The Rite of Spring in Full Score

Composed for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, The Rite of Spring premiered in 1913 to a near-riot. The most famous musical work of the 20th century, this brilliant and uncompromising masterpiece changed the course of modern music. Nearly a century later, it remains in the repertoire of every large symphony orchestra.

Customer Reviews:

Probably the greatest musical composition of all times

By Martin Herraiz - April 19, 2000

For anyone who loves music in general as much as I do, Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring can be, to say the least, a shockingly intense listening experience, full of strangely dissonant polytonal simultaneities, overwhelming rhythmic dephasing, and colorful details and timbristic effects that take maximum advantage of what a great symphony orchestra has to offer. This edition of the translated original score allows you a better understanding of this revolutionary musical monsterpiece, with visual complement to what your ears couldn't even consider figuring out. Sometimes it's simpler than you would imagine; sometimes it's much, much more complex. This work taught me a great deal about music composition & arranging, and the book also allowed me to write a reduction of the "Spring Rounds" for a 7-piece band.

Excellent book

By A Customer - May 27, 1999

The Rite of Spring is perhaps the best known of Stravinsky`s ballet works together with The firebird and Petrushka. And in my opinion, it is the most modern, fascinating and thrilling of the three pieces, as well as a definitive reference for most of 20th century music. When you hear it, you can realize of how Stravinsky masters orchestration, colours and atmospheres in an incredible way. And with this score, very clear and easy readable, you can appreciate its greatness much better. Definitely recommended, and very worth the price.

Simply put - a great score

By Matthew Gonzales - May 29, 2008

Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" is excellent, but even if it weren't, this score would still be wonderful.

Major positive points:
1) The score stays open and flat on a table or conductor's stand. Dover seems to take great care with this in their full scores, and it really makes score reading/studying much simpler.

2) The paper is thin enough to keep the size of the score small, but it's thick enough that markings/highlighting don't bleed through, which is wonderful.

3) Every system has either instrument names or understandable abbreviations.

4) MEASURE NUMBERS!

5) The music is dark and easy to read. There are no faded or missing barlines, which is a problem I seem to encounter with Kalmus and Lucks scores, as well as Dover miniature editions.

6) Attractive layout and engraving. This doesn't just look like a Finale print, unlike some other new scores.

I've always been proved with Dover's orchestral scores,... read more