Igor Stravinsky
1882-1971 · Russian (Oranienbaum; worked in France/USA) · Modernism
Known for: Composer of The Rite of Spring (which caused a riot) who reinvented himself three times and changed music forever
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring caused the most famous riot in music history at its 1913 premiere - savage rhythms and dissonances that audiences physically fought over. He then reinvented himself from Russian nationalist to neoclassicist to serialist, shocking followers each time.
He was small, precise, and intellectually restless. He fled Russia after the Revolution, lived in France, then Hollywood. His collaborations with Diaghilev and Balanchine defined 20th-century dance.
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