Bernstein gets a "Presidential" title

Synopsis

It’s something of a parlor game for historians of the American presidency to constantly reappraise the status of past occupants of the Oval Office. For example, some recent historians have given President Dwight D. Eisenhower higher marks than others for his political accomplishments in the White House. But not even Eisenhower’s most vocal admirers would credit his administration with a particularly ardent passion for the fine arts.

In the spring of 1960, conductor Leonard Bernstein performed a concert in Washington D.C. attended by President Eisenhower, who thanked Bernstein with these words, “I liked that last piece you played; it’s got a tune. I like music with a tune, not all of them arias and barcarolles and things.”

Bernstein never forgot the phrase. In fact, he even titled one of HIS last pieces “Arias and Barcarolles.” Originally written in 1988 for vocal soloists and piano four-hands, one of Bernstein’s protégés, the Chinese-born composer Bright Sheng, orchestrated the work with Bernstein’s approval, and that version of “Arias and Barcarolles” premiered on today’s date in 1989. “Arias and Barcarolles” is a semi-autobiographical song-cycle dedicated to Bernstein’s friends and family, a sometimes humorous, sometimes touching summing-up of Bernstein’s life and career.

Music Played in Today's Program

Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990) arr. Bright Sheng Arias and Barcarolles Jane Bunnell, mezzo-soprano; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, cond. Delos 3078

On This Day

Births

• 1875 - Lithuanian composer Mikolajus Ciurlionis, in Varena (then the Kaunas province of the Russian Empire; Julian date: Sept. 10);

• 1933 - Spanish composer Leonardo Balada, in Barcelona;

• 1961 - American composer Michael Torke, in Milwaukee, Wisc.;

Deaths

• 1989 - American song composer Irving Berlin, age 101, in New York City;

Premieres

• 1869 - Wagner: opera, "Das Rheingold," in Munich at the Hoftheater, Franz Wüllner conducting; The opera was performed at the Bavarian emperor Ludwig II's request, but against the composer's wishes;

• 1938 - Webern: String Quartet, Op. 28, at South Mountain, Pittsfield, Mass., during the Berkshire Chamber Music Festival; This work was commissioned for $750 by the American music patron, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge;

• 1964 - Jerry Bock: musical "Fiddler On the Roof" opens on Broadway: It would run for 3,242 performances before closing;

• 1971 - Barber: "The Lovers" for solo voice and chorus (after a poem by Pablo Neruda), in Philadelphia;

• 1989 - Bernstein: "Arias and Barcarolles" (orchestrated version prepared by Bright Sheng), at the Tilles Center of Long Island University with the New York Chamber Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz and featuring vocalists Susan Graham and Kurt Ollmann; The first version of this work, for soloists and piano four-hands, premiered on May 9, 1988, at Equitable Center Auditorium in New York City;

• 1990 - James MacMillan: "The Beserking" (Piano Concerto), at Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow by pianist Peter Donohoue and the Royal Scottish Orchestra, Matthias Bamert conducting;

• 1990 - Christopher Rouse: "Jagannath" for orchestra, by the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach conducting;

• 2000 - Philip Glass: “Tirol Concerto” for piano and orchestra, by Dennis Russell Davies (piano and conductor) with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, at the 7th annual Klangspuren Festival in Schwaz, Tirol (Austria);

• 2000 - Zwilich: "Millennium Fantasy" for piano and orchestra, by the Cincinnati Symphony, Jesús Lopez-Cobos conducting with soloist Jeffrey Biegel;

Others

• 1937 - During the Spanish Civil War, Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas conducts his 1935 composition “Homage to Federico Garcia Lorca” in Madrid while the city was under siege by Spanish fascist forces; The Spanish poet Lorca had been killed by the Falangists;