Igor Stravinsky

When I first heard we were going to be looking at Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," I was pleasantly surprised.  I am in another music oriented course called Great Musicians.  In that course we talk about different musicians and place them on an ever-increasing list of people we value as foundational musicians.  I am a Psychology/Sociology major, so I will attempt to do a short analysis of the sociological impact of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring on society.

Igor Stravinsky revolutionized not only ballet, music, and performance, but also society.  As a sociology major I was very interested in how music can violently shake the foundation of a culture to the core.  This is what happened in Paris when the Rite of Spring was debuted.  The riot was a violent reaction to a disagreement between the expectations of the audience and the actual presentation of the ballet.  In sociology this concept is called "deflection."  Deflection happens everyday with everyone; it is what alters our perception of everything in the world.  The amount of deflection present is responsible for the discomfort felt when the change is apparent.  High deflection leads to violent reactions and discomfort.  This is what was responsible for the riots in Paris.


 (I had posting problems at first so this post is a little dated. )