Composers Datebook

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1937, as a Christmas gift to the nation, the NBC radio network broadcast the first NBC Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The orchestra had been specifically created to lure the famous Italian conductor back to America.For the first selection on his first concert, Toscanini chose what was then an obscure piece an obscure Italian composer named Antonio Vivaldi: his Concerto Grosso No. 11, to be exact.These days we are used to hearing Baroque music in “historically informed performances,” “hip” for short, and often played on period instruments. By those standards, Toscanini’s Vivaldi might be described as “pre-historic,” but in 1937 it must have seemed a shockingly hip selection: a bracing, bold shot of unfamiliar Baroque music by a composer rarely — if ever — heard on a symphony concert.In fact, one might argue that Toscanini was trying to be “historically informed,” since he probably used a score prepared by the Italian musicologist and composer Gian Francesco Malipiero, based on manuscripts and original editions of Vivaldi’s music found in the library of the Liceo Musicale in Venice, where Malipiero taught in the 1930s and Vivaldi lived in the 1730s.Music Played in Today's ProgramAntonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Concerto Grosso No. 11; NBC Symphony; Arturo Toscanini, conductor (r. Dec. 25, 1937)

SynopsisOkay, how’s this for a movie scene worthy of Doctor Zhivago:It’s October 1917 and Lenin has overthrown the Tsarist government of Russia. A composer and virtuoso pianist can hear gunfire from his apartment as he works and decides that his family must flee their homeland. He receives an offer for recital appearances in Scandinavia and uses the offer as a pretext to escape Russia. But first, the family must face a dangerous journey to Finland in trains crowded with terrified passengers.At the Finnish border, a music-loving Bolshevik guard recognizes the famous artist and allows the family safe passage. But wait — there are no more trains running, so they must travel to Helsinki in an open peasant sleigh during a raging blizzard. They arrive in Stockholm on Christmas Eve, and one year later the composer and his family are able to book passage from Oslo to New York.If that sounds perhaps a bit too melodramatic, consider that scenario is exactly what happened to Sergei Rachmaninoff, his wife, and two daughters.In America, Rachmaninoff became a star pianist, playing 92 concerts at Carnegie Hall between 1918 and 1943. He continued to compose, but lamented, “When I lost my homeland, I lost myself as well … I have no will to create without … Russian soil under my feet.” He would complete only six more major works during his 25 years in America.Music Played in Today's ProgramSergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Piano Concerto No. 1; Krystian Zimerman, piano; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor; DG 4796868

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1893, the opera Hansel and Gretel by 39-year-old German composer Engelbert Humperdinck received its premiere performance at the Court Theater of Weimar. It was conducted by a promising 29-year-old composer by the name of Richard Strauss.It quickly became an international hit, playing to packed houses in Berlin, Vienna and London. Gustav Mahler, head of the Hamburg Opera at the time, declared it a masterpiece, and parents on several continents breathed a sigh of relief: here was an opera without the sex and violence so fashionable in the media — even back in 1893! Hansel and Gretel quickly became a Christmastime tradition — even though there’s nothing in it particular Christmassy apart from children, sugary things to eat, and the appearance of an angel or two.Initially, Humperdinck didn’t even want to write anything as silly as an opera on Hansel and Gretel. He was a serious young protégé of Richard Wagner who had helped copy the orchestral parts for Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal.It was his sister who talked him in to writing some music for a children’s play she had prepared on the familiar fairytale by the Brothers Grimm. At some point, Humperdinck must have realized he not only could — but should — work his sister’s play into a full-blown opera, which would blend Wagner’s complex orchestral technique with a simple but universally appealing story that would charm old and young alike.Music Played in Today's ProgramEngelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921): Hansel and Gretel Suite; Royal Philharmonic; Rudolf Kempe, conductor; EMI 68736

SynopsisOpera fanatics are a passionate lot. “It’s an addiction,” they say. “Something to die for.” Now, if opera is an addiction, then today’s date marks the birthdate of an Italian composer who might be described as the ultimate operatic gateway drug. We’re talking, of course, about Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, who was born in Lucca, in 1858. Puccini is the composer of three of the most popular operas ever written: La Bohème (in 1896), Tosca (in 1900), and Madama Butterfly (in 1904).Puccini lived and worked during the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, and his music brilliantly blended the gorgeous melodies of the 19th century Italian bel canto tradition with the raw, often brutal dramatics of the emerging verismo, or “realism” theatrics of the 20th century. Unlike 19th century operas, when time stands still while a soprano sings how happy (or miserable) she is, in Puccini’s operas time always moves on, often relentlessly as the action hurls toward the, usually, unhappy ending, when the soprano dies of consumption, throws herself off a castle tower, or dies by ritual suicide with a Japanese dagger.After all, Puccini’s operas really are “something to die for.”Music Played in Today's ProgramGiacomo Puccini (1858-1924): “Pinkerton’s Farewell” and “The Death Of Butterfly” from Madama Butterfly; Kostelanetz Orchestra; Andre Kostelanetz, conductor; Columbia MDK 46285

SynopsisIn all, American composer David Diamond wrote 11 symphonies, spanning some 50 years of his professional career. The last dates from 1991, and the first from 1940, completed after his return from studies in Paris shortly before the outbreak of World War II.Diamond’s Symphony No. 1 was premiered on today’s date in 1941 by the New York Philharmonic led by famous Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos. Despite winning awards and positive comments from fellow composers ranging from Virgil Thomson to Arnold Schoenberg, for years Diamond struggled to make ends meet by playing violin in various New York City theater pit bands. More than one fellowship grant, however, enabled him to live abroad for extended stays, where, he said:“I can make my income last and live extremely well with my own villa and garden at a cost that would provide a hole-in-the-wall, coldwater flat in America … There is a spiritual nourishment, too, in that cradle of serious music [and] quiet for concentration that could never be found in an American city.”Defending his more traditional approach, Diamond wrote: “It is my strong feeling that a romantically inspired contemporary music, tempered by reinvigorated classical technical formulas, is the way out of the present period of creativity chaos in music … To me, the romantic spirit in music is important because it is timeless.”Music Played in Today's ProgramDavid Diamond (1915-2005): Symphony No. 1; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Delos 3119