Daniel Pinkham

Synopsis

Some special music had its premiere at Harvard University (in Cambridge, Massachusetts) on today's date in 1980. It was commissioned to honor the memory of Walter Piston, who had taught composition at Harvard for a number of years, and it was one of his students, the American harpsichordist and organist Daniel Pinkham, who composed it.

Pinkham had exceptional teachers. He studied harpsichord with Wanda Landowska, organ with E. Power Biggs and, in addition to Piston, Pinkham studied composition with Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Arthur Honegger.

But Pinkham credits another familiar name for his most important musical epiphany.

In 1939, while still a teenager, Pinkham heard one of the first American concerts given by the Trapp Family, whose sentimentalized story is familiar from "The Sound of Music." The Trapp Family's usual ensemble, which combined Renaissance and Baroque instruments like recorders and gambas with the bright and clear voices of young children, spoke to the young Pinkham as no music had before, becoming "a part of my way of looking at things," as he put it later.

Since then, Pinkham has composed everything from symphonies to electronic music. His choral and organ works are especially admired, and in 1990, he was named "Composer of the Year" by the American Guild of Organists.

Music Played in Today's Program

Daniel Pinkham (1923 - 2006) Serenades Maurice Murphy, trumpet; London Symphony; James Sedares, conductor. Koch International 7179

On This Day

Births

• 1574 - Baptism of English madrigalist John Wilbye, in Diss (Norfolk);

• 1875 - French composer Maurice Ravel, in Ciboure;

• 1887 - Estonian composer Heino Eller, in Tartu;

Deaths

• 1786 - Bohemian-born composer and violinist Franz [František] Benda, age c. 77, in Nowawes, near Potsdam; He was active at the court of King Frederich II of Prussia;

• 1809 - Austrian composer and organist Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, age 73, in Vienna;

• 1979 - Norwegian composer Klaus Egge, age 72, in Oslo;

Premieres

• 1711 - Handel: opera, "Rinaldo," in London (Julian date: Feb. 24);

• 1730 - Handel: opera "Partenope," in London (Julian date: Feb. 24);

• 1819 - Rossini: opera "Mosè in Egitto" (Moses in Egypt) (2nd version in Italian), in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo;

• 1867 - Brahms: Scherzo in eb, Op. 4, for piano, in Vienna;

• 1883 - Balakirev: symphonic poem "Tamara" (Gregorian date: Mar. 19);

• 1884 - Chadwick: "Scherzo" in F (from Chadwick's Symphony No. 2, a work in progress), by the Boston Symphony, George Henschel conducting; The entire symphony was premiered by the same orchestra on Dec. 10, 1886, with the composer conducting;

• 1892 - Tchaikovsky: "The Nutcracker" Suite, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Mar. 19);

• 1896 - Gilbert & Sullivan: operetta "The Grand Duke" at the Savoy Theatre in London;

• 1899 - d'Indy: "Chansons et danses" for winds, in Paris;

• 1953 - Persichetti: "Pageant" for band, in Miami;

• 1958 - Piston: Viola Concerto, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1965 - Easley Blackwood: Symphony No. 3, in Chicago;

• 1971 - Menotti: opera "The Most Important Man," at the New York City Opera;

• 1980 - Daniel Pinkham: "Serenades" for trumpet and winds, at Harvard University's Sanders Theater in Cambridge, Mass., by trumpeter Rolf Smedvig and the Harvard Wind Ensemble conducted by Thomas Everett;

• 2001 - Harbison: "Partita (Concerto for Orchestra)," in Minneapolis, by the Minnesota Orchestra, Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting;

• 2002 - Colgrass: "Crossworlds" (Concerto for Flute, Piano and Orchestra), commissioned by the Boston Symphony for flutist Marina Piccinini and pianist Andreas Haefliger, with Hans Graf conducting;

Others

• 1897 - Johannes Brahms attends his last concerts and hears his Symphony No. 4 conducted by Hans Richter.