Remember me, my darling, when spring is in the airAnd bald headed birds are whispering everywhereThey’ll soon be walking southward in their dirty underwearThat’s Tennessee Birdwalk.
Wow, so this work — so revolutionary and controversial, so strange and exciting — has seeped into our culture enough to reach the comics! But then, it already appeared in Disney’s “Fantasia” in 1940; if you have ever seen it you may remember the episode of the battle of the tyrannosaur and the stegosaurus.
The famous riot at the 1913 premiere was as much for Vaslav Nijinsky’s choreography as for Stravinsky’s powerful music. Some years ago the original performance was reconstructed by Millicent Hodson and performed by the Joffrey Ballet for a PBS “Dance in America” special titled “In Search of Nijinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’”.
You can find poor-quality off-air extracts of the show on YouTube and get a taste of how off-putting it was for the Parisian audience that expected dainty ballerinas in tutus but got shaggy prehistoric Russians stomping to Stravinsky’s fractured rhythms. And when I first saw the TV special I was as horrified as those Parisians must have been to see that the Chosen One is selected for her sacrificial dance by the other girls of the tribe. Powerful stuff.
For fans of this sort of thing, I highly recommend the DVD “Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes” which includes (along with a reconstructed “Firebird”) the Nijinsky/Hodson version of “Rite” performed by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Ballet, conducted by Valery (in Russia that’s a man’s name) Gergiev. A must for any other “Rite” fanatics out there.
Those stones look a bit un-hinged…..Benny Hill had a song about a worn-out old mattress. I can’t remember it except the ending: “We kissed all through the winter and made love right through the spring!”
Varnes almost 11 years ago
Oh, sure, it’s easy for Dan to draw the rite of spring, but what is his rendition of the wrong of spring? Hmmmmm…?.
Odd Dog Premium Member almost 11 years ago
Stonehenge’s lesser know’n cousin Springhenge.
jreckard almost 11 years ago
by Igor Fyodorovich Stravslinky.
SusanSunshine Premium Member almost 11 years ago
It’s performed when they shuffle off this mortal coil…
nerdhoof almost 11 years ago
Remember me, my darling, when spring is in the airAnd bald headed birds are whispering everywhereThey’ll soon be walking southward in their dirty underwearThat’s Tennessee Birdwalk.
SusanSunshine Premium Member almost 11 years ago
Actually, this is also where they invented the sport of curling.
SusanSunshine Premium Member almost 11 years ago
In summer they come for the hot springs.
SusanSunshine Premium Member almost 11 years ago
Nice, jreckard.Couple of you others beat me to good puns too…. so of course I had nothing left to say………..
Radish… one of my all time favorite songs.Right Said Fred
pschearer Premium Member almost 11 years ago
Wow, so this work — so revolutionary and controversial, so strange and exciting — has seeped into our culture enough to reach the comics! But then, it already appeared in Disney’s “Fantasia” in 1940; if you have ever seen it you may remember the episode of the battle of the tyrannosaur and the stegosaurus.
The famous riot at the 1913 premiere was as much for Vaslav Nijinsky’s choreography as for Stravinsky’s powerful music. Some years ago the original performance was reconstructed by Millicent Hodson and performed by the Joffrey Ballet for a PBS “Dance in America” special titled “In Search of Nijinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’”.
You can find poor-quality off-air extracts of the show on YouTube and get a taste of how off-putting it was for the Parisian audience that expected dainty ballerinas in tutus but got shaggy prehistoric Russians stomping to Stravinsky’s fractured rhythms. And when I first saw the TV special I was as horrified as those Parisians must have been to see that the Chosen One is selected for her sacrificial dance by the other girls of the tribe. Powerful stuff.
For fans of this sort of thing, I highly recommend the DVD “Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes” which includes (along with a reconstructed “Firebird”) the Nijinsky/Hodson version of “Rite” performed by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Ballet, conducted by Valery (in Russia that’s a man’s name) Gergiev. A must for any other “Rite” fanatics out there.
neckback almost 11 years ago
This may very well rebound, stretch and unwind. But could be a water supply
Godfreydaniel almost 11 years ago
Those stones look a bit un-hinged…..Benny Hill had a song about a worn-out old mattress. I can’t remember it except the ending: “We kissed all through the winter and made love right through the spring!”