by simon baird

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

i expect the final of american idol this year would have been similar to this

...the audience began to boo loudly due to the slight discord in the background notes behind the bassoon's opening melody. There were loud arguments in the audience between supporters and opponents of the work. These were soon followed by shouts and fistfights in the aisles. The unrest in the audience eventually degenerated into a riot. The Paris police arrived by intermission, but they restored only limited order. ...Stravinsky himself was so upset on account of its reception that he fled the theater in mid-scene, reportedly crying... ...Nijinsky stood on a chair, leaned out (far enough that Stravinsky had to grab his coat-tail), and shouted counts to the dancers, who were unable to hear the orchestra (this was challenging because Russian numbers are polysyllabic above ten, such as seventeen: semnadsat vs. eighteen: vosemnadsat)...

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