Today marks 100 years to the day since the infamous first performance of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) at the Théâtre des Champs‐Elysées in Paris on 29 May 1913. The 31-year-old composer's two-part ballet score, coupled with 24-year-old Vaclav Nijinsky's choreography, provoked a riot on the opening night that according to most accounts rendered the music inaudible for most of the performance. The protests were so loud that Ballet Russes Director, Serge Diaghilev, was supposedly forced to shout instructions to his dancers onstage while flashing the auditorium's house lights in an attempt to quell the enraged audience.
May 29, 2013 marks the centennial of one of the most storied premieres in modern history; namely, that of the ballet, Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The music was composed by Igor Stravinsky, with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, performed by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes; the orchestra was conducted by Pierre Monteux.
Medici.tv. provides high-definition webcasts of live classical music performances and an extensive video-on-demand catalog. Access is available to all current Stanford students, faculty, and staff.
Watch live-streamed concerts in real time or on delayed streaming. Concerts remain accessible generally for several weeks.
Many of the unpublished materials in the Musical Acoustics Research Library records have been digitized, except for personal correspondence and other miscellaneous documents. This includes materials from the four collections: the Catgut Acoustical Society, the John W. Coltman Collection, the Arthur H. Benade Collection, and the John Backus Collection. Researchers may access the digital copies through links from the description in the online finding aid.
The collection was processed in 2011 by Andrea Castillo. For more information please see Andrea's previous article.
The beginning of 2013 has seen a number of significant developments at Stanford's Archive of Recorded Sound, especially in the area of patron services, both at the Archive itself and online.
Information relating to these improved services can be found on the Archive's new website. This detailed resource also includes information on the Archive's extensive collections, guidelines for planning a research trip to the Archive, and finally recommendations for notable sound recording research tools, both online and in print.
![Encomium Musices, plate 3 [detail]](https://library.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog/public/blog/image/encomium_plate_3_detail.jpg?itok=K1qCODeq "Encomium Musices, plate 3 [detail] - Image by Ray Heigemeir")
An annual compilation of significant acquisitions may be found on the Music Library’s web site. The list for 2011-2012 was recently added. Lists go back to 1999-2000.
Included are items acquired by gift or purchase during the academic year, arranged by type of material. Manuscripts, Facsimiles, Operas (librettos and scores), Periodicals, Printed Books, Printed Music, Microform, Recordings, and Miscellany are included. Many items are purchased with endowed gift funds and this is noted in the citations, e.g. Acquired through the Lucie King Harris Books for Music Fund. Citations are included for materials in both the Music Library and Department of Special Collections, Green Library.
Schumann’s Dichterliebe, op. 48, from 1840 weds music and text into one of the most memorable song cycles of the Romantic period. The cycle consists of sixteen songs on poems from Heinrich Heine’s Lyrisches Intermezzo. The earliest recordings of the entire cycle were by Dutch baritone, Thom Denijs (1877-1935), who recorded the cycle twice in London with his wife, Emmy Denijs-Kruyt (1878-1964), as pianist, first in an acoustic recording on 5 April 1923 and later as an electrical recording in three sessions in January and July 1928.
The 82nd annual meeting of the Music Library Association took place in San Jose, February 27-March 3, 2013. Over 400 registrants enjoyed a wide range of educational sessions, workshops, and social events. Jerry McBride, Head of the Stanford Music Library & Archive of Recorded Sound, wrapped up a successful two-year run as president of the organization. In addition, Jerry’s publication, Douglas Moore: a bio-bibliography, was awarded the prestigious Vincent H. Duckles Award for the best book-length bibliography or other research tool in music.
