So I’ve been teaching Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to first year students this year, and while I had a vivid memory of being introduced to his music via Siouxsie and the Banshees, I could never find any evidence of that fact.
But now I have: in the video of Nocturne, a live concert, the first few minutes you can hear the Stravinksy; it was the music Siouxsie and the Banshees used to play to cue the audience that they were up next.
I saw this show at Radio City Music Hall, and honestly, seeing that gorgeous hall full of High Goth was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I also still remember, because it was one of those Perfect Days, the day we bought the tickets: first going to Radio City to stand online to buy the tickets and then handing around Washington Square Park all day with my friends Marc and Lara.
(& For Cure fans: that is a very young Robert Smith standing stage left and playing guitar.)
I wonder how many hours of my life have been spent watching live music – a lot, no doubt, and still? Never enough. Now I’m more likely to actually go see a performance of Rite of Spring, which seems pretty full circle, no?
Rite of Spring might be one of the best pieces of music ever written!