Composers Datebook is produced by American Public Media in association with the American Composers Forum with support from the The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
SYNOPSIS:
Shostakovich in America …
MUSIC PLAYED ON TODAY’S PROGRAM:
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975):
Symphony No. 5
USSR Cultural Ministry Symphony;
Gennady Rozhdestvensky, cond.
MCA 32128
ALSO ON THIS DATE:
Births:
1699—German opera composer Johann Hasse, in Bergedorf, near Hamburg;
1867—Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, in Parma;
1881—Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, in Nagyszentmiklós;
1882—English composer Haydn Wood, in Slaithwaite;
Deaths:
1918—French composer Claude Debussy, age 55, in Paris;
Premieres:
1724 — Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 182 (“Himmelskönig, sei willkommen”) performed on the Feast of the Annunciation as part of Bach’s first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);
1725 — Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 1 (“Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”) performed on the Feast of the Annunciation as part of Bach’s second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);
1734 — Handel: anthem “This is the day which the Lord hath made” (Julian date: March 14);
1874 — Brahms: “13 Variations on a Hungarian Song” for piano, in London;
1875 — Gilbert & Sullivan: one-act operetta “Trial by Jury” at the Royalty Theatre in London;
1879 — Dvorak: Symphony No. 5 in F, in Prague;
1881 — Dvorák: Symphony No. 6, with Prague Philharmonic, Adolf Cech conducting;
1939 — Villa-Lobos: “Bachianas Brasilieras” No. 5 for soprano and eight cellos, in Rio de Janeiro;
1943 — Edward Joseph Collins: Piano Concerto No. 3 in b, by the Chicago Symphony with Frederick Stock conducting and the composer as soloist;
1946 — Stravinsky: “Ebony Concerto” at Carnegie Hall, with the Woody Herman orchestra conducted by Walter Hendl;
1960 — Elliott Carter: String Quartet No. 2, in New York City, by the Juilliard String Quartet;
1965 — Jack Beeson: opera “Lizzie Borden,” in New York City;
Other:
1938—American premiere of Prokofiev: “Peter and the Wolf,” by the Boston Symphony, conducted by the composer;
1949—Shostakovich (accompanied by KGB “handlers”) arrives in New York for his first visit to America, for the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; His anti-Western statements and criticism of Igor Stravinsky embarrassed his American sponsors, including Aaron Copland, and later provided political fodder for the notorious Red-hunter, Senator Joseph McCarthy.