Composers Datebook

Marga Richter's 'Fragments'

Synopsis American composer Marga Richter was born on today’s date in 1926, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. She began piano lessons by 4, started composing at 12 and had her firs

Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic

Synopsis On today’s date in 1950, Karel Ančerl was named the artistic director of the Czech Philharmonic, a position he would hold for the next 18 years. He had first co

Honegger plays rough

Synopsis Rugby is a style of football that originated in England at Rugby School and was played at British public boy’s schools during the 19th century. It’s also the na

Premiere of Brahms' 'Schicksalslied'

Synopsis On today’s date in 1871, Hermann Levi conducted the premiere of a new choral work by Johannes Brahms: Schicksalslied, or Song of Destiny. It’s a setting of a poe

Boulez and Jarre

Synopsis Today’s date in 1946 marks an important moment in Parisian theatrical history with the debut performance of a legendary acting company created by husband-and-wif

A domestic postscript from Richard Strauss

Synopsis Of all the works of Richard Strauss, the one that premiered in Dresden on today’s date in 1925 ranks amount the least-known. For starters, it has an odd title,

Missa Salisburgensis

Synopsis The hills surrounding the Austrian town of Salzburg, according to Rogers and Hammerstein, are “alive with the sound of music.” Well, the same could have been sai

Dvorak's Violin Concerto

Synopsis On today’s date in 1883, the premiere of Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto was given in Prague by Czech violinist František Ondrícek with the National Theatre Orc

Zwilich celebrates

Synopsis As far as housewarming gifts go, a nice bottle of champagne is common, or maybe a bouquet of flowers. But if you’re a composer, and the occasion is the ceremonia

Prokofiev's Sixth and Seventh

Synopsis By a coincidence, the last two symphonies of Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev premiered on today’s date: his Symphony No. 6 premiered in Leningrad in 1947, and h

The school of Monk

Synopsis American jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on today’s date in 1917. Largely self-taught, he began playing piano at 6. At 17, he dropped o

Vivaldi’s 'Juditha Triumphans'

Synopsis On today’s date in 2001, the release of a CD of Vivaldi’s oratorio Juditha Triumphans launched an ambitious project to record nearly 450 works of the famous Ital

Ligeti's 'out there' Violin Concerto

Synopsis On today’s date in 1992, one of the strangest — and some would say most strikingly original — violin concertos of the late 20th century had its premiere performa

Jake Heggie's opera 'Dead Man Walking'

Synopsis As the 20th century drew to its close, some who followed the development of opera were struck by the number of new American operas on American themes. On today’

Music for the movies

Synopsis On today’s date in 1927, the landmark film The Jazz Singer received its premiere showing at the Warner Theater in New York. The Jazz Singer starred Al Jolson and

Grove and Sullivan 'discover' Schubert

Synopsis On today’s date in 1867, two eminent British Victorians arrived in Vienna in search of Franz Schubert. Now, Schubert had been dead for 39 years, as the two Brits

Copland's 'Appalachian Spring' Suite

Synopsis On today’s date in 1945, Artur Rodzinski conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premiere performance of an orchestral suite arranged from Aaron Copland’s bal

The Dream of Gerontius

Synopsis Despite a disastrous premiere in Birmingham on today’s date in 1900, Edward Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius has become one of his best-loved and most-fre

Steve Heitzeg's 'Nobel Symphony'

Synopsis In 2001, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize, Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, commissioned American composer Steve Heitzeg

Gabriela Lena Frank's 'Hilos'

Synopsis On today’s date in 2010, at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music in Nashville, the ALIAS ensemble gave the premiere performance of a new chamber work by