March 11 - German composer Felix Mendelssohn.

Mendelssohn dusts off an old classic . . .

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): St. Matthew Passion Netherlands Bach Society; Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra; Ton Koopman, cond. Erato 45814

On Mendelssohn: http://web02.hnh.com/composer/btm.asp?fullname=Mendelssohn,%20Felix

Births:
1876 — American composer Carl Ruggles, in Marion, Mass.;
1897 — American composer Henry Cowell, in Menlo Park, Calif.;

Premieres:
1791 — Haydn: Symphony No. 92, conducted by the composer, at the first of his London concerts;
1830 — Bellini: opera "I Capuleti e I Montecchi" (The Capulets and Montagues), in Venice at the Teatro la Fenice;
1851 — Verdi: opera "Rigoletto," in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;
1867 — Verdi: opera "Don Carlos" (1^st French-language version in 5 acts) at the Paris Opéra;
1888 — Dvorak: Symphony No. 2 in Bb, in Prague; This symphony was composed in 1865;
1915 — Ravel: ballet "Ma Mère l'Oye" (Mother Goose), at the Paris Opéra; This orchestral score is based on an earlier Ravel work of the same name for two pianos;
1917 — Respighi: tone-poem "The Fountains of Rome," in Rome;
1929 — Colin McPhee: Concerto for Piano with Wind Octet, in Boston;

Others:
1999 — Corigliano: "A Dylan Thomas Trilogy," at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with soloists and the National Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting;

Copland's fanfare for America's "Greatest Generation?"

Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990): Fanfare for the Common Man
San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, cond.
RCA/BMG 63888

On Aaron Copland
(scroll down to Copland on this Web site's "composer" section):
http://www.ny.boosey.com/pages/Composer/composer_main_page.asp

Births:
1710 — British composer Thomas Arne, in London;
1921 — American composer Ralph Shapey, in Philadelphia;

Deaths:
1937 — French composer and organist Charles Marie Widor, age 93, in Paris;
1955 — American be-bop composer and jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, age 34, in New York City;

Premieres:
1857 — Verdi: opera "Simon Boccanegra" (1^st version), in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;
1934 — Hindemith: "Mathis der Maler" Symphony, by the Berlin Philharmonic, with Wilhelm Fürtwängler conducting;
1964 — Britten: Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, in Moscow with the Moscow Philharmonic conducted by the composer, with Mstislav Rostropovich the soloist.

March 13 - American composer John Adams.

Wagner and John Adams put on their dancing shoes . . .

Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Venusberg Music, fr Tannhäuser
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; James Levine, cond.
DG 435 874
&
John Adams (b. 1947): The Chairman Dances
San Francisco Symphony; Edo de Waart, cond.
Nonesuch 79144

On Richard Wagner:
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/2906/wagner.html

. . . and on John Adams: http://www.earbox.com/

Births:
1700 — French composer and flautist Michel Blavet, in Besançon;
1860 — Austrian composer and music critic Hugo Wolf, in Windisch-Graz;

Deaths:
1842 — Italian-born composer Luigi Cherubini, age 81, in Paris;
1918 — French composer Lili Boulanger, age 24, in M´zy;

Premieres:
1797 — Cherubini: opera "Médée" (Medea), in Paris;
1845 — Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in e, Op. 64, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Niels Gade, with Ferdinand David the soloist;
1954 — Schoenberg: (unfinished) opera "Moses and Aaron," in a concert performance by the Hamburg Radio; The first staged performance took place in Zürich, Switzerland, on June 6, 1957);
1964 — Ernst Toch: Symphony No. 5 ("Jeptha - Rhapsodic Poem"), in Boston;
1976 — Babbitt: Concerti for Violin, Small Orchestra and Tape, in New York City;
1998 — Mark Adamo: opera "Little Women" at Houston Opera Studio, with Christopher Larkin conducting.

Old Vienna, New Vienna with Strauss and Schwertsik . . .

Johann Strauss, Jr. (1827-1870): The Blue Danube
The Johann Strauss Orchestra; Christopher Warren-Green, cond. Blackbox 1059
&
Kurt Schwertsik (b. 1935): Vienna Chronicles 1848
Vienna Radio Symphony: HK Gruber, cond.
Largo 56627

More on Johann Strauss Sr. and Jr.:
http://www.straussfestival.com/bio.html

. . . and on Kurt Schwertsik
(scroll down to Schwertsik on this Web site's "composer" menu):
http://www.ny.boosey.com/pages/Composer/composer_main_page.asp

Births:
1681 — German composer Georg Philipp Telemann, in Magdeburg;

Premieres:
1847 — Verdi: opera "Macbeth," in Florence;
1885 — Gilbert & Sullivan: operetta "The Mikado," in London;
1963 — Simpson: Symphony No. 3, in Birmingham, England;
1975 — Ulysses Kay: Quintet Concerto for brass and orchestra, in New York City;
1976 — Paul Creston: "Hyas Illahee" for chorus and orchestra, in Shreveport, La.;
?2001 — Danielpour: Cello Concerto No. 2 ("Through the Ancient Valley"), at Lincoln Center, by soloist Yo-Yo Ma with the New York Philharmonic;
2002 (scheduled) — Previn: a new Violin Concerto, commissioned by the Boston Symphony, for Anne-Sophie Mutter, with Previn to conduct.

Corigliano's memorial symphony . . .

John Corigliano (b. 1938): Symphony No. 1
Stephen Hough, piano;
Chicago Symphony; Daniel Barenboim, cond.
Erato 45601

On John Corigliano:
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/corigliano_bio.html

Births:
1864 — Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist Johan Halvorsen, in Drammen;
1901 — American composer Colin McPhee, in Montréal, Canada;
1926 — American composer Ben Johnston, in Macon, Ga.;
1928 — American composer Nicolas Flagello, in New York City;

Premieres:
1807 — Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 (first public performance), in Vienna, at a benefit concert conducted by the composer;
1885 — Franck: symphonic poem "Les Dijinns" (The Genies), in Paris;
1908 — Ravel: "Rapsodie espagnole" (Spanish Rhapsody), in Paris;
1911 — Scriabin: Symphony No. 5 ("Prometheus: Poem of Fire"), in Moscow, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky and with the composer performing the solo piano part;
1981 — Stockhausen: opera "Donnerstag, aus Licht" (Thursday, from Light), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; This is one of a projected cycle of seven operas, each named after a day of the week;
2000 — Corigliano: "Mr. Tamborine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan," at Carnegie Hall, by soprano Sylvia McNair and pianist Martin Katz.

The morning after for Sergei Rachmaninoff . . .

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Symphony No. 1 in d, Op. 13
St. Petersburg Philharmonic; Mariss Jansons, cond.
EMI 56754

On Rachmaninoff
(scroll down to Rachmaninoff on this Web site's "composer"menu):
http://www.ny.boosey.com/pages/Composer/composer_main_page.asp

Births:
1937 — American composer David Del Tredici, in Cloverdale, Calif.;

Deaths:
1736 — Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, age 26 (of consumption), in Pzzuoli;
1968 — Italian-born American composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, age 62, in Los Angeles;
1985 — American composer Roger Sessions, age 88, in Princeton, N.J.;

Premieres:
1750 — Handel: oratorio "Theodora," in London;
1833 — Bellini: opera "Beatrice do Tenda" in Venice at the Teatro la Fenice;
1870 — Tchaikovsky: fantasy-overture "Romeo and Juliet," in Moscow, with Nicolas Rubinstien conducting;
1879 — Dvorák: choral setting of Psalm No. 149, Op. 79, in Prague;
1888 — revised version of Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic"), with New York Philharmonic-Society conducted by Anton Seidl;
1894 — Massenet: opera "Thaïs," at the Paris Opéra;
1938 — Martinu: opera "Julietta," in Prague at the National Theater;
1942 — Martinu: "Sinfonietta giocosa," for piano and chamber orchestra, in New York City.

March 17 - George Frideric Handel.

Handel and Cowell go Irish . . .

George Frederic Handel (1685-1757): excerpt, fr Solomon
English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, cond.
Philips 412 612
&
Henry Cowell (1897-1965): A Blarneying Bit
Carol Wincenc, flute; Samuel Sanders, piano
Nonesuch 79114

On George Frideric Handel:
http://bruichladdich.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/HandelWWW/HandelCat.html

. . . and on Henry Cowell:
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/cowell_bio.html

Births:
1920 — American composer John LaMontaine, in Chicago;

Deaths:
1862 — French opera composer Jacques François Halévy, age 62, in Nice;

Premieres:
1846 — Verdi: opera "Atilla," in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;
1867 — Brahms: Waltzes, Op. 39, for piano, in Vienna;
1945 — Miakovsky: Cello Concerto, in Moscow;
1951 — Dessau: opera "Die Verhör des Lukullus" (The Sentencing of Lucullus), in East Berlin at the Deutsche Staatsoper (Berlin State Opera);
1954 — Quincy Porter: "Concerto Concertante" for two pianos and orchestra, in Louisville, Ky.; This work won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Music;
1967 — Levy: opera "Mourning Becomes Electra" (after the play by Eugene O'Neill) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City;
1972 — Crumb: "Vox balaenae" (Voice of the Whale) for three masked musicians, in Washington, D.C.;

Others:
1830 — Frederic Chopin makes his concert debut in Warsaw, performing his own Piano Concerto in f-minor.