When talked about the Rite of Spring, there are a few things that people talk about. The avant-garde music, interesting choreography, and the riot that some believed that had happened on the premier in Paris. People broke into fist fight, police been called and some people were detained. But did it really happen? Or it is just a historical myth?
First, there is basically no doubt that audiences were loud that night. Many would agree that people were making noises, so loud that the dancers couldn’t even hear the music, which was why Nijinsky had to shout out numbers to keep the dancers in tempo. But I am doubtful that a riot really happened.
In the book “The Rite of Spring 100” (pg. 147), it stated that the first French review of the Rite of Spring was on May 29th 1913, which was the same day as the premier, did not write about a riot. It went on describing the noises audiences were making, and provided a detailed soundscape of the noises, but it did not talk about a riot. So that is pretty much clear, that no riot occurred because of the newness of the music or absurdity of the dance.
But there are things that might have led to this myth. One of them was that somebody was shouting “Un doctor, un dentiste, deux dentistes”, which means “Doctor, dentist, two dentists” in French, and according to Rioting with Stravinsky: A Particular Analysis of the “Rite of Spring”, it was likely because of the dancer’s movements seems like they need medical help. But nonetheless, it is pretty clear that there were probably no riot at the premier.
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