Examines surviving drafts of The Rite of Spring’s written scenario, created jointly by Roerich and Stravinsky, to explore how the ballet embodies on stage some of the ritual festivities that take place through the spring season of the Russian rural agricultural calendar. Prominent within this context is the singing of vesnyanki, ritual ‘calls’ for spring – short, repetitive invocations sung outdoors, from an elevated position, by children and unmarried girls. Khorovod dancing and games are also shown to be important activities central to springtime ritual observances. Charting how these activities make an appearance in the ballet, this chapter also explores the nationalist agenda of the Russian Silver Age, a period of roughly three decades, from the 1890s (the Russian fin de siècle) to the late 1910s, which witnessed a tremendous explosion of creativity in literature, philosophy and the arts. Folk song anthologies from the period, including those by Mily Balakirev, Nikolai Lvov and Ivan Prach, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Anton Juszkiewicz, emerge as historical artefacts of key significance to our understanding of the inspiration behind and source material of original works such as The Rite of Spring. In conclusion, this chapter considers a little-known connecting thread between the ballet and the opera Snow Maiden by Rimsky-Korsakov, which also features prominent ritual springtime observances, including a scene of sacrifice.

The Magic Flute stands out for its eclectic blend of musical styles. While only one scene – the duet of the Armored Men in Act 2 – includes a confirmed musical quotation, some scholars have posited that the opera contains a multitude of musical borrowings and allusions. Flute’s referential character owes much to Mozart’s ingenious use of musical topics. However, allusions to specific works have also been proposed throughout the opera’s history. In 1950, A. Hyatt King assembled an inventory of Flute’s “sources and affinities,” suggesting many plausible but largely unsubstantiated melodic precedents in works by Mozart and others. Scholars have particularly disagreed about the “source” from which Mozart allegedly derived Papageno’s aria “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen.” As in the case of the duet of the Armored Men (which quotes a Lutheran chorale), the desire to link Mozart and J. S. Bach has led to divergent claims about the melody’s provenance.

Song served as a primary generative force throughout Amy Beach’s prolific compositional career. Her three major pieces for orchestra alone-Bal Masqué (1893), the “Gaelic” Symphony (1896), and the Piano Concerto (1900)-are no exception. This chapter argues that Beach’s affinity for song not only shaped her approach to large-scale orchestral composition, but also facilitated positive responses to her works well beyond their premieres. Beach’s ultimate success with song-inspired orchestral composition reflected broader trends of the era overshadowed by experimental modernisms.