At the first performance of The Rite of Spring in May 1913 in Paris, even well-informed members of the audience had no idea what they were experiencing. Many of the accounts of that famous first night focus on the conditions of near-riot that met the performance. The audience had been well set up by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, star dancer and choreographer of the Rite, Vaslav Nijinsky, and their company, the Ballets Russes. The audience was partly made up of advanced musical and intellectua

The Rite of Spring premiere: one of the most infamous nights in musical history | Classical Music