Stravinsky's Dichotomy

Cemented in the Western-art psyche from its infamous 1913 premiere, Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring has instigated debate ever since on Stravinsky’s motivations, ideological background, compositional methods and origins in relation to the work. Created as part of a team, including Roerich, Diaghilev, and, of course, Nijinsky as a new commission for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, originally intended for the 1912 Paris season, it has often been unclear as to the exact origins of the work’s foundations, with Roerich claiming responsibility for the origination in competition with Stravinsky himself. Often considered to be a masterpiece of internationalist, cosmopolitan modernist composition, there have long been conflicting arguments with the
The primevial tendencies of the work are strongly self-identified as inherent by Stravinsky – something that is a major point of contention for Adorno. Adorno considers the dichotomy between Stravinsky and Wagner to be invented (by Stravinsky), as a method of legitimising the unorthodoxies present within the music, and as a way of avoiding direct comparison between the two – by moving the focus away from Wagner through self-elevating critiques of Wagnerian compositional practice. Stravinsky’s intense dislike of Wagnerianism can be said to have stemmed from an unenjoyable visit to Bayreuth where Stravinsky was distinctly unimpressed by the cultural fetishism, and cult-like adoration of Wagner and his music. This apparent unease for composer-fetishism does not appear to have halted Stravinsky’s ability for rampant self-promotion as a musical figurehead, however. Stravinsky appears to have had an eye towards creating works that could be widely disseminated throughout audiences, locations and a large time-scale – a direct comparison (made by Stravinsky himself) to Wagner and Beethoven, as well as a more contemporary challenge to the personality cult of Arnold Schoenberg. This created personality cult would prove decisive. The reasoning behinds this appears to be along the lines of distraction – the composer that Stravinsky follows more than anyone is Wagner, although this is something that he would perhaps strongly deny. Indeed, even the nationalistic elements of The Rite of Spring can be considered Wagnerian – it is the opinion of Adorno that Stravinsky’s pagans are a development of Wagner’s ideal of ‘old Germans’, and that Stravinsky’s cosmopolitan leanings largely just end up leading towards an appropriation of romantic Germanic