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Stravinsky's work caused a scandal in 1913 but has since been recognized as one of the 20th century's most important pieces. The audience, packed into the newly-opened Théâtre des Champs-Élysées to the point of standing room only, had neither seen nor heard anything like it. As the first few bars of the orchestral work The Rite of Spring – Le Sacre du Printemps – by the young, little-known Russian composer Igor Stravinsky sounded, there was a disturbance in the audience. It was, according to some of those present – who included Marcel Proust, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Maurice Ravel and...

On May 15, 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, just two weeks before the premiere of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” provoked a riot among outraged audience members, the Ballets Russes presented the premiere of another daring ballet, also choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, also conducted by Pierre Monteux. It was Debussy’s “Jeux,” the composer’s last work for orchestra, commissioned by the company director, Sergei Diaghilev. Though not well received, the ballet was much discussed in Parisian cultural circles, until, that is, it was eclipsed by the scandal of the “Rite of Spring” (“Le Sacre du Printemps”). *** That a...