Composers Datebook

Tchaikovsky and Brahms in New York

Synopsis These days at symphony concerts, when a new piece of music is about to be played, it’s not uncommon to overhear someone mutter, “Why do they have to program this

The indomitable Ethel Smyth

Synopsis In his autobiographical sketch, A Mingled Chime, British conductor Thomas Beecham offered this assessment of British composer Ethel Smyth: “Ethel Smyth is withou

Ennio Morricone

Synopsis Today’s date in 1928 marks the birthdate in 1928 of Italian composer Ennio Morricone, famous for more than 400 scores he wrote for films and TV. If you’re a fan

Takemitsu and Tanaka

Synopsis On today’s date in 1967, the New York Philharmonic gave the premiere performance of a new piece, November Steps, by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, a work comm

Schumann and Zaimont

Synopsis On today’s date in 1830, 11-year-old piano virtuoso Clara Wieck took the stage of the Leipzig Gewandhaus for her first solo recital. Her father was a piano teach

Varese and Zappa

Synopsis The Nov. 7, 1950, issue of Look magazine included a record review of a new LP of music by avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse. “Varèse is unlike anything else i

Florence Price

Synopsis American composer Florence Price wrote three symphonies in all. Her Symphony No. 1 was premiered by the Chicago Symphony in 1933 and marked the first time a comp

Sondheim in the woods

Synopsis Into the Woods, a musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, opened on Broadway on today’s date in 1987, and brought to the stage characters from the world of

Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

Synopsis Today we honor one of America’s greatest patrons of chamber music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, who died on this date in 1953. Born in 1864, Coolidge was the dau

How to pray

Synopsis At Carnegie Hall on today’s date in 2002, the American Composers Orchestra presented new works inspired by the Hebrew Psalms. The program included the premiere o

Mozart and 'Amadeus'

Synopsis On today’s date in 1979, a new play by Peter Schaffer, Amadeus, opened at the National Theatre in London. Schaffer’s play tells the story of Mozart’s final year

Three Parisian premieres

Synopsis In France, today is “la Fete de la Toussaint” — All Saints’ Day — observed as both a sacred and secular national holiday, a time to visit cemeteries and put flow

Composer skulls

Synopsis Since today is Halloween, how about a tale from the crypt — with a composer’s skull or two tossed in for good measure! Music lovers have always had a “thing” ab

Heggie's 'Great Scott'

Synopsis American opera composer Jake Heggie and his librettist Terrence McNally decided to follow their Dead Man Walking — a successful but harrowing opera about capital

Handel advertises his wares

Synopsis On today’s date in 1739, George Frideric Handel took out an advertisement, announcing that he was now accepting subscriptions for his new set of 12 Grand Concert

A 'pathetic' symphony by Tchaikovsky

Synopsis In St. Petersburg on today’s date in 1893, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance of his latest symphony, his sixth. From the beginning, this s

'Eating Greens' with Mackey

Synopsis On today’s date in 1994, Dennis Russell Davies conducted the Chicago Symphony in the premiere performance of a 23-minute orchestral work by American composer Ste

Robert Ward panned and prized

Synopsis For composers of new operas, all too often, after the heady champagne of opening night comes the strong black coffee of “the morning after” — sipped anxiously wh

Corigliano's 'Poem in October'

Synopsis On today’s date in 1970, a new chamber work by American composer John Corigliano received its premiere performance at a concert given by the Chamber Music Societ

Cindy McTee's Symphony No. 1

Synopsis On today’s date in 2002, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Leonard Slatkin conducted the National Symphony in the premiere of a new symphony by American