Composers Datebook

American Public Media
  • 0.0 (0)
  • MUSIC HISTORY
  • UPDATED DAILY
Composers Datebook Podcast

Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.

  1. 2 HR AGO

    William Billings

    Synopsis On today’s date in 2000, King’s Chapel in Boston presented a festival of music by the early American composer William Billings, honoring the 200th anniversary of his death in 1800.  As the Chapel’s records of 1786 stated, Billings taught singing “to such persons of both sexes as incline to sing psalm-tunes.” They must have liked him, because in 1790, when Billings was in financial trouble, the Chapel held a benefit concert for him. When Billings was born in 1746, America was still a British colony. The last record we have of him as a composer dates from 1799, when he wrote music for a memorial concert for George Washington, the first president of the United States, who had died in December of that year. Today, Billings is regarded as America’s first truly original composer. His contemporaries agreed. The Reverend William Bentley of Salem was moved to write in his diary: “Many who have imitated him have excelled him, but none had better original powers … he was a singular man, short of one leg, with one eye, and with an uncommon negligence of person. Still, he spake and sung and thought as a man above common abilities.” Music Played in Today's Program William Billings (1746-1800): Emmaus and Shiloh; His Majestie's Clerkes; Paul Hillier, conductor; Harmonia Mundi 90.7048

    2 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    Hindemith's 'Kammermusik' No. 4

    Synopsis In the 1920s, German composer Paul Hindemith wrote a set of seven concertos, which he collectively titled Kammermusik or Chamber Music. This generic title was part of Hindemith’s goal to foster a more “objective” musical style, modeled on 18th century composers like J.S. Bach. Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 4, a work for solo violin and chamber orchestra, had its first performance in Dessau on today’s date in 1925. The soloist was Licco Amar, the first violinist of the Amar String Quartet, an ensemble in which Hindemith played viola. Hindemith’s father had been killed in World War I, and Hindemith himself had been called up, but avoided being sent to the front by forming a string quartet that played nightly to ease the nerves of his commanding officer. Then during the World War II, despite being considered a so-called “Aryan” composer, Hindemith fell out of favor with the Nazi regime and eventually emigrated to America, where he became a very influential teacher. To address the role of music in society, Hindemith suggested composers should revive the idea of writing works amateur musicians could play at home with family and friends. “People who make music together cannot be enemies,” he observed, “at least while the music lasts.” Music Played in Today's Program Paul Hindemith (1895-1963): Kammermusik No. 4; Konstanty Kulka, violin; Concertgebouw Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor; London 433 816

    2 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    Andrzej Panufnik

    Synopsis Today’s date in 1914 marks the birthday of Polish-born composer and conductor Andrzej Panufnik, whose life was dramatic — and romantic — enough for a Netflix mini-series. It involved resisting the Nazis in war-torn Warsaw, struggles with the Communist Party in the post-war years, a daring Swiss escape to Great Britain worthy of a John Le Carré novel, love affairs and marriages with beautiful women, the tragic death of one of his children, and long years trying to balance the demands of his conducting and composing careers. And, despite the admiration of some of the biggest names in classical music, for years his music met with indifference from the general public. But at this point in the mini-series, cue the triumphant grand finale soundtrack theme. In the closing decades of his life, Panufnik won increasing recognition as one of the 20th century’s finest composers and was showered with high-profile commissions by major orchestras around the world. Panufnik refused to return to Poland until democracy was restored in 1990. Shortly before his death in 1991, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and posthumously awarded the Polonia Restituta Medal by his native land. Music Played in Today's Program Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991): Old Polish Suite; Polish Chamber Orchestra; Mariusz Smolij, conductor; Naxos 8.570032

    2 min

  4. 3 DAYS AGO

    Vincenzo Bellini

    Synopsis It was on today’s date in 1835 that Romantic opera composer Vincenzo Bellini died at a country home near Paris. He was only 34 but had achieved great fame in his brief lifetime.  The long, elegant melodic lines Bellini spun out in his operas were much admired and proved to be a major influence on the solo piano works of his contemporary, Frederic Chopin. Bellini’s first success was Il Pirata or The Pirate from 1827, and just three years later, he could truthfully report:  “My style is now heard in the most important theatres in the world …and with the greatest enthusiasm.” He settled in Paris, where his final opera, I Puritani di Scozia or The Puritans of Scotland premiered early in 1835. If Bellini’s life had followed the Romantic story-lines of his operas, he would have been a dispossessed outcast who dies for love. In fact, Bellini was financially successful, moved in the highest social circles, and — rather than dying for love — was planning to marry for money at the time he succumbed to chronic gastroenteritis.  At his requiem mass, four leading composers of his day, Paer, Cherubini, Carafa and Rossini, each held a corner of the coffin shroud.  Music Played in Today's Program Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835): Sinfonia from Il Pirata; German Opera Orchestra, Berlin; Marcello Viotti, conductor; Berlin Classics 11152

    2 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    Leonardo Balada

    Synopsis Today we celebrate the birthday of Leonardo Balada, an American composer born in Barcelona on today’s date in 1933. After studying at the Barcelona Conservatory, the 20-something composer came to New York on a musical scholarship. Balada recalls his arrival as both a cultural and climatic shock: “When I landed in New York — on a freezing day in 1956 — little did I know of the mental turmoil I would experience in the next few years. That city had become the focal point for the latest music and arts. New York shook my musically conservative upbringing to its roots.” Like most composers of his generation, Balada had to decide whether to follow the path of the abstract serialists who dominated music at that time or find his own path. “I felt a strong necessity to … look to the future and not be criticized as a reactionary,” recalls Balada. “How could it be otherwise for a liberal young fellow brought up in Spain, opposed to Franco’s conservatism?” With encouragement from great Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes, Balada began to draw on his own imagination and cultural heritage, blending contemporary techniques with elements of a more traditional language, often infused with Spanish themes. Music Played in Today's Program Leonardo Balada (b. 1933): Concierto Magico; Eliot Fisk, guitar; Barcelona and Catalonia National Orchestra; Jose Serebrier, conductor; Naxos 8.555039

    2 min

  6. 5 DAYS AGO

    Harpsichord under Glass?

    Synopsis “Are people still writing concertos for harpsichord?” you ask. Well, today, we have an answer, which is “Yes!” On today’s date in 2002, this new Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra by Philip Glass had its premiere performance at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Glass was asked to write a new Harpsichord Concerto for the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and says he found the commission intriguing. “For one, I have always been an admirer of the literature for harpsichord and have played a bit it myself,” Glass wrote. “Secondly, I knew that the modern-day harpsichord was capable of a fuller, more robust sound than was available in ‘period’ instruments and might make a handsome partner to a modern chamber orchestra.” Glass’ concerto is in the traditional three movements of a Baroque era concerto, with a slower, more lyrical middle movement flanked by speedier, flashier outer movements. And perhaps surprisingly for a “minimalist” composer famous — or infamous — for his loping, seemingly endless repeated patterns, this Harpsichord Concerto, despite being recognizably a work by Philip Glass, is more varied and mercurial than usual, with a final movement in which the harpsichord soloist really needs to “go for Baroque!” Music Played in Today's Program Philip Glass (b. 1937): Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra; Christopher D. Lewis, harpsichord; West Side Chamber Orchestra/Kevin Mallon; Naxos 8.573146

    2 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    Tchaikovsky in Paris

    Synopsis When we think of Russian music in Paris, the name Sergei Diaghilev comes first to mind. In the early years of the 20th century, that famous Russian impresario saw to it that not only the new music of Stravinsky was performed in the French capital, but also a historical panorama of earlier Russian works, including Mussorgsky’s opera, Boris Godunov. But even before Diaghilev, Russian music figured prominently at the famous Universal Expositions held in Paris in the latter 19th century. On today’s date in 1878, for example, Tchaikovsky’s Valse-Scherzo for violin and orchestra received its premiere at an Exposition concert conducted by the composer’s compatriot Nicolai Rubinstein. In addition to this brand-new work, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and symphonic fantasia The Tempest were also performed. Tchaikovsky was back home in Russia, curious to know how his works fared in Paris. He wrote to a friend: “Have you been to any of the Russian concerts in Paris? According to some newspapers my compositions were a great success, to others a failure. I cannot get at the truth.” Fortunately, when Rubinstein returned to Russia, he was able to report first-hand that Tchaikovsky’s music had, indeed, been very well received. Music Played in Today's Program Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Firebird (1919 revision); Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductor; Reference 70 Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Valse-Scherzo; Gil Shaham, violin; Russian National Orchestra; Mikhail Pletnev, conductor; DG 457 064

    2 min

  8. 19 SEPT

    Brahms and the clarinet

    Synopsis During his later years, German composer Johannes Brahms was a frequent visitor to the town of Meiningen, where the Grand Duke had a fine orchestra that gave stellar performances of Brahms’ music. Early in 1891, Brahms heard one member of that orchestra, the clarinetist Richard Mülhfeld, perform chamber works by Mozart and Weber. Brahms was so impressed that they became fast friends. Listening to Mülhfeld play, Brahms became so enthusiastic about the clarinet’s possibilities that he began writing chamber works for his new friend. Brahms was always particularly fond of the female alto voice whose timbre is similar to that of the clarinet, so Brahms promptly nicknamed Mülhfeld “Fraeulein Clarinet” and the “new prima donna.” For Mülhfeld, Brahms wrote a clarinet trio, which was followed by a clarinet quintet, and finally, a pair of clarinet sonatas, both composed in the summer of 1894. These two sonatas were first played by Mülhfeld with Brahms at a private performance in the home of the sister of the Duke of Meiningen on today’s date that year. In November, the pair also gave private performances in Frankfurt for Clara Schumann and at Castle Altenstein for the Duke of Meiningen. The first public performances occurred in Vienna in January of 1895. Music Played in Today's Program Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Clarinet Sonata No. 2; Michael Collins, clarinet; Mikhail Pletnev, piano; Virgin 91076

    2 min
See All (33)

About

Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.

Information

  • Creator
    American Public Media
  • Years Active
    2010 - 2024
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 Minnesota Public Radio

More From American Public Media

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada