Rautavaara's Fifth

Synopsis

In the 1980s, the Finnish Broadcasting Company had come up with the idea of commissioning a whole evening’s worth of orchestral pieces by native composer Einojuhanni Rautavaara, which, when taken together, would form a conventional concert program of overture, concerto and symphony. These three works have come to be called the “Angel Trilogy,” since each of them has a title with the word “Angel” in it.

Rautavaara’s Fifth Symphony, with the working title “Monologue with Angels,” premiered on today’s date in 1986, was originally to be the symphonic conclusion of this triple commission. But Rautavaara dropped the title, and his Symphony No. 7, subtitled “Angel of Light,” ended up being the third part of the “Angel Trilogy,” alongside an overture entitled “Angels and Visitations” and a double-bass concerto entitled “Angel of Dusk.”

If you asked the mystical Rautavaara why he changed his mind, he would probably have said it really wasn’t HIS idea at all. Rautavaara believed that his compositions already existed in ‘another reality,’ as he said, and his job was just to bring it into our world in one piece. "I firmly believe that compositions have a will of their own,” he said, “even though some people smile at the concept.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928 - 2016) Symphony No. 5 Leipzig Radio Symphony; Max Pommer, cond. BMG 62671

On This Day

Births

• 1885 - German conductor and composer, Otto Klemperer, in Breslau;

• 1917 - American composer Lou Harrison, in Portland, Ore.;

Deaths

• 1847 - German composer Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, age 41, in Berlin; She was the sister of Felix Mendelssohn;

Premieres

• 1723 - Handel: opera "Flavio, re de' Langobardi" (Flavio, King of the Langobards), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: May 25);

• 1832 - Mendelssohn: "Hebrides" Overture ("Fingal's Cave"), in London, conducted by the composer;

• 1914 - R. Strauss: ballet "Josephslegende," in Paris;

• 1919 - Debussy: Saxophone Rhapsody (orchestral version by Roger-Ducasse), at a Société Nationale de Musique concert conducted by André Caplet at the Salle Gaveau in Paris;

• 1923 - Holst: "The Perfect Fool," in London at Covent Garden Opera House;

• 1941 - Cage: "Third Construction" for four percussionists, in San Francisco;

• 1942 - Copland: "Lincoln Portrait," by the Cincinnati Symphony conducted by André Kostelanetz, with William Adams the narrator;

• 1953 - American premiere of Stravinsky's opera, "The Rake's Progress," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with the composer conducting; The world premiere performance occurred on September 11, 1951, in Venice, again with the composer conducting;

• 1966 - Ginastera: "Concerto per Corde," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1986 - Rautavaara: Symphony No. 5, in Helsinki, by Finnish Radio Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting;

• 1987 - Alvin Singleton: "Shadows" for orchestra. By the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Shaw conducting;

• 1992 - James MacMillan: "Sinfonietta" at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, by the London Sinfonietta, Martyn Brabbins conducting;

• 1993 - Philip Glass: opera "Orphée" (based on the Jean Cocteau film), by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.;

Others

• 1719 - Handel is commanded by the Lord Chamberlain (Thomas Holles, Duke of Newcastle), to hire singers for the recently established Royal Academy of Music's productions of Italian operas (Gregorian date: May 25);

• 1974 - Final London concert performance by conductor Leopold Stokowski, age 92 conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall: The program was Symphony No. 4 by Brahms, the "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" by Vaughan Williams, the "Merry Waltz" by Otto Klemperer, and the "Rapsodie espagnole" by Ravel; This was not Stokowski's "final" concert appearance, however; He was on the podium again in Venice in July of that year, and continued to make studio recordings; He died on September 13, 1977, at the age of 95 in his house in Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England;