The Girl Gershwin

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1909, the American composer and pianist Nadine Dana Suesse was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

Now, maybe you don’t recognize her name, but you probably know some of her music, especially if you’re fond of old movies. After all, she wrote popular song, “You oughta be in pictures”—supposedly dashing that off in 15 minutes flat with Edward Heyman, her favorite lyricist, as the result of a dare.

While still a child, Suesse toured Midwest vaudeville circuits with an act centered on dancing and piano playing. Dana would ask the audience for a theme, and then transform it into an original tune of her own. In 1926, she and her mother moved to New York City. She studied piano with Alexander Siloti, Liszt's last surviving pupil, and composition under Rubin Goldmark, one of Gershwin's teachers. Gershwin himself became one of her best friends and champions, and in the early 1930s The New Yorker magazine dubbed her the “Girl Gershwin.”

She composed for musicals and movies, and after World War II she spent three years in Paris studying with Nadia Boulanger, famous as the teacher of American composers ranging from Aaron Copland to Philip Glass. Boulanger had accepted Suesse as a student on the recommendation of Dana’s tennis partner, the composer and orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett.

On December 11, 1974, Suesse produced a symphony concert at Carnegie Hall, devoted exclusively to her own compositions, and continued to compose right up to the time of her death in 1987.

Music Played in Today's Program

Dana Suesse Jazz Nocturne Hot Springs Music Festival Sym; Richard Rosenberg, cond. Naxos 8.559647

On This Day

Births

• 1729 - Baptism of Spanish composer and organist, Padre Antonio Soler, in Olot;

• 1883 - Austrian composer Anton Webern, in Vienna;

• 1914 - American composer Irving Fine, in Boston;

• 1938 - Uruguayan-born American composer and conductor, José Serebrier, in Montevideo;

Deaths

• 1866 - Bohemian composer Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, age 65, in Karlsruhe, Germany;

• 1876 - German opera composer Hermann Goetz, age 35, in Hottingen, near Zurich, Switzerland;

• 1941 - Norwegian composer Christian Sinding, age 85, in Oslo;

• 1978 - American composer William Grant Still, age 83, in Los Angeles;

Premieres

• 1712 - Handel: opera “Il pastor fido,” in London (Julian date: Nov. 22);

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 62 ("Nun komm der Heiden Heiland" I) performed on the 1st Sunday in Advent as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1739 - Handel: “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day,” in London (Julian date: Nov. 22);

• 1740 - Handel: opera “Imeneo” in London (Julian date: Nov. 22);

• 1908 - Elgar: Symphony No. 1, at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England, with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter;

• 1913 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 (Gregorian date: Dec. 16);

• 1913 - Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 2, in Vienna;

• 1925 - Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F, at Carnegie Hall in New York, with the composer as soloist and the New York Symphony conducted by Walter Damrosch;

• 1931 - Edward Joseph Collins: Piano Concerto No. 2 in a (“Concert Piece”), by the Chicago Symphony, Frederick Stock conducting and the composer as soloist;

• 1943 - Hanson: Symphony No. 4 ("Requiem"), with the Boston Symphony conducted by the composer; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1944;

• 1949 - Grofé: "Death Valley" Suite, at Desolation Canyon, Calif., by the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by the composer;

• 1953 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 4, in Moscow, by the Beethoven Quartet;

• 1954 - Barber: oratorio “Prayers of Kierkegaard” for soloists, chorus and orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1954 - Walton: opera "Troilus and Cressida," at Covent Garden in London;

• 1958 - Colin McPhee: "Nocturne" for orchestra, by Lepold Stokowski and "his orchestra"';

• 1963 - Copland: ballet "Dance Panels," in Munich;

• 1992 - John Harbison: Oboe Concerto, with soloist William Bennett and the San Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blomstedt conducting;

Others

• 1721 - J.S. Bach (age 36) marries his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wülken (age 20) at Cöthen;