thoven, Bonaparte, and "Fidelio" in Vienna

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Overture and Prisoner's Chorus, fr Fidelio Dresden Opera Chorus and Orchestra; Bernard Haitink, cond. Philips 438 496

On This Day

Births

• 1873 - American composer Daniel Gregory Mason, in Brookline, Massachusetts;

• 1942 - American composer and singer Meredith (Jane) Monk, in Lima, Peru;

Deaths

• 1518 - French-Flemish composer Pierre de la Rue, age ca. 66, in Courtrai (Kortrijk);

• 1758 - Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman, age, near Kalmar;

• 1894 - Russian composer Anton Rubinstein, age 64, in age 64; Peterhof (now Petrodvorets), near St. Petersburg (Julian date: Nov. 8);

• 1927 - Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar, age 56, in Stockholm;

• 1950 - Italian opera composer Francesco Cilea, age 84, in d'Varazze, near Savona;

Premieres

• 1805 - Beethoven: opera "Fidelio" (1st version, with the "Leonore" Overture No. 2), in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien;

• 1866 - Brahms: String Sextet in G, Op. 36, in Zürich, Swizterland (European premiere); The Brahms biographer and scholar Jan Swafford says the work's world premiere public performance occurred a few days earlier in Boston, at a concert by the Mendelssohn Quintet Club on November 11 that same year;

• 1889 - Mahler: Symphony No. 1, by the Budapest Philharmonic, with the composer conducting;

• 1891 - Loeffler: “Les Veilees d l’Ukraine” Suite, by the Boston Symphony, Arthur Nikisch conducting;

• 1911 - Mahler: "Das Lied von der Erde"(posthumously) in Munich, conductor Bruno Walter;

• 1925 - Copland: "Music for the Theatre," by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1949 - Vaughan Williams: "An Oxford Elegy," in Dorking;

• 1952 - Roy Harris: Symphony No. 7 (first version), by the Chicago Symphony, with Rafael Kubelik conducting;

• 1964 - Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 9 and 10, in Moscow, by the Beethoven Quartet;

• 1986 - Michael Torke: “Green,” by the Milwaukee Symphony, Lukas Foss conducting;

• 1987 - John Harbison: String Quartet No. 2, at Jordan Hall in Boston, by the Emerson String Quartet;