A chamber quartet by Cowell

Synopsis

By the 1960s, the prevailing trends dictated that modern music should be austere, brainy, complex, and preferably written in the 12-tone “serial” technique developed by Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils. Igor Stravinsky had started writing serial pieces in the 1950s, and even Aaron Copland had a go at writing a 12-tone piece in his “Connotations” for Orchestra, composed for the opening of the New York Philharmonic’s new hall at Lincoln Center in 1962.

Well, the American composer Henry Cowell was not one to be so easily pigeon-holed. In 1962 he composed an airy little quartet for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord—a piece very much in the neo-classical style. Cowell then re-scored the harpsichord part for harp at the request of Mary Spalding Sevitzky, the harp-playing wife of the Russian émigré conductor Fabien Sevitzky, to whom the quartet was dedicated.

Sevitzky’s real last name was Koussevitzky, and, yes, he was the nephew of the famous Russian conductor and music patron Serge Kousseviztky. At his uncle’s request, to avoid confusion, Fabien shorted his last name to Sevitzky when he became a conductor in his own right. He led the People’s Symphony of Boston in the 1930s before becoming the director of the Indianapolis Symphony from 1937 to 1955. Like his more famous uncle, Fabien Sevitzky was a great champion of American composers. In his later years, he moved to Florida, where he taught and led the University of Miami Symphony. It was in Miami that a distinguished quartet—including Mrs. Sevitzky—premiered Henry Cowell’s quartet on today’s date in 1963.

Music Played in Today's Program

Henry Cowell (1897 - 1965) — Quartet for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harp (Musicians Accord) Mode 72

On This Day

Births

• 1886 - French organist and composer Marcel Dupré, in Rouen;

• 1920 - American composer and jazz pianist John Lewis, in LaGrange, Ill.;

Deaths

• 1704 - Austrian composer Heinrich Biber, age 59, in Salzburg;

Premieres

• 1831 - Hérold: "Zampa," at the Opéra-Comique in Paris;

• 1893 - Horatio Parker: oratorio "Hora Novissima," in New York City;

• 1917 - Bloch: "Schlemo" and "Israel" Symphony at Society of the Friends of Music Concert, Artur Bodanzky conducting;

• 1919 - Debussy: Clarinet Rhapsody (orchestral version), in Paris, with clarinetist Gaston Hamelin, at Pasdeloup Concert;

• 1929 - Poulenc: "Concert champêtre" for harpsichord and orchestra, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, by the Paris Symphony with Pierre Monteux conducting and Wanda Landowska the soloist;

• 1934 - Bernard Rogers: "Three Japanese Dances," in Rochester, N.Y.;

• 1943 - Cowell: "American Melting Pot" (Set for Chamber Orchestra), at Carnegie Hall in New York, by the Orchestrette of New York, Frédérique Petrides conducting;

• 1952 - Vaughan Williams: "Romance" for harmonica and orchestra, in New York City;

• 1958 - Walter Hartley: Concerto for 23 Winds, at the Eastman School in Rochester, N.Y., by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell conducting;

• 1963 - Cowell: Quartet for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harp, at the University of Miami, by John Bitter (flute), Julien Balogh (oboe), Hermann Busch (cello), and Mary Spalding (Mrs. Fabien) Sevitzky (harp); The work is dedicated to the conductor Fabien Sevitzky "in honor of his many services to American music";

• 1969 - Shostakovich: Violin Sonata, in Moscow, with David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter;

• 1989 - James MacMillan: "Visions of a November Spring" for string quartet, at University Concert Hall in Glasgowm Scotland, by the Bingham String Quartet;

Others

• 1971 - Debut broadcast of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" with an electronic theme by composer Don Voegeli of the University of Wisconsin (In 1974, Voegeli composed a new electronic ATC theme, the now-familiar signature tune of the program).