The Rite of Spring (French: Le Sacre du printemps; Russian: «Весна священная», Vesna svyashchennaya, lit. “sacred spring”) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky, with stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. When first performed, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation and a near-riot in the audience. Although designed as a work for the stage, with specific passages accompanying characters and action, the music achieved equal if not greater recognition as a concert piece, and is widely considered to be one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century.

On May 29, 1913, Igor Stravinsky's “The Rite of Spring ” or “Le Sacre du Printemps” premiered for the first time in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées.

The music was the background for a ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky and produced by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. The idea behind it was a pagan girl who dances herself to death. It was unlike all other music – atonal, asymmetrical, and assonant – and it literally caused a riot. There were catcalls, boos, arguments between proponents and opponents, and fist fights in the aisles. The police were called, but they were unable to restore order. Diaghilev kept turning the house-lights on and off to try to calm the crowd.

In 1912 Nijinsky began choreographing original ballets, including L'après-midi d'un faune (1912) to music by Claude Debussy, Jeux (1913), and Till Eulenspiegel (1916). At the premier of Le Sacre du Printemps (1913) in Paris, with music by Igor Stravinsky, fights broke out in the audience between those who loved and hated this startling new style of ballet and music. Faune caused controversy because of its sexually suggestive final scene. Nijinsky originally conceived Jeux as a flirtatious interaction among three males, although Diaghilev insisted it be danced by one male and two females.

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