The Butchershop Quartet

There are few works of concert music from the Twentieth century that have had the wide-ranging and enduring influence of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Sacre du Printemps, or Rite of Spring. On May 29, 1913, there was a riot at the premiere performance of the work in Paris. This may have had as much to do with the modern choreography by Diaghilev and the decidedly non-balletic costumery as it did with Stravinsky’s music. Nevertheless, Rite of Spring has loomed large in the repertory of both symphonies and ballet companies ever since.