Beethover (sic) and Punto

Synopsis

The month of April in the year 1800 was an especially busy one for Ludwig van Beethoven. On the second of April at his first big orchestral concert in Vienna, Beethoven had premiered his First Symphony, a new Piano Concerto, and his Septet for winds. He had been planning for this concert all winter, and there was a lot of music to be worked up and written down for that occasion.

On today's date that same month, Beethoven appeared in Vienna once again, this time as piano accompanist for the popular Bohemian horn virtuoso, Johann Wenzel Stich, who went by the more marketable Italian "stage name" of Giovanni Punto.

The pre-concert announcements for the Punto recital promised that Beethoven would contribute a new work for the occasion—but, apparently preoccupied by his OWN concert, Beethoven didn't get around to writing the promised piece until the day before the recital!

Beethoven and Punto took the new Horn Sonata with them for a concert in Budapest the following month. The press in Hungary had heard of Punto, but not Beethoven, whose name they didn't even get right: "Who is this Bethover (sic)." One press notice read: "The history of German music is not acquainted with such a name. Punto, of course, is VERY well known…"

Music Played in Today's Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Horn Sonata in F, Op. 17 Hermann Baumann, horn; Leonard Hokanson, piano Philips 416 816

On This Day

Births

• 1819 - Austrian opera composer Franz von Suppé, in Spalato, Dalmatia;

• 1882 - British-born American conductor, arranger and new music champion, Leopold Stokowski, in London;

• 1907 - Hungarian-born American composer Miklós Rósza, in Budapest;

Deaths

• 1936 - Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, age 56, in Rome;

Premieres

• 1713 - Handel: "Utrecht Te Deum" (Julian date: April 7);

• 1800 - Beethoven: Horn Sonata, in Vienna, with horn virtuoso Wenzel Punto and the composer at the piano;

• 1898 - Chausson: Symphony, in Paris;

• 1909 - Rachmaninoff: "The Isle of the Dead" (Gregorian date: May 1);

• 1930 - Charles Wakefield Cadman: Violin Sonata, in Los Angeles, with violinist Vera Barstow;

• 1944 - Bernstein: ballet "Fancy Free," at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with the Ballet Theater orchestra conducted by the composer;

• 1958 - Easley Blackwood: Symphony No. 1, in Boston;

• 1958 - Quincy Porter: "New England Episodes", in Washington;

• 1977 - Broadway premiere of Sondheim: revue "Side by Side by Sondheim" (compiled from various Sondheim musicals by British singer-actor David Kernan and others); This revue opened in London on May 4, 1976;

• 1986 - John Harbison: "Music for 18 Winds," in Cambridge, Mass., by the MIT Chamber Players, John Harbison conducting.