Essay - Music Michael Tilson Thomas, the Musical Director of the San...

Music

Michael Tilson Thomas, the musical director of the San Francisco Symphony, describes Igor Stravinsky's 1913 "Rite ***** Spring" as a "burst of creative power that shook music to its foundations," (2006). Alsop (2007) similarly notes ***** "Rite of Spring" w***** a composition that "changed the course of music forever." Yet when Stravinsky's work is placed soberly within its historical context, "***** of *****" does not seem completely detached from ***** social, cultural, and political revolutions taking place throughout the Western world at the time of its composition. For example, ***** most notably new ***** notorious feature of "Rite of Spring" is its primal, possibly pagan nature but weaving tribal and pagan themes into Western art was not new in *****. Pa*****ters like Paul Gauguin had *****ed similar motifs ***** their *****work decades before "Rite ***** Spring" was conceived. Likewise, Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness exposed the effects of colonialism on traditi*****al non-Western societies.

However, Stravinsky was the first Western classical composer to undertake a ***** synthesis of social commentary with *****ly over*****nes. The "Rite of Spring" thus continues to be viewed as being groundbreaking. The opening performance of the Stravinsky ballet in 1913 co*****cided ***** the beginning ***** a new era of global consciousness. Ultimately, ***** intensity embodied by Stravinsky's "***** ***** *****" perfectly paralleled the changes taking ***** throughout Europe and ***** world at large, ***** imperialism ***** colonialism were transforming the nature of cultures, warfare, and human history.

With "Rite of Spring," Stravinsky seems to have spearheaded a ***** revolution ***** embraces the unfamiliar territory of ***** music ***** the Western classical tradition. ***** *****al score for the ballet represented major breaks with the structure of Western music. The composition is filled with sounds that were ***** to most Western ears in 1913. Its structure was far less predictable than listeners had come ***** expect, ***** although dynamism was no stranger to ***** *****, Strav*****sky's particular style of it did signify a ***** act that was extraordinary and bold. As ***** (*****) points out, "***** ***** Spring" delivered *****capes that were "totally unexpected to the audience's ears."

Like a more dramatic ***** ***** serious version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Stravinsky ballet incorporates pagan elements delightfully. The lilting, sporadic, and staccato string parts are like fairies ***** elves dancing under ***** moonlight. A suppression of European ***** traditions ***** become a hallmark of Christianity and of the Enlightenment too: *****s were believed to be beyond the need for fanciful stories and worldviews. Colonialism shattered the confidence in science that Europeans held so dearly. Cont***** with cultures that continued to practice age-old rituals and shamanistic medicine awoke many ***** to the power of the primitive human consciousness.

Moreover, the age ***** industrialization had begun to reveal its dark side by ***** time Stravinsky wrote "Rite of Spring." Dissatisfaction with urban life and disgust ***** the landscape-scarring factories led artists like Gauguin to seek peace in the South Pacific. *****, *****dustrialization meant a breakdown of traditional