Composers Datebook

American Public Media

4.7 (161)
MUSIC HISTORY
UPDATED DAILY

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.

3 DAYS AGO

Prokofiev in Chicago

Synopsis In the spring and summer of 1921, Sergei Prokofiev was living in a quiet village on the coast of Brittany. He wrote, “I get up at 8:30, put on a collarless shirt, white pants, and sandals. After drinking hot chocolate, I look to see if the garden is still where it’s supposed to be. Then I sit down to work. I’m writing my Piano Concerto No. 3.” On today’s date in 1921, Prokofiev was the soloist in the premiere of the new work, which took place in America, with the Chicago Symphony under Frederick Stock. In a letter written to conductor Serge Koussevitzky before the premiere, Prokofiev wrote, “My third concerto has turned out to be devilishly difficult. I’m nervous and practicing hard three hours a day. But let the maestro be calm — there are no complicated meters, no dirty tricks. It can be conducted without special preparation — it is difficult for the orchestra, but not for the conductor.” Chicago audiences and newspaper critics gave the new concerto a warm, if not overly enthusiastic, reception at its first performance in America, and in time, the Piano Concerto No. 3 — despite its difficulty — became one of Prokofiev’s most popular works with performers as well as audiences around the world. Music Played in Today's Program Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Piano Concerto No. 3; Alexander Toradze, piano; Kirov Orchestra; Valery Gergiev, conductor; Philips 462 048

2 min
4 DAYS AGO

Bloch's American concerto

Synopsis Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch was born in 1880 and was in his 30s when he first came to America, where he achieved remarkable success with both critics and audiences. His most famous work, Schelomo, subtitled Hebraic Rhapsody for cello and orchestra, premiered in New York in 1917. Despite his popularity in America, Bloch returned to Europe for most of the 1930s. By the end of that decade, the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Germany and Italy led the Jewish composer, then approaching 60, to reconsider making America his permanent home. Bloch’s Violin Concerto premiered in America on today’s date in 1938, a month after he arrived, with violinist Joseph Szigeti and the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. The main theme of Bloch’s concerto was supposedly based on a Native American theme, but the tone of the whole work echoes the Hebrew themes in his other music. Bloch wrote: “Art for me is an expression, an experience of life, not a game or an icy demonstration of mathematical principles. In not one of my works have I tried to be ‘original’ or ‘modern.’ My sole desire and single effort has been to remain faithful to my vision.” Music Played in Today's Program Ernest Bloch (1880-1959): Violin Concerto; Oleh Krysa, violin; Malmo Symphony; Sakari Oramo, conductor; BIS 639

2 min
5 DAYS AGO

Tsfasman's 'Jazz Suite'

Synopsis Today’s date in 1906 marks the birthday of Alexander Naumovich Tsfasman, a Ukrainian composer from pre-revolutionary Tsarist Russia who would become an important figure in Soviet jazz. Jazz first came to the Soviet Union in 1922, four years after Lenin’s Bolshevik Revolution, and at first was welcomed as the music of the oppressed African-American minority, and therefore considered an expression of the worldwide class struggle. Tsfasman encountered jazz while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory and formed his own jazz band in 1926, the first to be heard on Soviet radio. In the decades that followed, Tsfasman made over 140 records, composed music for films, and gave concerts during WWII for Red Army soldiers. But after 1945, jazz fell out of favor in the USSR. During the Cold War, it came to be seen as a prime export of the decadent bourgeois West and performances were limited. “Today he plays jazz, tomorrow he’ll betray his country” was a widespread propaganda slogan in the Stalinist post-war USSR. Only in the 1960s did attitudes change, and we’re happy to report Alexander Tsfasman lived to see it before his death in 1971. This music is from his Jazz Suite for piano and orchestra. Music Played in Today's Program Alexander Tsfasman (1906-1971): Snowflakes and Polka (excerpts), from Jazz Suite;Zlata Chochieva, piano; BBC Scottish Symphony; Karl-Heinz Steffens, conductor; Naïve V-8448

2 min
6 DAYS AGO

Barber in Rome

Synopsis In 1935, when he was 25 years old, American composer Samuel Barber was awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome. This meant that Barber could study at the American Academy in Rome for two years, with free lodgings and an annual stipend of $1,400 — a considerable sum of money in the 1930s. Barber found his Italian studio, a little yellow house approached through a garden, to be a good place to work. While in Italy, Barber finished his Symphony No. 1. The premiere took place in Rome on today’s date in 1936, with an Italian conductor and orchestra. Years later, he recalled that the orchestra played well, but also that the Italian audience members were “not shy about expressing their feelings ... 50% applauded and 50% were hissing.” In Barber’s opinion, the Italians found the new work “too dark-toned, too Nordic.” The Cleveland Orchestra gave the symphony’s American premiere early the next year, followed by a New York performance under the direction of Arthur Rodzinski, who was so impressed he conducted the work with the Vienna Philharmonic at the opening concert of the 1937 Salzburg Music Festival in Austria. That performance was more warmly received, and Barber was called back to the stage three times. Music Played in Today's Program Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Symphony No. 1; Saint Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, conductor; RCA/BMG 60732

2 min
DEC 12

Henry Brant

Synopsis On today’s date in 2001, the San Francisco Symphony, under conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, gave the first performance of Ice Field, a new work by American composer Henry Brant. The piece was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2002, the year Brant turned 89. The prize was an acknowledgment of five decades of Brant’s work as one of America’s great experimental composers. In the 1950s, when he turned 40, Brant became fascinated with the possibilities inherent in spatial music — music that positioned various groups of performers in all the corners of performing space. Moreover, he felt his music should reflect a wide variety of musical styles. As Brant put it, “I had come to feel that single-style music… could no longer evoke the new stresses, layered insanities and multi-directional assaults of contemporary life on the spirit.” Brant cites earlier American composer Charles Ives as his major model, but also credits the experience of hearing extravagant French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz’ Requiem Mass in Paris. In the 19th century, Berlioz positioned an orchestra, brass choirs, and vocalists around a vast cathedral for a unique “surround sound” experience. Music Played in Today's Program Henry Brant (1913-2008): Western Springs; La Jolla Symphony and Chorus; Henry Brant, et. al. conductor; CRI 827

2 min
DEC 11

Cowell at the Forum

Synopsis The Great Depression put many Americans out of work, and in 1935 the Roosevelt administration created the Works Progress Administration, offering employment on various public projects. The Federal Music Project created 34 new orchestras across the country. American composers weren’t neglected either. A program called the Composers Forum Laboratories showcased new chamber works and invited audiences to offer their feedback directly to the composers involved. On today’s date in 1935, at the seventh Composers Forum Laboratory held in New York, Henry Cowell was the featured composer and took questions and comments following the premiere of his String Quartet No. 3. Typical of this “laboratory” situation, the chamber piece was highly experimental. Cowell conceived it as a kind of musical kaleidoscope or crazy quilt, in which five predetermined musical patterns can be played in any order. Cowell called this work his Mosaic Quartet, and, theoretically, no two performances would ever be the same. America’s entry into World War II eventually brought all the WPA’s musical projects to a close, but not before Federal Music Project orchestras had premiered a number of new symphonic works by American composers and dozens of new chamber works, like Cowell’s Quartet, and had been workshopped at Composers Forum Laboratories. Music Played in Today's Program Henry Cowell (1897-1965): String Quartet No. 3 (Mosaic Quartet); Colorado String Quartet; Mode 72/73

2 min
DEC 10

Still's Symphony No. 2

Synopsis During his 26 seasons with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the charismatic conductor Leopold Stokowski often programmed new music by contemporary composers. On today’s date in 1937, for example, Stokowski and the Philadelphians performed works by two American composers. First up was some ballet music by Robert McBride, which The Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer found “of indifferent interest.” The same critic, however, was enthusiastic about the second work, the premiere performance of the William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 2, Song of a New Race. “[It] was of absorbing interest, unmistakably racial in thematic material and rhythms, and triumphantly articulate in expression of moods, ranging from the exuberance of jazz to brooding wistfulness.” Still contrasted his Symphony No. 2 with his Symphony No. 1, the Afro-American Symphony. “[If my Symphony No. 1] represented the Negro of days not far removed from the Civil War,” his Symphony No. 2, said Still, represented “the American colored man of today, in so many instances a totally new individual.” One striking feature of Still’s Symphony No. 2 is the expansive, lyrical writing for strings, perhaps a nod to the Philadelphia’s famously silky string sound; another is the brass choir call and response gestures, reminiscent of African-American church music traditions. Music Played in Today's Program William Grant Still (1875-1978): Symphony No. 2 (Song of a New Race); Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor; Chandos 9226

2 min
DEC 9

Politically correct and incorrect Glinka

Synopsis Nineteenth-century Russian composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka founded a distinctive national style of Russian classical music, and he wrote first great Russian opera, which premiered in St. Petersburg on today’s date in 1836. That opera tells the story of Ivan Susanin, a folk hero of the early 17th century, who gave his life to protect the newly elected Tsar Mikhail, the first of the Romanov dynasty. Glinka’s original title for his opera was Ivan Susanin, but after the then-current Tsar Nicholas I attended a rehearsal, Glinka changed it to A Life for the Tsar, to honor — and frankly flatter the current ruler in the Romanov line. After the Bolshevik Revolution deposed Tsar Nicholas II in 1917 and executed his whole family, any opera praising the Romanovs, no matter how culturally significant, was unperformable in the Soviet Union. But in 1939, Glinka’s opera returned to Russian stages under its original title Ivan Susanin, thanks to a Soviet poet who removed all references to the Tsar from its libretto and adjusted its storyline to be “politically correct” for Stalinist Russia. These days, when Glinka’s landmark opera is staged, it’s under its original title and with its original, pro-Tsarist storyline restored. Music Played in Today's Program Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857): A Life for the Tsar Overture; USSR State Symphony; Yevgeny Svetlanov, conductor; Regis RRC 1142

2 min

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4.7

out of 5

161 Ratings

Gut

Dec 4

Fill makes Games

Gut, sehr gut.
Make it a longer show?

Sep 29

HarrierLG

My only complaint of Composer's Datebook is that it is too short! Perhaps a five minute snippet instead of two? Include score illustrations on the web site?
Nice Musical Podcast

Aug 2

tara starlong

I like to listen to the Nutcracker
Meditation

Feb 7

danktighny

I stop what I’m doing to really listen to this. It is my 2 minute musical oasis wherever it lands in my day. Thank you.