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Friday, February 10
Play today's program

Photo
American composer David Maslanka
SYNOPSIS:
Maslanka's Symphony No. 4 ...

MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM:
David Maslanka (b. 1943):
Symphony No. 4
Dallas Wind Symphony;
Jerry Junkin, cond.
Reference Recordings RR-108

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
On Maslanka

ALSO ON THIS DATE:
Births:
1908—Canadian composer and pianist Jean Coulthard, in Vancouver;
1929—American film score composer Jerry Goldsmith;
1939—American composer Barbara Kolb, in Hartford, Conn.;

Premieres:
1744 — Handel: oratorio “Semele,” in London at the Covent Garden Theater (Gregorian date: Feb. 21);
1749 — Handel: oratorio “Susanna” in London at the Covent Garden Theater (Gregorian date: Feb. 21);
1794 — Haydn: Symphony No. 99, conducted by the composer, at the King's Theatre in London;
1812 — Beethoven: public premieres of "The Ruins of Athens" and "King Stephen" Overture and Incidental Music, as part of a production at the opening of a new theater in Pest, Hungary (see also Feb. 9);
1860 — Brahms: Serenade No. 2 in A, Op. 16, in Hamburg, with the composer conducting;
1878 — Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, in Moscow (Gregorian date: Feb. 22);
1881 — Offenbach: opera "The Tales of Hoffmann," posthumously, in Paris at the Opéra Comique;
1882 — Rimsky-Korsakov: opera “The Snow Maiden” (first version), in St. Petersburg, Napravnik conducting (Julian date: Jan. 29);
1896 — Walter Damrosch: opera "The Scarlet Letter," in Boston;
1903 — Rachmaninoff: Piano Preludes Nos. 1, 2, and 5, from Op. 23 and “Variations on a Theme of Chopin” (Gregorian date: Feb. 23);
1927 — Krenek: "jazz" opera "Jonny spielt auf" (Johnny Strikes Up the Band), in Leipzig at the Stadttheater;
1934 — Howard Hanson: opera "Merry Mount," (staged premiere) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Tulio Serafin conducting;
1949 — Antheil: Symphony No. 6, by the San Francisco Symphony, Pierre Monteux conducting;
1950 — William Schuman: Violin Concerto, by Isaac Stern with the Boston Symphony with Charles Munch conducting and Isaac Stern the soloist;
1961 — Piston: Symphony No. 7, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1961;
1966 — Richard Rodney Bennett: Symphony No. 1, in London;
1976 — Ulysses Kay: "Southern Harmony," by the North Carolina Symphony;
1995 — Daniel Asia: Piano Concerto, by the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Symphony, conducted by Carl St. Clair, with André-Michel Schub the soloist;
2001 — Pierre Jalbert: "L'amour infini," (Infinite Love), by the Albany Symphony, David Alan Miller conducting;

Other:
1859 —First documented complete American performance of Handel's oratorio "Israel in Egypt," at Boston's Melodeon, by the Handel and Haydn Society, Carl Zerrahn conducting; Selections from this work had been performed previously in New York and Boston; The Feb. 19 edition of Dwight's Journal enthused: "Israel at last! The great work, occasionally nibbled at, attacked in fragments, in fits of resolution few and far between, was finally essayed in earnest; and after eight more rehearsals, the giant Handel's greatest work, with the sole exception of the 'Messiah' . . . was offered to the public, and the public wouldn't have it . . . the hall was only two-thirds full";
1921—Charles Ives hears Igor Stravinsky's "The Firebird" Ballet Suite at an all-Russian program by the New York Symphony at Carnegie Hall; Also on the program were works of Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff (with Rachmaninoff as piano soloist); Walter Damrosch conducted.


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Composers Datebook is produced by American Public Media in association with the American Composers Forum with support from the The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.