The Riot of Spring Trivia Quiz

Answer: Russian

Igor's father Fyodor came from Polish heritage, descended from the Strawiński noble family of the Sulima coat of arms. He was an operatic bass, starting his career in Kiev in the 1870s before moving to St Petersburg and performing at the esteemed Mariinsky Theatre for 26 years. Many of the premieres for some of Russia's most famous composers were held at the Mariinsky.

All three of Alexander Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov were part of a group of Russian composers known collectively as 'The Five' or 'The Mighty Handful'. The group met in St Petersburg between 1856 and 1870 and were led by pianist Mily Balakirev. The fifth member of the group was César Cui. Their aim was to produce a more Russian kind of music during the Russian Romantic Nationalist movement, as opposed to drawing from other European styles.

Answer: Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday is seen as one of the major events in the build up to the Russian Revolution in 1917. It occurred on Sunday 22nd January 1905 when peaceful demonstrators approaching the Winter Palace were fired on by members of the Imperial Guard. Over 3000 people were gathering from several directions to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II; after the guards opened fire, it is estimated that around 1000 were killed or injured (estimates vary from the government's 96 dead to anti-government protesters' 'over 4000'). The actions of the Imperial Guard severely undermined public confidence in the Tsarist regime.

Black Tuesday typically refers to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Sweet Thursday is the title of a 1954 John Steinbeck novel and Manic Monday is a 1986 single by The Bangles from their album 'Different Light'.

Stravinsky enrolled at the University of St Petersburg in 1901, and in the summer of 1902 he stayed with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in Heidelberg in Germany. Rimsky-Korsakov encouraged him to pursue music and, after Bloody Sunday in 1905, he began twice weekly lessons with Rimsky-Korsakov as his tutor. The lessons continued until Rimsky-Korsakov's death in 1908. It is said that during this time Stravinsky came to regard him as a second father, his own having passed away in late 1902.

Answer: The Firebird

The relationship between Stravinsky and Sergei Diahgilev began in 1909, when Diaghilev attended a performance of two of Stravinky's early works, 'Scherzo Fantastique' and 'Feu d'artifice', which translates as 'Fireworks'. 'Feu d'artifice' was composed as a wedding present for the daughter of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; she was married not long before Rimsky's death in 1908.

At the time, Diahgilev was involved in a plan to take Russian opera and ballet to Paris (this became the Ballets Russes), and was sufficiently impressed by Stravinsky that he commissioned him to compose 'The Firebird', his first full length ballet. 'The Firebird' was so popular at the premiere in 1910 that Diahgilev went on to commission two more ballets from Stravinsky, 'Petrushka' in 1911 and 'The Rite of Spring' in 1913. Despite being finished in 1913, it is thought that Stravinsky had some of the basic ideas for 'The Rite' as early as 1907, reading poetry about pagan rites and sage elders.

Throughout these early years of his career, he lived in Switzerland with his wife and children, the third of which was born in September 1910.

'The Nutcracker' is one of the most famous ballets by the earlier Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. 'La Bayadère' is a ballet composed by the Austrian Ludwig Minkus. Both 'The Nutcracker' and 'La Bayadère' were originally choreographed by the French-Russian dancer Marius Petipa. 'Coppélia' was composed by the Frenchman Léo Delibes.

Answer: Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Despite the name, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is not actually on the famous street itself, but nearby at 15 avenue Montaigne, still in the 8th arrondissement, or administrative district of Paris. The Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens was built in the 2nd arrondissement in 1855, predominantly to host operetta, while the Théâtre de Rue Saint Honoré and the Théâtre de Boulevard Haussmann are figments of my imagination (although named for real Paris streets).

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées opened in April 1913 and had a hugely successful first year. The first night itself was a lavish concert showcasing the best of French music. Composers such as Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Fauré all conducted their own works. As if this wasn't enough, the following evening saw a performance of the opera Benvenuto Cellini by Hector Berlioz, featuring the renowned ballerina Anna Pavlova. The Ballets Russes had their first performance in the new theatre on the 15th of May, performing a variety of Russian and French ballet. Unfortunately the theatre had to be closed during the First World War but was reopened in 1919 for a brief ballet season.

Answer: The Nightingale

The seven episodes of Part I are as follows:

Introduction - The piece opens with a high register bassoon, eventually joined by other woodwind instruments. This first episode occurs before the curtains rise. Near the end of the introduction the opening bassoon solo is repeated, but at a lower register.

'Les augures printaniers' ('Augurs of Spring') - The piece really picks up at the start of this first dance, with a stamping effect from the strings. During the dance an old woman comes onto stage to foretell the future. The dancers collapse to to the floor as the dance comes to an end.

'Jeu du rapt' ('Ritual of Abduction') - A collection of young girls dance the 'Dance of Abduction', arriving on stage in single file. This short dance ends with flute trills which flow into the fourth episode.

'Rondes printanières' ('Spring Rounds') - The same young girls dance the Spring Rounds, or Khorovod as they are called in some parts of Eastern Europe. This is a circle dance.

'Jeux des cités rivales' ('Ritual of the Rival Tribes') - The tempo picks up after the slow Spring Rounds, with the dancers splitting into two factions for the Ritual of the Rival Tribes.

'Cortège du sage: Le Sage' ('Procession of the Sage: The Sage') - There is a procession of the elders, led by the sage, who blesses the earth. During the blessing there is little sound from the orchestra.

'Danse de la terre' ('Dance of the Earth') - After several seconds of silence the music quickly picks up for the passionate 'Dance of the Earth', which bluntly concludes the first part.

'The Nightingale' is in fact an opera composed by Stravinsky and completed the following year in 1914.

Answer: The Sacrifice

The whole of the second part revolves around the sacrifice of a young girl who dances herself to death. The six episodes of Part II are as follows:

'Introduction' ('Introduction') - The introduction to the second part brings calm after the intense 'Dance of the Earth' at the end of Part I. It is dominated by woodwind instruments and flows well into the second episode.

'Cercles mystérieux des adolescentes' ('Mystic Circles of the Young Girls') - The group of young girls are back on stage, and as the title would suggest, are walking mysteriously round in circles. This is mostly a build up to the violence of the third episode.

'Glorification de l'élue' ('Glorification of the Chosen One') - As the circle goes round, various girls find themselves in the centre. However, after one girl is in the centre twice she has been selected by fate to be the chosen one for the upcoming sacrifice. During this short episode loud percussion and strings are prominent.

'Evocation des ancêtres' ('Evocation of the Ancestors') - The girls evoke the ancestors. The music at this point comprises short phrases on brass or string interspersed with heavy drum rolls.

'Action rituelle des ancêtres' ('Ritual Action of the Ancestors') - The girl who has been chosen is handed over to the ancestors. The music starts quietly but soon builds up to the more dramatic music that comprises the final episode.

'Danse sacrale (L'Élue)' ('Sacrificial Dance') - The final episode is the most famous dance of the piece. The chosen one must dance herself to death in front of the elders. This takes over four minutes and provides a dramatic and emotional conclusion to the piece.

Answer: Nijinsky

Vaslav Nijinsky joined the Ballets Russes in 1909 at the age of 20/21. It is unknown whether he was born in 1889 or 1890 as his gravestone has different information to other sources. He soon became the male lead of the company, and was particularly renowned for his ability to perform 'en pointe'. Around this time Nijinsky and Diahgilev became lovers, but this affair was cut short in 1913 as a result of Nijinsky's surprise proposal to Hungarian aristocrat Romola de Pulszky. When they married, Sergei Diahgilev dismissed Nijinsky from the Ballets Russes, and, after a failed attempt to start his own company and several mental health issues, Nijinsky was forced to retire from professional dancing in 1916. However, during his short career he choreographed several ballets including 'L'après-midi d'un faune' and 'Jeux', both based on the music of Claude Debussy.

'L'après-midi d'un faune' was Nijinsky's first attempt at choreography and wasn't particularly well received at the time. However, Stravinsky let him choreograph 'The Rite' after strong suggestions from Diahgilev that Nijinsky could go from dancer to master. Despite his seeming praise at the time, Stravinsky wrote in his 1936 memoirs that he was apprehensive about the selection of Nijinsky and had little faith in his ability to choreograph.

Answer: Bohemians

The premiere of 'The Rite of Spring' has become almost legendary and it becomes hard to distinguish between facts about the performance and fanciful mistruths that some have created to add to the story. There were many reports about the theatre being absolutely packed to the rafters with one commentator quoted as saying, "Never...has the hall been so full, or so resplendent; the stairways and the corridors were crowded with spectators eager to see and to hear." The stage was set and the two 'rival' groups of society both packed in.

Possibly as a result of these social differences, there was already a disturbance before the introduction began. Most accounts seem to agree that this got louder and louder throughout the introduction and, as the curtains rose on the stomping 'Augurs of Spring', it was beginning to drown out the orchestra. The conductor for the Ballets Russes, Pierre Monteux, later said that he thought the disturbance began when the two sections of the audience began fighting each other, although this anger was then mutually directed towards the orchestra.

Around 40 people were reported to have been ejected during Part I, and the audience were relatively peaceful during the second part. The premiere received extraordinarily mixed reviews, with some considering it barbaric, others superb.

One of the fallacies surrounding the premiere was the rumor that the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns had attended but stormed out as a result of his anger about the music. Stravinsky himself rebutted this claim, saying that Saint-Saëns did not even attend.

Answer: Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini was one of the most prolific composers of opera the world has ever seen. He has been called "the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi." Several of his best known works are 'La Bohème', the story of several young Bohemians living in Paris in 1830, and 'Madama Butterfly', the story of a US naval officer called Pinkerton and the Japanese Cio-Cio San, better known as Madama Butterfly.

Rossini was another Italian opera composer, but of an earlier period than Puccini. He lived from 1792 until 1868 and composed some of the most well known operas of all time, including 'The Barber of Seville' and 'La Cenerentola'. Luigi Boccherini was an Italian composer of the Classical period, best known for a certain minuet from his 'String Quintet in E'. Ennio Morricone was born in 1928 and is most famous for his film music compositions. Most notably, he composed for the Spaghetti Westerns directed by Sergio Leone, including 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' and 'A Fistful of Dollars'.

Answer: Léonide Massine

Both Camille Saint-Saëns and Maurice Ravel were French composers, both alive at the time of the premiere of 'The Rite of Spring'. Mikhail Fokin, better known by the French transliteration Michel Fokine was the original choreographer of the Ballets Russes, invited by Sergei Diahgilev in 1909. However, he broke off his association with the company when he became uncomfortable with the relationship between Diahgilev and Nijinsky, particularly when Diahgilev began to let Nijinsky choreograph. However, after Nijinsky eloped in 1913, Diahgilev invited Fokin back to the Ballets Russes.

Nijinsky's original choreography for 'The Rite of Spring' was lost through an unfortunate series of circumstances. When Nijinsky married in 1913 and Diahgilev re-hired Fokine, Fokine made it part of his contract that he would never have to put on a ballet with the choreography of Nijinsky. Soon after, in 1914, the First World War broke out and disturbed the touring circuit of the Ballets Russes (some locations were on opposing sides). When Diahgilev tried to resurrect the piece several years later, nobody could recall the initial choreography.