This is the story of a mythological Parisian scandal, a scandal that broke out at the premiere of “The Rite of Spring,” a performance that took place at the theater Champs ElyseesThe theater is located inThe Eighth District on Avenue Montaigne near the Pont de Alma, and at the time of its construction it was further west than any other theater inParisIt was built in 1913 at the initiative of Gabriel Astruc, the promoter responsible for bringing in such diverse figures as Mata HariEnrico Caruso, Nelly Melba, Richard Strauss. Astorek was the son of a distinguished rabbi, Elie Aristide Astorek, who served as deputy chief rabbi of Belgium.
A visionary who was ahead of his time
Astruc was one of the most important promoters of the period, but, not only that…also a producer and publisher and, above all, a brilliant visionary. He stood at the Parisian crossroads of the international music world, a key figure in the rapidly expanding trade in properties and attractions. His papers in the New York Public Library and the National Archives in Paris reveal the astonishing range of his activities in the decade 1913-1903, a decade in which his star rose in the sky of the City of Lights, then faded in the shadow of bankruptcy.
The musical and theatrical projects he brought to fruition made history. These included the 1907 production, for the first time in France, of Richard Strauss' Salome with a German cast and the composer himself conducting. He initiated the first successful visit of the Metropolitan Opera, and festivals of Mozart, Beethoven and Berlioz. It is no exaggeration to say that between 1905 and 1913, Astroc had a hand in almost every important musical or theatrical event in Paris.
The most important event of the opening season of the Champs-Elysées Theater was the performance of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
The Russian ballet that was actually French
In May 1913, a glittering audience, draped in furs and diamonds, arrives for the premiere of a new ballet called “The Rite of Spring,” choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, to music by Igor Sverdinsky, performed by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The company’s roots are in Russia, the birthplace of its first dancers, all of its choreographers, and many of its composers and artistic designers. But Ballets Russes has never performed in Russia. From its name (which means “Russian Ballet” in French), the company was a creation of the West. France It was her birthplace and also…the place of her death.
In the history of ballet in the 20th century, no company has had such a profound and far-reaching influence as the Ballets Russes. The group operated for only 1909 years, from 1929 to XNUMX. In those two decades, it made ballet a living, modern art form. The company created the first classics of the XNUMXth century: “The Firebird,” “Petrushka,” “The Afternoon of polyhedron", “The Rite of Spring,” works that are all performed to this day, the creation of extraordinary choreographers such as Michael Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, and George Balanchine. Vaslav Nijinsky, a dancer who became a legend, danced in its ranks.
Throughout its existence, the company was a meeting place for famous, talented and glamorous people. But one figure towered above them all: Sergei Diaghilev, the incomparable promoter. Diaghilev was a man of formidable willpower and meticulous taste, with encyclopedic knowledge. He reconciled dance with other arts: collaborations included composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Sergei Prokofiev. There were collaborations with painters such as Pablo Picasso, André Derain and Henri Matisse who painted costumes and sets.
And if that were not enough, the group also created a huge new audience for ballet. It laid the foundation for the modern ballet public. Ballet was of course no stranger to the French capital. Even in its declining years, it maintained its important and subsidized status at the Paris Opera and, to a lesser extent, at the Opéra Comique. However, it was in a slump. The ballet girl bore the double stigma of low social origin and the lack of morals traditionally associated with ballet. The Paris Opera was a nature reserve of pure female sexuality for male sex hunters. The fact that this situation began to change testifies to Diaghilev's genius, and to the extraordinary transformations he wrought in the audience of his beloved art.
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The Rite of Spring Changes the Face of Dance
Let's go back to the premiere of "The Rite of Spring"...
In the crowd that arrived, you can see Marcel Proust , Pablo Picasso, Maurice Ravel, Claude Daubois, Gertrude Stein and more.. The ballet's plot is drawn from the pagan world. A ritual is described that takes place at the end of winter. In the ceremony, the elders of the tribe sit in a circle and watch a virgin girl dance before them until her death as a sacrifice to the god of spring. The music is moving, full of tension, horror and anxiety. Stravinsky broke accepted frameworks in the use of scales, both in weight and rhythm. Nijinsky's choreography also caused an irreversible change in what could be. It was a turning away from the past, a desire to throw away everything that was, modernism at its greatest. The dancers trembled, shook, trembled, stamped, jumped roughly and wildly.
For Stravinsky, as well as Nijinsky, dance and music were a metaphor, a tool for expressing the tragedy of human existence. The audience is agitated! A commotion breaks out between the admirers and the detractors of the work. Yelling, throwing objects, and even a challenge to a duel…. The people in the booths began to shout and whistle, and the people in the stands responded with blatant insults such as “contempt for the prostitutes of the 16th arrondissement.” Stravinsky angrily leaves the hall and joins Nijinsky backstage. Nijinsky dictates the rhythm to the dancers who cannot hear the music. Diaghilev turns the lights in the hall off and on to calm the audience…
According to Jean Cocteau (who was present in the world), the scandal was created due to the cultural-social hostility between the different audiences present in the hall: a fashionable crowd of rich people, sitting in the booths, “with cleavage and strings of pearls”, and in front of them, in the stands and in the stands, “wearing ostentatious smocks and rags who praise the new indiscriminately – to express their disgust with the occupants of the booths. A thousand subtle shades of snobbery, super-snobbery, anti-snobbery”. The divided audience was therefore ready, ready to respond to the provocation.
And for those of you who haven't seen The Rite of Spring yet, here's a good performance of it at the Champs-Elysees Theater itself:
https://youtu.be/YOZmlYgYzG4
Champs-Elysees Theater
A few words about the structure of the Champs-Elysées Theatre designed by Gustave Perret. Gustave is the son of a stonemason and building contractor, he stopped studying architecture to enter his father's construction business. With his brothers, Gustave and Claude transformed the stonemasonry factory into an experimental laboratory in reinforced concrete. The theatre building is an architectural synthesis between neoclassicism and modernism. At first glance, the facade does not look different from the other facades in the area made of stone. But a closer look reveals the concrete!
Pera used concrete on the facade as a cladding, which caused a stir since until then concrete had only been used as a building material. The concept of “exposed concrete” emerged into the world. Pera’s work is considered exemplary and has had a tremendous influence on architecture.
The facade of the building is decorated with marble reliefs by Antoine Bordel. The dome of the building was designed by Maurice Denis. The paintings of Edouard Viard decorate the building.
Finally….
The promoter who initiated the establishment of the Gabriel Theater went bankrupt a few months after the premiere… but said: “I do not regret the madness of presenting “The Rite of Spring”… The scandal of the premiere performance did not negatively affect the reception of the work, but only intensified the myth and aura surrounding it. The ballet has won no less than 240 choreographies in 100 years and the music is an integral part of the programs of every orchestra around the world.