Mickey's "Band Concert"

Synopsis

OK, everyone who was introduced to classical music via cartoons, please raise your hand.

Ah, I see we have a quorum… and so we note that on today’s date in 1935, a classic Disney cartoon entitled “The Band Concert” was released that incorporated not one, but two famous opera overtures, both conducted by Mickey Mouse.

The first, over the title credits, was the Overture to “Zampa” by the French composer Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold. That opera premiered in Paris back in 1831, was tremendously popular for a time, but then was pretty much totally forgotten, except for its zippy overture.

The recording we’re hearing was made by the great Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, who was such a big fan of Disney’s 1935 cartoon that he saw it six times, and even invited Walt Disney to his home in Italy to thank him. Who knows, maybe Mickey’s rendition even influenced the maestro’s?

The centerpiece of the 1935 Disney cartoon was Mickey’s valiant attempt to conduct the Overture to Rossini’s opera “William Tell,” another work that premiere in Paris, just two years earlier than Herold’s “Zampa. “

In the Disney cartoon, Mickey’s performance is jeopardized by a trumpet-playing pig, whose wide vibrato annoys Mickey. Toscanini, when confronted by a musician whose performance he did not like, was wont to fly into a rage and shout “porcheria” at the offender, bluntly suggesting the sound was pig slop, not music.

Pure coincidence? Here at DATEBOOK, we report… YOU decide.

Music Played in Today's Program

L.J.F. Herold (1791 - 1833) Zampa Overture NBC Symphony; Arturo Toscanini, cond

GioachinoRossini (1792 - 1868) William Tell Overture NBC Symphony; Arturo Toscanini, cond

On This Day

Births

• 1648 - (or possibly 1649) Baptismal date of English composer and organist John Blow, in Newark, Nottinghamshire;

• 1685 - German-born British composer George Frideric Handel, as "Georg Friedrich Händel," in Halle (Saxony);

• 1900 - American composer Elinor Remick Warren, in Los Angeles;

• 1920 - American composer Hall Overton, in Bangor, Michigan;

Deaths

• 1704 - Austrian composer and organist Georg Muffat, age 50, in Passau, Germany;

• 1934 - English composer Sir Edward Elgar, age 76, in Worcester;

• 1983 - English composer Henry Howells, age 90, in London;

Premieres

• 1732 - Handel: oratorio “Esther” in London at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, by an ensemble including the Children of the Chapel Royal, on the occasion (in England) of Handel’s 47th birthday (Gregorian date: Mar. 5);

• 1835 - Halévy: opera "La Juive" (The Jewess), at the Paris Opéra;

• 1854 - Liszt: symphonic poem, "Les Préludes," in Weimar, conducted by the composer;

• 1882 - Chadwick: Symphony No. 1, by the Boston Symphony;

• 1903 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Preludes Nos. 1, 2, and 5, from Op. 23 and “Variations on a Theme of Chopin,” Op. 22, in Moscow, by the composer (Julian date: Feb. 10);

• 1913 - Schoenberg: "Gurre-Lieder," in Vienna;

• 1916 - Griffes: "White Peacock" for piano, by Winifred Christie in New York City;

• 1923 - Ernest Schelling: "A Victory Ball," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting;

• 1945 - Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 12 for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony with the composer conducting;

• 1956 - Leon Kirchner: Piano Concerto No. 1, in New York City, composer at the piano;

• 1962 - Stravinsky: "A Sermon, A Narrative and A Prayer," in Basle(Switzerland), conducted by Paul Sacher (to whom the work is dedicated).