Food for thought:
– Have you ever heard a song or type of music that you hated at first, then grew to like over time?
– Have you known of a musician or band who changed their style drastically and got a negative reaction from fans at first?
Ballet: originated Italy during the Renaissance, but developed and was most popular in France and Russia.
Perhaps the best-known ballet music today is by the Russian Romantic-era composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who wrote the Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
Swan Lake: 1876
Nutcracker: Waltz of the Flowers 1892
Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Igor Stravinsky, 1882-1971, Russian
His early ballets were tonal and popular…
Firebird: 1910
Petrushka 1911
But then:
The Rite of Spring: 1913
The piece begins by pushing boundaries: can you guess which instrument is heard at the very beginning?
Then after 2:30, the fun begins…
Rite of Spring caused a riot in the audience at its premiere in 1913.