Composers Datebook

SynopsisIs the customer always right? Apparently Giuseppe Verdi thought so — to a degree, at least.On today’s date in 1872, Verdi sent a note to his publisher with an attached letter he had received from a disgruntled customer, a certain Prospero Bertani, who had attended not one, but two performances of Verdi’s new opera, Aida.Bertani said, “I admired the scenery … I listened with pleasure to the excellent singers, and took pains to let nothing escape me. After it was over, I asked myself whether I was satisfied. The answer was ‘no’.”Since everyone else seemed to think Aida was terrific, Bertani attended a second performance to make sure he wasn’t mistaken, and concluded, “The opera contains absolutely nothing thrilling or electrifying. If it were not for the magnificent scenery, the audience would not sit through it.”Bertini itemized his expenses for tickets, train fare, and meals, and asked Verdi for reimbursement. Verdi was so amused that he instructed Ricordi to pay Bertani — but not the full amount, since, as Verdi put it: “… to pay for his dinner too? No! He could very well have eaten at home!”Music Played in Today's ProgramGiuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): ‘Aida’ excerpts

SynopsisSome classical music snobs look down their nose at film scores, considering them less “serious” than “art” music written for the concert hall.Aaron Copland, for one, deplored this attitude. He admired the work of composers like Bernard Herrmann, Alex North, David Raksin and Elmer Bernstein, whose successful Hollywood careers earned them financial rewards on the West Coast, if not the respect of the snootier East Coast music critics. Copland had spent some time in Hollywood, and knew what was involved in completing a film score on time and on budget.On today’s date in 1940, at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, the press was invited to a special preview showing of a new film version of Our Town. To match Thornton Wilder’s nostalgic stage play about American life in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, Copland’s score employed harmonies suggestive of old New England church hymns.For once, audiences and critics were impressed, and Copland quickly arranged an Our Town concert suite, which premiered on a CBS Radio broadcast in June 1940. He reworked this suite for its first public performance by the Boston Pops and Leonard Bernstein in May 1944.Music Played in Today's ProgramAaron Copland (1900-1990): Our Town Suite; Saint Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, conductor; BMG 61699

SynopsisStephen Sondheim was 32 years old when his musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opened on Broadway on today’s date in 1962. The best seats would have cost you $8.60, but decent tickets were available for three bucks in those days — and, much to Sondheim’s relief, New Yorkers snapped them up in short order.The trial run of Forum in Washington, D.C. had been a near disaster, and, as this was the first major musical for which Sondheim wrote both the lyrics and the music, he had a lot riding on the show’s success.Audiences and critics alike loved the over-the-top fusion of an ancient Roman comedy by Plautus with the kick-in-the-pants conventions of American Vaudeville, spiced up with a liberal dash of Burlesque dancers in Roman costumes. As the New York Times review put it, the cast included six courtesans who “are not obliged to do much, but have a great deal to show.”Forum won several Tony Awards in 1962, including Best Musical. Even so, while Sondheim’s lyrics were praised, his music was barely mentioned; his skill as a composer were not yet fully appreciated. That would occur several years — and several shows — later.Music Played in Today's ProgramStephen Sondheim (1930-2021): A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; 1996 Broadway Cast; Angel 52223

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1825, Italian composer Antonio Salieri breathed his last in Vienna.Gossip circulated that in his final dementia, Salieri blabbed something about poisoning Mozart. Whether he meant it figuratively or literally, or even said anything of the sort, didn’t seem to matter and the gossip became a Romantic legend.Modern food detectives suggested that if Mozart was poisoned, an undercooked pork chop might be to blame. In one of his last letters to his wife, Mozart mentions his anticipation of feasting on a fat chop his cook had secured for his dinner!Twenty-five years after Salieri’s death, on today’s date in 1850, Austro-Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl was born in Budapest. Seidl became a famous conductor of both the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. It was Seidl who conducted the premiere of Dvořák’s New World Symphony.In 1898, at 47, Seidl died suddenly, apparently from ptomaine poisoning. Perhaps it was the shad roe he ate at home, or that sausage from Fleischmann’s restaurant? An autopsy revealed serious gallstone and liver ailments, so maybe Seidl’s last meal, whatever it might have been, was as innocent of blame as poor old Salieri.Music Played in Today's ProgramWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Symphony No. 25; St. Martin’s Academy; Neville Marriner, conductor; Fantasy 104/105Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904): Symphony No. 9 (From the New World); Vienna Philharmonic; Rafael Kubelik, conductor; Decca 466 994Antonio Salieri (1750-1825): La Folia Variations; London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, conductor; Chandos 9877

SynopsisToday’s date in 1913 marks the birthday of the American composer and musicologist George Perle, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1986.In a 1985 interview, Perle vividly recalled his first musical experience, an encounter with Chopin’s etude in F minor, played by an aunt. “It literally paralyzed me,” said Perle. “I was extraordinarily moved and acutely embarrassed at the same time, because there were other people in the room, and I could tell that nobody else was having the same sort of reaction I was.”In his own lyrical and well-crafted music, Perle employed what he called “12-tone tonality,” a middle path between rigorous atonality and traditional, tonal-based music.Whether tonal or not, for Perle, music was both a logical and an emotional language. Perle once made this telling distinction between the English language and the language of music:“Reading a novel is altogether different from reading a newspaper, but it’s all language. If you go to a concert, you have some kind of reaction to it. If the newspaper is Chinese, you can’t understand it. But if you hear something by a Chinese composer, if it’s playful, for instance, you understand.”Music Played in Today's ProgramGeorge Perle (1915-2009): Serenade No. 3; Richard Goode, piano; Music Today Ensemble; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Nonesuch 79108

Synopsis“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Well, the usual reply is, “by practicing!”But back in 1891, Peter Tchaikovsky would have probably answered, “by ship” — since he had, in fact, sailed from Europe to conduct several of his pieces at the hall’s gala opening concerts. The first concert in Carnegie Hall, or as they called it back then, “The Music Hall,” occurred on today’s date in 1891, and included a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Coronation March, conducted by the composer.The review in the New York Herald offered these comments: “Tchaikovsky’s march … is simple, strong and sober, but not surprisingly original. The leading theme recalls the ‘Hallelujah chorus,’ and the treatment of the first part is Handelian … of the deep passion, the complexity and poetry which mark other works of Tchaikovsky, there is no sign in this march.”Oh well, in the days that followed, Tchaikovsky would conduct other works of “complexity and poetry,” including his Piano Concerto No. 1.Tchaikovsky kept a travel diary and recorded these impressions of New York: “It is a huge city, not beautiful, but very original. In Chicago, I’m told, they have gone even further — one of the houses there has 21 floors!”Music Played in Today's ProgramPeter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Coronation March; Boston Pops; John Williams, conductor; Philips 420 804Orchestral Suite No. 3; New Philharmonia; Antal Dorati, conductor; Philips 464 747

SynopsisAt Queen’s Hall in London, on today’s date in 1920, conductor Albert Coates led the premiere of the revised version of A London Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams.A longer version of this symphony had premiered six years earlier, and Vaughan Williams would continue to tinker with this work, on and off, for decades.“The London Symphony is past mending,” wrote Vaughan Williams in 1951, “though with all its faults I love it still; indeed, it is my favorite.”For most music lovers, Vaughan Williams means English folk tunes or hymns woven into lush works for strings, or musical pictures of English countryside. But it was a city view that inspired his London Symphony, described by Vaughan Williams himself as “a good view of the river and a bridge and three great electric-light chimneys and a sunset.”In fact, you could call Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 2 a “sunset” symphony. Its final pages were inspired by an H.G. Wells novel describing a night passage on the Thames to the open sea: “To run down the Thames so is to run one’s hand over the pages in the book of England from end to end ... The river passes ... London passes … England passes …“Music Played in Today's ProgramRalph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony No. 2 (A London Symphony); London Symphony Orchestra; Richard Hickox, conductor; Chanos 9902

SynopsisPleyel and Company was a French piano firm founded in 1807 by composer Ignace Pleyel. The firm provided pianos for Chopin, and ran an intimate Parisian 300-seat concert hall called the Salle Pleyel — the “Pleyel room” in English, where Chopin once performed.In the 20th century, a roomier Salle Pleyel comprising some 3,000 seats was built, and it was there on today’s date in 1929 that a new concerto for an old instrument had its premiere performance. This was the Concert Champêtre (Pastoral Concerto) for harpsichord and orchestra by French composer Francis Poulenc, with the Paris Symphony conducted by Pierre Monteux, and with Wanda Landowska as the soloist.“A harpsichord concerto in a hall that seats thousands?” you may ask. “How could anyone hear the harpsichord?” Well, the answer is that Madame Landowska performed on a beefier, metal-framed harpsichord built in the 20th century rather than the quieter wood-framed instruments used in the 18th. Landowska’s modern harpsichord was specially-constructed for her by — who else? — Pleyel and Company.Landowska needed those extra decibels because Poulenc’s concerto was scored for harpsichord and a large modern orchestra, with winds, percussion, and a large brass section that even included a tuba!Music Played in Today's ProgramFrancis Poulenc (1899-1963): Concert Champêtre (Pastoral Concerto); Aimée Van de Wiele, harpsichord; Paris Conservatory Orchestra; Georges Prêtre, condcutor; EMI Classics 69446 or 95584

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1692, London audiences were treated to lavish theatrical entertainment with The Fairy Queen.This show was loosely based on Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play already 100 years old in 1692. To make it more in line with contemporary taste, characters were added or cut, and scenes shifted around to such an extent that Shakespeare, were he alive to see it, would be hard put to recognize much of his original concept. Musical sequences were also expanded, and the producers hired the leading British composer of the day to write them. His name was Henry Purcell, and The Fairy Queen would turn out to be the biggest success of his career. In addition to writing the show’s songs and dances, Purcell provided music to entertain the audience as they entered and exited the theater or stretched their legs during intermission.The good news is no expense was spared in the show’s production. The bad news was the show’s producers barely recovered their expenses. Subsequent productions, they decided, would be less flashy, but, recognizing the quality of Purcell’s music, they signed him for their next extravaganza.Music Played in Today's ProgramHenry Purcell (1659-1695): The Fairy Queen; Le Concert des Nations; Jordi Savall, conductor; Auvidis 8583

SynopsisToday’s date marks two anniversaries in the life of American composer, teacher and organist Leo Sowerby, who lived from 1895 to 1968. Sowerby was born May 1 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and on his 32nd birthday in 1927, was hired as the permanent organist and choirmaster at St. James’ Church in Chicago, where he remained for the next 35 years.Sowerby wrote hundreds of pieces of church music for organ and chorus, plus chamber and symphonic works, which are only recently receiving proper attention.It’s not that Sowerby was neglected during his lifetime — he won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1946 — but many seemed put off by both his unabashedly Romantic style and his unprepossessing physical appearance. American composer Ned Rorem, who took theory lessons from Sowerby, put it this way:“Leo Sowerby was … of my parents’ generation, a bachelor, reddish-complexioned and milky skinned, chain smoker of Fatima cigarettes, unglamorous and non-mysterious, likable with a perpetual worried frown, overweight and wearing rimless glasses, earthy, practical, interested in others even when they were talentless; a stickler for basic training, Sowerby was the first composer I knew and the last thing a composer was supposed to resemble.”Music Played in Today's ProgramLeo Sowerby (1895-1968): Classic Concerto; David Mulbury, organ; Fairfield Orchestra; John Welsh, conductor; Naxos 8.559028

SynopsisToday we have a tale of jealousy to tell — the tale of Claude and Mary and Maurice and Georgette — related to the premiere, on today’s date in 1902, of Pelléas et Mélisande.This new opera by Claude Debussy was based on a play about jealousy by the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. Debussy had worked on his opera for years with no objection from Maeterlinck until late in 1901, when Debussy announced that the Scottish soprano Mary Garden would sing the role of Mélisande.Suddenly, two weeks before the premiere, Maeterlinck began saying the opera was “alien” to him, that he had lost artistic control over his own work, that he hoped the opera would flop.Well, that accounts for Claude and Mary and Maurice, but what about Georgette? Turns out she was the real reason behind Maeterlinck’s objections. Georgette was a soprano — and Maeterlinck’s mistress. When Debussy refused to even consider her for the lead role in his new opera, Maeterlinck’s smear campaign began.He was not alone — eminent French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, jealous as any character in Debussy’s opera, delayed his customary vacation abroad to stay in Paris, and, as he put it, “to speak ill of Pelléas.”Music Played in Today's ProgramClaude Debussy (1862-1918): Pelléas et Mélisande; Cleveland Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, conductor; Cleveland 9375

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1899, Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in Washington, D.C.The son of a former White House butler, Elllington was born into a comfortable middle-class African American household. After piano lessons from the aptly named Miss Klinkscales, Ellington composed his first original piece, The Soda Fountain Rag. Two important mentors were a local dance band leader, Oliver “Doc” Perry and a high school music teacher named Henry Grant, who introduced Ellington to classical composers like Debussy.“From both these men I received freely and generously,” Ellington recalled. “I repaid them as I could, by playing piano for Mr. Perry, and by learning all I could from Mr. Grant.”Always a stylish dresser, Ellington was nicknamed “The Duke” by friends, and while still in his teens, the five-piece dance band he formed was playing in New York City. That ensemble grew to 11 men by 1930 and to an orchestra of 19 by 1946.The Ellington orchestra was an ensemble of jazz virtuosos, and for them Ellington would compose some 2000 original works, a body of music extensively documented in public and private recordings, and now regarded as one of the most astonishing musical accomplishments of the 20th century.Music Played in Today's ProgramEdward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974): The River Suite; Detroit Symphony; Neeme Järvi, conductor; Chandos 9154

SynopsisFor the 1965-1966 season of the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein planned a series of concerts titled “Symphonic Forms in the 20th Century,” programming works by Mahler, Sibelius and other great European masters. Bernstein also included American symphonies, including, on today’s date in 1966, the belated premiere performance of David Diamond’s Symphony No. 5.Diamond began work on his Symphony No. 5 in 1947, and its original inspiration was two-fold: Diamond wanted to compose a symphony for Bernstein to premiere and to translate into music the vivid emotions he experienced after attending a performance of Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King. But Diamond found recreating the Oedipus story harder than he thought. He ended up putting his Fifth aside, and finished and premiered his Sixth, Seventh, and Eight Symphonies before coming to the realization that, “Program symphonies were just not for me.”Years later, Bernstein asked, “What ever happened to that symphony you were going to write for me?” Diamond explained all this to Bernstein, who replied, “Well, it’s about time you did something about it — it’s silly to have one symphony that just isn’t there!” And so, Diamond set to work completing a non-programmatic Fifth, dedicated to Leonard Bernstein.Music Played in Today's ProgramDavid Diamond (1915-2005): Symphony No. 5; Juilliard Orchestra, Christopher Keene, conductor; New World 80396

SynopsisFew of us today really know — or care — very much about the War of Austrian Succession, a conflict that troubled Europe in the 18th century. For music lovers, it’s enough to know that to celebrate the end of that war, George Frederic Handel was commissioned to compose music for a fireworks concert in London’s Green Park, an event that took place on today’s date in the year 1749.Back then there were no such things as microphones and loudspeakers, so Handel’s score called for a huge military band of 24 oboes, nine horns, nine trumpets, three sets of timpani, 12 bassoons, two contrabassoons and strings. When King George II was told about it, he balked a little at the expense. “Well, at least I hope there won’t be any fiddles,” he commented, and so Handel was informed the strings were definitely off.A public rehearsal was held at the Vauxhall Gardens and a London newspaper reported that 100 musicians performed for an audience of more than 12,000, causing a three-hour traffic jam of carriages and pedestrians on London Bridge. The official event with fireworks went off with a bang — as well as a few fires breaking out.Music Played in Today's ProgramGeorge Frederic Handel (1685-1759): Music for the Royal Fireworks; Academy of St. Martin in the Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor; Argo 414596

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1965, the first complete performance of American composer Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4 took place in New York.38 years earlier, in 1927, also in New York, British conductor Eugene Goossens had performed the first two movements of Ives’ Fourth Symphony, after many a sleepless night trying to figure out how to perform certain sections of Ives’ score where the bar-lines didn’t jibe — parts where more than one rhythm pattern happened simultaneously.“I remember,” Goosens said, “that I wound up beating two with my stick, three with my left hand, something else with my head, and something else again with my coat tails.”For the 1965 premiere and first recording of Ives’ complete symphony, Leopold Stokowski solved this problem by enlisting the aid of two assistant conductors, David Katz and Jose Serebrier — all three men working simultaneously at times to cue the musicians in the trickiest passages of the score.One of conductors who assisted Stokowski in 1965, José Serebrier, went on to recorded Ives’ Fourth again — this time without the aid of assistant conductors, coat tails, or the surgical addition of another set of arms.Music Played in Today's ProgramCharles Ives (1874-1954): Symphony No. 4; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor; DG 4839505José Serebrier (b. 1938): Symphony No. 2 (‘Partita’) London Philharmonic; José Serebrier, conductor; Reference 90

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1926, Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, had its belated premiere at the La Scala Opera House in Milan, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. The originally scheduled 1925 premiere had to be postponed, as Puccini had died in November 1924, leaving Turandot unfinished.Another Italian composer, Franco Alfano, was brought in to complete the opera based on Puccini’s sketches. It’s said that after showing Toscanini his completion, Alfano asked, “What do you have to say, Maestro?”Toscanini replied, “I say I see Puccini’s ghost coming to punch me in the nose.”On opening night, Toscanini stopped the performance at the point that Puccini had ceased composing and left the podium in tears — a touching act of homage to Puccini, perhaps, but also a vote of “no confidence” regarding Alfano’s completion of the beloved master’s score.Although well received by critics, the Puccini Turandot with Alfano’s ending remained less popular than other Puccini operas for decades. After a run of performances in the late 1920s when the opera was still new, Turandot remained unperformed at the Metropolitan Opera until 1961, when Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli scored a huge success in a lavish Franco Zeffirelli revival production.Music Played in Today's ProgramGiacomo Puccini (1858-1924): Nessun dorma, from Turandot; Academy of St Martin in the Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor; EMI 49552

SynopsisHaydn’s oratorio The Seasons had its premiere performance on this date in Vienna in 1801. Like its predecessor, The Creation, Haydn’s new oratorio was a great success, and, as before, Haydn received help with the text and a lot of advice from the versatile Gottfried Bernhard Baron van Swieten, an enthusiastic admirer of Handel oratorios and the music of J.S. Bach.Swieten’s text for The Seasons included many opportunities for baroque-style “tone painting” — musical representations of everything from croaking frogs and workers toiling in the fields, sections that raised a lot of smiles in 1801 and still do today. Haydn, famous for his sense of humor, in this case humored the old-fashioned tastes of the Baron as well.Speaking of the text, since Haydn was tremendous popular in England, Baron van Swieten prepared an English-language version of his text, trying to fit the English words to the rhythm of his original German. Alas, the good Baron’s command of English was, to put it diplomatically, perhaps not as firm he imagined. So these days, ensembles wishing to perform Haydn’s oratorio have a choice: they can opt for Swieten’s quaint-but-clunky English version, or his more graceful German original.Music Played in Today's ProgramFranz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Ländler, from The Seasons; Academy of St. Martin in the Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor; Philips 438715

SynopsisDeadlines are a fact of life for many of us — and composers are no exception.In 1875, Peter Tchaikovsky agreed to write 12 short solo pieces, one a month, for a St. Petersburg music magazine, beginning with their January 1876 issue. Tchaikovsky dashed the first piece off, but, fearing that he might forget his monthly deadline, took the wise precaution of instructing his servant to remind him. “Peter Ilyich, isn’t it about time to send something off to St. Petersburg?” Tchaikovsky’s dutiful servant would say before each month’s deadline. Tchaikovsky would drop whatever he was working on and finish the next installment.So, it’s not too far-fetched to imagine Tchaikovsky on this date back in 1876, putting the finishing touches to this little piano piece for the May issue of the St. Petersburg magazine, a sketch he titled Starlight Nights.More recently, the contemporary American composer, Judith Lang Zaimont, also composed a set of 12 short piano pieces, one for each month, a suite she titled Calendar Collection.An accomplish pianist and composer, Zaimont taught for many years at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. This music — which we again offer ahead of schedule — is titled The May Fly.Music Played in Today's ProgramPeter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): May, from The Seasons; Lang Lang, piano; Sony 11758Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945): The May Fly, from Calendar Collection; Nanette Kaplan Solomon, piano; Leonarda 334

SynopsisOn this date in 1948, the ballet Fall River Legend was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House by the Ballet Theatre of New York. The choreography was by Agnes de Mille, and the music by Morton Gould.The previous year, de Mille and Gould had met at the Russian Tea Room to discuss their ballet, a retelling of the true story of Lizzie Borden, acquitted for the gruesome ax murders of her father and stepmother.Both de Mille and Gould thought Borden must have been guilty as charged. “Well, what shall we do about that?” asked de Mille. “Hang her!” said Gould, adding that in any case, it would be easier for him to write hanging music than acquittal music. So, with that large dollop of poetic license, de Mille and Gould came up with the scenario for a ballet that opens with Lizzie standing before the gallows.Morton Gould was known for his ability to blend folk music, jazz, gospel, blues and other elements into lively, colorful orchestral works. He was also a noted conductor, with over one hundred recordings to his credit — including a classic RCA Living Stereo recording of the Suite he arranged from his Fall River Legend ballet.Music Played in Today's ProgramMorton Gould (1913-1996): Fall River Legend; New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; James Sedares, conductor; Koch 7181

SynopsisIn the biographical film Maestro, Leonard Bernstein’s dramatic 1943 Carnegie Hall debut conducting the New York Philharmonic, filling in at the last moment for Bruno Walter, receives a masterful cinematic treatment.But the first time Bernstein wielded a baton in public took place on today’s date in 1939, when Lenny was still a student at Harvard and conducted his own incidental music for a student performance of the ancient Greek comedy, The Birds, by Aristophanes.The play was performed in the original Greek, and since almost no one in the audience would understand what was being said, the production relied on visual, slapstick comedy and Bernstein’s electric music to bring the ancient text to life. Bernstein’s score referenced everything from sitar music to the blues to get the humor across. The student production was a surprise smash hit. Aaron Copland and Walter Piston were in the audience, and photos even appeared in Life magazine.Bernstein recycled one of his bluesy songs from The Birds into his 1944 musical On the Town, but the rest of the 1939 score was never published, and only revived in 1999 for a performance by the EOS Orchestra in New York, and to date has never been recorded.Music Played in Today's ProgramLeonard Bernstein (1918-1990): On the Town: Three Dance Episodes; New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; Sony 42263