Editing The Rite of Spring (section)

=== Realisation ===
[[File:Vaslav-nijinsky-in-le-pavillon-d-armide-1911.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Nijinsky in 1911, depicted by [[John Singer Sargent]] in costume for his role in [[Nikolai Tcherepnin]]'s ballet ''Le Pavillon d'Armide'']]
Taruskin has listed a number of sources that Roerich consulted when creating his designs. Among these are the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', a 12th-century compendium of early pagan customs, and [[Alexander Afanasyev]]'s study of peasant folklore and pagan prehistory.<ref name=Vdt14>Van den Toorn, pp. 14–15</ref> The Princess Tenisheva's collection of costumes was an early source of inspiration.<ref name=H4 /> When the designs were complete, Stravinsky expressed delight and declared them "a real miracle".<ref name=Vdt14 />

Stravinsky's relationship with his other main collaborator, Nijinsky, was more complicated. Diaghilev had decided that
Nijinsky's genius as a dancer would translate into the role of choreographer and ballet master; he was not dissuaded when Nijinsky's first attempt at choreography, Debussy's ''[[Afternoon of a Faun (Nijinsky)|L'après-midi d'un faune]]'', caused controversy and near-scandal because of the dancer's novel stylised movements and his overtly sexual gesture at the work's end.<ref>Stravinsky 1962, p. 36</ref><ref>Kelly, p. 263</ref> It is apparent from contemporary correspondence that, at least initially, Stravinsky viewed Nijinsky's talents as a choreographer with approval; a letter he sent to Findeyzen praises the dancer's "passionate zeal and complete self-effacement".<ref name=H109>Hill, p. 109</ref> However, in his 1936 memoirs Stravinsky writes that the decision to employ Nijinsky in this role filled him with apprehension; although he admired Nijinsky as a dancer he had no confidence in him as a choreographer: "the poor boy knew nothing of music. He could neither read it nor play any instrument".<ref>Stravinsky 1962, pp. 40–41</ref>{{refn|group=n|Nijinsky's sister Bronislava Nijinska later insisted that her brother could play a number of instruments, including the [[balalaika]], the clarinet and the piano.<ref name=K273 />}} Later still, Stravinsky would ridicule Nijinsky's dancing maidens as "knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas".<ref name="Stravinsky and Craft 1981, p. 143"/>

Stravinsky's autobiographical account refers to many "painful incidents" between the choreographer and the dancers during the rehearsal period.<ref>Stravinsky 1962, p. 42</ref> By the beginning of 1913, when Nijinsky was badly behind schedule, Stravinsky was warned by Diaghilev that "unless you come here immediately&nbsp;... the ''Sacre'' will not take place". The problems were slowly overcome, and when the final rehearsals were held in May 1913, the dancers appeared to have mastered the work's difficulties. Even the Ballets Russes's sceptical stage director, Serge Grigoriev, was full of praise for the originality and dynamism of Nijinsky's choreography.<ref>Grigoriev, p. 84</ref>

The conductor Pierre Monteux had worked with Diaghilev since 1911 and had been in charge of the orchestra at the premiere of ''Petrushka''. Monteux's first reaction to ''The Rite'', after hearing Stravinsky play a piano version, was to leave the room and find a quiet corner. He drew Diaghilev aside and said he would never conduct music like that; Diaghilev managed to change his mind.<ref name=reid>Reid, p. 145</ref> Although he would perform his duties with conscientious professionalism, he never came to enjoy the work; nearly fifty years after the premiere he told enquirers that he detested it.<ref>Kelly, pp. 273–274</ref> In old age he said to Sir [[Thomas Beecham]]'s biographer Charles Reid: "I did not like ''Le Sacre'' then. I have conducted it fifty times since. I do not like it now".<ref name=reid/> On 30 March Monteux informed Stravinsky of modifications he thought were necessary to the score, all of which the composer implemented.<ref>Hill, p. 29</ref> The orchestra, drawn mainly from the [[Concerts Colonne]] in Paris, comprised 99 players, much larger than normally employed at the theatre, and had difficulty fitting into the orchestra pit.<ref name="Kelly, p. 280">Kelly, p. 280</ref>

After the first part of the ballet received two full orchestral rehearsals in March, Monteux and the company departed to perform in Monte Carlo. Rehearsals resumed when they returned; the unusually large number of rehearsals—seventeen solely orchestral and five with the dancers—were fit into the fortnight before the opening, after Stravinsky's arrival in Paris on 13 May.<ref name="Walsh 202">Walsh 1999, p. 202</ref> The music contained so many unusual note combinations that Monteux had to ask the musicians to stop interrupting when they thought they had found mistakes in the score, saying he would tell them if something was played incorrectly. According to Doris Monteux, "The musicians thought it absolutely crazy".<ref name="Walsh 202" /> At one point—a climactic brass fortissimo—the orchestra broke into nervous laughter at the sound, causing Stravinsky to intervene angrily.<ref name=kw>Kelly, p. 281, Walsh 1999, p. 203</ref>{{refn|group=n|[[Thomas Forrest Kelly|Kelly]] and [[Stephen Walsh (writer)|Walsh]] both cite Henri Girard, a member of the double-bass section.<ref name=kw/> According to Truman Bullard, the section referred to is at the conclusion of the "Spring Rounds".<ref>Bullard, pp. 97–98</ref>}}

The role of the sacrificial victim was to have been danced by Nijinsky's sister, [[Bronislava Nijinska]]; when she became pregnant during rehearsals, she was replaced by the then relatively unknown Maria Piltz.<ref name=K273>Kelly, pp. 273–277</ref>