Classical Music Riots

<via wikipedia>

A classical music riot is violent, disorderly behavior that occurs upon (usually) the premiere of a controversial piece of classical music. The usual respectful and sedate manner of classical music audiences means that any sort of rough behavior, ranging from catcalls to shoving, can be seen as a comparative 'riot'.

Some famous examples:

 La Muette de Portici by Daniel Auber (1830) -- led to the most violent afterparty in operatic history. It was performed in 1830 to an already agitated population in the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. When it came time for the patriotic duet Amour sacré de la Patrie, pandemonium broke out. People poured out of the opera house and started looting and ransacking the city. Eight thousand Dutch soldiers were sent in to restore order, but after three days of bloody street fighting, Belgium declared independence.

♫ The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky (1913) – probably the most famous classical music riot in history. The ballet opened with a solo bassoon, followed by intensely rhythmic dancing, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. (Watch a recreation of the 1913 performance here: part one, part two, part three.) The booing and yelling grew so loud that the dancers had trouble hearing the orchestra, forcing Nijinsky to shout out counts to them. Fistfights broke out in the audience and the Paris police were called in to restore order, which they could not. The Rite would famously appear in Disney's Fantasia in 1940 and has since become a standard of the classical repertoire. (NPR has more!)

♫ Four Organs by Steve Reich (1973) – has the distinction of being the last classical music riot of the 20th century. The work calls for a maraca and four organs, which harmonically expound a dominant eleventh chord. (Listen to part one, part two.) A performance at Carnegie Hall in New York led to people yelling out for the music to stop, while one older woman started banging her head on the front of the stage, crying out: »Stop, stop, I confess!«

♫ Parade by Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso (1917) – This ballet in the middle of WW1 had cardboard costumes by Picasso, while Cocteau threw in a typewriter, milk bottles and a foghorn. (Listen to Jean Cocteau reminisce about the performance, watch a modern interpretation) Afterwards, Satie reacted to a negative review by calling the critic »Not only an ass, but an ass without music« prompting a lawsuit. At the trial Cocteau was beaten by police for screaming »ass« repeatedly in the courtroom, while Satie was sentenced to 8 days in jail. 
(Read a long paper on Parade.)

♫ The Miraculous Mandarin by Bela Bartok (1926) – The mix of seduction, murder and radical music didn't go over well at the premiere in Cologne, Germany. The conductor of the premiere, Eugen Szenkár, recalled that the »uproar was so deafening and lengthy that the fire curtain had to be brought down. Nevertheless, we endured it and weren't afraid to appear in front of the curtain, at which point the whistles resumed with a vengeance.« Szenkar was later summoned to see then-mayor (and later chancellor of West Germany) Konrad Adenauer, who insisted that the »work of filth« be withdrawn from the repertoire, which it was. The opening of The Miraculous Mandarin famously tries to evoke city life in the »concrete jungle.« (Part one, part two) (More about the work here. Watch excerpts from a contemporary ballet performance here.)

♫ String Quartet No. 1 by Arnold Schoenberg (1907) – It was premiered by the Rosé Quartet in Vienna and even though it was still tonal, a kerfuffle broke out. Gustav Mahler, who privately admitted that he was unable to read it, still stood up for the work, nearly getting into a fistfight with a detractor. (Listen to part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.)

♫ Salome by Richard Strauss (1905/1906) – After being banned at the Court Opera in Vienna, a performance in Graz (see the original playbillhere) attracted Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Giacomo Puccini and (possibly) a teenage Adolf Hitler. (Hitler later said that he had borrowed money to go see the performance.) The finale of the opera was scandalous for some. In it, the princess Salome seduces and kissesthe severed head of John the Baptist. (Watch the entire seduction scene here: part one, part two, part three) In 1907, when the opera was being rehearsed in New York, it enraged J.P. Morgan & friends. Morgan happened to be a member of the board of the Metropolitan Opera and saw to it that the production was closed down. (See the cover of Harper's Weekly magazine from 1907; see a picture of Olive Fremstad as Salome in the 1907 Met Production) The opera remained banned in New York for nearly three decades... (You can read more about Salomehere.)