Synopsis

On today’s date in 1972, almost two decades after its premiere, Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Symphony received its first successful concert performance by the Munich Philharmonic led by Rudolf Kempe. A recording was made with the same performers, supervised and produced by the composer’s son, George Korngold.

Korngold had died in 1957, so he was not able to enjoy the eventual success of this major work. He completed his Symphony in 1952, and its Austrian Radio premiere in 1954 had been a disaster. As the composer put it: “The performance, which was an execution in every sense of the term, took place under the most unfavorable conditions imaginable, with inadequate rehearsals and an exhausted and overworked orchestra.”

Korngold had become an American citizen during the 1940s, and dedicated his symphony to the memory of America’s wartime President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The postwar European premiere of his Symphony came at a time when shifting tastes in music made his late-Romantic style seem hopelessly old-fashioned to many of critics of that day. “More corn than gold” was one dismissive appraisal of his style.

These days, Korngold’s music — including his Symphony — make more frequent, better-played, and eagerly welcomed appearances on concert programs.

Music Played in Today's Program

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957): Symphony; Philadelphia Orchestra; Franz Welser-Most, conductor; EMI 56169