"*Pictures of Pagan Russia*," was written for the *Ballets Russes*, and choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. Inspired by Russian *folklorist Nicholas Roerich*, who designed the original sets, it is in two parts, "*The Adoration of the Earth*" and "*The Sacrifice.*" It opens with a *high-pitched bassoon solo* based on a *Lithuanian folk song*, which is followed by the *dissonant "Augurs of Spring*" (sometimes called "Dances of the Young Girls"), which features *E-major and E-flat-major chords superimposed* on each other and played with *seemingly random accents*. The piece ends with a girl *forced to dance herself to death. Changes of meter* are frequent, sometimes changing measure to measure. The original instrumentation featured several *unusual percussion instruments*, including a *gong, tambourines, antique cymbals, and the guir*o. Most infamously, *a riot broke out at its Paris premiere*, although contemporary reports give differing accounts on the Rite's role.
