Synopsis
Since today is Halloween, how about a supernatural legend in music?
The second of three Fábulas — fables or fantastic stories — for violin and piano by Puerto Rican composer Dan Román is titled La Garita del Diablo or The Devil’s Sentry Box.
The old port city of San Juan is surrounded by a fortified stone wall built by the Spaniards to protect it from their enemies, dotted with stone sentry boxes at strategic locations where soldiers could gain an advantageous view of any attack arriving by sea.
Mystery and myth surrounding one of these lonely sentry boxes built high above the sea began after several soldiers disappeared during their watch, leaving no trace behind. Despite a number of rational explanations, popular imagination blamed the disappearances on evil and supernatural forces.
In his chamber work, Román said, “The piano and the violin form aural impressions of the echoes and distant reverberations that take shape in the old passages leading to the sentry box and of the darkness and impersonality of the ocean during the night, until the observer gets to the sentry box and hears the breaking of the sea waves against the rocks and city wall.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Dan Román (b. 1974): La Garita del Diabolo from Fabulas; Katalin Viszmeg, violin; Pi-Hsun Shih, piano; Innova 904
On This Day
Births
1833 - Russian composer Alexander Borodin, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Nov. 12)
1806 - American composer Louise Talma, in Arcachon, France
1949 - Cuban-American composer and conductor Odaline de la Martinez, in Matanzas, Cuba
Deaths
1870 - Hungarian composer Mihály Mosonyi (Michael Brand), 55, in Pest
Premieres
1724 - Handel: opera Tamerlano in London at the King’s Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: Nov. 11). This was the London debut of the Italian tenor Francesco Borosini in a work by Handel.
1865 - Brahms: Theme and Variations (after slow movement of Brahms’ String Sextet No. 1), in Frankfurt am Main
1866 - Offenbach: operetta, La Vie Parisienne, in Paris, at the Palais-Royal
1875 - Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4, in Paris at a concert conducted by Edouard Colonne, with the composer as soloist
1891 - Mascagni: opera L’amico Fritz, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome
1924 - Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 2, in Frankfurt, with Clemens Kraus conducting and Emma Lübbecke-Job the piano soloist
1932 - Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5, by the Berlin Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting, with the composer as soloist
1947 - Chávez: Toccata for percussion, in Mexico City
1949 - Mark Blitzstein: opera Regina, in New York City
1955 - Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2 (Mysterious Mountain), by the Houston Symphony, Leopold Stokowski conducting
1966 - Stravinsky: The Owl and the Pussycat (dedicated to Vera Stravinsky), in Los Angeles; This was Stravinsky's last composition
1970 - Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children, in Washington, D.C.
1985 - Rorem: String Symphony, by the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Shaw conducting
Others
1739 - Handel completes his Concerto Grosso No. 12 (see Julian date: Oct. 20)
1933 - Arnold Schoenberg, accompanied by his wife, baby daughter, and family pet terrier Witz, arrives in New York on the liner Isle de France
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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.