Composers Datebook

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1994, at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Chicago Symphony and conductor Daniel Barenboim gave the world premiere performance of Partita by American composer Elliott Carter, specially commissioned in honor of the composer’s 85th birthday.

It was a major work, and a major occasion — but, as the Chicago Tribune’s music critic John von Rheim put it, that date “will forever be known as the Night the Lights Went Out on Elliott Carter.”

Just as the orchestra was playing the final pages of Carter’s complex score, the house lights went out. The audience gasped. The orchestra stopped playing. Not sure what to do, the audience started applauding. Then, after a moment or two the lights came back on. After breathing a sigh of relief, Barenboim and the orchestra prepared to pick up where they had left off — and then the lights went out again!

Turning to the audience, Barenboim quipped, “It’s a good thing we and Mr. Carter are not superstitious.”

Well, eventually the lights came back on — and stayed on, enabling the Orchestra to finish the premiere of Carter’s Partita.

But, perhaps as a kind of insurance policy — later on Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony also made a live recording of the new work.

Music Played in Today's Program

Elliott Carter (1908-2012): Partita; Chicago Symphony; Daniel Barenboim, conductor (live recording); Teldec CD 81792

Synopsis

Famous composers have been, on occasion, famous performers as well. Think of Bach on the organ, or Rachmaninoff on the piano. And if Mozart’s father is to be believed, young Wolfgang could have Europe’s finest violinist — if he had only practiced more.

But how many famous composers can you name who played the bassoon? Well, British composer Edward Elgar, for one. As a young musician in Worcester, he played the bassoon in a wind quintet. While never becoming famous as a bassoonist, his love for and understanding of the instrument is evident in all his major orchestral works, and he counted one skilled player among his friends: this was Edwin F. James, the principal bassoonist of the London Symphony in his day.

In 1910, while working on his big, extroverted, almost 50-minute violin concerto, Elgar tossed off a smaller, much shorter, and far more introverted work for bassoon and orchestra as a gift for James. Since he was working on both pieces at the same time, if you’re familiar with he Violin Concerto, you can’t help but notice a familial resemblance to his six-minute Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra.

The Romance was first performed by Edwin F. James at a Herefordshire Orchestral Society concert conducted by the Elgar on today’s date in 1911.

Music Played in Today's Program

Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra; Graham Salvage, bassoon; Halle Orchestra; Mark Elder, conductor; Halle Elgar Edition HLL-7505

Synopsis

We probably have the irrepressible playwright, music critic, and ardent socialist George Bernard Shaw to thank for this music — the Symphony No. 3 of Edward Elgar.

Shaw had been trying to persuade him to write a Symphony No. 3, and, early in 1932, had written: “Why don’t you make the BBC order a new symphony. It can afford it!” A few months later, Shaw dashed off a postcard with a detailed, albeit tongue-in-cheek program for the new work: “Why not a Financial Symphony? Allegro: Impending Disaster; Lento mesto: Stone Broke; Scherzo: Light Heart and Empty Pocket; Allegro con brio: Clouds Clearing.”

Well, there was a worldwide depression in 1932, but the depression that had prevented Elgar from tacking a new symphony was more personal: the death of his beloved wife in 1920. Despite describing himself as “a broken man,” unable to tackle any major projects, when Elgar died in 1934, he left behind substantial sketches for a Symphony No. 3, commissioned, in fact, by the BBC.

Fast forward 64 years, to February 15, 1998, when the BBC Symphony gave the premiere performance of Elgar’s Symphony No. 3 at Royal Festival Hall in London, in a performing version, or “elaboration” of his surviving sketches, prepared by contemporary British composer Anthony Payne. It was a tremendous success, and, we would like to think, somewhere in the hall the crusty spirit of George Bernard Shaw was heard to mutter: “Well — about time!”

Music Played in Today's Program

Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Symphony No. 3 (elaborated by Anthony Payne); BBC Symphony; Andrew Davis, conductor; NMC 053

Synopsis

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!

On today's date in 1953, a new choral work by German composer Carl Orff received its premiere performance at the La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. Trionfo di Afrodite was the title of the new work, intended to be the final panel in a triptych of choral works celebrating life and love. This triptych included Orff’s famous Carmina Burana, based on medieval texts, and Catulli Carmina, based on love lyrics by Roman poet Catullus.

All three pieces were given lavish, semi-staged performances at La Scala, led by the Austrian maestro Herbert von Karajan, and with German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda as the star soloists. For the world premiere performance of Trionfo di Afrodite, Schwarzkopf and Gedda portrayed a bride and groom on their wedding night: the texts they sang were pretty hot stuff — if you understand Latin, that is!

Triofi di Afrodite shows Orff’s indebtedness to Stravinsky, and his repetitive rhythmic patterns seem to anticipate the minimalist movement by several decades. At the 1953 premiere, Schwarzkopf’s husband, record producer Walter Legge, gently suggested to Orff that he might consider a few cuts to the new work. His response? “Oh, I know very well the effect of my rubber-stamp music!”

In any case, Legge decided not to make a recording of the new work — which seems a shame, considering the all-star cast assembled at La Scala for its premiere!

Music Played in Today's Program

Carl Orff (1985-1982): Trionfo di Aphrodite

Synopsis

Today’s date in 1910 marks the birthday in Paris of a French composer you perhaps have never heard of, but Elsa Barraine is well-deserving of your attention.

Barraine’s father was a cellist at the Paris Opera, and as a teen she attended the Paris Conservatory, studying composition with Paul Dukas. Olivier Messiaen was her classmate and remained a lifelong friend. She won several prizes for her compositions, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1929 when she was just 19.

Barraine worked at the French National Radio from 1936 to 1940. During World War II, she was heavily involved in the French Resistance, and from 1944 to 1947 was the Recording Director of the French record label Le Chant du Monde. In 1953 she joined the faculty at the Paris Conservatoire, where she taught until 1972, the year the French Ministry of Culture named her Director of Music. She died in 1999.

Barraine’s catalog of works includes a variety of vocal and instrumental works, an opera, ballets, and two symphonies, but her music is seldom performed today. We’re sampling one of her chamber works, a piece for French horn and piano, Crépuscules, or Twilights.

Music Played in Today's Program

Elsa Barraine (1910-1999): Crépuscules; Lin Foulk Baird, French Horn; Martha Fischer, piano; Centaur CRC-3857