A Hovhaness premiere

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1945, the Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness served as both the soloist and conductor in the first performance of his piano concerto entitled “Lousadzak.” The exotic title, Hovhaness explained, was a “made-up” Armenian word meaning “dawn of light.”

“I wrote it to play and conduct myself with an amateur orchestra," recalled Hovhaness. "When we played it in Boston my hands were so busy all the way that I couldn’t give many cues.”

When Hovhaness repeated his new concerto at Town Hall in New York, one newspaper sent the composer Lou Harrison as its music critic to cover the event.

“The intermission that followed was the closest I’ve ever been to one of those renowned artistic riots,” recalled Harrison. “In the lobby, the Chromaticists and the Americanists were carrying on at high decibels. What had touched it off was the fact that here was a man from Boston whose obviously beautiful music had nothing to do with either camp and was its own very wonderful thing. My guest John Cage and I were very excited, and I dashed off to the lamented Herald Tribune and wrote a rave review while John went back to the Green Room to meet Alan.”

For his part, Hovhaness said: “I believe in melody, and to create a melody one needs to go within oneself. I was very touched when John Cage said my music was like inward singing. I must admit there is always music in my head.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000) Lousadzak Keith Jarrett, piano; American Composers Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, cond. MusicMasters 60204

On This Day

Births

• 1740 - Swedish song composer Carl Michael Bellman, in Stockholm;

• 1892 - Finnish song composer Yrjo Kilpinen, in Helsingfors;

• 1893 - American composer Bernard Rogers, in New York;

Deaths

• 1781 - Bohemian-born composer Josef Mysliveczek, age 43, in Rome;

• 1997 - American composer Ross Lee Finney, age 90, in Carmel, Calif.;

• 2001 - Romanian born, Greek-French composer and architectural engineer Iannis Xenakis, age 78, in Paris;

Premieres

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 126 ("Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort") performed on Sexagesimae Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1884 - Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Suite No. 2, in Moscow (Gregorian date: Feb. 16);

• 1908 - First public performance of Stravinsky: Symphony in Eb in St. Petersburg, conducted by Felix Blumenfeld (Julian date: Jan. 22); A private performance of two movements of this symphony had occurred on April 14/27, 1907, also in St. Petersburg;

• 1945 - Hovhaness: "Lousadzek" (Coming of Light) for piano and strings, in Boston, with the composer conducting from the piano;

Others

• 1837 - Franz Liszt performs a chamber recital in Paris, featuring the then-unfamiliar Piano Trios of Beethoven; At the last minute, the performers decided to reverse the printed order of the program, performing on the first half of the concert a trio by Pixis, and a Beethoven trio on the second half; The audience (and critics) warmly applaud the Pixis, mistakenly thinking it was the Beethoven work, and react coolly to the Beethoven, assuming it was by Pixis; Among the critics, only Berlioz notices the program switch.

• 1854 - First documented American performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, at Boston's Odeon by the Germania Musical Society conducted by Carl Bergmann, with Robert Heller the soloist;

• 1887 - American premiere of Bruckner: Symphony No. 7, by the Boston Symphony, Wilhelm Gericke conducting;