The controversy at the opening performance of The Rite of Spring arose from tension between the audience and the ballet’s content, and tension between different members of the audience. Both of these conflicts were based on broken expectations of the elite class. Theatre and especially ballet during this time had a tradition of being “high art”, elegant and beautifully composed. This was in stark contrast to The Rite of Spring, with its jarring instrumentals and dance. Rather than reflecting the airy affairs of the aristocracy, this ballet was more primal and unrelatable for most of the viewers. This undoubtedly would have caused confusion and indignation, and eventually led to riotous behavior among the dissatisfied audience. One account states that not all the audience members were of a high social class, which would have been somewhat of a rarity considering that theatre performance was an art generally only available to the very wealthy. Combined with the “unsophisticated” displays on stage, this likely provoked outrage in the upper class audience, as yet another unspoken rule of ballet theatre was cast to the side. I don’t know a whole lot about the politics of early 20th century France, but I imagine that it provided a catalyst for the upset. The progressive reform that followed the industrial revolution was in full swing – there were many socialists in powerful government positions, a full separation of church and state, and greater taxes on the wealthy. All of these changes were rooted in political movements started by industrial workers and other less privileged members of society. This political climate was the backdrop for The Rite of Spring premier, and could not have been far from the minds of the elite theatre-going class.
During the 1960s, American protest music reached its peak. The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement were the impetus for social change and for the soundtrack that accompanied it. Contemporary music and protests, sometimes violent, went hand in hand. But unlike The Rite of Spring, the riots that broke out were not in opposition to the music, but rather were encouraged by it. Audience members were not outraged by the musical content, they were outraged by the events that inspired the music in the first place. The year 1968 was marked by the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and a James Brown concert took place in the wash of civil unrest that followed. The violent outburst at this concert was brief, however, as Brown was able to quell it with urgent appeals to the crowd. In other cases, protest music helped sustain turmoil by energizing participants towards their cause. With both The Rite of Spring and the era of protest music, I think it’s important to look at the context in which episodes of violence occurred. Despite differing in origin and purpose, both of these musical moments took place in comparable political and social atmospheres. The 1960s in the United States and the 1910s in France were marked by the increased power of lower social classes, greater momentum of new political movements, and a shift away from musical tradition.
Sources
https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/sixties/essays/protest-music-1960s
https://www.michaeljkramer.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Heilbruner-Republic-of-Rock-Review.pdf
