Copland's "Duo"

Synopsis

One of the last chamber works of the American composer Aaron Copland received its first performance on today’s date in 1971.

This took place in Philadelphia as a benefit for that city’s Settlement Music School, with Copland himself present for the premiere of his “Duo” for flute and piano. The work was commissioned by friends and students of the late William Kincaid, for many years the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

By 1971, thorny, complex, and atonal music was the fashion in both Europe and America. Copland, for his part, had composed some challenging orchestral works along these lines as well. His “Duo,” however was unashamedly lyrical.

As Copland put it: “What can you do with a flute in an extended form that would not emphasize its songful nature? Lyricism seems to be built into the flute. Some expressed surprise at the tonal nature of my Duo, considering that my recent works had been in a more severe idiom; however, the style was naturally influenced by the fact that I was composing for Kincaid’s students, not for future generations (although I hoped younger flutists would play my Duo eventually).”

Copland needn’t have worried. As music critic Michael Steinberg put it, reviewing its first performance in Boston: “Copland’s Duo is a lightweight work of a masterful craftsman. It is going to give pleasure to flutists and their audiences for a long time.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990) Duo Jennifer Stinton, flute; Malcolm Martineau, piano Collins 1385

On This Day

Births

• 1923 - Polish-born American composer and conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, in Lwow;

• 1936 - American composer Steve Reich, in New York;

Deaths

• 1931 - Danish composer and conductor Carl Nielsen, age 66, in Copenhagen;

• 1953 - English composer Sir Arnold Bax, age 69, in Cork, Ireland;

Premieres

• 1822 - Beethoven: "Consecration of the House" Overture, Op. 124, for the opening of the Josephstadt Theater in Vienna;

• 1860 - Brahms: Serenade No. 1 in D, Op. 11, in Hanover, conducted by Joseph Joachim;

• 1888 - Gilbert & Sullivan: operetta, "The Yeomen of the Guard," at the Savoy Theatre in London;

• 1900 - Elgar: oratorio, "The Dream of Gerontius," at Birmingham, Hans Richter conducting;

• 1929 - Walton: Viola Concerto, by the Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by the composer, with Paul Hindemith the soloist;

• 1963 - Ginastera: Violin Concerto, by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting, with Ruggiero Ricci the soloist;

• 1968 - William Schuman's "To Thee Old Cause" at New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Bernstein (dedicated to memory of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy);

• 1971 - Copland: "Duo" for flute and piano, in Philadelphia, by flutist Elaine Shaffer and pianist Hephzibah Menuhin;

• 1984 - Corigliano: "Creations" for narrator and chamber orchestra, in Milwaukee, Wisc., with Lukas Foss conducting;

• 1996 - James MacMillan: Cello Concerto, at the Barbican in London, by Mstislav Rostropovich with the London Symphony, Sir Colin Davis conducting;

• 1997 - Anthony Davis: "Jacob's Ladder," by the Kansas City Symphony, Bill McGlaughlin conducting;

Others

• 1833 - Berlioz marries Irish actress Harriet "Henrietta" Smithson at the British embassy in Paris; Liszt acts as one of the witnesses.