Composers Datebook

On today’s date in 1980, Satyagraha, an opera by the American composer Philip Glass had its premiere in Rotterdam by the Netherlands Opera.

Four years earlier, Glass’ first opera, Einstein on the Beach, had scored a big hit not only in Avignon, France, where it had premiered, but also at a special, non-subscription performance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

But Einstein had been written for Glass’s own electronic keyboard ensemble, while the new opera Satyagraha was written for the more traditional opera pit orchestra of strings, winds, and brass — in some ways, a new language for Glass to learn.

And speaking of new languages, for opera singers used to singing in Italian, French or German, the libretto for Satyagraha, crafted by Glass and Constance DeJong was to be sung in ancient Sanskrit, based on texts from the Bhagavad Gita.

“Satyagraha” is a Sanskrit word meaning “truth force.” While the text is ancient, the story of the opera is set in modern times and deals with Mahatma Gandhi's early years in South Africa and his development of non-violent protest as a political tool.

Satyagraha is the second in Glass’ opera trilogy about men who changed the world: Einstein, Gandhi and the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaten.

Philip Glass (b. 1937): Satyagraha; New York City Opera; Christopher Keene, conductor; Sony 39672

At New York City’s Town Hall on today’s date in 1968, the New England Festival Quartet premiered a new chamber work by American composer George Walker.

Walker’s String Quartet No. 2 was sandwiched on the program between the String Quartet No. 11 by Beethoven and Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet, with Walker performing the piano part in the Schumann — not surprisingly, since in addition to studying composition at the Curtis Institute, Walker had also studied piano, with Rudolf Serkin, no less. 

“What was gratifying was the fact that the Walker Quartet held up very well between two such strong works,” The New York Times music critic wrote the following day.

28 years later, in 1996, Walker would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music — the first African-American composer to do so. But then, that was only one of his remarkable firsts. He was also the first Black graduate of the Curtis Institute in 1945, the first Black musician to play New York’s Town Hall that same year, the first Black recipient of a doctorate from the Eastman School in 1955, and the first Black tenured faculty member at Smith College in 1961.

George Walker (1922-2018): String Quartet No. 2; Son Sonora String Quartet; Naxos 8559659

On today’s date in 1806, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote to his publishers Breitkopf and Härtel, “you may have at once three new string quartets.” These were three new works Beethoven had written on commission from the wealthy Russian ambassador to Vienna, Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky.

Beethoven was stretching the truth a bit when he told his publisher they could have the quartets “at once,” since as per the Count’s commission, Razumovsky had exclusive rights to the music for a full year. But then, Beethoven had also promised the Count that he’d weave authentic Russian melodies in all three quartets but ended up doing so in just two of them. 

Today, these Razumovsky Quartets rank among Beethoven’s most popular chamber works, but initially they were not well received. When shown the music prior to publication, a professional Viennese quartet assumed Beethoven was playing a practical joke on them. 

The second movement of the first quartet, with its cello solo on just one note, provoked particular disdain. Muzio Clementi, who had seen these quartets in manuscript, remarked to Beethoven, “Surely you don’t consider these works to be music!”

To which Beethoven replied, “Oh, they are not for you, but for a later age.”

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): String Quartet No. 1; Orford Quartet; CBC 2020

Imagine a crisp, blue Northern sky, a Canadian Mountie in a bright red tunic, and — what else? — an elaborately coiffed operatic soprano singing in the middle of the woods. Yes, it was on today’s date in 1924, at the Imperial Theater in New York that “Indian Love Call” was first heard in Rose-Marie, a musical written by American composer of Bohemian birth named Rudolf Friml.

This one-time Dvořák pupil was born in Prague in 1879. He scored such a hit when he debuted his own Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall in 1904 that he decided to make America his home. His early years as an American composer were disappointing, but in 1912, The Firefly, his first musical, proved a hit.

Friml followed that with a string of increasingly popular Broadway shows, including Rose-Marie in 1924 and The Vagabond King in 1925, but by the mid-1930s Friml’s old-world musical style was judged too old-fashioned for the hip New York of George Gershwin and Cole Porter.

Ironically, it was just then that Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald films based on Friml musicals broke box office records. These campy films are now treasured precisely for their sweet, if rather affected, “period” flavor.

Rudolf Friml (1879-1972): Indian Love Call from Rose Marie; Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, vocalists; Pro Arte 491

In the 19th century, European composers began celebrating their own national diversity, tapping into their native folk music for inspiration and musical themes. This trend continues in our own time with composers from the Pacific Rim and Middle East.

Take this music, written for the modern flute and cello, two traditional European instruments, but influenced by the folk music and native instruments of Persia. The performers are asked at times to play and sing simultaneously. For the flute, this results in overtones and a timbre similar to the Persian bamboo flute. The cellist, by sharply plucking some strings or striking them with the wooden part of his bow, also imitates Persian percussion instruments. 

The composer of this Folk Song Suite, based on real and imagined Persian themes, is Reza Vali. He was born in Ghazvin, Iran, on today’s date in 1952, and began his musical studies at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran. In 1972, Reza Vali traveled to Austria to study at the Vienna Academy of Music, then came to the United States, earning his doctorate in music theory and composition from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985, and subsequently joined the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University.

Reza Vali (b. 1952): Folk Songs Set No. 9; Alberto Almarza, flute; Alvaro Bitran, cello; New Albion 077

The Radetzky March is undoubtedly Johann Strauss, Sr.’s most famous work. Its performance has become obligatory at the New Year’s concerts of the Vienna Philharmonic — it’s that piece that involves audience participation in the form of a “clap along.”

The premiere of this familiar music took place on today’s date in 1848 with a distinct political subtext — back then, not everyone back then was clapping along.

Field Marshall Radetzky was the commander of the Austrian forces that rather brutally put down “insurgent democrats” in Italy during the liberal revolutions of 1848, and, as such, became a counter-revolutionary hero in Europe. The premiere of Radetzky March occurred at a concert attended chiefly by monarchists and the Austrian military, and the tune quickly became the unofficial anthem of the Austrian military and ultra-conservatives — the “far right” of that time.

Curiously enough, Johann Strauss, Jr. held diametrically opposite, and considerably liberal, political sympathies from his father.

By the end of the 19th century, however, the bloody political troubles of 1848 were diplomatically swept under the collective Austrian carpet, and Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Blue Danube Waltz became the unofficial anthem for all Austrians, right, left and center.

Johann Strauss, Sr. (1804-1849): Radetzky March; Vienna Philharmonic; Willi Boskovsky, conductor; London/Decca 460250

Today we celebrate the birthday of American composer David Schiff, who was born in New York City on today’s date in 1945.

Schiff’s best-known work, the 1979 opera Gimpel the Fool, is based on a story by the beloved Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer that tells the tale of a Jewish baker in Eastern Europe who takes everything at face value and so is lied to and cheated by everyone he meets. Rather than take revenge, Gimpel becomes a wandering holy man, convinced that God will not lie or cheat him.

Schiff’s opera premiered in New York City in 1979, and shortly thereafter he arranged its themes into an instrumental divertimento, the first of many works written for clarinetist David Shifrin and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon. Writing for those musicians, says Schiff, his given him what he calls, “a wonderful sense of how Haydn must have felt as court composer at Esterházy.”

The divertimento from Gimpel the Fool draws on Jewish liturgical modes and Klezmer music, and its fourth movement references “Who Knows One?” — a traditional song in Passover. Like the story of Gimpel, the song is meant to be humorous, while still imparting an important lesson.

David Schiff (b. 1945): ‘Divertimento’ from ‘Gimpel the Fool’; David Shifrin, clarinet; Theodore Arm, violin; Warren Lash, cello; David Oei, piano; Delos DE-3058

On today’s date in 1981, at a house concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, Courtship Songs, a chamber work by the American composer Stephen Paulus received its first performance. It was commissioned to celebrate the 15th wedding anniversary of Jack and Linda Hoeschler and scored for the instruments the couple and their two children played: flute, oboe, cello and piano. The commissioning bug caught on, and anniversary commissions became a family tradition.

Eventually the Hoeschlers and some of their friends started up a Commissioning Club. Modeled along the lines of an investment club, the purpose was to commission American composers including Paulus, Paul Schoenfield, Steve Heitzeg and Augusta Read Thomas, for premieres by ensembles like New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Washington D.C.’s 20th Century Consort, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

In 1996, one Commissioning Club premiere reached an audience of millions when Paulus’s setting of Pilgrim Jesus, by English poet Kevin Crossley-Holland, was performed at King’s College, Cambridge as part of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, broadcast live on both the BBC’s World Service and public radio stations across America.

Not a bad return on their investment!

Stephen Paulus (1949-2014): Courtship Songs; Jane Garvin, flute; Merilee Klemp, oboe; Mina Fisher, cello; Jill Dawe, piano; Innova 539

In Weimar, Germany, on today’s date in 1850, Hungarian composer Franz Liszt conducted the first performance of Lohengrin, a new opera by German composer Richard Wagner. Liszt was determined to make Weimar famous, musically-speaking, despite the rather provincial nature of the forces he had at his disposal.

Liszt had to go out and buy a bass clarinet, since the Court orchestra didn’t own one, and he beefed up the number of violins from the usual 11 players to a grand total of 18.

The title role of Lohengrin was sung by a tenor named Karl Beck, who was also a local baker. Even so, Liszt’s unprecedented 46 rehearsals apparently paid off: the premiere of Lohengrin was a big success and helped put both Weimar and Wagner on the map.

Ironically, Wagner was unable to attend the premiere. He was a wanted man on German soil, having participated in the unsuccessful Dresden uprising of 1849, and there was a warrant out for his arrest. Liszt had helped him escape to Switzerland, and while his opera was being staged in Weimar, Wagner was at a hotel in Lucerne, listening in his imagination, he later told Liszt, as each scene unfolded.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Lohengrin; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; Peter Schneider, conductor; Philips 438 500

Today marks the birthday of a remarkable British composer who spent a good deal of her life in the United States. Her name was Rebecca Clarke, born in Harrow, England, on today’s date in 1886 to an American father and German mother.

Clarke studied at the Royal Conservatory in London, where she became the first female composition student of the Victorian composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. As a professional violist, she was one of the first women to be admitted as a member of the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, an ensemble led by Henry Wood.

Many of the chamber works Clarke composed were written for and premiered by professional colleagues.

Based in London from 1924 to 1939, Clarke toured extensively, performed with a number of ensembles, and broadcast over the BBC. At the outbreak of World War II, she found herself stranded in the U.S. In 1944, she married pianist James Friskin, who had been a fellow student at the Royal College and had settled in New York.

Clarke lived long enough to experience what she called “a little renaissance” of interest in her music around the time of her 90th birthday. She died at 93 in 1979.

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979): Piano Trio; Clementi Trio of Cologne; Largo 5103