Puccini's Wild West show at the Met

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) La Fanciulla del West excerpt Carol Neblett, s; Sherrill Milnes, bar; Covent Garden Opera; Zubin Mehta, cond. DG 435 407

On This Day

Births

• 1822 - Belgian composer and organist César Franck, in Liège;

• 1908 - French composer and oranist Olivier Messiaen, in Avignon;

• 1913 - American composer and conductor Morton Gould, in Richmond Hill, N.Y.;

Deaths

• 1965 - American composer Henry Cowell, age 68, in Shady, N.Y.;

Premieres

• 1825 - Boieldieu: opera "La dame blanche" (The White Lady), in Paris at the Opéra-Comique;

• 1854 - Berlioz: oratorio "L'Enfance du Christ," in Paris;

• 1886 - Chadwick: Symphony No. 2, by the Boston Symphony, with the composer conducting;

• 1895 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera "Christmas Eve," in St. Petersburg, Napravnik conducting (Julian date: Nov. 28);

• 1896 - Mussorgsky: opera "Boris Godunov" (Rimsky-Korsakov version), as a concert performance at the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (Julian date: Nov. 28);

• 1910 - Puccini: "La Fanciulla del West" (The Girl of the Golden West), in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera, with a cast including soprano Emmy Destinn and tenor Enrico Caruso, with Arturo Toscanini conducting;

• 1936 - David Diamond: "Psalm" for orchestra, in Rochester, N.Y.;

• 1937 - William Grant Still: Symphony in g, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting;

• 1950 - B.A. Zimmermann: Violin Concerto, in Baden-Baden, Germany;

• 1963 - Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish"), at Frederic Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, by Israel Philharmonic and choirs conducted by the composer, with speaker Hannah Rovina and mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel as vocal soloist;