Mozart and Strinasacchi in Vienna

Synopsis

On today's date in 1784, an Italian violinist named Regina Strinasacchi gave the second of two concerts in Vienna, and had the good sense to commission a new work for the occasion from an up-and-coming young Austrian composer named Wolfgang Mozart.

"We have the famous Strinasacchi from Mantua here right now," wrote Wolfgang to his father a few days earlier. "She is a very good violinist, has excellent taste, and a lot of feeling in her playing—I'm composing a Sonata for her at this moment that we'll be performing together on Thursday."

Wolfgang's papa must have been pleased to hear about the cash commission, but probably would have frowned to learn that Strinasacchi received her part barely in time for the performance, and that his son hadn't even bothered to write out his own part down in full—just a sketchy outline. It also comes as a shock for us to learn that Regina and Wolfgang never got together to rehearse prior to the concert, which meant that she was probably sight-reading her part, and he improvising his.

No matter—the new Violin Sonata was received warmly by Viennese audiences, and afterward Wolfgang had a whole month or so to dot all the musical "i's" and cross all the musicals "t's" in his score before it was printed. And, for the record, this Violin Sonata in B-flat Major is arguably one of Mozart's finest.

Music Played in Today's Program

Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791) Violin Sonata in Bb, K. 454

On This Day

Births

• 1879 - British conductor and occasional orchestrator-arranger of Handel scores, Sir Thomas Beecham, in St. Helens (near Liverpool);

• 1855 - Russian composer Anatoly Liadov (Gregorian date: May 11);

• 1888 - American popular song composer Irving Berlin (Isidore Balin) (Gregorian date: May 11); There are several possibilities concerning his birth city. It could be Tyumen or Tumen, any one of several villages near the city of Mogilyov, Russia (now Belarus), not the city in Siberia.

• 1885 - American composer Wallingford Riegger, in Albany, Ga.;

• 1899 - American composer and jazz band leader, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, in Washington, D.C.;

• 1920 - American composer Harold Shapero, in Lynn, Mass.;

• 1929 - Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, in Launeceston;

Deaths

• 1712 - Spanish composer and organist Juan Bautista José (Juan Bautista Josep; Joan) Cabanilles (Cavanilles, Cabanillas, Cavanillas), age c. 67, in Valencia;

Premieres

• 1784 - Mozart: Violin Sonata in Bb, K. 454, at Vienna's Kärtnertor Theater in the presence of Emperor Joseph II, with the composer at the piano with Italian violinist Regina Strinasacchi; Mozart also performed one of his Piano Concertos, possibly the premiere performance of the Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453 (see also June 13, 1784);

• 1798 - Haydn: oratorio "The Creation" at a private performance in Vienna at Schwarzenbgerg Palace; The first public performance occurred n March 19, 1799 (Haydn's nameday);

• 1927 - Vladimir Dukelsky (Vernon Duke): "Zephyr et Flore"ballet suite, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1928 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 9, in Moscow;

• 1929 - Prokofiev: opera "The Gambler" (sung in French) in Brussels;

• 1962 - Stravinsky: "Eight Instrumental Miniatures" (based on his "Five Fingers" of 1921), in Toronto by the CBC Symphony conducted by the composer;

• 1980 - John Williams: "The Reivers " (Suite for narrator and orchestra) with a William Faulkner, as part of the first concert Williams conducted as music director of the Boston Pops, with Burgess Meredith as narrator;

• 1988 - Peter Maxwell Davies: "Strathclyde Concerto" No. 1 for oboe and orchestra, at Glasgow's City Hall, by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer, with soloist Robin Miller;

• 1990 - Philip Glass: chamber opera "Hydrogen Jukebox" (to poems by Allen Ginsberg), by the Philip Glass ensemble conducted by Martin Goldray, in a concert version presented at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia; A staged production was presented at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C,, on May 26, 1990;

• 1993 - Michael Torke: "Run" for orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Slatkin conducting;

Others

• 1906 - Victor Herbert conducts a benefit concert at the Hippodrome in New York City for victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake;

• 1969 - On his 70th birthday, Duke Ellington receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House from then-President Richard Nixon.