Beethoven arrives?

Synopsis

When Beethoven left his home town of Bonn in 1792, he had with him an album in which his patron, Count Waldstein, had written: "You are going to Vienna in fulfillment of your long frustrated wishes… You will receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn."

In Vienna, Beethoven did study with Haydn, as well as Antonio Salieri. To the older composers, the 20-something Beethoven must have come off as an immensely talented, but hopelessly stubborn and downright arrogant young pup. The Italian Salieri tried to teach him to write gracefully and efficiently for the human voice, but any soprano tackling the lead role in Beethoven's "Fidelio" or heading the quartet of vocal soloists in Beethoven's 9th will testify how cruel, rather than kind, Beethoven can be when comes to accommodating singers–and when Haydn suggested the young man bill himself in print as "a pupil of Haydn," Beethoven disdained this prudent marketing suggestion, grumbling that he had "never learned anything from him."

Well, on today's date in 1797, we note the first documented performance in Vienna of Beethoven's Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 16, a work for piano, clarinet, oboe, horn, and bassoon, obviously modeled on Mozart's Quintet for the same instruments and in the same key. It's clear to anyone who hears the two works that from the spirit of Mozart, at least, Beethoven did learn a thing or two—and didn't mind who noticed it.

Music Played in Today's Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) Quintet in Eb for Piano and Winds, Op. 16

On This Day

Births

• 1660 - German composer and organist Johann Kuhnau, in Geising Erzgebirge; He was Bach's predecessor as cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig;

• 1672 - Baptismal date of French composer André Cardinal Destouches, in Paris;

• 1815 - German composer Friedrich Robert Volkman, in Lommatzsch, near Dresden;

• 1885 - French-born American composer and harpist Carlos Salzedo, in Arcachon;

• 1887 - Rumanian opera composer Nicolas Bretan, in Nasaud;

• 1921 - American composer Andrew Imbrie, in New York City;

• 1929 - Soviet composer Edison Denisov, in Tomak; His engineer father named him after Thomas Edison;

• 1929 - German-born American composer, pianist and conductor, André Previn, in Berlin;

Deaths

• 1971 - Russian-born American composer Igor Stravinsky, age 88, in New York City;

Premieres

• 1731 - Handel: opera "Rindalo" (2nd version), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: April 17);

• 1735 - Handel: Organ Concerto Op. 4, no. 5 (Julian date: March 26);

• 1797 - Beethoven: possible public premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Winds, Op. 16, at a Schuppanzig concert in Vienna;

• 1892 - Dvorak: Symphony No. 4 in d, in Prague;

• 1900 - Amy Beach: Piano Concerto in c#, by the Boston Symphony with Wilhelm Gericke conducting and the composer as soloist;

• 1945 - Randall Thompson: "The Testament of Freedom" (to texts by Thomas Jefferson) for men's chorus and orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting; This was the first performance with orchestra; The world premiere (with piano accompaniment) had taken place at the University of Virginia on April 13, 1943;

• 1964 - Stravinsky: "Elegy for J.F.K.," in Los Angeles, conducted by Robert Craft;

• 1967 - Miklós Rózsa: Piano Concerto, by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with Leonard Pennario as soloist.