'Statements' from Copland

Synopsis

In 1935 Aaron Copland finished a new orchestral work that was to be premiered by the Minneapolis Symphony and its young conductor Eugene Ormandy.

The work, Statements for Orchestra, consisted of six short movements, each with a descriptive title, namely: Militant, Cryptic, Dogmatic, Subjective, Jingo and Prophetic. The Jingo movement alludes to the popular tune Sidewalks of New York — where Copland completed the orchestration of his new score.

The last two movements were premiered by the Minneapolis Symphony early in 1936, first on an NBC radio broadcast, then on one of the orchestra’s subscription concerts. The conductor, however, was not Ormandy but rather Dimitri Mitropoulos, who would become the Music Director of the Minneapolis Symphony the following year. And it was Mitropoulos who would lead the first complete performance of all six of Copland’s Statements on today’s date in 1942 during a concert by the New York Philharmonic.

The new piece got good reviews, and Copland quoted with pride one given by his friend and colleague Virgil Thomson, which called the music “succinct and stylish, cleverly written and very, very personal.”

Much to his surprise this music never really caught on with orchestras or audiences. “To my disappointment, Statements remains one of my lesser-known scores,” Copland wrote.

Music Played in Today's Program

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Statements; London Symphony; Aaron Copland, conductor; Sony 47232

On This Day

Births

• 1899 - French composer and pianist Francis Poulenc, in Paris

• 1917 - American composer Ulysses Kay, in Tucson, Arizona

Deaths

• 1964 - American composer Colin McPhee, 62, in Los Angeles

Premieres

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 124 (Meinen Hesum Lass ich Nicht) performed on the first Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach’s second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25)

• 1857 - Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Weimar, with the composer conducting and his pupil, Hans von Bronsart, the soloist

• 1895 - Brahms: Two Sonatas for clarinet and piano (No. 1 & No. 2), in Vienna at a private performance for members of the Tonkünstler Society, with clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld and the composer at the piano. The first public performances of these pieces took place at the Rosé Quartet’s chamber concert series on Jan. 8 (Sonata No. 2) and Jan. 11 (Sonata No. 1). See also Jan. 8 & 11 below for more information on early performances of these two sonatas.

• 1897 - Loeffler: The Death of Tintagiles for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Emil Paur conducting

• 1898 - Glazunov: ballet Raymonda (Gregorian date: Jan. 19)

• 1898 - Rimsky-Korsakov: Sadko, in Moscow at the Solodovnikov Theater, Esposito conducting (Julian date: Dec. 26, 1897)

• 1933 - Gruenberg: opera Emperor Jones (after the play by Eugene O’Neill), at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City

• 1942 - Copland: Statements for Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall by New York Philharmonic conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos

• 1952 - Gail Kubik: Symphonie-Concertante in New York City; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1952

• 1955 - Martinu: Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies Symphoniques), by the Boston Symphony, with Charles Munch conducting

• 2000 - Danielpour: The Night Rainbow, in Santa Anna, California, by the Pacific Symphony, Carl St. Clair conducting

Others

• 1955 - Marian Anderson makes her Metropolitan Opera debut as Ulrica in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Mascera (A Masked Ball). She is the first African-American singer to perform as an opera soloist on the Met stage. Subsequent distinguished African-American singers who performed as members of the Met company included Robert McFerrin, Sr. (Bobby McFerrin Jr.’s father), Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, Kahtleen Battle and Jessye Norman.