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Archives Find past shows by date:  Complete archive
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June 1-7, 2009
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Monday, June 1
Handel's Testament ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: George Frederic Handel (1685 – 1759): Air, from Water Music St. Martin's Academy; Sir Neville Marriner, cond. EMI 66646 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Handel's life and works ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1653—Baptismal date of Baroque composer Georg Muffat, in Megève (Savoy); 1771—Italian composer Ferdinando Paër, in Parma; 1804—Russian composer Mikail Glinka, in Novospasskoye (now Glinka), near Yelnya, Smolensk District (Julian date: May 20); 1929—Canadian-born American composer Yehudi Wyner, in Calgary; Deaths: 1639—German composer Melchior Franck, age c. 60, in Coburg; 1909—Italian composer Giuseppe Martucci, age 53, in Naples; Premieres: 1853 — Liszt: "Fantasy on Themes from Beethoven's Ruins of Athens" and "Fantasy on Hungarian Themes" for piano and orchestra, in Budapest; 1869 — Smetana: opera "The Bartered Bride" (third of four versions), in Prague at the Provisional Theater; 1925 — Bloch: Concerto Grosso No. 1 for strings and piano, in Cleveland, with the composer conducting; 1932 — Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 12 ("Collective Farm Symphony"), in Moscow, by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra, Albert Coates conducting; 1988 — Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: "Symbolon" for orchestra, in Leningrad (USSR), by the New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta conducting; 1991 — Peter Maxwell Davies: "Ojai Festival Overture," in the Ojai Valley north of Los Angeles, by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with the composer conducting; Other: 1723—J.S. Bach is formally inducted as cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig; 1728—The Royal Academy of Music folds in London following a revival performance of Handel's opera "Ademto" (Gregorian date: June 12); 1750—Handel makes out his will, leaving to John Christopher Smith (the elder) "my large harpsichord, my little house organ, my musick books, and 500 pounds sterling" and the rest to his niece Johanna Floerken; On August 4, 1757, Handel modifies his will, leaving his theater organ to John Rich, some paintings to Charles Jennens and Bernard Granville, and "a fair copy of the score and all parts" of "Messiah" to the Foundling Hospital; In of April 1759, Handel bequeaths 1000 pounds to the Society for the Support of Decayed Musicians, and directs that 600 pounds be used for his monument in Westminster Abbey; These dates are all according to the Julian calendar still in use in England, but not in the rest of Europe, in Handel's day (add 11 days to convert to the Gregoian calendar).
Tuesday, June 2
Walton and the Royals ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: William Walton (1902 – 1983): Coronation Te Deum Andrew Lumsden, organ; Finzi Singers; Paul Spicer, cond. Chandos 9222 & William Walton (1902 – 1983): Orb And Sceptre March English Northern Philharmonia; Paul Daniel, cond. Naxos 8.553981 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On William Walton More on Walton ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1835—Russian composer, pianist and conductor Nicolai Rubinstein (brother of Anton), in Moscow (Gregorian date: June 14); 1857—English composer Sir Edward Elgar, in Broadheath (near Worcester); 1863—German composer and conductor Felix Weingartner, in Zara, Dalmatia (now Zadar, Croatia); Deaths: 1937—French composer and organist Louis Vierne, age 66, in Paris at Notre Dame Cathedral while playing an organ recital; Premieres: 1914 — Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 1, in Pavlovsk (Gregorian date: June 15); 1937 — Berg: opera "Lulu" (Acts 1 & 2 only), in Zürich at the Stadtstheater; The first complete performance of the 3-act version of this opera with Berg's unfinished Act 3 (arranged by Friedrich Cerha) premiered in Paris on February 24, 1979; 1953 — Bliss: "Processional" in London, at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II; 1953 — Ginastera: "Variaciones Concertantes" in Buenos Aires; 1953 — Walton: "Coronation Te Deum" and "Orb and Sceptre" March, in London, at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II; 1954 — Leroy Anderson: "Bugler's Holiday" at a Decca recording session in New York City, with the composer conducting; The three cornet soloist for this classic recording were Robert Cusamann, Carl Poole and Melven Solomon; 1983 — Henze: opera "The English Cat," in Schwetzingen at the Schlosstheater; Other: 1711—The opera season at the Queen's Theater in London ends with a production of Handel's opera, "Rinaldo," (Gregorian date: June 13) which had opened there on February 24 (Gregorian date: March 7) the same year; This was the first Handel opera produced in London, and the first Italian opera written specifically composed for the London stage, and proved extremely popular; 1938—At the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H., Amy Beach begins work on a Piano Trio based on some of her earlier works; She would finish the trio fifteen days later (June 18th) and publish it as her Op. 150.
Wednesday, June 3
Tan Dun's "Water Music" ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Tan Dun (b. 1957): Concerto for Water Percussion Christopher Lamb, perc.; NY Philharmonic; Kurt Masur, cond. Philharmonic Special Edition NYP-0109 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Tan Dun More on Tan Dun ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1801—Czech opera composer Franz (František) Škroup, in Osice; One of his songs was eventually used as the Czech national anthem; 1832—French operetta composer Charles Lecocq, in Paris; Deaths: 1875—French composer Georges Bizet, age 36, at Bougival (near Paris); 1899—Austrian composer Johann Strauss, Jr., age 73, in Vienna; 1939—Spanish composer and conductor Enrique Fernandez Arbos, in San Sebastian; Premieres: 1896 — Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5, in Paris, with the composer as soloist; 1915 — Chadwick: symphonic ballad "Tam O'Shanter" at the Norfolk Festival; 1922 — Stravinsky: opera "Marva," at the Paris Opéra; 1947 — Poulenc: opera "Les Mamelles de Tirésias" (The Breasts of Tiresias) in Paris at the Opéra-Comique; 1964 — Menotti: "Martin's Lie," at Bristol Cathedral in Bath, England; 1979 — Menotti: "La Loca," in San Diego, Calif.; 1988 — Michael Torke: "Copper" for brass quintet and orchestra, at the Midland (Michigan) Festival, with the Empire Brass and the Detroit Symphony conducted by Stephen Stein; 1999 — Tan Dun: "Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra (In Memory of Toru Takemitsu)," at Lincoln Center, with percussionist Christopher Lamb and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur.
Thursday, June 4
Oliver Nelson ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Oliver Nelson (1932 – 1975) arr. Eley: Sonata Marcus Eley, clarinet; Lucerne DeSa, piano Arabesque 6703 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Oliver Nelson More on Nelson ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1770—possible birthdate of the British-born early American composer, conductor, and music publisher James Hewitt, in Dartmoor; 1932—American composer and jazz arranger Oliver Nelson, in St. Louis; Deaths: 1872—Polish opera composer Stanislaw Moniuszko, age 53, in Warsaw; 1907—Norwegian composer Agathe Backer-Groendahl, age 59, in Kristiania (now Oslo); 1951—Russian-born American double-bass player, conductor and new music patron, Serge Koussevitzky, age 76, in Boston; Premieres: 1811 — Weber: opera, "Abu Hassan." In Munich; 1883 — Tchaikovsky: "Festival Coronation March," in Moscow (Julian date: May 23); Tchaikovsky conducted this march at the gala opening concert of Carnegie Hall (then called just "The Music Hall")in New York on May 5, 1891; 1912 — Chadwick: tone poem "Aphrodite" in Norfolk, Conn., at the Litchfield Festival; 1914 — Sibelius: "Oceanides," in Norfolk, Conn., at the Litchfield Festival, with the composer conducting; 1935 — Shostakovich: ballet "The Limpid Stream," in Leningrad at the Maliiy Opera Theater; 1935 — R. Strauss: opera "Die schweigsame Frau" (The Silent Woman), in Dresden at the Staatsoper; 1994 — Philip Glass: opera "La Belle et la Bête" (Beauty and the Beast) based on the film by Jean Cocteau), by the Philip Glass Ensemble at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville (Spain), with Michael Riesman conducting; 1997 — Richard Danielpour: ballet "Urban Dances," at New York State Theater by the New York Ballet, choreographed by Miriam Mahdaviani; 1999 — Esa-Pekka Salonen: "Five Images after Sappho" for voice and orchestra, at the Ojai Festival in California, with soprano Dawn Upshaw and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, conducted by the composer.
Friday, June 5
Mussorgsky (and friends) ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881): Khovanschina Prelude Montreal Symphony; Charles Dutoit, cond. London 417 299 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Mussorgsky ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1882—Russian-born American composer Igor Stravinsky, in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov), near St Petersburg, (Gregorian date: June 17); In the 19th century, the Julian calendar lagged behind the Gregorian by 12 days, and in the 20th century by 13 days; For most of the 20th century, Stravinsky chose to celebrate his birthday on June 18th, but "officially" it was celebrated on June 17th; 1905—Estonian-born Swedish composer Eduard Tubin, in Kalaste, near Tartu (Gregorian date: June 18); 1923—American composer Daniel Pinkham, in Lynn, Mass.; Deaths: 1625—English composer Orlando Gibbons, age 41, in Canterbury; 1722—German composer Johann Kuhnau, age 61, in Leipzig; 1816—Italian opera composer Giovanni Paisiello, age 76, in Naples; 1826—German composer Carl Maria von Weber, age 39, in London; 1944—Italian opera composer Riccardo Zandonai, age 61, in Pesaro; Premieres: 1715 — Handel: opera "Amadigi di Gauli" (Julian date: May 25); 1913 — Paris premiere of Mussorgsky: opera, "Khovantschina," in a version completed and orchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel; 2003 — Oliver Knussen: Symphony No. 4, by the New York Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel conducting. Other: 1717—For the last performance of Handel's opera "Rinaldo" at the King's Theater, the French dancer Marie Sallé appears as a performer for the first time in one of Handel's works (Greogorian date: June 16); 1971—Conductor James Levine makes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, conducting Puccini's "Tosca"; In 1973, Levine became the Met's principal conductor and in 1976 its music director.
Saturday, June 6
Cowell in Paris ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Henry Cowell (1897 – 1965): Synchrony Polish National Radio Orchestra; William Strickland, cond. Citadel 88122 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On Slonimsky On Cowell ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1840—English composer Sir John Stainer, in London; 1869—German composer and conductor Siegfried Wagner, in Triebschen (near Lucerne), Switzerland; He was the third of three children born out-of-wedlock to Richard Wagner and Cosima Liszt-von Bulow; Cosima's marriage to Hans von Bulow was annulled in 1870, and she married Wagner in 1870; 1903—Soviet-Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, in Tiflis (Julian date: May 24); 1915—American composer Vincent Perischetti, in Philadelphia; 1922—Scottish composer Iain Hamilton, in Glasgow; 1939—Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, in Utrecht; Deaths: 1881—Belgian composer and violinist Henri Vieuxtemps, age 61, in Mustapha, Algiers; 1915—Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, in Dyud'kovo, near Zvenigorod (Gregorian date: June 19); Premieres: 1921 — Hindemith: one-act opera "Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen" (Murder, Hope of Women) and Burmese puppet-play "Nusch-Nuschi," in Stuttgart at the Württembergisches Landstheater; 1921 — Milhaud: ballet "L'Homme et son désir" (Man and His Desire), in Paris; 1924 — Schoenberg: one-act melodrama "Erwartung" (Expectation), in Prague at the New German Theater; 1925 — Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2, in Paris, with Serge Koussevitzky conducting; 1928 — R. Strauss: opera "Die aegyptische Helena" (The Egyptian Helen), in Dresden at the Staatsoper, conducted by Fritz Busch, and with vocal soloists Elisabeth Rethberg (Helena) and Curt Taucher (Menelas); 1931 — Henry Cowell: "Synchrony," in Paris, at the first of two concerts of modern American music with the Orchestre Straram conducted by Nicholas Slonimsky and funded anonymously by Charles Ives; On the same program, Slonimsky also conducted the Orchestre Straram in the European premieres of works by Adolph Weiss ("American Life"), Ives ("Three Places in England"), Carl Ruggles ("Men and Mountains"), and the Cuban composer Amadeo Roldan ("La Rehambatamba"); See June 11, 1931 for the program of the second concert of chamber works; 1943 — Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No. 2, in Moscow, by the composer; 1947 — Leroy Anderson: "Irish Suite" by the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall, Arthur Fiedler conducting (commissioned by the Eire Society of Boston for its annual "Irish Night" at the Pops); 1998 — Esa-Pekka Salonen: "Gambit" at the Holland Festival, by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by the composer; Other: 1727—The opera season of the Royal Academy in London ends early, when rival prima donnas Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni come to blows on stage during a performance of Bononcini's opera "Astianatte" (Gregorian date: June 17); 1922—The American Academy in Rome awards American composer Randall Thompson its third two-year composition fellowship; The first fellowship was awarded to Leo Sowerby on October 4, 1921, and the second to Howard Hanson on November 9, 1921; The fellowship awards continue to this day; 1962—The Beatles audition with music producer George Martin at their first recording session at London's famous Abbey Road Studios.
Sunday, June 7
Copland goes Latin ... MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY'S PROGRAM: Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990): Latin American Sketches Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, cond. Teldec 46314 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The Copland Collection at the Library of Congress The Copland House website MPR's Copland Centenary webpage ALSO ON THIS DATE: Births: 1897—Hungarian born American conductor and occasional composer/arranger George Szell, in Budapest; He was led the Cleveland Orchestra from 1946 until the time of his death in 1970; Deaths: 1863—Austrian composer Franz Xaver Gruber, age 75, in Hallen (near Salzburg); He composed the famous Christmas Carol, “Silent Night” (Stille Nacht), in 1818, while serving as a church organist and schoolmaster in Oberndorf; Premieres: 1896 — Hugo Wolf: opera "Der Corregidor" (The Governor) (1st version) in Mannheim at the Nationaltheater; 1920 — Gershwin: musical revue, "George White's Scandals of 1920," at the Globe Theater in New York City; 1922 — American premiere of Vaughan Williams: "Pastoral" Symphony (no.3), at the Litchfield County Choral Festival in Norfolk, Conn., with the composer conducting.; The world premiere had taken place in London on Jan. 26, 1922; 1927 — Prokofiev: ballet, "Pas d'Acier," in Paris, by the Ballet Russe; 1933 — Weill: "The Seven Deadly Sins of the Bourgeoisie," in Paris; text by Bertolt Brecht; 1945 — Britten: opera "Peter Grimes," in London at Sadler's Wells Theater; 1951 — Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1, in Paris; 1972 — Copland: "Three Latin American Sketches," at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) in New York City, by New York Philharmonic conducted by André Kostelanetz; 1984 — Crumb: "A Haunted Landscape," by the New York Philharmonic, Arthur Weisberg conducting. |
