Symphony No. 5 (Sibelius) 1909 Schoenberg continued pushing for more dissonant and chromatic harmonies in his Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16. From 1910–1913 Igor Stravinsky premiered his innovative and revolutionary ballets "The Firebird", "Petrushka" and "The Rite of Spring" ("Le Sacre du Printemps"). Ravel and Debussy were at work developing and performing their Impressionistic music. Though he had been in the public spotlight for nearly 30 years, Sibelius found his works receiving poor reviews for the first time with the 1911 premiere of his Fourth Symphony and, James Hepokoski writes, “was beginning to sense his own eclipse as a contending modernist.” These events
The Rite of Spring a series of flute trills that usher in the "Spring Rounds", in which a slow and laborious theme gradually rises to a dissonant fortissimo, a "ghastly caricature" of the episode's main tune. Brass and percussion predominate as the "Ritual of the Rival Tribes" begins. A tune emerges on tenor and bass tubas, leading after much repetition to the entry of the Sage's procession. The music then comes to a virtual halt, "bleached free of colour" (Hill), as the Sage blesses the earth. The "Dance of the Earth" then begins, bringing Part I to a close in a series of phrases