I Predict a Riot: The Rite of Spring Centennial

May 29 marks the 100th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. The Paris premiere of the groundbreaking work notoriously spawned a riot. We'll be seeing more about this at Berklee in the coming months. The library has pre-ordered the new centenary edition, a 3-volume set containing a facsimile of the autograph full score, a facsimile of the version for piano four-hands, and a collection of 18 essays. Berklee will also be presenting a concert and symposium on it in the fall.

To sate your Rite of Spring appetite, NPR has a collection of pieces about the work and its influence. The library has scores, recordings, and books about this 20th century musical landmark.

Historic Recordings on Streaming Audio

Archeophone Records is a label devoted to preserving public-domain recordings of the acoustic era of the recording industry, and the library provides streaming access to most of their releases through our American Song database. The recordings have been digitally remastered, and the database includes PDFs of the extensive liner notes for each album.

One highlight of their collection is Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1891-1922, which won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Historic Album. The label has earned eight other Grammy nominations for Best Historic album and Best Album Notes, and impressive track record for a label with fewer than 60 releases.

In addition to albums devoted to single artists, they also produce albums under their Phonographic Yearbook series devoted to individual years from 1906 to 1921, plus a two-volume set covering the 1890s. This is a way of exploring history through music.

To access the database, start at our Streaming Audio in the left column of the library home page. Click the link for American Song. Search for "Archeophone" to see what is available from the label.

To find out more about label and their releases, check out their website, archeophone.com.