Humperdinck's version of "Into the Woods"?

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Englebert Humperdinck (1854-1921) Hansel and Gretel Suite Royal Philharmonic; Rudolf Kempe, cond. EMI 68736

On This Day

Births

• 1689 - French composer Joseph Bodin de Boismorter, in Thionville;

• 1906 - American composer Ross Lee Finney, in Wells, Minn.;

Premieres

• 1785 - Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in Eb (K. 482), in Vienna as the entr'acte at a performance of the oratorio "Ester" by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf conducted by Antonio Salieri; Mozart was the soloist in his Concerto, and it is possible that Salieri conducted both the oratorio and Mozart's new concerto;

• 1806 - Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61, by the orchestra of Vienna's Theater an der Wien, with its music director and concertmaster, Franz Clement, as the soloist and the composer conducting; The concert also included works by Méhul, Mozart, Cherubini, and Handel;

• 1880 - Dvorák: oratorio "Stabat Mater," in Prague;

• 1887 - Chadwick: “Melpomene” overture, by the Boston Symphony, Wilhelm Gericke conducting;

• 1893 - Humperdinck: opera "Hansel and Gretel," in Weimar at the Hoftheater;

• 1894 - Debussy: Prelude to "The Afternoon of a Faun," at a concert of the Societé Nationale de Musique (not presented in ballet form until 1912);

• 1911 - Wolf-Ferrari: opera "Jewels of the Madonna," in Berlin;

• 1952 - Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano (part one of a two-part recital), in Leningrad, by pianist Tatyana Nikolayeva; See also Dec. 28th;

Others

• 1989 - Leonard Bernstein leads first of two public performances of Beethoven's Ninth at the Philharmonie in West Berlin, with an international orchestra assembled to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall; The second performance occurred on December 25 at the Schauspielhaus in East Berlin;