Romantic themes by Tchaikovsky and others

Synopsis

Today is St. Valentine’s day, one of the most popular of all saints’ days—not for any religious reasons, but because it has been associated for centuries with love and romance.

It was a nice touch for Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai to get his new opera, “Giulietta e Romeo,” based on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” premiered in Rome on Valentine’s Day 1922. Today, Zandonai’s music is seldom heard outside of Italy, but the classic story of Romeo and Juliet has attracted a remarkable number of different musical settings.

Many other operas on “Romeo and Juliet” have been written; the most famous being that by the French composer Charles Gounod, first staged in 1867. First runner-up, some distance away, is probably Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” of 1830.

It’s intriguing to speculate what might have been if Tchaikovsky had ever followed through on his idea to write his own “Romeo and Juliet” opera. He made a few sketches, but instead of an opera he turned to the idea of a symphonic “fantasy-overture.” That became one of his most beloved concert pieces and is often quoted in movies and TV commercials as an instantly recognizable musical cue for love and romance.

Music Played in Today's Program

Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893) Romeo et Juliette Overture Munich Radio Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, cond. BMG 68440

Peter Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture Philadelphia Orchestra; Eugene Ormandy, cond. CBS/Sony 45736

On This Day

Births

• 1602 - Italian opera composer Francesco Cavalli, in Crema;

• 1778 - Baptism of Catalan composer and guitarist Fernando Sor, in Barcelona;

• 1813 - Russian composer Alexander Dargomizhsky, in Troitskoye, Tula district (Julian date: Feb. 2);

• 1882 - Polish composer and pianist Ignaz Friedman, in Podgorze, near Kraków;

Premieres

• 1829 - Bellini: opera "La Straniera" (The Stranger), in Milan;

• 1880 - Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in c, Op. 15, in Paris at a concert of the Société Nationale de la Musqique Français;

• 1915 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 3 (Gregorian date: Feb. 27);

• 1920 - Erik Satie: "Socrate," in Paris;

• 1922 - Zandonai: opera "Giulietta e Romeo" (Romeo and Juliet), in Rome;

• 1932 - Goldschmidt: opera "Der gewaltige Hahnrei" (The Magnificent Cuckold), in Mannheim at the National Theater;

• 1940 - Cage: "Second Construction," for four percussionists, in Portland, Ore.;

• 1953 - Orff: "Trionfo di Afrodite" (Triumph of Aphrodite), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; Note -- this premiere date is often listed (incorrectly) as Feb. 13, 1953, in many reference works and CD booklet notes;

Others

• 1865 - American premiere of J.S. Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 7 in G minor, at Boston's Chickering Hall, with Benjamin J. Lang at the piano, accompanied by members of the Mendelssohn Quintet Club; The Feb. 18 edition of Dwight's Journal commented: "A novelty, a quaint one, and as it proved quite captivating . . . Mr. Lang played it with delicacy and nicety, entering into the lightsome, racy humor of it . . . After this experiment, may we not say that the Bach bug-bear is already vanishing?";

• 1911 - Gustav Mahler conducts the New York Philharmonic in a program featuring new music by British (Elgar, Standford) and American (Chadwick, Loeffler, MacDowell and Hadley) composers.