The centenary of when music changed forever

Classical music writer

Saturday 27 October 2012

OVER the next seven months, millions of words will be written on a single subject.

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Michael Tumelty

They will appear in every quality newspaper and magazine with an arts section in just about every country in the world. Essays will be written. Books will be written. Theses will be churned out. Countless programme notes allied to concert performances will be spawned.

And what is this commanding subject? It's enshrined in a date: May 29, 1913. It was a day when classical music changed forever. It was the day the rule book was shredded, lock, stock and time signature. It was the date of the first performance, in Paris, of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps – The Rite Of Spring.The flood of words has begun. It's only a few weeks since my colleague Mary Brennan was on The Herald's Arts pages with a feature related to the Paris premiere of The Rite and its dance elements (and remember it was a ballet in the first instance). And between now and the centenary of that historic premiere, I will have a few columns devoted to exploring aspects of Stravinsky's epochal masterpiece.Today I just want to draw attention to a forthcoming publication event linked to the centenary. The Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, which houses the Stravinsky archive, is issuing, for the first time, a three-volume centenary edition of the score of The Rite Of Spring. The first volume is a facsimile of the autograph full score, characterised by the composer's beautiful calligraphy, his corrections and conducting markings. The second volume is a score of Stravinsky's sensational four-hands version of The Rite for piano, while the third is a new collection of essays, Avatar Of Modernity, by scholars. The set will be published in May, in individual volumes or as a bundle. Scholars, academic institutions and musicians will snap it up. But I reckon many music lovers and Stravinsky addicts will want this on their shelves. It will be a collector's piece.

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The centenary of when music changed forever

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