Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi

Music—and a title—inspired by Shakespeare...

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Act I & III excerpts, fr Otello
Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille; Myung-Whun Chung, cond.
DG 438 805
&
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1
Boston Pops; Arthur Fiedler, cond.
RCA Gold Seal 62698

Births:
1909 — Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, in Lódz;
1943 — French-American composer Ivan Tcherepnin, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris;

Premieres:
1895 — Ippolitov-Ivanov: "Caucasian Sketches," in Moscow.

American composer Stephen Albert. Photo courtesy G. Schirmer

A river runs through it...

Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Symphony No. 3 in Eb, Op. 97 (Rhenish)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond.
Teldec 90867
&
Stephen Albert (1941-1992): Symphony (RiverRun)
National Symphony of Washington DC; Mstislav Rostropovich, cond.
Delos 1016

Births:
1818 — English composer and pianist Henry Charles Litolff, in London (the date is disputed; some sources say August 7!);

Deaths:
1497 — Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem, in Tours, age uncertain, estimated between 75-87 years.

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven

Barber borrows an idea from Beethoven...

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61
Hilary Hahn, vn;
Baltimore Symphony; David Zinman, cond.
Sony Classical 60584
&
Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Violin Concerto, Op. 14
Hilary Hahn, vn;
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, cond.
Sony Classical 89029

In his book, "The Concerto: A Listener's Guide," [ISBN # 0-19-510330-0] Michael Steinberg writes of the 1806 premiere of Beethoven's Violin Concerto that: "The legend persists that [Franz] Clement [the soloist for the first performance]  performed a set of variations of his own with the violin held upside down between the first two movements of Beethoven's Concerto; he did indeed play such a piece, but it came, decently,  at the end of the program, which also included works by Méhul, Mozart, Cherubini, and Handel."

Births:
1871 — Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar, in Stockholm;
1897 — American composer Quincy Porter, in New Haven, Connecticut;

Deaths:
1779 — English composer and organist William Boyce, age 67;

Premieres:
1786 — Mozart, opera "The Impresario" ["Der Schauspieldirektor"], in Vienna;
1875 — Lalo: "Symphonie Espagnole," in Paris, violin soloist and dedicatee Pablo de Sarasate.

Photo of the young Sergei Rachmaninov

Composers and Psychoanalysis...

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943): Symphony No. 2 in e, Op. 27
Concertgebouw Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, cond.
London 455 798
&
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995): Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Spellbound)
Danielle Laval, p;
North Hungarian Symphony, Miskolc; László Kovács, cond.
Valois Naïve 4841 (distributed by Harmonia Mundi USA)

Births:
1741 — Belgian-French composer André Grétry, in Liège;
1932 — American composer, conductor and pianist John Williams, in New York Citiy;

Premieres:
1874 — Mussorgsky: opera, "Boris Godunov" (definitive version), at the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg;

Other:
1875 — American composer Edward MacDowell admitted to the Paris Conservatory;
1877 — American composer Charles Martin Loeffler admitted to the Paris Conservatory.

American composer Joan Tower. Photo: Steve Sherman/courtesy G. Schirmer

Haydn as food critic... and Joan Tower's Breakfast Rhythms

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony No. 82 in C (The Bear)
Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra; Adam Fischer, cond.
Nimbus 5419/20
&
Joan Tower (b. 1938): Breakfast Rhythms II
DaCapo Chamber Players (Joan Tower, p); Daniel Shulman, cond.
CRI 582

The year after Haydn wrote the letter quoted on today's DATEBOOK, his luck would change dramatically—first for the worse, then for the better: first, his employer, Prince Esterhazy died and disbanded Haydn's private orchestra at the Prince's estate in the countryside; after returning home to Vienna, Haydn was invited to travel to London for a series of concerts of his music, where he was received as a beloved celebrity and for which Haydn composed his famous series of "London" Symphonies.

Births:
1834 — German composer Franz Xaver Witt, in Walderbach, Bavaria;
1885 — Austrian composer Alban Berg, in Vienna;
1909 — German composer Harald Genzmer, in Blumenthal, near Bremen;

Deaths:
1960 — Hungarian composer Ernö (Ernst von) Dohnányi, in New York City, age 82;

Premieres:
1812 — Beethoven: overture and incidental music to play, "The Ruins of Athens," in Pest;
1893 — Verdi: opera, "Falstaff," at La Scala, Milan;
1909 — Albéniz: piano suite, "Iberia," in Paris.