Pop music by Rimsky-Korsakov and Michael Daugherty

Synopsis

The fairytale opera Sadko by Russian composer Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov had its first performance in Moscow on today’s date in 1898. This opera is still staged in Russia, but rarely anywhere else — even though some of its wonderful melodies have proven extremely popular. One of the opera’s arias had a tune so catchy that it was set to English words as “Play That Song of India Again” and became a best-selling Paul Whiteman recording in the 1920s. In the big-band era, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Song of India even made the American hit parade.

The line between popular culture and classical music has often been blurred — and seldom so wickedly as in the works of American composer Michael Daugherty. Take his Le Tombeau de Liberace, for example. Now, in classical music terminology, a “tombeau” is a memorial tribute to an eminent musician or composer — in this case, it’s Wladziu Valentino Liberace, the flamboyant, rhinestone-encrusted pianist and showman who died in 1993.

Many of Daugherty’s other concert pieces have also been inspired by pop icons, real and imaginary, ranging from Desi Arnaz to Superman.

Music Played in Today's Program

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): Song of India from Sadko (arr Kreisler); Gil Shaham, violin; Akira Eguchi, piano; DG 447 640

Michael Daugherty (b. 1954): Candelabra Rhumba from Le Tombeau de Liberace; Paul Crossley, piano; London Sinfonietta; Markus Stenz, conductor; Argo 458 145

On This Day

Births

• 1899 - French composer and pianist Francis Poulenc, in Paris

• 1917 - American composer Ulysses Kay, in Tucson

Deaths

• 1964 - American composer Colin McPhee, 62, in Los Angeles

Premieres

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 124 (Meinen Hesum lass ich Nicht) performed on the first Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach’s second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25)

• 1857 - Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Weimar, with the composer conducting and his pupil, Hans von Bronsart, the soloist

• 1895 - Brahms: Two sonatas for clarinet and piano (Op. 120, No. 1 & No. 2), in Vienna at a private performance for members of the Tonkünstler Society, with clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld and the composer at the piano. The first public performances of these pieces took place at the Rosé Quartet’s chamber concert series on Jan. 8 (Sonata No. 2) and Jan. 11 (Sonata No. 1).

• 1897 - Loeffler: The Death of Tintagiles for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Emil Paur conducting

• 1898 - Glazunov: ballet Raymonda (Gregorian date: Jan. 19)

• 1898 - Rimsky-Korsakov: Sadko, in Moscow at the Solodovnikov Theater, Esposito conducting (Julian date: Dec. 26, 1897

• 1933 - Gruenberg: opera Emperor Jones (after the play by Eugene O’Neill), at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City

• 1942 - Copland: Statements for Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall by New York Philharmonic conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos

• 1952 - Gail Kubik: Symphonie-Concertante in New York City. This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1952.

• 1955 - Martinu: Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies Symphoniques), by the Boston Symphony, with Charles Munch conducting

• 2000 - Danielpour: The Night Rainbow, in Santa Ana, California, by the Pacific Symphony, Carl St. Clair conducting

Others

• 1955 - Marian Anderson makes her Metropolitan Opera debut as Ulrica in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Mascera (A Masked Ball). She is the first African-American singer to perform as an opera soloist on the Met stage. Subsequent distinguished African-American singers who performed as members of the Met company included Robert McFerrin, Sr. (Bobby McFerrin Jr.’s father), Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, Kahtleen Battle and Jessye Norman.