Lecture 1 - In search of the Rite
The search for the Rite’s origins begins with the revival of folk arts and music in 1860s Russia. A key figure is the railway tycoon Savva Mamontov whose crafts workshop at Abramtsevo has links with the brilliant group of artists and dancers in turn-of-the-century St Petersburg who were to be brought together by the genius of Diaghilev. Diaghilev’s determination to bring Russian art and music to the West began with an exhibition in Paris, followed by concerts, opera, and finally (from 1909) ballet and the establishing of the Ballets Russes. It was into this world that Stravinsky, then totally unknown, was drawn in the autumn of 1909 with the commission to provide the music for a new ballet, The Firebird.
