Poster John Birge
John Birge
YourClassical MPR

Composers Datebook®

Reminding you that all music was once new ® • with host John Birge

Composer's Datebook - July 16, 2022

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Dale Trumbore's "How to Go On"

Dale Trumbore’s “How to Go On” received its premiere performance on today’s date in 2016 in Anaheim, California by the Choral Arts Initiative.

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Bernstein's sabbatical psalms

Bernstein conducted the premiere performance of “Chichester Psalms” at Lincoln Center on July 15th, 1965

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"La Marseillaise" by Lambert

Roger de Lisle (1760-1836) La Marseillaise Detroit Symphony; Paul Paray, cond. Mercury 434 332 Today is Bastille Day, and on today’s date in 1900, the Opera-Comique in Paris premiered a patriotic opera entitled “La Marseillaise.”

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Requiems and Elegies by Faure and Rouse

On this day in 1900, the world first heard the Requiem of Gabriel Fauré in its full orchestral version at a concert at the Paris World Exhibition.

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Hollywood Anniversaries

It was on today’s date in 1937 that George Gershwin died at 10:35 in the morning in a Hollywood hospital after an operation for a brain tumor.

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Handel declines, Schuman accepts

On today’s date in 1733, Georg Friderich Handel paid a visit to Oxford to conduct the premiere performance of his new oratorio, “Athalia,” at the Sheldonian Theater.

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Respighi's The Pines of Rome

Today marks the birthday in 1879 of Ottorino Respighi, a rare Italian composer more famous for orchestral works than operas.

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"The Composer is Dead!"

“The Composer Is Dead” – a collaboration between composer Nathaniel Stookey and novelist Daniel Handler – premiered on this date in 2006.

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"The Ballad of Baby Doe"

On today’s date in 1956, one of the most successful of all American operas had its first performance at the Center Opera House in Colorado.

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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.