Stephen Paulus and the Commissioning Club

Synopsis

For most of the 18th and 19th centuries, commissioning new musical works was the exclusive prerogative of the Church, royalty, and the wealthy nobility. More recently, Foundations and big corporations have gotten into the act. But even today, individuals can make a difference.

In 1991, six couples in Minneapolis and St. Paul decided to form a Commissioning Club, modeled along the lines of an Investment Club, to spark the creation of new works in a variety of genres and promote the work of composers they admired.

On today’s date in 1996, one of their commissions, the Dramatic Suite by American composer Stephen Paulus was premiered by flutist Ransom Wilson and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. It was played first in Minnesota, and subsequently at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Later that same year, the Club arranged for another Paulus commission: a new Christmas Carol, Pilgrim Jesus, that was premiered on the BBC radio broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. That 1996 broadcast, heard by millions of radio listeners worldwide, marked the first time that an American composer had been chosen to contribute a new carol for that famous Christmas Eve service — not a bad return for the Commissioning Club’s investment!

Music Played in Today's Program

Stephen Paulus (1949-2014): Dramatic Suite; Judith Ranheim, flute; Chouhei Min, violin; Korey Konkol, viola; Mina Fisher, cello; Thelma Hunter, piano; innova 539

On This Day

Births

• 1941 - American composer Stephen Albert, in New York

Deaths

• 1497 - Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem, 76, in Tours

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 144 (Nimm, was Dein Ist, und Gehe Hin) performed on Septuagesimae Sunday as part of Bach’s first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24)

• 1727 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 157 (Ich Lasse Dich Nicht, du Segnest mich Denn) for a funeral service in Leipzig

• 1813 - Rossini: opera Tancredi, in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice

• 1851 - R. Schumann: Symphony No. 3 (Rhenish), in Düsseldorf, conducted by the composer

• 1930 - Roussel: Petite Suite for orchestra, in Paris

• 1933 - Henry Brant: Angels and Devils for solo flute and flute ensemble, at a Pan-American Association of Composers concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City, with the famous French-born flautist Georges Barrère as the soloist. On the same program, Brant accompanied soprano Judith Litante at the piano in the premiere performances of three songs by Charles Ives: “Afterglow,” “Ann Street,” and “Like a Sick Eagle”

• 1941 - Hindemith: Cello Concerto, at the Sanders Theater (Cambridge, Massachusetts) by the Boston Symphony conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, with Gregor Piatigorsky the soloist

• 1944 - Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, by the NBC Symphony conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Eduard Steuermann as soloist

• 1959 - Poulenc: opera La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice), in Paris at the Opéra Comique

• 1976 - John La Montaine: opera Be Glad, Then, America, at University Park, Pennsylvania

• 1996 - Stephen Paulus: Dramatic Suite, for flute, viola, cello and piano, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Others

• 1838 - Mendelssohn finishes his String Quartet No. 3.