The Rite of Spring patterns of speech; rhythms would match the energy of dance ... sonorities would have the hardness of life as it is really lived". Among 20th-century composers most influenced by "The Rite" is Stravinsky's near contemporary, Edgard Varèse, who had attended the 1913 premiere. Varèse, according to Ross, was particularly drawn to the "cruel harmonies and stimulating rhythms" of "The Rite", which he employed to full effect in his concert work "Amériques" (1921), scored for a massive orchestra with added sound effects including a lion's roar and a wailing siren. Aaron Copland, to whom Stravinsky was a particular inspiration in the
The Rite of Spring murder and gangster film images. In February 1984 Martha Graham, in her 90th year, resumed her association with "The Rite" by choreographing a new production at New York's State Theater. "The New York Times" critic declared the performance "a triumph ... totally elemental, as primal in expression of basic emotion as any tribal ceremony, as hauntingly staged in its deliberate bleakness as it is rich in implication". On 30 September 1987, the Joffrey Ballet in Los Angeles performed "The Rite" based on a reconstruction of Nijinsky's 1913 choreography, until then thought lost beyond recall. The performance resulted from years of