"Tombeaux" by Ravel and Daugherty

Synopsis

Maurice Ravel’s orchestral suite "Le Tombeau de Couperin" was premiered in Paris this day in 1920. It had started out as a suite of solo piano pieces, intended as a tribute to the great French Baroque composer François Couperin—or, as Ravel wrote, “not so much to Couperin himself, as to 18th-century French music in general.” Although the French word “tombeau” translates literally as “tomb,” it also signifies a musical piece paying tribute to a past master, in the English sense of “in memoriam.”

As it turned out, Ravel’s piece would become a memorial not only to Couperin, but to seven of his friends killed during World War I. His original work on the piece began in 1914, but was interrupted by his service as an ambulance driver during the war. He returned to it after being discharged in 1917. Each movement was dedicated to a friend or two killed in battle.

Although the “tombeau” as a musical form has been associated almost exclusively with French composers, a contemporary American composer has used the idea as well, albeit with a more lighthearted spirit. His “Tombeau de Liberace” makes reference to the late pianist and showman, a kitschy icon of 20th century American pop culture.

Michael Daugherty says, “Starting from the vernacular idiom, I have composed ‘Le Tombeau de Liberace’ as a meditation on the American sublime: a lexicon of forbidden music. It is a piano concertino in four movements, each creating a distinct Liberace atmosphere.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) Le tombeau de Couperin Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, cond. Teldec 74006

On This Day

Births

• 1876 - American composer John Alden Carpenter, in Park Ridge, Illinois;

Premieres

• 1688 - M.-A. Charpentier: opera "David et Jonathas," in Paris;

• 1728 - Handel: opera “Siroe, re di Persia” (Julian date: Feb. 17);

• 1862 - Gounod: opera "La Reine de Saba" (The Queen of Sheba), in Paris;

• 1888 - Tchaikovsky: “Pezzo capriccioso” for cello and orchestra, in Paris;

• 1898 - Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 2 (Gregorian date: Mar. 12);

• 1904 - d'Indy: Symphony No. 2 in Paris;

• 1912 - Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 ("Sinfonia espansiva" & Violin Concerto (with soloist Emil Telmányi), in Copenhagen, with the composer conducting;

• 1920 - Ravel: orchestral suite "Le Tombeau de Couperin," at a Pasdeloup Concert in Paris;

• 1929 - Pizzetti: "Concerto dell'estate" (Summer Concerto) by the New York Philharmonic, Arturo Toscanini conducting;

• 1936 - Roy Harris: Symphony No. 2, by the Boston Symphony & "Prelude and Fugue" for strings by the Philadelphia Orchestra;

• 1940 - Cowell: "Old American Country Set," by the Indianapolis Symphony, Fabien Sevitzky conducting;

• 1976 - Ralph Shapey: oratorio "Praise" in Chicago;

• 1991 - John Harbison: Symphony No. 3, by the Baltimore Symphony, David Zinman conducting;

• 1994 - George Tsontakis: "Winter Lightning" (No. 4 of "Four Symphonic Quartets" after poems by T.S. Eliot), by the Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz conducting;

Others

• 1739 - London music publisher John Walsh the younger issues Handel’s Trio Sonatas, Op. 5 (Gregorian date: Mar. 11);

• 1874 - American premiere of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, at New York's Academy of Music, by the Theodore Thomas Orchestra; Thomas also introduced this concerto to Cincinnati (May 19, 1882) and Chicago (Feb. 5, 1892);

• 1882 - The Royal College of Music is founded in London.