Composers Datebook

Marcel Proust, James Joyce and Pablo Picasso walk into a bar. No, it’s not the start of some high-brow joke; that really happened in Paris on today’s date in 1922.

Well, not exactly: it was a hotel, not a bar, but certainly drinks were served when Sydney and Violet Schiff, two wealthy British patrons of the arts staying at the Hotel Majestic arranged what was called “soirée of the century.” The premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s opera-ballet Renard had just taken place across town, and the Schiffs decided to throw a late-night party in Stravinsky’s honor, and, to make things more interesting, invited Picasso, Joyce and Proust.

While other guests were in full evening dress, Picasso arrived with a traditional Catalan sash wrapped around his forehead. Joyce arrived late, underdressed, and already tipsy. Proust arrived even later — at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., wearing a big fur coat and with a face “pale as the afternoon moon,” as Stravinsky later recalled.

So what did they all have to say to each other? Not much, according to all accounts. After all, it was a party, not a university seminar — or a bar joke, so there was punch, but no punch line.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Renard; Orchestre Du Domaine Musical; Pierre Boulez, conductor; Decca 481151

On today’s date in 1969, Leonard Bernstein conducted his last concert as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. Bernstein had assumed that post in November 1957, becoming the first American-born and trained conductor to do so.

For sports fans, these were Bernstein’s stats as of May 17, 1969:

He had conducted 939 concerts, more than anyone else in Philharmonic history. He had given 36 world premieres, 14 U.S. premieres, 15 New York City premieres and led more than 40 works never before performed by the orchestra.

At Philharmonic concerts, Bernstein conducted Vivaldi, Bach and Handel, but also Babbitt, Cage and Ligeti. He led the world premiere performance of the Symphony No. 2 by Charles Ives and included other elder American composers like Carl Ruggles and Wallingford Riegger on Philharmonic programs. He conducted works by his contemporaries, Ned Rorem and Lukas Foss, as well as his own compositions.

Bernstein would continue to appear with the New York Philharmonic as its Laureate Conductor, and as a popular guest conductor with major orchestras around the world. His final concerts were with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood in the summer of 1990. He died in October of that year.

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Symphony No. 2 (The Age of Anxiety); Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano; Ulster Orchestra; Dmitry Sitkovetsky, condcutor; Hyperion 67170

Today’s date in 1879 marks the birthdate of composer and pianist Régine Wieniawski, born in Brussels, the daughter of the Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski. Although a Franco-Belgian composer in style, she published her music under the Slavic-sounding pen name Poldowski.

She was admired by many of the most famous musicians of her day. Henry Wood programmed her works on Proms concerts, and in 1912, she gave a concert at London’s Aeolian Hall, that, quite unusual for the time, consisted solely of her own works with the her at the piano. That concert introduced 24 of her songs, many to texts of French poet Paul Verlaine.

The review in the Daily Telegraph noted, “nearly every song was a distinguished example of the art of word setting; and the sense of harmonic color is decidedly strong.”

The performance of her Violin Sonata, also on the program, was not as well received; the London Times sniffed, “the method which was successful in the songs was less effective in the Violin Sonata.”

Oh well, Poldowski’s Verlaine settings are still very much admired and performed, and her instrumental music, neglected for decades, is also getting renewed attention.

Régine Wieniawski (aka Poldowski) (1879-1932): Scherzo from Violin Sonata; Clare Howick, violin; Miroslaw Feldgebel, piano; Dux 1840

Crossword puzzle solvers know the three-letter answer to the clue “Composer Brian” is: E-N-O. But even fans of this British composer, performer and producer might not know his full name, which is Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno.

Brian Eno was born in Suffolk, England on today’s date in 1948. He studied painting and music, and in his early 20s played synthesizer with the glam rock band Roxy Music before embarking on a solo career. In 1978, he released the album Music for Airports, which was, quite literally, meant as calming music that could be played in airports, since Eno was so annoyed by the inane, perky muzak he usually heard there.

Eno coined the term “ambient music” to describe his album, whose release coincided with the early days of minimalist movement, itself a reaction to music deemed too complex and complicated.

“I was quite sick of music that was overstuffed,” Eno said, commenting, “In the late 60s and early 70s, recording went from two-track to four-track to eight-track to 16-track to 32-track, and music got more and more grandiose, sometimes with good effect, but quite often not.”

Brian Eno (b. 1948): Music for Airports; Brian Eno, synthesizers; Polydor 2310 647

In the 1980s, the Finnish Broadcasting Company had come up with the idea of commissioning a whole evening’s worth of orchestral pieces by native composer Einojuhanni Rautavaara, which, when taken together, would form a conventional concert program of overture, concerto and symphony. These three works have come to be called the Angel Trilogy, since each of them has a title with the word “angel” in it.

Rautavaara’s Fifth Symphony, with the working title Monologue with Angels, premiered on today’s date in 1986, was originally to be the symphonic conclusion of this triple commission. But Rautavaara dropped the title, and his Symphony No. 7, (Angel of Light), ended up being the third part of the Angel Trilogy, alongside the overture Angels and Visitations and the double-bass concerto Angel of Dusk.

If you asked the mystical Rautavaara why he changed his mind, he would probably have said it really wasn’t his idea at all. Rautavaara believed his compositions already existed in “another reality,” as he said, and his job was just to bring it into our world in one piece.

“I firmly believe that compositions have a will of their own,” he said, “even though some people smile at the concept.”

Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016): Symphony No. 5; Leipzig Radio Symphony; Max Pommer, conductor; BMG 62671

On today’s date in 1995, an opera by American composer Amy Beach received its first professional production at Lincoln Center in New York City — 63 years after Beach completed it in the summer of 1932.

Beach was 65 years old in 1932 and for years had wanted to write an opera on an American theme. She settled on a play by Nan Bagby Stephens, a writer from Atlanta. Their operatic collaboration was entitled Cabildo, after the famous prison in New Orleans where the pirate Pierre Lafitte was imprisoned during the War of 1812. Stephens even supplied Beach with authentic Creole songs and dances to incorporate in her score.

Beach had a concise one-act opera finished by August of 1932, but it was never staged during her lifetime. Both the Great Depression and the outbreak of World War II postponed various attempts at a staging. Sadly, when an opera workshop at the University of Georgia finally got around to an amateur production in 1945, Beach had already died.

The manuscript of the opera remained unpublished for decades, but with the passage of time, interest in Amy Beach led to the Lincoln Center performance in 1995, conducted by Ransom Wilson.

Amy Beach (1867-1944): Cabildo; ensemble; Ransom Wilson, conductor; Delos 3170

In the 1960s, American composer Steve Reich prepared some electronic pieces consisting of gradually shifting tape loops of the same prerecorded — and enigmatic — spoken phrases excerpted from someone telling a story. Reich quickly realized he could produce the same effect with conventional instruments and live musicians. These repetitive patterns and the gradual shifts came to be labeled “minimalist.”

Three decades later, in May of 1993, Reich and his wife, the video artist Beryl Korot, created a large-scale piece they dubbed a “documentary video opera.” Titled The Cave, it investigated the roots of Christianity, Judaism and Islam through prerecorded interviews, images projected on multi-channel video screens, and live musical accompaniment utilizing the speech patterns of the interviewees as the starting point for much of the score.

On today’s date in 2002, at the Vienna Festival, Reich and Korot premiered another music theatre piece, Three Tales, intended as symbolic parables of technology in the 20th century, the three topics being the crash of the Hindenburg, the early atomic bomb tests in the Pacific Islands and the cloning of a sheep named Dolly.

Steve Reich (b. 1936): Music for Large Ensemble; Alarm Will Sound and Ossia; Alan Pierson, conductor; Nonesuch 79546

Primitive man probably imitated animal sounds for both practical and religious reasons. More recently, the Baroque-era composer Heinrich Franz von Biber imitated one particular animal for comic effect in his Sonata Representing Animals, and, in early 20th century slang, it’s simply “the cat’s meow.”

Now speaking of cats, they’re supposed to have nine lives — but would you believe 8,949?

On today’s date in 1981, Cats, a musical by British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber opened at the New London Theatre in the city’s fashionable West End. Despite a bomb threat and brief evacuation of the theatre, the premiere of Cats was a great success. 8,949 performances later, on the same date in 2002, when the show finally closed, it had long since entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running musical to date.

In London, it took in 136 million British pounds in ticket sales. Worldwide, Cats has taken in billions of dollars, has been seen by millions, and has been performed in 11 different languages in over 26 countries.

And if you asked your cat to comment on all this, they would probably say, “Why are you surprised?” and saunter away.

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704): Sonata Violino Solo Representativa; Il Giardino Armonico; Giovanni Antonini, conductor; Teldec 21464

Andrew Lloyd Webber (b. 1948): Cats Overture; Original Broadway Cast orchestra; Geffen 22031

Is 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!”

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): ‘Aida’ excerpts

Some 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.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Our Town Suite; Saint Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, conductor; BMG 61699