Svatba in Posvetitev pomladi

About the performance

The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) is a cult musical work of the 20^th century, representing not only a turning point in the musical poetics of Stravinsky as a composer but also a turning point in music history. Moreover, through this work, we follow the evolution of dance in the 20^th century, from the first 1913 rendition by Vaclav Nijinsky in Paris to the present day. Therefore, it is no surprise that Edward Clug’s staging draws its inspiration from Nijinsky’s original dance creation, which was considered (too) hermetic and “disturbingly” provocative at the time. Clug’s choreography of the Rite of Spring can thus be viewed as a tribute to Nijinsky and his infamous debacle after the Paris premiere, which became a dynamic foundation for further development of modern dance in the 20^th century.

Clug’s interpretation of The Rite of Spring remains, in essence, faithful to the musical structure and the original libretto, which derives from a pre-Christian legend set in pagan times in Russia. Legend has it that the ritual of sacrificing entails dancing of a virgin until her death. The life of a virgin is thus a tribute to a spring deity to increase the earth’s fertility. In iconographic terms, the play relates to ethnographic symbols of ancient Russian legend: women with long braided hair and red cheeks and men with beards – two sexual symbols of man and woman, isolated in modern times and the space in which the “consecration” of spring will take place.

At about the same time that The Rite of Spring (1913) saw the light of day, Stravinsky was preparing sketches for another ballet dedicated to ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev and his group Ballets Russes. The composition, however, which Stravinsky called Les noces (The Wedding) with the descriptive subtitle “choreographed scenes with music and singing”, required many years of genesis until its premiere on 13 June 1923. After the initial sketches and extract of the music score, completed in October 1917 and first choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska, Stravinsky devoted himself to preparing the libretto, based on several folk wedding texts, which he found in the collection of folk songs by Peter Kireyevsky from 1911. The majority of the songs used by Stravinsky is from the southern and western parts of Russia, which reflect the authenticity of traditional local practices. Namely, in the time of holidays and other vernacular festivities, local singers did not sing lyrics to specific melodies but composed short excerpts of lyrics and melodies arbitrarily and randomly. Thus, even in The Wedding, excerpts from wedding songs, exclamations, and jokes are randomly connected, making the libretto closely linked to vernacular speech, in which the deep and archaic layers of Russian folklore are revealed.

After a long process of refining the orchestration, Stravinsky finally decided on four singing soloists, a mixed choir, two percussion groups (either with indeterminate or determinable pitch) and four pianos, which are usually replaced by the orchestra in modern performances. The very structure of the ballet, which is – in terms of music – based on a distinct rhythm and emphasized “percussion mechanics,” is outlined in two parts and demarcated into four scenes – Braids, At the Groom’s Homestead, Bride’s Farewell and Wedding Celebration. As the title suggests, it is a wedding ritual that was arranged in advance by the families of the bride and groom. The strict boundaries of the rural community are illustrated in Stravinsky’s music by rhythmic repetition and ascetic rigidity, which are juxtaposed to the young couple’s uncertain feelings in the run-up to the wedding. Through the dance narrative, various episodes of the ritual are presented, during which the bride and groom feel like victims before the communion of their families – which is also an interesting resemblance to the central sacrificial motif of the Rite of Spring. However, with the increased intensity of music and dance, the passion between the two begins to kindle, and the barrier between the man and the woman disappears. Finally, when all fears are banished, the newlyweds move on to start a new life.