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In Tom Service's commentary to the BBC Proms 2013 performance of the Rite of Spring, he starts off with something I had no idea of:

The best bassoon solo ever? It sounds otherworldly: but it's actually a Lithuanian wedding song… (TS) #riteofspring

@bbcproms on twitter

I'm really curious to listen to this Lithuanian wedding song. Is it known, or relatively easy to reach?

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    Cool- I'd never heard that, but multiple website articles verify that claim. I'd recommend you go to such sites and track down the scholarly articles & published books they reference. Or marry a Lithuanian :-)
    – Carl Witthoft
    Nov 13, 2015 at 12:38
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    I heard an interview with bass player Pino Palladino, who said that his bass line at the beginning of the Paul Young recording of 'Wherever I lay my hat' is based on that same Rite of Spring basson line.
    – Brian THOMAS
    Nov 13, 2015 at 13:27
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    @Brian That's a healthy dose of mind-blowingness for today. Thank you very much for that.
    – E.P.
    Nov 13, 2015 at 13:44
  • @E.P. yeah, I thought that was pretty awesome, too, so just had a listen to the track (first time in many years). Bit of a disappointment - only about 4 notes make it into the bass part for the intro...!
    – Bob Broadley
    Nov 14, 2015 at 20:45

2 Answers 2

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The song Tu, manu seserėlė was taken from Anton Juszkiewicz’s Melodje ludowe litewskie, (number 157 in the collection. You can see a copy of the tune.

In abc format:

X:157
T:Tu, manu seserėlė
C:Trad.
M:3/4
K:B
L:1/4
edB|G2d|1c2d:|2c2c|:edc|f2e|d2c|edB|G2d|c2c:|
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Supposedly the song is: "Tu, manu seserėlė" (from: http://www.orchestralbassoon.com/stravinsky-the-rite-of-spring/ (link now dead; archived version here)).

I can't figure out hot to link to the original tune but it's on the linked web page.

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