On May 29, 1913, the audience at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris erupted into a full-scale riot during the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. The pounding rhythms, savage dissonances, and Nijinsky's stomping choreography were so shocking that fistfights broke out in the aisles. It was the most famous premiere in music history — and only the beginning of Stravinsky's restless reinvention.

This episode traces Stravinsky from his Russian roots through the three revolutionary ballets that made him famous, his neoclassical turn that baffled his admirers, and the serial compositions that proved he could master any style music had to offer.

• The Diaghilev collaboration and the three ballets — Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring — that detonated modern music
• The 1913 Paris riot and why The Rite of Spring ...