ABOUT THE PROGRAM
the times: from a contented life working on a ranch, the unsuspecting hero is pressganged into the ill-treated frontier militia; he deserts to find his home abandoned and his family lost, becomes an outlaw, and finally escapes across the frontier to try his luck living with the Indians. It is written in the words, images and proverbs of the gauchos— almost a sub-language of Spanish: humorous, contentious, and lyrical, in rhymed stanzas supposedly sung to the guitar, the gauchos’ traditional instrument.” The plot of Ginastera’s ballet does not follow Fierro’s full poetic journey; rather, the composer incorporated lines that express the varied episodes in a gaucho’s life throughout a single day. The primary plot element concerns the romance between a city boy who falls in love with a country girl and overcomes her skepticism by proving his skills as a horseman and dancer. However, the deeper meaning is that of the day—an element that, for the composer, united human with landscape: “Whenever I have crossed the Pampas or have lived in it for a time, my spirit felt itself inundated by changing impressions, now joyful, now melancholy, some full of euphoria and others replete with a profound
tranquility, produced by its limitless immensity and by the transformation that the countryside undergoes in the course of a day.” The ballet’s dances reveal the variety of sources, social functions, and musical styles that capture the spectrum of experience over a day. “Los trabajadores agricolas” (The Land Workers) depicts the laborers who come into town. You can hear the heaviness and downward sweep of their steps as they alternate triple and duple rhythms of the malambo. Brass gestures capture the strength of motion before giving way to spiky woodwinds. The quieter “Danza del trigo” (Wheat dance) uses solo flute and violin to evoke the morning setting and a dance shaped by song. Modern listeners might well find the melodic shapes and timbres more cosmopolitan in nature. “Los peones de hacienda” (The Ranch Hands) entertain themselves and the townsfolk with playful woodwind footsteps, brass exclamations, and timpani flourishes. The “Danza final” (Final Dance) returns to the spirit and rhythm of the malambo. The highly syncopated patterns depict the sharp gestures involving hands and feet, building toward a frenetic conclusion. —Susan Key
THE RITE OF SPRING Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Composed: 1913; 1947 Orchestration: piccolo, 3 flutes (3rd=2nd piccolo), alto flute, 4 oboes (4th=2nd English horn), English horn, 3 clarinets (3rd=2nd bass clarinet), E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons (4th=2nd contrabassoon), contrabassoon, 8 horns (7th and 8th=Wagner tuba), piccolo trumpet, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass trombone, 2 tubas, 2 sets of timpani, percussion (antique cymbals, bass, drum, cymbals, guiro, tam-tam, tambourine, and triangle), and strings First LA Phil performance: August 31, 1928, Eugene Goosens conducting The glittering premiere of The Rite of Spring by Serge Diaghilev’s fashionable Ballets Russes on May 29, 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, was a defining event of 20th-century cultural history. With this savage portrayal of pre-historic pagan ritual, presented on the eve of World War I, the 19th century officially expired. Many members of the sophisticated audience found the Rite’s violence, raw sexuality, brutal sonic force, aggressive
P10 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE
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