# avant-garde rioting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 7, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avant-garde-rioting/745452 "2016-02-07T19:48:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tovens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tovens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tovens)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avant-garde-rioting/745452/1 "2016-02-07T19:48:47Z")
In addition to the two events mentioned, there was also a celebrated performance in Vienna on March 31, 1913, two months before the Stravinsky performance. Pieces from Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander Zemlinsky, Anton Webern, and Gustav Mahler were performed. (The concert was ended before Mahler’s piece was performed). A good summation can be found in Wikipedia ([Skandalkonzert - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandalkonzert)): “A punch administered by concert organizer Erhard Buschbeck became the subject of a lawsuit, whereby operetta composer Oscar Straus, heard as a witness, testified it had been the most harmonious sound of the evening . . . Press reports from the period mention tumultuous riots: the followers of Schoenberg, his students, and opponents yelling at each other, throwing things, disturbing the performance, destroying furniture, etc . . . For Berg’s work the Skandalkonzert had lasting consequences: the songs were not performed again until 1952, and the full score did not appear in print until 1966.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avant-garde-rioting/745452/2 "2016-02-08T00:12:48Z")
At La Scala, in 1868, 26-year-old Arrigo Boito’s first opera, _Mefistofele,_ provoked riots and duels, and was closed by the police after two performances. Years later, he was able to bring it back in a revised and shortened version, and it now has the distinction of being one of only two Italian operas from Verdi’s era, but not by Verdi, to remain in the repertoire. But, in fifty years, he was never able to finish an opera score again. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avant-garde-rioting/745452/3 "2016-02-08T05:05:44Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > it now has the distinction of being one of only two Italian operas from Verdi’s era, but not by Verdi, to remain in the repertoire. Is the other _La Gioconda_? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avant-garde-rioting/745452/4 "2016-02-08T05:44:43Z")
Why does it take so many posts before anybody links to the column? I know new members aren’t expected to know to post a link, but you’d think those of us who have been here longer would. Link: [Did avante-garde arts events of a century ago really inspire riots?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1756/did-avant-garde-arts-events-of-a-century-ago-really-inspire-riots) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avant-garde-rioting/745452/5 "2016-02-08T22:25:06Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Is the other _La Gioconda_? Yes. To which Boito, incidentally, wrote the libretto, albeit under a pseudonym. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avant-garde-rioting/745452/6 "2016-02-09T20:23:29Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Why does it take so many posts before anybody links to the column? I know new members aren’t expected to know to post a link, but you’d think those of us who have been here longer would. Alas, even among us denizens of the SDMB, human frailties result in occasional oversights. Have pity on us mortals. Powers &8^]