Schuman starts on third

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1941, the Boston Symphony gave the first performance of a new symphony by a 31-year old American composer named William Schuman.

It is numbered as Schuman’s Third Symphony but, in reality, you might as well say it’s his First.

Now, Schuman was not an early devotee of the New Math. The explanation is a fairly simple one: Schuman had written two earlier symphonies, but these were composed very much under the influence of his teacher, the American composer Roy Harris. Schuman wrote his first symphony in 1935 and a second in 1937. The Second was very well received, and had even been played by the Boston Symphony under Serge Koussevitzky. It was Koussevitzky who commissioned Schuman to write a Third Symphony, and conducted its premiere on today’s date in 1941.

It was with this work that Schuman felt he really found his own distinct voice as a composer. He withdrew his two earlier symphonies, and they were never published.

By the time of his death in 1992, William Schuman had completed a Symphony No. 10. So—subtract the first two, and that makes eight “authentic” and “officially authorized” William Schuman symphonies in all.

Music Played in Today's Program

William Schuman (1910 – 1992) Symphony No. 3 New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, cond. Sony Classical 63163

On This Day

Births

• 1892 - British composer Herbert Howells, in Lydney, Gloucestershire;

Deaths

• 1837 - German composer and pianist Johann Nepomuk Hummel, age 58, in Wiemar;

• 1849 - Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, age 39, in Paris;

Premieres

• 1727 - J.S. Bach: "Trauerode" (Funeral Cantata), at a memorial service for Electress Christiane Eberhardine (who died on Sept. 4);

• 1761 - Gluck: ballet, "Don Juan," in Vienna;

• 1831 - Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in g, Op. 25, in Munich, with the composer as soloist;

• 1905 - Glazunov: Violin Concerto, with soloist Mischa Elman, at Queen's Hall, London;

• 1941 - Wm. Schuman: Symphony No. 3, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1944 - Copland: "Letter from Home," on a radio broadcast;

• 1958 - Stravinsky: "Epitaphium in memory of Prince Max Egon zum Fürstenberg, at the Donaueschingen Festival in Germany;

• 1988 - Christopher Rouse: “ Artemis” for brass quintet, at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., by The Brass Ring;

• 1991 - Wayne Peterson: "Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark" for orchestra, by the San Francisco Symphony, David Zinman conducting; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1992;

• 1996 - Peter Lieberson: "Fire" at New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

• 2000 - John Tavener: "The Bridegroom," at the South Bank Centre in London, by Anonymous 4 and the Chilingirian String Quartet;

Others

• 1707 - Johann Sebastian Bach (age 22) marries his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach (age 23);

• 1739 - Handel completes in London his Concerto Grosso in e, Op. 6, no. 3 (Julian date: Oct. 6);

• 1978 - President Jimmy Carter presents the Congressional Medal of Honor to singer Marian Anderson