Composers Datebook®

Olympic music by Richard Strauss and John Williams

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949) Olympic Hymn Locke Brass Consort; James Stobart, cond. Chandos 8419

John Williams (b. 1932) Summon the Heroes Boston Pops; John Williams, cond. Sony 89364

On This Day

Births

  • 1906 - Norwegian composer Klaus Egge, in Gransherad, Telemark

  • 1913 - American composer and pianist Peggy Stuart-Coolidge in Swampscott, Mass.;

  • 1952 - English composer Dominic Muldowney, in Southhampton

  • 1965 - Scottish composer and percussionist Evelyn Glennie, in Aberdeen

Deaths

  • 1730 - French composer and flutist Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, age 49, in London

Premieres

  • 1924 - Webern: Six Bagatelles, Op. 9, for string quartet , in Donauschingen (Germany), by the Amar Quartet

  • 1973 - Penderecki: Symphony No. 1 in Peterborough Cathedral by the London Symphony, conducted by the composer

  • 1976 - Richard Wernick: "Visions of Terror and Wonder" for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1977

  • 1996 - John Williams "Summon the Heroes," a six-minute theme for the 1996 Summer Olympics, commissioned by the Atlanta Olympic Organizing Committee

Others

  • 1942 - Arturo Toscanini conducts the American premiere of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 ("Leningrad") on a NBC Symphony broadcast; The world premiere performance by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra had occurred on March 1, 1942, in Kuybishe, the wartime seat of the Soviet government

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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.

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