Eduardo Martin

Synopsis

Today’s date in 1956 marks the birthday of the Cuban composer Eduardo Martin, a name that might not be all that familiar to you — unless you play guitar, that is. Martin has written music for orchestra and films but is best known and admired for works he’s written for his own instrument, the guitar — music infused with the flair and dance rhythms of his native Havana.

One of his popular pieces is titled “Hasta Alicia Baila,” roughly translated “Even Alicia Dances,” referencing the great Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso, suggesting that even she couldn’t resist dancing to its beat.

“Guitar is my greatest passion,” said Martin in an interview for Cuban radio. “But I have other passions: my country and my family.”

“In my work, it is easy to notice the attachment to my roots. Even when I travel and see something that I like, I say, ‘Of course, it looks just like home.’ I confess I am an eternal lover of Havana. I find it wonderful and irreplaceable. … And so I reflect in my work some of the impressions that this place has left in me … What I feel when I wake up in my city, when I walk in it, the mix of colors and the sounds that flood through it.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Eduardo Martin (b. 1956) Hasta Alicia Baila Clea Galhano, recorder; Rene Izquierdo, guitar "Latin Reverie" CD 89577 75162

On This Day

Births

• 1679 - Baptismal date of Bohemian composer Jan Dismas Zelenka, in Lounovice;

• 1821 - Hungarian composer Franz [Ferenc] Doppler, in Lemberg (now Lvov);

Deaths

• 1621 - Dutch composer and organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, age c. 59, in Amsterdam;

• 1750 - German composer and lutenist Silvius Leopold Weiss, age 64, in Dresden;

• 1920 - Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomunceno, age 56, in Rio de Janeiro;

• 1946 - British composer Sir Granville Bantock, age 78, in London;

Premieres

• 1893 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Oct. 28);

• 1912 - Schoenberg: "Pierrot Lunaire," in Berlin;

• 1925 - R. Strauss: "Parergon to the Symphonia domestica," for piano left hand and orchestra, in Dresden, with Paul Wittgenstein the soloist;

• 1926 - Kodály: opera "Háry János," at the Budapest Opera;

• 1934 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 13, in Winterthur (Switzerland), by the Musikkollegium orchestra, Hermann Scherchen conducting;

• 1938 - Copland: ballet "Billy the Kid," in Chicago by the Ballet Caravan Company, with pianists Arthur Gold and Walter Hendel performing a two-piano version of the score; This Oct. 16 premiere date is persistently but incorrectly listed as Oct. 6 in many standard reference works and Copland biographies; First performance of "Billy the Kid" in New York City occurred on May 24, 1939, with an orchestra conducted by Fritz Kitzinger;

• 1942 - Copland: ballet "Rodeo," in New York City by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo;

• 1960 - Messiaen: "Chronochromie," in Donaueschingen, Germany;

• 1969 - Leon Kirchner: "Music" for orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, with the composer conducting;

• 1976 - Peter Maxwell Davies: "Five Klee Pictures" for orchestra, in London at St. John's Smith Square, by the Young Musicians' Symphony, James Blair conducting;

• 1988 - Stephen Paulus: "Seven for the Flowers Near the River," for viola and piano, by Cynthia Phelps and Warren Jones, at a Music in the Park chamber concert at St. Anthony Park UCC in St. Paul, Minn.; A revised version of this piece, re-titled "Five for the Flowers Near the River," was premiered by the same performers at Alice Tully Hall in New York on October 24, 1988, and recorded in 1998 by Phelps with pianist Judith Gordon for the Cala CD label;

• 1992 - Joan Tower: "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman" No. 4 (dedicated to conductor JoAnn Falletta), by the Kansas City Symphony, conducted by Bill McGlaughlin;

Others

• 1891 - Inaugural afternoon concert of the Chicago Symphony at the Chicago Auditorium, with Theodore Thomas conducting music of Wagner("Faust" Overture), Beethoven (Symphony No. 5), Tchaikovsky (Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Rafael Joseffy), and Dvorák ("Hussite" Overture); The Symphony's first evening concert occurred the following day;

• 1931 - American premiere of Mahler: Symphony No. 9, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1958 - Leonard Bernstein begins his presentation of a "major view of American music" at New York Philharmonic concerts with a Carnegie Hall concert that includes works by Wallingford Riegger, John J. Becker and Carl Ruggles.