J.S. Bach laid to rest in Leipzig 250 years ago today . . . thoughts on the Bach celebrations in honor of this anniversary.

J. S. Bach (1685-1750): Prelude, S. 997 (arr. Chris Brubeck)
Bill Crofut, banjo; Joel Brown, g.
London Symphony; Joel Revzen, cond.
Koch International 7485 (track 3)

The feature by Alex Ross mentioned in today's program appeared in the March 6, 2000, issue of The New Yorker and was titled "Bach 2K." Here's a quote from his thought-provoking feature: "Bach was music's first holy ghost - the first composer to attain a god-like posthumous fame . . . When, in the 1780s, in Vienna, an aristocrat named Baron van Swieten began hosting concerts of 'classics' in his home, it was no accident that Bach took pride of place . . . Swieten's concerts, with their refined and reverential atmosphere, marked, for better or worse, the beginning of modern concert life."

Births:
1828 - Belgian composer, organist, musicologist and conductor François-Auguste Gevaert, in Huysse;
1848 - French composer J. Robert Planquette, in Paris;

Deaths:
1896 - Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, in Bayreuth, Germany, age 74.

Credit: Mondo Musica Records

J. S. Bach put on Prince Leopold's payroll . . . and a 20th-century opera about a killer pipe organ!

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Toccata, Adagio & Fugue, S. 564
Kevin Bowyer, organ
Nimbus 5423 (track 1)
&
Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973): Vivaldiana
Veneto Philharmonic; Peter Maag, cond.
Marco Polo 8.223397 (track 16)

Bach signed on with Prince Leopold of Cöthen in August of 1717 before securing "permission" to leave his current post at the court of the Duke of Weimar. When the Duke of Weimar found out that Bach had arranged to leave his court, he threw Bach into jail from November 6 to December 2, 1717, to punish him for being so independent-minded.

Births:
1858 - Austrian composer Hans Rott, in Vienna;
1913 - American composer Jerome Moross (pronounced "Maw- ROHS") in Brooklyn;

Deaths:
1973 - Italian composer and musicologist Gian Francesco Malipiero, in Treviso, age 91;

Premieres:
1740 - Thomas Arne: masque, "Alfred" (containing "Rule, Brittania"), in London;

Other:
1892 - John Philip Sousa , age 37, quits the U.S. Marine Corps Band to form his own 100-piece marching band;
1893 - Antonín Dvorák finishes his Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op. 97 while vacationing in Spillville, Iowa.

Old and new operas about mythological figures . . . Gluck's "Orpheus" and Henze's "Venus and Adonis"

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787): "Dance of the Blessed Spirits," fr "Orphée et Eurydice" (arr. Berlioz)
Orchestra of the San Francisco Opera; Donald Runnicles, cond.
Teldec 98418 (CD 2, track 1)
&
Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926): The Bassarids
RIAS Chamber Choir; Berlin Radio Symphony; Gerd Albrecht, cond.
Koch International 314 006 (CD 2, track 1)

Here's a quote from the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns on the advantages - and disadvantages - of operas based on mythological characters: "Myth or legend affords one advantage to lyric drama and one only - the miraculous. For the rest myth entrails a disadvantage. How can characters who never existed, or in whose existence no one any longer believes, excite interest by themselves? They do not prop up the music and poetry, as is erroneously thought; it is the music and the poetry that prop them up and give them life. Who would endure the interminable harangues of the woeful Wotan without the superb music that goes with them? Would Orpheus weeping the loss of Eurydice move us as deeply if Gluck had not from the first notes gripped our hearts? And without Mozart's music what should we think of the puppets in 'The Magic Flute'?"

Births;
1891 - English composer Sir Arthur Bliss, in London;
1905 - German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann, in Munich;
1936 - English composer Anthony Payne, in London;

Deaths:
1945 - Italian composer Pietro Mascagni, in Rome, age 81;

Other:
1923 - First festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Salzburg, Austria, offering chamber music by Schönberg, Berg and Bartók;

Credit: Susan Unterberg / courtesy G. Shirmer

An opera overture that answers the question: "Who was that masked man?" . . . and a brand-new violin concerto by Richard Danielpour

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868): William Tell Overture
Stuttgart Radio Symphony; Gianluigi Gelmetti, cond.
Seraphim 32942 (track 7)
&
Richard Danielpour (b. 1956): Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Yo-Yo Ma, vcl; Philadelphia Orchestra; David Zinman, cond.
Sony Classical 66299 (track 4)

Chantal Juillet will be the soloist for the premiere performance of the new Danielpour Violin Concerto on August 6th at the Saratoga Springs Festival. Charles Duoit will conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra. In an interview for the G. Shirmer newsletter, Ms. Juillet says: "It is a great pleasure to be involved with one of our best young composers . . . Needless to say the anticipation of the final stage -- the 'premiere' -- is tremendous!" The following month, on September 21st, Juillet and Dutoit take the new Danielpour Violin Concerto to Paris for its European premiere with the National Orchestra of France. The work will be performed in Philadelphia on November 2-4, and immediately afterwards, in Montréal for the Canadian premiere with the Montréal Symphony on November 7-8.

Births:
1884 - Polish-American composer Louis Gruenberg, near Brest-Litovsk;
1885 - Russian composer Andrey Pashchenko, in Rostov-on-Don;

Other:
1778 - La Scala Opera House opens its doors for the first time in Milan, Italy;
1779 - Mozart composes his "Posthorn" Serenade;
1795 - The Paris Conservatory of Music is founded by the National Revolutionary Convention;

Credit: BMG Classics

Music "Noir" and "outdoor" by David Raksin and George Rochberg . . .

David Raksin (b. 1912): "Title Theme," fr "Laura"
Hollywood Bowl Symphony; David Raksin, cond.
Sony Classical 80991 (track 3)
&
George Rochberg (b. 1918): Octet (A Grand Fantasia)
New York Chamber Ensemble; Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, cond.
New World 80462 (track 7)

David Raksin said the story behind how he came up with the haunting "Laura" theme is so "transparently sentimental" that it sounds like something out of a Grade-B movie. Faced with an usually painful case of writer's block the very weekend a deadline meant he HAD to come up with a theme for "Laura," Raksin says he received a "Dear John" letter from his wife that Saturday saying she was leaving him. Unwilling to believe she was serious (she was), he stuck the letter is his pocket and tried to lose himself in his work.

"By Sunday night," writes Raksin, "I knew that my big chance was fading fast; I didn't really believe in any of the themes I had written, and I was beginning to think that a wiser man would have known it was time to end the pain and give up. From the time I was a boy, when the music wouldn't flow, I would prop a book or a poem on the piano and improvise. The idea was to divert my mind from conscious awareness of music-making . . . [so] I took the ["Dear John"] letter out of my pocket, put it up on the piano and began to play . . . and then, without willing it - I was playing the first phrases of what you now know as as [the "Laura" theme]."

Births:
1888 - American composer and teacher Philip Greeley Clapp, in Boston;
1910 - American composer William Schuman, in New York City;
1937 - English composer David Bedford, in London;

Other:
1782 - Mozart marries Constanze Weber in St. Stephen's Church, Vienna;