Britten's Peter Grimes

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) Sea Interludes, fr Peter Grimes London Symphony; André Previn, cond. EMI 72658

On This Day

Births

• 1897 - Hungarian born American conductor and occasional composer/arranger George Szell, in Budapest; He was led the Cleveland Orchestra from 1946 until the time of his death in 1970;

Deaths

• 1863 - Austrian composer Franz Xaver Gruber, age 75, in Hallen (near Salzburg); He composed the famous Christmas Carol, “Silent Night” (Stille Nacht), in 1818, while serving as a church organist and schoolmaster in Oberndorf;

Premieres

• 1896 - Hugo Wolf: opera "Der Corregidor" (The Governor) (1st version) in Mannheim at the Nationaltheater;

• 1920 - Gershwin: musical revue, "George White's Scandals of 1920," at the Globe Theater in New York City;

• 1922 - American premiere of Vaughan Williams: "Pastoral" Symphony (no.3), at the Litchfield County Choral Festival in Norfolk, Conn., with the composer conducting.; The world premiere had taken place in London on Jan. 26, 1922;

• 1927 - Prokofiev: ballet, "Pas d'Acier," in Paris, by the Ballet Russe;

• 1933 - Weill: "The Seven Deadly Sins of the Bourgeoisie," in Paris; text by Bertolt Brecht;

• 1945 - Britten: opera "Peter Grimes," in London at Sadler's Wells Theater;

• 1951 - Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1, in Paris;

• 1972 - Copland: "Three Latin American Sketches," at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) in New York City, by New York Philharmonic conducted by André Kostelanetz;

• 1984 - Crumb: "A Haunted Landscape," by the New York Philharmonic, Arthur Weisberg conducting.