Copland "Here, There and at the Fair"

Synopsis

The "Musical Events" section of The New Yorker magazine dated June 3, 1939, boasted this headline, "Mr. Copland Here, There, and at the Fair."

"Apparently there's no getting away from Mr. Copland's music," wrote The New Yorker's music critic. "He's been clicking at concerts, in films, on records, and in the theatre, and there aren't many people who'd make a point of escaping the excellent scores he's writing these days."

In the summer of 1939, you could hear Copland's music daily, at not one, but TWO venues at the New York World's Fair, where the futuristic theme was "The World of Tomorrow."

In the Science and Education Building Copland's music accompanied a documentary film entitled "The City," extolling the virtues of social engineering as the cure for urban problems. The music critic of The New Yorker had this wry comment: "The pensive optimism in the score reminds the listener that the delightful scenes which it accompanies are, for most city dwellers, still only pictures!"

In the Hall of Pharmacy, meanwhile, Copland supplied music for an elaborate puppet show entitled "From Sorcery to Science," which was in fact nothing more than an "infomercial" for some big drug companies, including the makers of Ex-Lax!

Music Played in Today's Program

Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) The City and From Sorcery to Science Eos Orchestra; Jonathan Sheffer, cond. Telarc 80583

On This Day

Births

• 1801 - Czech opera composer Franz (František) Škroup, in Osice; One of his songs was eventually used as the Czech national anthem;

• 1832 - French operetta composer Charles Lecocq, in Paris;

Deaths

• 1875 - French composer Georges Bizet, age 36, at Bougival (near Paris);

• 1899 - Austrian composer Johann Strauss, Jr., age 73, in Vienna;

• 1939 - Spanish composer and conductor Enrique Fernandez Arbos, in San Sebastian;

Premieres

• 1896 - Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5, in Paris, with the composer as soloist;

• 1915 - Chadwick: symphonic ballad "Tam O'Shanter" at the Norfolk Festival;

• 1922 - Stravinsky: opera "Marva," at the Paris Opéra;

• 1947 - Poulenc: opera "Les Mamelles de Tirésias" (The Breasts of Tiresias) in Paris at the Opéra-Comique;

• 1964 - Menotti: "Martin's Lie," at Bristol Cathedral in Bath, England;

• 1979 - Menotti: "La Loca," in San Diego, Calif.;

• 1988 - Michael Torke: "Copper" for brass quintet and orchestra, at the Midland (Michigan) Festival, with the Empire Brass and the Detroit Symphony conducted by Stephen Stein;

• 1999 - Tan Dun: "Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra (In Memory of Toru Takemitsu)," at Lincoln Center, with percussionist Christopher Lamb and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur.