Le sacre du printemps

Le sacre du printemps

This concert will plunge you into an age of dazzling tonal colour that believed, to quote Victor Hugo, that "art is not fit to be a leading-string, fetter, or gag; it says to the free man: ‘Go!’ and releases him into that garden of poetry where there is no forbidden fruit." Dukas wrote his legendary programme music in 1897. In this magnificent setting of Goethe's ballad of the same name, the overconfident sorcerer's apprentice wants to play at creation himself and master the elements. He recites the charm that makes a broom run to the river for water, but then is unable to tame the huge chaos he has created and stop the impending deluge – until the sorcerer puts an end to the ludicrous goings-on with the right spell. Berlioz’s deeply romantic songs are brimming with sensuality: the seductive cycle “Les nuits d’été”, orchestrated in 1856, is based on a collection of poetry by Théophile Gautier with the contradictory title “La comédie de la mort”. So while these sublime “summer nights” sometimes beguilingly evoke the delights of love, their darker central section focuses on separation and death, elegiacally and emotively describing a tormented spirit. The fetters are then completely cast off in Stravinsky's famous 1913 ritual invocation "Le sacre du printemps", which deals with the "mystery of the great impulse of creative forces". The events described in the music are based on pagan images: in order to propitiate the god of spring, a girl is sacrificed and, in the end, like a seed, she is “buried in the bosom of the earth" – all set to music in a veritable orgy of rhythm.

Le luth oud du monde arabe

Autour du spectacle "Nous, le radeau" avec le compositeur Franck Krawczyk

SOLD OUT: Beethoven's Seventh and "Le sacre du printemps"

The Greek philosopher Plato already stated: »Music and rhythm find their way to the soul‘s most secret places.« Under the baton of our Chief Conductor, we present two exceptionally pulsating works in this concert. Already at the premiere of Beethoven»s Seventh Symphony in 1813, the spark from the dancing, trumpeting sounds immediately ignited the Vienna audience – and the composer, who was standing at the conductor‘s podium at the time despite his advanced deafness, said afterwards »with the most heartfelt emotion« that the performance had been »the non-plus-ultra of art«. The symphony is a very life-affirming work: indeed, there are a few subdued parts, but otherwise an optimistic sonority spreads with a boisterous tone and some occasionally embedded humour. Romain Rolland described the energised musical stream of Beethoven‘s Seventh as an »orgy of rhythm« – a characterisation that also fits perfectly with the orchestral frenzy in Stravinsky‘s eruptive piece »Le Sacre du printemps«. This was first performed exactly a century later than Beethoven‘s symphony – as ballet music on 29 May 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Even more elemental forces are unleashed here and magical moments are created with ingenious orchestration: The idea for this breathtaking work came to Stravinsky when he was »dreaming of a pagan ritual« that involved invocations to re-awaken nature and would ultimately lead to an ecstatic sacrificial dance. To this end, he composed music whose fascinating vortex and pounding rhythms are perfectly suited to permeate the depths of the soul.