Milhaud and Frisell write for silent screen comedians

Synopsis

On today's date in 1920, an evening of modern ballet in Paris included the premiere performance of a jazzy romp called "Le Boeuf sur le Toit," a title that literally translated means "The Bull of the Roof." The music was by a 27-year old French composer, Darius Milhaud, who had spent the last year of World War I as an attaché at the French embassy in Rio de Janeiro.

"Still haunted by my memories of Brazil," wrote Milhaud, "I assembled a few popular melodies, tangos, sambas and even a Portuguese fado and called this fantasia 'Le Boeuf sur le toit,' the title of a Brazilian popular song. I thought this music might be suitable for an accompaniment to one of Charlie Chaplin's films." But Milhaud's friend, the poet Jean Cocteau, convinced him this music would make a great ballet score, and concocted a surreal scenario worthy of a manic Chaplin two-reeler for its 1920 premiere.

Closer to our own day, in 1995, the American jazz guitarist Bill Frisell prepared a brand-new score for the classic 1925 Buster Keaton silent-screen comedy titled "Go West." Frisell's country blues sensibility resulted in a score as droll and deadpan as Buster Keaton's unique brand of cinematic comedy. Frisell and his band provided live accompaniment to Keaton's film at movie theaters in San Francisco, New York, and elsewhere around the country, and recorded the score for Nonesuch records.

Music Played in Today's Program

Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974) Le boeuf sur le toit Paris Orchestra; Semyon Bychkov, cond. Philips 432 993

Bill Frisell (b. 1951) Go West filmscore Bill Frisell Band Nonesuch 79350

On This Day

Births

• 1801 - Czech composer Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, in Prague;

• 1836 - French composer Léo Delibes, in St. Germain du Val, Sarthe;

• 1844 - French composer and organist Charles Marie Widor, in Lyons;

Deaths

• 1996 - American composer and conductor Morton Gould, age 82, in Orlando, Fla.

Premieres

• 1727 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 52 ("Ich habe genug") performed on the Feast of the Purification as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1744 - Handel: oratorio “Semele,” in London (Julian date: Feb. 10);

• 1749 - Handel: oratorio “Susanna” in London (Julian date: Feb. 10);

• 1886 - Mussorgsky (arr. Rimsky-Korsakov): opera “Khovanschchina,” posthumously, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Feb. 9);

• 1907 - Delius: opera, "A Village Romeo and Juliet," in Berlin;

• 1909 - Liadov: “Enchanted Lake” for orchestra, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Feb. 8);

• 1917 - Rachmaninoff: “Etudes-tableaux,” Op. 39 (Gregorian date: March 6);

• 1920 - Milhaud: ballet "Le Boeuf sur la toît," in Paris;

• 1929 - Respighi: orchestral suite, "Roman Festivals," by the New York Philharmonic, Toscanini conducting;

• 1946 - Roy Harris: "Memories of a Child's Sunday," by the New York Philharmonic with the composer conducting;

• 1948 - Cowell: Suite for Woodwind Quintet, by an ensemble at the McMillan Theater of Columbia University in New York City; This work was written in 1933 for the French flutist Georges Barrère, but the score and parts remained lost until 1947.