The Rite of Spring: Study for a Portrait of Stravinsky as Stage Director

Abstract

The article examines the phenomenon of The Rite of Spring through the space of Stravinsky’s theatre, parallels being drawn with the composer’s other musical stage works analyzed in terms of their stage production. Stravinsky’s intentions as a stage director can be spotted on almost all levels of his work — in the script and libretto, in the dramatic concept, in particular mise-en-scene treatment, in the selection of means of musical expressiveness, in explanations of various kinds existent in the composer’s literary and epistolary heritage.