Mozart in New York

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) The Magic Flute Overture Capella Istropolitana; Barry Wordsworth, cond. Naxos 8.550185

On This Day

Births

• 1683 - German composer Johann David Heinichen, in Krüssuln;

• 1774 - Bohemian composer Jan Václav Tomášek (Johann Wenzel Tomaschek), in Skutec;

• 1897 - Norwegian composer Harald Saeverud, in Bergen;

Deaths

• 1790 - American statesman, scientist, amateur musician and composer Benjamin Franklin, age 84, in Philadelphia;

• 2002 - Canadian composer and conductor Srul Irving Glick, age 67, in Toronto;

Premieres

• 1918 - Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 4 and Two Sonatinas, Op. 54, in Petrograd, by the composer;

• 1941 - Edward Joseph Collins: ”Lament and Jig"for orchestra, by the Chicago Symphony, Frederick Stock conducting;

• 1964 - Rozsa: "Notturno Ungherese," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1965 - Stravinsky: "Variations (Aldous Huxley in memoriam)" and "Introitus (T.S. Eliot in memoriam)" in Chicago, conducted by Robert Craft;

• 1998 - Libby Larsen: "Songs of Light and Love" (poems by May Sarton), in Philadelphia, by soprano Benita Valente and the Network for New Music;

• 2003 - Gubaidulina: " The Light of the End"for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, with Kurt Masur conducting;

Others

• 1833 - American premiere of Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" (sung in English), at the Park Theatre in New York City;

• 1849 - Gottschalk's formal début at the Salle Pleyel in Paris (He had had performed his first recital there on April 2, 1845, with Chopin in the audience); He performs some of his own compositions and is hailed as the first authentic composer of the New World;

• 1906 - On tour in San Francisco with the Metropolitan Opera touring company, the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso sings a performace of Bizet's "Carmen" the day before the Great San Francisco Earthquake;