Messiaen in Boston

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1949, Leonard Bernstein conducted the Boston Symphony in the first complete performance of Olivier Messiaen’s ten-movement, 75-minute long “Turangalila” Symphony.

“Turangalila” is the Sanskrit word for love, and Messiaen’s score is meant to be a voluptuous evocation of the emotion at its most exalted state. In addition to a huge percussion battery, Messiaen’s score calls for an electronic keyboard instrument known as the “Ondes Martenot,” whose tones fans describe as “haunting,” but foes liken to the sound of a musical saw.

Messiaen had spent the summer of 1949 as composer-in-residence at Tanglewood at the invitation of the great Russian conductor and new music impresario, Serge Koussevitzky, who was also Bernstein’s mentor. Before arriving in Tanglewood, Messiaen had written to Bernstein as follows: “I am 41 years old and I have put into my symphony all of my strengths of love, of hope and of musical research. But I know you are a man of genius and that you will conduct it the way I feel it.”

The exotic French score was a modest success in Massachusetts. At least it provoked no riot, but then, as the Christian Science Monitor noted: “If Bostonians suffer, they suffer in silence.” When Bernstein and the Boston Symphony took the new score to New York’s Carnegie Hall, however, critical reaction ranged from “a really rousing experience” to “the trashiest Hollywood composers have met their match.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) Turangalila Symphony Concertgebouw Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, cond. London 436 626

On This Day

Births

• 1866 - American baritone and composer Henry Thacker Burleigh, in Stamford, Conn.;

• 1879 - Bohemian-born American operetta composer Rudolf Friml, in Prague;

Deaths

• 1916 - Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti, age 70, in Rome;

• 1931 - French composer Vincent d'Indy, age 80, in Paris;

• 1990 - American composer Aaron Copland, age 90, in North Tarrytown, N.Y.;

Premieres

• 1729 - Handel: opera "Lotario," in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: Dec. 13);

• 1840 - Donizetti: opera "La Favorite," at the Paris Opéra;

• 1883 - Brahms: Symphony No. 3, with Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Hans Richter; The composer and pianist Ignaz Brüll had performed a two-piano arrangement of this symphony the previous month at two private events for friends (including possibly the Viennese music critic, Eduard Hanslick);

• 1886 - Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A, Op. 100, in Vienna;

• 1877 - Saint-Saëns: opera "Samson et Dalila" (in German), in Weimar at the Hoftheater;

• 1900 - Rachmaninoff: second and third movements only of Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 (Gregorian date: Dec. 15);

• 1901 - Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata, Op. 19, in Moscow, by cellist Anatoly Brandukov, with the composer at the piano (Gregorian date: Dec. 15);

• 1924 - Sigmund Romberg: "The Student Prince," in New York City;

• 1928 - Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 3, in Vienna;

• 1928 - Schoenberg: "Variations for Orchestra," in Berlin;

• 1946 - Milhaud: Symphony No. 2, by the Boston Symphony with the composer conducting;

• 1949 - Bartók: Viola Concerto (completed by Tibor Serly), posthumously, by violist William Primrose and the Minneapolis Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting;

• 1949 - premiere of MGM film “On the Town,” based on the 1944 musical by Leonard Bernstein;

• 1949 - Messiaen: first complete performance of "Turangalila" Symphony, by Boston Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein; Three of the ten movements of this symphony were premiered in Paris on February 15, 1948);

• 1955 - Petrassi: Concerto for Orchestra No. 5, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1955 - Ernst Toch: Symphony No. 3, by the Pittsburgh Symphony, William Steinberg conducting; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1956;

• 1970 - Tippett: opera "The Knot Garden," in London at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden;

• 1988 - John Harbison: "Fantasy Duo" for violin and piano, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with violinist David Abel and pianist Julie Steinberg;

• 1998 - Zwilich: String Quartet No. 2, at Carnegie Hall in New York by the Emerson Quartet;

• 1999 - James MacMillan: Symphony No. 2, at Ayr Town Hall in Scotland, by the Scottish Chamber Symphony, with the composer conducting;

Others

• 1717 - J.S. Bach is allowed to leave the Duke’s Court at Weimar; He had been imprisoned since Nov. 6 th by his former employer Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar for accepting a new post at Prince Leopold’s court at Cöthen without first asking permission.