David Dzubay's "Ra"

Synopsis

Ok, if you say, “band music,” most people think “marching bands; sporting events.”  So if someone tells you there is a band work titled Ra, you might automatically respond: “sis-boom-ba.” But that’s not at all what composer David Dzubay had in mind. He was thinking of Ra, the ancient Egyptian sun god.

A major figure in Egyptian mythology, the sun god Ra was born anew each day and journeyed across the sky doing battle with his chief enemy, a serpent named Apep. Dzubay’s band composition, Ra is, as he described it, “a rather aggressive depiction of an imagined ritual of sun worship, perhaps celebrating the daily battles of Ra and Apep.”

He arranged his piece — which was originally written for orchestra — for concert band, and in this incarnation won an annual competition for new bands works. Ra was first performed by the Indiana University Symphonic Band, led by Ray Cramer at the College Band Directors’ National Convention in Minneapolis on today’s date in 2003. 

Both the venue and the performers selected for that premiere must have seemed particularly gratifying to Dzubay, since he was born in Minneapolis and received his Doctorate in Music at Indiana University.

Music Played in Today's Program

David Dzubay (b. 1964): Ra; University of North Texas Wind Symphony, Eugene Corporon, conductor; Klavier 11137

On This Day

Births

• 1902 - British composer Sir William Walton, in Oldham

• 1936 - British composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, in Broadstairs

Deaths

• 1697 - German composer and organist Nicolaus Bruhns, 32, in Husum

• 1888 - French composer Charles-Henri Alkan, 75, in Paris

• 1911 - French composer and organist Alexandre (Felix) Guilmant, 74, in Meudon

• 1924 - British composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, 71, in London

• 2001 - American jazz pianist and composer John Lewis, a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet, 80, in New York

Premieres

• 1795 - possible premiere of Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Vienna, with the composer as soloist. This concerto was written and premiered before Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, which was, however, published first.

• 1806 - Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3, as part of the second, revised version of the opera Fidelio, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna

• 1836 - Wagner: opera Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love), in Magdeburg at the Stadttheater. Wagner’s libretto is based on Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure.

• 1874 - Dvořák: Symphony No. 3, in Prague

• 1879 - Tchaikovsky: opera Eugene Onegin, in Moscow at the Malïy (Small) Theater (Julian date: Mar. 17)

• 1882 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 1, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Mar. 17)

• 1892 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1, (first movement only), in Moscow, Vasily Safanov conducting and with the composer as soloist (Julian date: Mar. 17)

• 1911 - Chadwick: Suite Symphonique, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, with the composer conducting

• 2000 - Bright Sheng: String Quartet No. 4, in Richmond, Virginia, by the Shanghai String Quartet

Others

• 1871 - Royal Albert Hall is formally opened in London by Queen Victoria