Giannini's Symphony No. 3

Synopsis

On today's date in 1959, the Duke University Band, under its conductor Paul Bryan, gave the official premiere performance of a new work they had commissioned: the Symphony No. 3 for concert band by the American composer, Vittorio Giannini, a noted composer of vocal music including songs and operas.

With the growth of concert bands in the 1950's, and success of high-profile performing ensembles like Frederick Fennell's Eastman Wind Ensemble, composers like Giannini started getting commissions to write new works for these groups to play. In all, Giannini wrote five pieces for concert band, with his Symphony No. 3 the biggest and best known of the lot.

Paul Bryan and Duke University were certainly pleased with the new work. Its resounding success encouraged other band directors to continue persuading prominent composers to create serious works for wind band–and, in one fell swoop, the Duke Band achieved national recognition for its initiative.

As for Giannini, in his later years he turned to teaching a younger generation of composers, first in New York City at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, then in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute, and finally at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he served as that institution's first president. Giannini students included a number of successful composers, including David Amram, John Corigliano, Nicolas Flagello, Adolphus Hailstork, and Alfred Reed.

Music Played in Today's Program

Vittorio Giannini (1903 - 1966) Symphony No. 3 University of Houston Wind Ensemble; Tom Bennett, cond. Naxos 8.570130

On This Day

Births

• 1864 - Scottish-born German composer and pianist Eugéne d'Albert, in Glasgow;

• 1892 - Italian composer and conductor Victor de Sabata, in Trieste;

Deaths

• 1911 - Lithuanian painter and composer Mikolajus Konstantinas Ciurlionis, age 35, in Pustelnik-Minski, near Warsaw (Julian date March 28);

Premieres

• 1868 - Brahms: "A German Requiem," at a Good Friday concert at Bremen Cathedral conducted by the composer;

• 1886 - Chabrier: opera "Gwendoline," in Brussels;

• 1913 - Montemezzi: opera "L'Amore dei tre re" (The Love Three Kings), in Milan at the Teatro della Scala, with Tullio Serafin conducting;

• 1919 - Fauré: "Masques et bergamasques" (Masks and Bergamascas), in Monte Carlo;

• 1927 - Antheil: "A Jazz Symphony," at Carnegie Hall in New York, by members of the W.C. Handy with the composer at the piano;

• 1935 - Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4, in London, by the BBC Symphony, Sir Adrian Boult conducting;

• 1936 - Carlos Chavez: "Sinfonia India," by the Boston Symphony with the composer conducting;

• 1963 - Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata, at Carnegie Hall (posthumously) with clarinetist Benny Goodman and pianist Leonard Bernstein;

• 1984 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: "Prologue and Variations" for strings, by the Chattanooga Symphony, Richard Cormier conducting;

• 1988 - Joan Tower: Clarinet Concerto, with soloist Charles Neidich and the American Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Mester conducting;

• 1992 - Michael Torke: "Music on the Floor," for chamber ensemble, in Milwaukee, Wisc., by the Present Music ensemble, Kevin Stalheim conducting;

• 1996 - Stanislaw Skrowaczewski: "Passacaglia Immaginaria," in Minneapolis by the Minnesota Orchestra, Eiji Oue conducting.

• 2005 - Gabriela Lena Frank: “Ghosts in the Dream Machine” for piano quintet, in Philadelphia, by pianist Simone Dinnerstein and the Chiara Quartet.