The Rite of Spring year while Stravinsky was occupied with his second major commission for Diaghilev, the ballet "Petrushka". In July 1911 Stravinsky visited Talashkino, near Smolensk, where Roerich was staying with the Princess Maria Tenisheva, a noted patron of the arts and a sponsor of Diaghilev's magazine "World of Art". Here, over several days, Stravinsky and Roerich finalised the structure of the ballet. Thomas F. Kelly, in his history of the "Rite" premiere, suggests that the two-part pagan scenario that emerged was primarily devised by Roerich. Stravinsky later explained to Nikolai Findeyzen, the editor of the "Russian Musical Gazette", that the first part
The Rite of Spring critical triumph. It has remained in the company's repertoire for more than 50 years; after its revival in May 2011 "The Daily Telegraph"s critic Mark Monahan called it one of the Royal Ballet's greatest achievements. Moscow first saw "The Rite" in 1965, in a version choreographed for the Bolshoi Ballet by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliev. This production was shown in Leningrad four years later, at the Maly Opera Theatre, and introduced a storyline that provided the Chosen One with a lover who wreaks vengeance on the elders after the sacrifice. Johnson describes the production as "a product of state