Synopsis
On today’s date in 1977, Polish composer Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 was performed for the first time in Royan, France, by the Southwest German Radio Orchestra.
Gorecki’s symphony has a subtitle — Symphony of Sorrowful Songs — and sets three texts set for solo soprano voice: a 15th century lamentation from a Polish monastery, a prayer inscribed on the wall of a WWII prison cell at the headquarters of the Polish Gestapo and a sad Polish folk song.
Fifteen years after its premiere, a recording of Gorecki’s symphony featuring American soprano Dawn Upshaw and conductor David Zinman received some airplay on a British radio station and quickly soared to the top of the pop charts in the U.K. Radio stations in the U.S. started playing it as well, with the same effect.
Was it a sign of an international religious revival? A delayed reaction to the collapse of Communism in Europe? Even Gorecki himself was perplexed: “Perhaps people find something they need in this piece of music,” he wrote. “Somehow I hit the right note—something, somewhere that had been lost to them. I feel they instinctively knew what they needed.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Henryk Gorecki (1933-2010): Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs); Dawn Upshaw, soprano; London Sinfonietta; David Zinman, cond. Nonesuch 79282
On This Day
Births
1898 - Italian-born American jazz violinist Joe Venuti, in Lecco
1905 - French composer and conductor Eugène Bozza, in Nice
Deaths
1931 - American composer George Whitefield Chadwick, 76, in Boston
1972 - German-born American composer Stefan Wolpe, 69, in New York
Premieres
1739 - Handel: oratorio Israel in Egypt, in London at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket; As an intermission feature, Handel's new Organ Concerto (The Cuckoo and the Nightingale) is also premiered (Gregorian date: April 15).
1859 - Meyerbeer: opera Le Pardon de Ploërmel (Dinorah), in Paris
1867 - Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 1, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, by violinist Pablo de Sarasate
1897 - Chausson: Poème for violin and orchestra, in Paris, at a Colonne Concert with Eugene Ysäye as soloist
1955 - Stravinsky: Greeting Prelude (for the 80th birthday of conductor Pierre Monteux), by the Boston Symphony conducted by Charles Munch
1964 - Sondheim: musical Anyone Can Whistle on Broadway. The show ran for only nine performances, closing on April 11, 1964. Nevertheless, the day after its closing, Columbia Records executive Goddard Lieberson makes an original cast recording that becomes a best-seller.
1971 - Broadway premiere of Sondheim: musical Company;
1975 - Rochberg: Violin Concerto, by the Pittsburgh Symphony, with Isaac Stern as soloist
1977 - Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), in Royan, France, with soprano soloist Stefania Woytowicz and the Southwest German Radio Orchestra conducted by Ernest Bour
Others
1954 - Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (87) leads his last concert with the NBC Symphony; an all-Wagner program
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.