Schumann and Prokofiev in private

Synopsis

Two famous pieces of chamber music had their premieres on today’s date, both at private readings prior to their first public performances.

On today’s date in 1842, the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann arranged for a trial reading of his new Piano Quintet in E-flat at the Leipzig home of some of his friends. Schumann’s wife, Clara, was supposed to be the pianist on that occasion, but she took ill, and Schumann’s friend and fellow-composer Felix Mendelssohn stepped in at the last moment for the informal performance, reading the work at sight.

After this preliminary reading, Mendelssohn praised the work, but offered some friendly suggestions concerning part of the trio section in the new work’s Scherzo movement, which prompted Schumann to write a livelier replacement movement for the work’s first public performance.

About 100 years later, on today’s date in 1949, a cello sonata by the Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev received a similar private performance in Moscow, for an invited audience at the House of the Union of Composers. Two of the leading Soviet performers of the day, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and pianist Sviatoslav Richter, gave the work its first performance. The following spring, it was again Rostropovich and Richter who gave the Sonata its public debut at the Moscow Conservatory.

Music Played in Today's Program

Robert Schumann (1810–1856) — Piano Quintet in Eb, Op. 44 (Menahem Pressler, piano; Emerson String Quartet) DG 445 848

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) — Cello Sonata, Op. 119 (David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano) Artist Led 19901

On This Day

Births

• 1550 - Baptism of Italian composer Orazio Vecchi, in Modena;

• 1920 - American jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, in Concord, Calif.;

• 1933 - Polish composer Henryk Górecki, in Czernica;

• 1955 - Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng, in Shanghai;

Premieres

• 1841 - R. Schumann: Symphony No. 4 (as his Symphony No. 2), by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ferdinand David conducting; Schumann withdrew the score, revised it, and reintroduced it in 1853 with the Düsseldorf Municipal Orchestra as his Symphony No. 4 (his "other" Symphony No. 2 and a Symphony No. 3 have been premiered in the meantime);

• 1842 - Schumann: Piano Quintet in Eb, Op. 44, at a private concert in the Leipzig home of Carl and Heinrich Voigt; Schumann’s wife, Clara, was to perform, but took ill, and Felix Mendelssohn stepped in for the informal performance, reading the work at sight; Mendelssohn’s critic of the work’s original second movement led Schumann to write a livelier replacement (see also Dec. 8, 1844);

• 1846 - Berlioz: dramatic legend, "The Damnation of Faust," at the Paris Opéra-Comique, with the composer conducting;

• 1876 - Tchaikovsky: opera "Vakula the Blacksmith," at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Nov. 24);

• 1880 - Tchaikovsky: "Capriccio italien," in Moscow (Gregorian date: Dec. 18);

• 1890 - Berlioz: opera "La Prise de Troie" (The Capture of Troy), Acts 1 & 2 of "Les Troyens" (The Trojans), first staged performance in Karlsruhe, Germany at the Hoftheater;

• 1892 - Tchaikovsky: ballet, "The Nutcracker" and opera "Iolanta," in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Dec. 18);

• 1919 - Stravinsky: symphonic suite, "Le chant du rossignol," in Geneva, Ernest Ansermet conducting;

• 1929 - Stravinsky: "Capriccio" for Piano and Orchestra, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, with the Paris Symphony conducted by Ernest Ansermet, with the composer as soloist;

• 1937 - Boris Blacher: "Concertante Musik," in Berlin;

• 1940 - Schoenberg: Violin Concerto, by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Louis Krasner the soloist;

• 1949 - Prokofiev: Cello Sonata, Op. 119, at a private performance in Moscow, at the House of the Union of Composers, by cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and pianist Sviatoslav Richter; This first public performance, with the same artists, took place at the Moscow Conservatory on March 1, 1950;

• 1957 - Sessions: Symphony No. 3, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1974 - Wuorinen: Piano Concerto No. 2, in New York, with the composer as soloist on an amplified piano;

• 1977 - Corigliano: Clarinet Concerto, in New York;

• 1997 - Kernis: "Ecstatic Meditations," in Minneapolis, by the Plymouth Music Series, Philip Brunelle, conducting;

Others

• 1786 - Mozart finishes his Symphony No. 38 in D, K.504 "Prague";