Mr. Copland (and Mrs. Kennedy)

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) Connotations New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, cond. Sony 47236

On This Day

Births

• 1899 - American composer William Levi Dawson, in Anniston, Ala.;

• 1920 - Armenian composer Alexander Arutiunian, in Yerevan; His Trumpet Concerto, composed in 1950, is his best-known work;

• 1926 - American composer and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, in Hamlet, N.C.;

• 1928 - American pianist and composer Robert Helps, in Passaic, New Jersey;

Deaths

• 1835 - Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini, age 33, in Puteaux (near Paris);

• 2006 - British composer Sir Malcolm Arnold, age 84, in Norfolk county, eastern England;

Premieres

• 1777 - Gluck: opera, "Armide," at the Académie Royale in Paris;

• 1913 - Charles Wakefield Cadman: Piano Trio in D, at a private home in Denver; The first public performance took place the following month in Minneapolis;

• 1958 - Stravinsky: "Threni," at San Rocco in Venice, by the North German Radio Orchestra of Hamburg (who had commissioned the work), conducted by the composer;

• 1962 - Copland: "Connotations" for Orchestra, at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) during the opening season of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein; This concert, televised by CBS, also included the "Gloria" from Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" and the first movement ("Veni, creator spiritus") from Mahler's Symphony No.8;

• 1965 - Diamond: "Elegies" for Flute, English Horn, and Strings, by Murray Panitz (flute), Louis Rosenblatt (English horn), and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1990 - James MacMillan: "Sowetan Spring" for winds, at the Glasgow Hospitality Inn by the winds of the Royal Scottish Orchestra, John Paynter conducting.