The productive Mr. Donizetti and Mr. Williams

Synopsis

The comic opera “Don Pasquale” by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti had its first performance in Paris on this date in the year 1843. To this day it remains one of his best-loved and most often-performed works. In all, Donizetti wrote about 70 operas, sometimes turning out four per year.

Amazing as this seems today, it wasn’t at all uncommon in the 19th century, especially in Italy, where audience demand for new works was insatiable. Back then, when composers vied with one another for speed, Donizetti was asked if he believed that Rossini had written “The Barber of Seville” in only 13 days. “Why not?” quipped Donizetti, “He’s so lazy!”

In our time,  the corollary of a busy opera composer like Donizetti might be a hard-pressed Hollywood composer like John Williams, who could quip that Donizetti was the lazy one.  After all, John Williams has surpassed Donizetti’s count of 70 operas with well over 100 film scores.

Williams started out in the 1960s writing scores for TV shows like “Wagon Train” and “Gilligan’s Island” before shifting primarily to movies and crafting the iconic soundtracks like “Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Star Wars,” and “Schindler’s List.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) — Don Pasquale Overture (Philharmonia Orchestra; Riccardo Muti, cond.) EMI 54490

John Williams (b. 1932) — Devil's Dance, from Witches of Eastwick (Boston Pops; John Williams, cond.) Philips 422 385

On This Day

Births

• 1909 - Danish pianist and musical humorist Victor Borge, in Copenhagen;

• 1943 - Austrian composer, singer (?), and double bass player H.K. Gruber, in Vienna;

Deaths

• 1785 - Italian composer Baldassare Galuppi, age 68, in Venice;

• 1942 - Russian composer and violinist Julius Conus, age 72, in Malenski (USSR);

Premieres

• 1738 - Handel: opera "Faramondo" in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket; This was the opening production of Handel's opera season that year, and featured the London debut of Gaetano Majorano (called "Caffarelli"), a male soprano castrato (Gregorian date: Jan. 14);

• 1843 - Donizetti: opera "Don Pasquale," in Paris;

• 1890 - Tchaikovsky: ballet, "Sleeping Beauty" (Gregorian date: Jan. 15);

• 1897 - Dukas: Symphony in C, in Paris;

• 1903 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 7, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Dec. 21, 1902);

• 1941 - Rachmaninoff: "Symphonic Dances," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

Others

• 1925 - German conductor and composer Wilhelm Furtwängler makes his Americandebut, conducting the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.