Synopsis
Today we celebrate the birthday of American composer David Schiff, who was born in New York City on today’s date in 1945.
Schiff’s best-known work, the 1979 opera Gimpel the Fool, is based on a story by the beloved Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer that tells the tale of a Jewish baker in Eastern Europe who takes everything at face value and so is lied to and cheated by everyone he meets. Rather than take revenge, Gimpel becomes a wandering holy man, convinced that God will not lie or cheat him.
Schiff’s opera premiered in New York City in 1979, and shortly thereafter he arranged its themes into an instrumental divertimento, the first of many works written for clarinetist David Shifrin and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon. Writing for those musicians, says Schiff, his given him what he calls, “a wonderful sense of how Haydn must have felt as court composer at Esterházy.”
The divertimento from Gimpel the Fool draws on Jewish liturgical modes and Klezmer music, and its fourth movement references “Who Knows One?” — a traditional song in Passover. Like the story of Gimpel, the song is meant to be humorous, while still imparting an important lesson.
Music Played in Today's Program
David Schiff (b. 1945): ‘Divertimento’ from ‘Gimpel the Fool’; David Shifrin, clarinet; Theodore Arm, violin; Warren Lash, cello; David Oei, piano; Delos DE-3058
On This Day
Births
1820 - American song composer and music publisher George F. Root. He wrote “The Battle Cry of Freedom” and “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp - The Boys are Marching.”
1943 - American composer David Maslanka, in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Premieres
1933 - Barber: School for Scandal Overture, at a Robin Hood Dell concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.