Loeffler and Anderson in Boston

Synopsis

Today we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Boston (where else?), noting two musical premieres that occurred in that Celtic city.

The first premiere was in March of 1922, when Pierre Monteux conducted the Boston Symphony in the premiere of three of the “Five Irish Fantasies” by the German-born American composer Charles Martin Loeffler. These were settings for solo voice and orchestra of poetry by William Butler Yeats, and, for their Boston premiere, the vocalist was none other than THE great Irish tenor, John McCormack. 

The second premiere dates from 1947, when the Eire Society of Boston commissioned another American composer, Leroy Anderson, to write an “Irish Suite” for its annual Irish night at the Boston Pops. Anderson used six popular Irish tunes, ranging from the sentimental to the exuberant, for his suite… skillfully arranging them into an immediate hit and lasting success.  

Arthur Fiedler conducted the premiere and the work soon became a staple item for St. Patrick’s Day concerts in Boston and concert halls all across the United States.

Music Played in Today's Program

Charles Martin Loeffler (1861 - 1935) — Five Irish Fantasies (Neil Rosenshein, tenor; Indianapolis Symphony; John Nelson, cond.) New World 332

Leroy Anderson (1908 - 1975) — Irish Suite (Decca studio orchestra; Leroy Anderson, cond.) MCA 9815

On This Day

Births

• 1839 - German composer Josef Rheinberger, in Vaduz, Liechtenstein;

• 1920 - American composer John LaMontaine, in Chicago;

Deaths

• 1862 - French opera composer Jacques François Halévy, age 62, in Nice;

Premieres

• 1733 - Handel: oratorio "Deborah" in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: March 28);

• 1846 - Verdi: opera "Atilla," in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;

• 1867 - Brahms: Waltzes, Op. 39, for piano, in Vienna;

• 1879 - Tchaikovsky: opera "Eugene Onegin," in Moscow (Gregorian date: Mar. 29);

• 1882 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 1, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Mar. 29);

• 1892 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 (first movement only) (Gregorian date: Mar. 29);

• 1945 - Miakovsky: Cello Concerto, in Moscow;

• 1951 - Dessau: opera "Die Verhör des Lukullus" (The Sentencing of Lucullus), in East Berlin at the Deutsche Staatsoper (Berlin State Opera); This opera was revised as "Die Verurteilung des Lukullus" (The Judgement of Lucullus) at the same theater on October 12, 1851; The libretto is by the German poet and playwright Bertold Brecht;

• 1954 - Quincy Porter: "Concerto Concertante" for two pianos and orchestra, in Louisville, Ky.; This work won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Music;

• 1967 - Levy: opera "Mourning Becomes Electra" (after the play by Eugene O'Neill) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City;

• 1972 - Crumb: "Vox balaenae" for three masked musicians, in Washington, D.C.;

• 2002 - Paul Schoenfield: "Partita" for violin and piano, at a Chamber Music Society of Minnesota concert in St. Paul, by violinist Young-Nam Kim, with the composer at the piano;

Others

• 1830 - Frederic Chopin makes his concert debut in Warsaw, performing his own Piano Concerto in f-minor.