Schoenberg's "Take Five"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951) Five Pieces, Op. 16 BBC Symphony; Pierre Boulez, cond. Sony Classical 48463

On This Day

Births

• 1568 - Italian organist and composer Adriano Banchieri, in Bologna;

• 1695 - Italian violinist and composer Pietro Locatelli, in Bergamo;

• 1891 - French composer and harpist Marcel Grandjany, in Paris;

• 1897 - Brazilian composer Francesco Mignone, in Sao Paolo;

Deaths

• 1914 - French composer Alberic Magnard, age 49, killed by German soldiers while defending his house in Baron, Oise;

• 1974 - American composer, performer and instrument inventor Harry Partch, age 73, in San Diego, Calif.;

• 1987 - American composer Morton Feldman, age 61, in Buffalo, New York;

Premieres

• 1906 - Victor Herbert: operetta, "The Red Mill," during trial run in Buffalo, N.Y.;

• 1912 - Schoenberg: "Five Orchestral Pieces," at a Proms concert in London, conducted by Sir Henry Wood;

• 1931 - Ives: "Washington's Birthday," at the Community Playhouse in San Francisco, presented by composer Henry Cowell's New Music Society; with a chamber ensemble conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky;

• 1938 - Jon Leifs: "Loftr" Suite, at a Nordic Music Festival concert in Copenhagen conducted by the composer;

• 1944 - Hindemith: Theme and Variations ("The Four Temperaments"), in Boston, conducted by Richard Burgin;

• 1949 - Bloch: "Concerto Symphonique" at the Edinburgh Music Festival, with the BBC Scottish Symphony conducted by the composer.

Others

• 1806 - Beethoven writes to his publisher that he has completed his three "Rasoumovsky" String Quartets (Op. 59); The premiere performances were given in February the following year, probably by Ignaz Schuppazigh's quartet, at an unknown site in Vienna, since Rasoumovsky's palace was not yet ready.