic tie-up of taxis and trolleys for blocks beyond, while dignified ladies were seen to pop out of automobiles like rabbits out of hutches, and scurry for blocks on foot, to avoid being late.” This was for what the newspaper described as, “the startling spectacle of bare-legged girls and men whirling madly and stamping upon the stage to an orgiastic fury of sound.”

For its American premiere, the original costuming from the work’s Paris premiere was retained, but the choreography was now by Léonide Massine, not Vaslav Nijinsky, and Martha Graham and her Corps de Ballet were the dancers, not Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe.

Stokowski, a passionate promoter of Stravinsky’s score, had given its American concert premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1922 and, in 1940, it was Stokie and the Philadelphians who could accompany Walt Disney’s dinosaurs in his animated Fantasia version of the famous Stravinsky score.

Music Played in Today's Program

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Rite of Spring; Philadelphia Orchestra; Leopold Stokowski, conductor; Disneyland WDX101

On This Day

Births

• 1682 - French composer Jean-Joseph Mouret, in Avignon. He achieved belated fame in American when one of his trumpet fanfares was used as the theme for public television’s Masterpiece Theater.

• 1891 - Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (Gregorian date: April 23)

• 1916 - Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, in Buenos Aires

Premieres

• 1689 - possible premiere of Purcell: opera Dido and Aeneas, in Chelsea (London) at Josias Priest’s School for Young Ladies. This exact date and circumstance of this premiere is uncertain: April 30 th is also cited as a possibility (April 11, 1689 marked the coronation of the Protestant monarchs William and Mary, and April 30 was Queen Mary’s birthday). In any case, the premiere most likely occurred sometime before the libretto by Nahum Tate was published in December of 1689.

• 1727 - J.S. Bach: possible premiere of St. Matthew Passion (first version), at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig

• 1814 - Beethoven: Archduke Piano Trio, at the Hotel Zum Romischen Kaiser in Vienna, with violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, cellist Joseph Linke, and the composer at the piano. This was the last time the Beethoven performed in public as a pianist.

• 1884 - d'Indy: symphonic poem La Mort de Wallenstein (Wallenstein’s Death), in Paris

• 1891 - Dvořák: Dumky Piano Trio, in Prague, at a concert celebrating Dvořák’s honorary doctorate from Prague’s Charles University, with Ferdinand Lachner (violin), Hanus Wihan (cello), and the composer at the piano

• 1902 - Loeffler: Two Poems for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Wilhelm Gericke conducting

• 1920 - Respighi: Ballata delle Gnomidi (Dance of the Gnomes) for orchestra, in Rome, Bernardino Molinari conducting

• 1934 - Bloch: Sacred Service, in New York City, by the Schola Cantorum, conducted by the composer

• 1965 - David Amram: Passover opera The Final Ingredient is produced on television in New York City

• 1967 - Hovhaness: The Holy City for orchestra, in Portland, Maine

• 1999 - Augusta Read Thomas: Passion Prayers for solo cello and six instruments, in Philadelphia by the Network for New Music, with cellist Scott Kluksdahl

Others

• 1770 - Leopold and Wolgang Mozart attend a Holy Week service at St. Peter’s in Rome and hear Allegri’s Miserere performed by the Chapel Choir. The Vatican had jealously guarded his score as their exclusive property, and under threat of excommunication, the Vatican choir was forbidden to let the score be taken out of the chapel, copied or even seen by any outsider. That same evening, after one hearing, Wolfgang (14) transcribed the piece from memory. The Mozarts then returned to St. Peter’s three days later to check Wolfgang’s version against a repeat performance of Allegri’s music.

• 1874 - American premiere of Brahms’ Haydn Variations, by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, conducted by Theodore Thomas

• 1888 - The Concertgebouw opens in Amsterdam with a concert performed by a 700-piece ensemble. Later that year the famed Concertgebouw Orchestra was formed.

• 1902 - Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his first 10 phonograph records for the Gramophone Typewriter Company in a room at the Grand Hotel in Milan. His last of his 498 phonograph recordings would be made in the Victor Studios in Camden, New Jersey on September 16, 1920.

• 1919 - The New Symphony Orchestra, organized by composer Edgard Varèse for the performance of new music, gives its first concert in New York City

• 1930 - American premiere of staged version of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring, in Philadelphia, choreographed by Massine and conducted by Stokowski

• 1941 - Austrian-born composer Arnold Schönberg becomes an American citizen and officially changes the spelling of his name to Schoenberg