Composers Datebook

These days fallen American soldiers are often honored in silence, as their photos, names, ages, and hometowns are flashed on the TV screen during news programs.

During World War I, the French composer Maurice Ravel served as an ambulance driver, and saw many soldiers die. He wanted to honor some of his fallen comrades, namely Jean Cruppi, Jean Dreyfus, the brothers Pierre and Pascal Gaudin—who were both killed by the same German artillery shell, Lieutenants Jacques Charlot and Gabriel Deluc, and Captain Joseph de Marliave.  Being a composer, Ravel chose music rather than silence to honor his war dead and wrote a suite of piano pieces he titled Le tombeau de Couperin — a joint tribute to his fallen comrades and a famous 18th century French composer.

The resulting suite was premiered in 1919 by the great French pianist Marguerite Long, who was also Captain Marliave's widow. That same year, Ravel orchestrated four movements of his suite, and this orchestral version of Le Tombeau received its first performance in Paris on today’s date in 1920.

When criticized for composing a light-hearted, albeit reflective work, rather than a somber one, perhaps more appropriate for such somber topic, Ravel replied: "The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence."

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) Le tombeau de Couperin Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, conductor. Teldec 74006

In February of 1919, members of the New York Chamber Music Society gave the premiere performance of this music—an instrumental suite by the American composer Deems Taylor, titled Through the Looking Glass. A few years later, Deems Taylor landed a job as music critic for the New York World, and following that, became known coast-to-coast as the radio commentator for New York Philharmonic broadcasts, and as the host of a popular quiz-show titled Information, Please. His voice was also heard as the commentator for the 1940 Disney film, Fantasia.

On today's date in 1980, another American composer premiered a musical work inspired by Alice in Wonderland. This was David Del Tredici's In Memory of a Summer's Day, first presented by the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin. By 1980, Del Tredici had already composed several successful works inspired by the Lewis Carroll books, but In Memory of Summer's Day capped the lot, and won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Del Tredici was a protégé of Aaron Copland, and recalled how Copland would react to Del Tredici's compositions. "He'd say something noncommittal at first, such as 'It's very nice.' Then maybe an hour or so later, at dinner, he would turn to me, apropos of nothing, and say, 'I think the bass line is too regular, and the percussion should not always underline the main beat and would you please pass the butter.'"

Deems Taylor (1885-1966) Through The Looking Glass Suite Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz , conductor. Delos 3099

David Del Tredici (b. 1937) In Memory of A Summer Day St. Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, conductor. Nonesuch 79043

The German composer Johannes Brahms would probably have nodded in approval if he could have heard Orson Welles intone “We will sell no wine before its time” in those old TV ads for Paul Masson. Brahms was a notorious perfectionist, an obsessive polisher, and a cautious taste-tester of any of his own musical fermentations.

So, if one notes that Brahms appeared at the piano on today’s date in 1895, accompanying clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld at a high-profile Viennese performance of his Clarinet Sonata No. 1, one can safely assume there had been a number of trial performances beforehand.

In the summer of 1894, during his annual holiday in the Austrian countryside, Brahms composed this sonata. The very first performances of the new Clarinet Sonata followed in the fall of 1894 for the Duke of Meiningen and his sister, with an additional test run in Frankfurt for Clara Schumann. After Clara gave the new work a thumbs up, Brahms apparently felt it was fit for public consumption: first on January 7, 1895 for members of Vienna’s Tonkünstler Society, and four days later for an even more “toney” audience attending the Rosé String Quartet Quartet’s chamber music series.

After all, as Brahms and Mühlfeld might have put it: “We play NO sonata before its time!”

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) Clarinet Sonata No. 1 Richard Stoltzman, clarinet; Richarde Goode, piano RCA 60036

On this day in 1808 at Vienna's Theater-an-der-Wien one of the most famous concerts in the history of classical music took place.

It was an all-Beethoven concert, with the composer himself featured as both conductor and piano soloist. The program included the premieres of both Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. Beethoven's Fourth Piano was also on the program—along with additional piano and vocal selections, including portions of Beethoven's Mass in C.

At the last moment, Beethoven felt this still might not be quite enough music, so, considering the forces he had booked, he hastily composed his Choral Fantasy, a work that begins with a solo piano, then adds full orchestra and chorus to the mix.

The concert began at 6:30 p.m. and lasted over four hours. Contemporary reviews were mixed—but apparently Beethoven's Fifth proved popular with its first night audience, and rapidly established itself worldwide as one of classical music's greatest hits.

A less successful symphonic work had its premiere on this day in 1960, when Charles Munch conducted the Boston Symphony in the first performance of Die Natali by American composer Samuel Barber. This orchestral piece used familiar Christmas carols as themes, which are treated to a series of variations. Barber later expressed his own dissatisfaction with this score and withdrew it, but recycled his variations on Silent Night as a separate piece for solo organ.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No. 5 Concertgebouw Orchestra; Bernard Haitink, conductor. Philips 442 076

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Chorale Prelude on Silent Night Jeremy Fisell, organ GMCD 7145

Traditionally, the harmonica is the instrument of the loner: the cowboy by the campfire, the hobo riding the rails, the bluesman pouring out his soul at midnight.

The harmonica seems a little out of place in a concert hall — especially when played by someone wearing a tuxedo. But every so often a virtuoso player comes along who commissions a new concert work for the instrument. In the mid-1950s American harmonica virtuoso John Sebastian asked Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos for just such a work.

On today’s date in 1959, Sebastian premiered Villa-Lobos’ Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra in Jerusalem. This work is now regarded as one of the finest concertos ever written for the instrument, but when British harmonica virtuoso Tommy Reilly wanted to record it 20 years after its 1959 premiere, he said had a very hard time tracking down the score. Even Villa-Lobos’ own publisher didn’t seem aware of its existence!

Truth be told, Villa-Lobos was both a prolific and not-always-very-organized composer, so his poor publisher may be forgiven for his ignorance of the work. Even he couldn’t remember all the pieces he had written, and once said, “I am like a father of a family too numerous who doesn’t always recognize his own infants.”

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Harmonica Concerto; Robert Bonfiglio, harmonica; New York Chamber Orchestra; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; RCA/BMG 7986

In the age of the Baroque, Double Concertos were quite common: there were concertos written for two flutes, two trumpets, or, like the famous concerto by J.S. Bach, for two violins. These Double Concertos represented a civilized give-and-take between the two soloists, a sense of balance or decorum perhaps typical of 18th century society in general. In the 19th century, however, the concept of the solitary artist as hero — or rebel — helped make the virtuosic solo concerto much more typical of the Romantic age.

In our time, the Double Concerto occasionally makes a civilized comeback, and, on today’s date in 1989, one for two violins was premiered in Pittsburgh, Kansas. It’s by the American composer Katherine Hoover, who offered this explanation:

“When two violinists get together to perform with an orchestra, its usually a friendly celebration, a chance for colleagues who value each other’s talents and skills to enjoy making music together… So I began to think: If I were one of the players, I would want the piece to be grateful and warm, with lyricism and a sense of playfulness. This is what I have attempted to write.”

Katherine Hoover’s 1989 Double Concerto was commissioned and premiered by the Southeastern Kansas Orchestra.

J.S. Bach (1685-1750): Double Concerto in d, S. 1043 –Vladimir Spivakov, Arkady Futer, violins; Moscow Virtuosi; Vladimir Spivakov, cond. (RCA 7991)

Katherine Hoover (1937-2018): Double Concerto –David Perry, Suzanne Beia, violins; Wisconsin Philomusic; Vartan Manoogian, cond. (Parnasus 96019)

Do you enjoy a good ghost story? The American novelist Henry James did, but liked to give the ones he wrote an extra twist – another “turn of the screw” you might say. In fact, one of his classic ghost stories from 1898 is titled just that: “The Turn of the Screw.”

In it, a young British governess is entrusted with the care of two orphaned children, who may – or may not – have been abused by their previous governess and her lover, both now dead, who may – or may not – have returned as ghosts to continue their torment of the children. The manner in which Henry James tells the story leaves open the question whether the ghosts are real or just figments of the young governess’s lurid imagination.

“The Turn of the Screw” has been adapted for both stage and screen, and, on today’s date in 1954, an operatic version by the British composer Benjamin Britten received its premiere performance at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Each of the 16 scenes in Britten’s chamber opera is preceded by a variation on a ghostly 12-note theme, a “tone row” in the style of the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, and since we see and hear the ghosts on stage, it’s pretty clear Britten is suggesting the ghosts and the evil in the tale are disturbingly real.

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) –The Turn of the Screw (Sir Peter Pears, tenor; English Opera Group, Benjamin Britten, cond.) London/Decca 4256722

On today’s date in 1892, Darius Milhaud was born in Aix-en-Provence. He was one of the most amiable – and prolific – of 20th century French composers, producing over 400 works, including a dozen symphonies. Milhaud spent many years in America teaching at Mills College in California, whose climate reminded him of his beloved Provence.

Despite the rheumatoid arthritis that eventually confined him to a wheelchair, and the fact that he was forced to flee his native country when the Nazis arrived, Milhaud titled his 1973 autobiography: “My Happy Life.”

In his autobiography, Milhaud says that after composing his Twelfth Symphony, his publisher, half in jest, asked him to please stop and that surely twelve symphonies were enough. “I did not stop writing symphonies,” Milhaud slyly noted, “but a minor incident prompted me to give them other titles.” That incident occurred after a concert with the Boston Symphony when Milhaud conducted some of his own music. He heard the grandmother of one of his students remark, “All that is very nice, but it is NOT music for Boston!” Amused, Milhaud composed a work he titled: “Music for Boston,” and soon embarked on a whole NEW series of symphonic works, referred to generically as the “Music For” series, which include “Music for” Indiana, New Orleans, Lisbon, and Prague.

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) –Symphony No. 9, Op. 380 (Basel Radio Symphony; Alun Francis, cond.) CPO 199 166

The fact that a new opera might debut at the Salzburg Festival in Austria is not in itself an unusual occurrence. But in August of the year 2000, the new opera in question was "L'Amour de Loin" or "Distant Love" by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho – making it the first opera by a female composer ever to be staged at the prestigious international Festival, and one that opened to rave reviews.

Born in Helsinki in 1952, Saariaho now lives with her husband and children in Paris. She has said that though she loves Helsinki, she's more comfortable in a city where she is not a celebrity. "I'm too well recognized in Finland," says Saariaho. "When I say this to colleagues in America, they think it's fantastic that there is a country where contemporary music composers can be esteemed public personalities."

Speaking of summer-time opera premieres, Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre" had its first performance as part of his "Ring Cycle" on today's date in 1876, at Wagner's own theater in Bayreuth, a small town in Southern Germany.

Some early critics thought building a big theater in such an out-of-the-way place was a monumental act of folly, but Wagnerites have been making the midsummer pilgrimage there for over 125 years – despite the lack of air-conditioning in Wagner's theater. Appropriately, it's some of the warmest music from "Die Walküre" – the "Magic Fire" scene that brings the opera to its close.

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) –…à la fumée (Petri Alanko, f; Anssi Karttunen, vcl; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond.) Ondine 804

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) –Magic Fire Music, fr Die Walküre (Cleveland Orchestra; George Szell, cond.) CBS/Sony 46286

Many composers have produced works inspired by their deep religious faith: in the 18th century, the sacred music of the devout Lutheran church musician Johann Sebastian Bach being a notable example.

Even in our more secular age, this is sometimes the case. The contemporary Scottish composer James MacMillan’s works have explicit Christian themes, and, like Franz Liszt in the 19th century, MacMillan has even taken minor religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church.

On commission from the London Symphony, MacMillan wrote three interrelated orchestral works, two concertos and a symphony, all based on the Passion and Resurrection story. The first of these, entitled “The World’s Ransoming,” for English horn and orchestra, focused on Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, and was premiered at the Barbican Center in London on today’s date in 1996.

Of this piece, MacMillan wrote, “’The World's Ransoming’ includes musical references to [traditional liturgical] plainsongs for that day, as well as a Bach chorale … which I have heard sung in the eucharistic procession … The title of the piece comes from St. Thomas Aquinas's [Latin] hymn ‘Pange Lingua’.”

An English translation of part of the Aquinas hymn reads:

Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory,

Of His Flesh, the mystery sing;

Destined, for the world's ransom,

From a virgin’s womb to spring.

James MacMillan (b. 1959) – The World's Ransoming (Christine Pendrill, English horn; BBC Scottish Symphony; Osmo Vänskä, cond.) BIS 989