Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, Rehearsal Number 53

Rehearsal number 53

• This part… I mean, as insane as it gets

• I'm stunned by how much Stravinsky got away with here

• The gong, grand Cassa, and the timpani are totally bonkers and over the top. It's almost like an 80s hair metal band getting over-zealous with a gong and the pyrotechnics

• It's very well seems like he has organized these choir-like section into three different parts, roughly speaking

• The pulses are handled by the contrabass, cellos, percussion, clear brass, and the bassoons. You could make a case that the clear brass is more punctuation a pulse, but still, very pulse-like

• Chorale with weird planing (established in the previous rehearsal numbers): high strings, flutes, clarinet

• The counter chorale is played by the French horns, Oboes and English horn

• Interesting to note that the French horn is split between all parts. In other words, in order to really truly look at the music theory underpinning this part, look at the French horns. They'll give you everything that you need