The Eastman Wind Ensemble's first concert

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1953, Frederick Fennell conducted the first concert of the Eastman Wind Ensemble at Kilbourn Hall on the campus of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Fennell had an idea for a new kind of symphonic band: more like an expanded wind section of a symphony orchestra than a traditional marching band. No “76 trombones,” in other words. Fennell wanted greater clarity and focus, so he assembled around 40 hand-picked musicians. “I chose the best students, the best solo performers, and the best ensemble players I could,” he later recalled.

The Ensemble’s 1953 debut program opened with a classic work: Mozart’s Wind Serenade No. 10 in B-flat. Fifty years later, the Ensemble’s Gala Anniversary concert opened with the very same piece. In the course of those 50 years, the Eastman Ensemble had become famous worldwide as a leading exponent of the wind ensemble repertory, aided by their influential series of LP and CD recordings.

The Eastman Wind Ensemble expanded the repertory by inviting composers to write new works for them, and, over time, many of these became classics in their own right. Even so, Mozart’s Serenade in Bb remained a very special work for the group—in fact, the opening measures of Mozart’s score are etched upon the sign designating the Ensemble’s home at Eastman.

Music Played in Today's Program

W. A. Mozart (1756 - 1791) Serenade No. 10 in Bb, K. 361 Eastman Wind Ensemble; Frederick Fennell, cond. Mercury 434 399

On This Day

Births

• 1741 - Belgian-born French composer André Grétry, in Liège;

• 1932 - American composer and conductor John Williams, in New York City;

Deaths

• 1709 - Italian composer Giuseppe Torelli, age 50, in Bologna;

• 1909 - Polish composer Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, age 32, near Zakopane, Tatra Mountains;

Premieres

• 1874 - Mussorgsky: opera “Boris Godunov”, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, with bass Ivan Melnikov in the title role, and Eduard Napravnik conducting; This was the composer’s own revised, nine-scene version of the opera, which originally consisted of just seven scenes (Julian date: Jan.27);

• 1897 - Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 1 (Gregorian date: Feb. 20);

• 1904 - Sibelius: Violin Concerto (first version), in Helsinki, by the Helsingsfors Philharmonic conducted by the composer, with Victor Novácek as soloist; The revised and final version of this concerto premiered in Berlin on October 19, 1905, conducted by Richard Strauss and with Karl Halir the soloist;

• 1907 - Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1 in Vienna, with the Rosé Quartet and members of the Vienna Philharmonic;

• 1908 - Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in St. Petersburg, with the composer conducting (Julian date: Jan. 26);

• 1909 - Liadov: “Enchanted Lake” (Gregorian date: Feb. 21);

• 1910 - Webern: Five Movements, Op. 5, for string quartet, in Vienna;

• 1925 - Cowell: "Ensemble" (original version for strings and 3 "thunder-sticks"), at a concert sponsored by the International Composers' Guild at Aeolian Hall in New York, by an ensemble led by Vladimir Shavitch that featured the composer and two colleagues on "thunder-sticks" (an American Indian instrument also known as the "bull-roarer"); Also on program was the premiere of William Grant Still's "From the Land of Dreams" for three voices and chamber orchestra (his first concert work, now lost, dedicated to his teacher, Edgard Varèse);

• 1925 - Miaskovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7, in Moscow;

• 1934 - Virgil Thomson: opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" (libretto by Gertrude Stein), in Hartford, Conn.;

• 1942 - Stravinsky: "Danses concertantes," by the Werner Janssen Orchestra of Los Angeles, with the composer conducting;

• 1946 - Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 (completed by Tibor Serly after the composer's death), by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting and György Sándor as the soloist;

• 1959 - Elie Siegmeister: Symphony No. 3, in Oklahoma City;

• 1963 - Benjamin Lees: Violin Concerto, by the Boston Symphony, with Erich Leinsdorf conducting and Henryk Szeryng the soloist;

• 1966 - Lou Harrison: "Symphony on G" (revised version), at the Cabrillo Music Festival by the Oakland Symphony, Gerhard Samuel condicting;

• 1973 - Crumb: "Makrokosmos I" for amplified piano, in New York;

• 1985 - Earle Brown: "Tracer," for six instruments and four-track tape, in Berlin;

• 1986 - Daniel Pinkham: Symphony No. 3, by the Plymouth (Mass.) Philharmonic, Rudolf Schlegel conducting;

• 2001 - Sierra: "Concerto for Orchestra," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting;

Others

• 1875 - American composer Edward MacDowell admitted to the Paris Conservatory;

• 1877 - German-born (and later American) composer Charles Martin Loeffler admitted to the Paris Conservatory;

• 1880 - German opera composer Richard Wagner writes a letter to his American dentist, Dr. Newell Still Jenkins, stating "I do no regard it as impossible that I decide to emigrate forever to America with my latest work ["Parsifal"] and my entire family" if the Americans would subsidize him to the tune of one million dollars.