Golijov's "St. Mark Passion"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960) La Pasión según San Marcos Cantoria Alberto Grau; La Pasión Orchestra; Maria Guinand, cond. Hännsler 98 404

On This Day

Births

• 1735 - German composer Johann Christian Bach, the 11th and youngest surviving son of J.S. Bach, in Leipzig; In 1762 he moved to England, where he became famous as "The London Bach";

• 1791 - German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer), in Berlin;

• 1867 - American pianist and composer Amy Marcey Cheney (a.k.a. Mrs. H.H.A. Beach), in Henniker, New Hampshire;

• 1912 - American composer John Cage, in Los Angeles;

Deaths

• 1803 - French composer François Devienne, age 44, at an insane asylum in Charenton;

Premieres

• 1733 - Pergolesi: opera "La serva padrona" (The Maid as Mistress), in Naples at the Teatro San Bartolomeo;

• 1840 - Verdi: opera "Un giorno di regno" (King for a Day), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala;

• 1857 - Liszt: "A Faust Symphony," in Weimar, conducted by the composer;

• 1913 - Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 (first version), in Pavlovsk, with the composer as soloist (Julian date: August 23); This version was lost in a fire during the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the composer reconstructed the work from his sketches; He reintroduced the second version of this concerto in Paris on May 8, 1924, at a concert conducted by Serge Koussevitzky;

• 1927 - Gershwin: musical "Strike Up the Band," at the Shubert Theater in Philadelphia; This show included the classic Gershwin songs "Strike Up the Band" and "The Man I Love";

• 1932 - Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos, at the Venice Festival, with the composer and Jacques Février as soloists;

• 1942 - Prokofiev: String Quartet No. 2 in F, Op. 92, in Moscow, by the Beethoven Quartet; The start of the performance was delayed due to a German air raid;

• 1950 - Arthur Benjamin: Piano Concerto, in Sydney, Australia, with the composer as soloist;

• 1980 - Glass: opera "Satyagraha," by the Netherlands Opera in Rotterdam, Christopher Keene conducting;

• 2000 - Osvaldo Golijov: "Las Pasión Según San Marcos" (St. Mark Passion) in Stuttgart, Germany, by the orchestra of International Bach Academy and the Schola Cantorum de Caracas, Maria Guinand, conducting; This work was one of four passion settings commissioned by the International Bach Academy to honor the 250th anniversary of Bach's death in the year 2000 (see also: Aug. 28 Sept 1 8).

Others

• 1964 - The La Scala Opera begins a month-long residency at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow with a performance of Puccini's "Turandot"; La Scala is the first European opera company to visit the Soviet Union.