Synopsis
In 1871, one year after the premiere in Munich of Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walküre, German-born American conductor Theodore Thomas wrote Wagner asking if he might perform excerpts of this new work in the United States. Wagner turned him down, worried that loose American copyright laws might not protect his new music.
Undeterred, Thomas turned to famous German conductor Hans von Bulow for advice, who suggested he try to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Wagner to plead his case. After all, Bulow told Thomas, Wagner was actually quite interested in America. The meeting never took place, but somehow Thomas secured a manuscript of what would become the most popular orchestral excerpt from Die Walküre, its famous Ride of the Valkyries.
No one knows how Thomas managed it. Some speculate von Bulow himself provided the music. Others suggest the American conductor got his copy from Franz Liszt.
In any case, on today’s date in 1872, Ride of the Valkyries was performed for the first time in America at one of Theodore Thomas’ concerts in Central Park.
It proved to be a smash hit with Manhattanites. As Thomas recounted in his memoirs, “the people jumped up on their chairs and cheered.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Ride of the Valkyries; from Die Walküre; Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor; DG 471 627
On This Day
Births
1795 - Baptismal date of Italian opera composer Saverio Mercadante, in Altamura, near Bari
1884 - American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes, in Elmira, New York
1917 - Korean-born German composer Isang Yun, in Tong Young (now Chung Mu)
Deaths
1179 - German mystic, writer and composer Hildegard von Bingen, 81, in Rupertsburg (near Bingen)
1762 - Italian violinist and composer Francesco Geminiani, 74, in Dublin
1803 - Austrian composer Franz Xaver Sussmayr, who studied with Salieri and Mozart. Sussmayr completed Mozart’s unfinished Requiem.
Premieres
1872 - American premiere of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries at a Central Park concert given by the Theodore Thomas orchestra
1931 - Delius: A Song of Summer, in London
1957 - Cowell: Persian Set, at the Gulestan Palace in Tehran, Iran, by the Minneapolis Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting
1982 - Steve Reich: Tehillim (orchestral version), by New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta
Others
1966 - German tenor Fritz Wunderlich, 35, dies from a fall in his home in Heidelberg.
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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.