The Ondes Martinot

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992) Turangalila Symphony Tristan Murail, Ondes Martenot; Philharmonia Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond. Sony 53473

On This Day

Births

• 1881 - Russian composer Nikolai Miaskovsky, in the fortress of Novo-Georgiyevsk (now Modlin), Poland (Julian date: April 8);

Deaths

• 1869 - German song composer Karl Loewe, age 72, in Kiel;

Premieres

• 1910 - Ravel: "Ma Mère l'oye" (Mother Goose) for piano four-hands, in Paris, by two young female pianists, at the first concert of the newly-formed "Société musicale indépedante"; On the same program was the premiere of Gabriel Fauré's "Le Chanson d'Eve" with the composer at the piano;

• 1979 - George Perle: Concertino for Piano, Winds, and Timpani, by Morey Ritt and the Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, Ralph Shapey conducting;

• 1983 - Thomas Oboe Lee: "Quartet on B-flat" for string quartet, at the Harvard Music Association in Beacon Hill, Mass., by the Manhattan String Quartet;

• 2001 - Danielpour: String Quartet, in Kansas City, Mo., by the American String Quartet;

• 2002 - Michael Torke: "Song of Isaiah"for voice and chamber ensemble, at the Milwaukee Art Museum by the Present Music Ensemble, with the composer conducting;

Others

• 1759 - Burial of Handel in Westminster Abbey, London;

• 1928 - In Paris, the first public demonstration of an electronic instrument invented by Maurice Martenot called the "Ondes musicales"; The instrument later came to be called the "Ondes Martenot," and was included in scores by Milhaud, Messiaen, Jolivet, Ibert, Honegger, Florent Schmitt and other 20th century composers.