William Henry Fry

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1813, William Henry Fry was born in Philadelphia. As a journalist, he was one of the most vociferous champions of American concert music, and put his money where his mouth was by becoming a composer himself, creating a number of programmatic works, including a “Niagara” symphony and another titled “Santa Claus.” Above all else, Fry was passionate about opera, and wrote several of his own.

Fry was a colorful—if understandably biased—music critic. Here’s an excerpt from his 1862 review of a New York performance of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”—an opera only 9 years old at that time:

“Trovatore … has a wonderful plot, beyond human comprehension; though finally we learn in the last scene that [the tenor] is made into soup by the order of his brother [the baritone], who then expresses his emotion and surprise on learning of the transaction as the curtain falls. As to the music—there are some charming, popular, ingenious, artistic … points; [but] there are others egregiously vulgar and rowdy. The Anvil Chorus, for example, is about the equal to a scene of mending a sewer set to music; or repairing a pair of cast-off leather breeches.”

Music Played in Today's Program

William Henry Fry (1813 – 1864) Macbeth Overture Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Tony Rowe, cond. Naxos 8.559057

On This Day

Births

• 1813 - American composer and journalist, William Henry Fry, in Philadelphia; Some earlier sources list August 19 as Fry's birth date;

• 1865 - Russian composer Alexander Glazunov, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: July 29);

• 1893 - American opera composer Douglas Moore, in Cutchogue (Long Island), N.Y.;

• 1932 - German-born English composer Alexander Goehr, in Berlin;

• 1935 - Georgian composer Giya Kancheli, in Tbilisi, former USSR;

Deaths

• 1806 - Austrian composer Michael Haydn (younger brother of Franz Joseph), in Salzburg, age 68;

• 1970 - German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann, age 52, commits suicide in Königsdorf, leaving behind his posthumous "Requiem";

• 1997 - American composer Conlon Nancarrow, age 84, in Mexico City;

Premieres

• 1949 - Milhaud: Octet for Strings, at Mills College in California, by the combined Budapest and Paganini Quartets;

• 1965 - Wm. Schuman: "Philharmonic Fanfare," by the New York Philharmonic conducted by William Steinberg, at the orchestra's first outdoor concert in New York's Central Park;

• 1968 - Grofé: "Virginia City: Requiem for a Ghost Town," in Virginia City, Nevada;

• 1981 - John Tavener: "Akhmatova: Requiem," at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland;

• 1992 - James MacMillan: "Veni, Veni, Emmanuel" (Percussion Concerto), at Royal Albert Hall in London, with soloist Evelyn Glennie and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Sarsate conducting;

• 2001 - Per Norgard: String Quartet No. 9 ("Into the Source"), at the Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival, by the Orion String Quartet;

Others

• 1778 - Mozart finishes his "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'" Serenade (K. 525) in Vienna;

• 1788 - Mozart finishes his "Jupiter" Symphony in C Major (No. 41, K. 551) in Vienna;

• 1825 - Mendelssohn, age 16, finishes his opera "Camacho's Wedding";

• 1895 - The late-summer "Promenade" Concerts"(better known as "The Proms") are launched in London by Sir Henry Wood and Robert Newman.