Synopsis
On today’s date in 1945, Sergei Prokofiev conducted the Moscow Philharmonic in the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 5. Written when the tide of World War II was turning in the favor of the Allies, the premiere came one day after news reached Moscow that Soviet troops had begun a successful counteroffensive against the Germans.
The symphony proved to be one of Prokofiev’s strongest works, and in the context of 1945 must have had an incredible emotional impact. It was a tremendous success in Moscow, and also in Boston, where Serge Koussevitzky conducted the American premiere later that same year. Prokofiev even made the cover of Time magazine. As musicologist Michael Steinberg put it, “No question, the Fifth was a repertory piece from day one.”
How sad, then, to realize how soon things would change for the man who wrote it. In three years Prokofiev — along with Shostakovich and others — would be denounced by Soviet authorities for supposedly straying from the party line. In five years, when the Red Scare in America turned our one-time Ally into public enemy No. 1, conductor Maurice Abravenel received a death threat when the Utah Symphony announced the Salt Lake City premiere of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.
Music Played in Today's Program
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Symphony No. 5; St. Petersburg Philharmonic; Yuri Temirkanov, conductor; RCA/BMG 60984
On This Day
Births
1690 - German composer Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, in Grünstadtl
1866 - Russian composer Vassili Sergeievitch Kalinnikov, in Voin (Julian date: Jan 1.)
1904 - British composer Richard Addinsell, in London
Deaths
1864 - American composer Stephen Foster, 37, in Bellevue Hospital, New York
1980 - Russian-born American conductor and arranger André Kostelanetz, 78, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Premieres
1726 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 32 (Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen) performed on the first Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach’s third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27)
1775 - Mozart: opera La Finta Giardiniera (The Feigned Gardener), in Munich at the Opernhaus St. Salvator
1873 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera The Maid of Pskov (first version) in St. Petersburg, Napravnik conducting. This was Rimsky-Korsakov’s first opera (Julian date: Jan. 1).
1904 - Bartók: tone-poem Kossuth, in Budapest. Bartók’s parody of the German national hymn in this work caused an uproar at the work’s premiere
1944 - Stravinsky: Circus Polka (concert version) and Four Norwegian Moods, in Cambridge at the Garden Theatre, with the Boston Symphony conducted by the composer
1945 - Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, by the Moscow State Philharmonic, with the composer conducting
2000 - Danielpour: Voices of Remembrance for string quartet and orchestra, in Washington, D.C. with the Guarneri String Quartet and the National Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting
Others
1910 - Lee De Forest relays experimental Met Opera performances via a radio transmitter (see also Jan. 12).
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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.
