Law and sovereign violence in rite of spring by Stravinsky

Abstract

This research aims to establish a relationship between law and the work The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. With choreography by Nijinsky, Rite of Spring was a revolutionary artwork from the early 20th century, which chronicles a tribal ritual of sacrifice of a young virgin to the gods in exchange for the protection of crops after a harsh winter in Russia. Violence and hope, delicacy and brutality are surprisingly combined in both the music and the choreography. The sacrifice of individual life to guarantee, paradoxically, the life of the community. As a methodology, this investigation uses some conceptual categories by Giorgio Agamben, such as the notion of state of exception, camp and band, for a legal interpretation of Stravinsky's contributions to contemporary law, as well as the technique of literary review. As a result, it is observed that the same ambivalence present in the relationship between sacrifice and hope of the Rite of Springs also found in the contemporary relationship between fundamental rights and biopolitics, sacred life and expendable life, whose unity is bare life.

Key words: ArtLaw. Law and music. Rite of Springs. Le sacre du printemps. Igor Stravinsky.