Nicolas Roerich, Beyond the Rite of Spring

by Ale Díaz-Pizarro

So much has been written about Stravinsky's Rite of Spring that to say anything about it here feels like rehashing: the shock of the ballet audience, the ensuing riot, whether or not the controversy was planned by the impresario Diaghilev... But it is often easy to forget what a shock the Rite must have been not only auditorily, with its abrupt, monotone chords, but visually: beyond Nijinsky's unorthodox choreography, the stage presented none of the slender ballerinas and vivid colors that ballet audiences had come to expect. Instead, the dancers were clad in heavy furs, with an almost psychedelical background of a tree and rolling hills behind them.

Behind the scenery and costumes was Russian painter Nicolas Roerich, who had previously also provided the scenery for several operas. However, his work on the Russian pagan-themed Rite would kindle his interest in the world depicted in it, leading him on a worldwide quest for art and unity that would end at the Himalayas, his most beloved landscape to paint, rendered repeatedly in impossible colors (and which H.P. Lovecraft, in "The Mountains of Madness," described as "strange and disturbing").

Aside from his art, Roerich was also wellknown for his activism, focused on artistic and archaeological preservation during wartime. Roerich spearheaded the Pact that bears his name, which pioneered the legal recognition that the preservation of cultural objects should take precedent over military action that may destroy them, and for which Roerich was longlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The bulk of Roerich's activism was carried out while he was based out of his New York home, located almost on the corner of 107th Street and Riverside. Today, the building houses the Roerich Museum, which holds a vast collection of his artifacts, photographs, and paintings (along with the famous Rite sketches and other études of opera scenery). If you're in the neighborhood, it is worth visiting—you might leave with a new favorite artist or (who knows?) maybe a print or two.

Listen to the Rite of Spring and other Stravinsky works all day on Tuesday, June 18th, the composer's birthday.