Music at Watergate

Synopsis

In the summer of 1972, five burglars broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and soon the term “Watergate” came to signify a political scandal that nearly led to the impeachment of then-president Richard Nixon. But if you had said “Watergate” to someone in D.C. in July some 30 years earlier, you probably were referring to a series of outdoor concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra, whose Watergate Concerts were held on the banks of the Potomac near the Lincoln Memorial.

These concerts presented a mix of old and new music, classical favorites and recently composed works by American composers. For example, on today’s date in 1945, the weather in D.C. was clear and warm when Alexander Smallens conducted an outdoor Watergate Concert that included the recently-composed suite from Aaron Copland’s ballet Rodeo, and Newsreel, an orchestral suite by William Schuman.

Schuman’s suite was inspired by the popular newsreel features shown at movie theaters in those days — a time when radio ruled, and if people wanted to see footage of faces and places in the news, they had to turn to the movies, not CNN or the internet.

Music Played in Today's Program

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Rodeo; London Symphony; Aaron Copland, conductor; Sony Classical 60593

William Schuman (1910-1992): Newsreel; Milwaukee Symphony; Lukas Foss, conductor; Pro Arte 102

On This Day

Births

• 1872 - French composer Déodat de Severac, in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, Lauraguais

• 1908 - Swedish composer Gunnar de Frumerie, in Nacka (near Stockholm

Deaths

• 1752 - German-born English composer and conductor John Christopher (Johann Christoph) Pepusch, 85, in London. In 1710 was one of the founding members of the Academy of Ancient Music, which revived 16th century vocal music. He orchestrated some of the numbers in John Gay’s famous The Beggar’s Opera in 1728.

Premieres

• 1920 - Stravinsky: Grande Suite from the staged work The Soldier’s Tale, in London at Wigmore Hall, with Ernest Ansermet conducting

• 1924 - Schoenberg: Serenade for chamber ensemble, in Donaueschingen, Germany

• 1942 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 23, in Moscow

• 1958 - Xenakis: Achorripsis for 21 instruments, in Brussels

• 1970 - Morton Feldman: Mme. Press Died Last Week at Ninety, an orchestral work commemorating his Russian piano teacher, in St. Paul de Venice, France