Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A Haiku about Music

Stravinsky's The Rite
the scent of Chanel drifts
through the theater


World Kigo Database (Igor Stravinsky)

Note: Named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky was a Russian-born naturalized American composer. In addition to his outstanding achievement in music composition, Stravinsky also achieved fame as a pianist and a conductor, mainly at the premieres of his works. One of his famous works The Rite of Spring, premiered on Thursday, May 29, 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, provoked one of the most famous classical music riots in history due to its intensely rhythmic score and primitive scenario. Pioneering French fashion designer Coco Chanel attended this "scandalous performance" and was impressed by his work. Later, she fell in love with him and financially supported his family and musical performances. Their story was made into a film entitled Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, and was chosen as the Closing Film of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.