Prokofiev's "Ode to Joe"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) Lieutenant Kije Suite Chicago Symphony; Claudio Abbado, cond. DG 447 419

Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) A toast! Op. 85 St. Petersburg Philharmonic Choir; New Philharmonia Orchestra; Alexander Titov, cond. Beaux 38

On This Day

Births

• 1837 - Russian composer Mily Balakirev (Gregorian date: Jan. 2);

• 1850 - Bohemian composer Zdenek Fibich, in Vseborice;

• 1940 - American composer and guitarist Frank Zappa, in Baltimore, Maryland;

Deaths

• 1864 - American composer and journalist William Henry Fry, age 51, in Santa Cruz, West Indies;

• 1890 - Danish composer Niels W. Gade, in Copenhagen, age 73;

• 1957 - British light-music composer Eric Coates, age 71, in Chichester;

Premieres

• 1890 - Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (final version), in Vienna, Hans Richter conducting;

• 1900 - Frederick Converse: “The Festival of Pan” for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Wilhelm Gericke conducting;

• 1903 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 7, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Jan. 3);

• 1908 - Schoenberg: Quartet No. 2 for strings and soprano, in Vienna, by the Rosé Quartet with soprano Marie Gutheil-Schoder;

• 1934 - Prokofiev: "Lieutenant Kijé" Suite (from the film), on a Moscow radio broadcast;

• 1934 - Toch: “Big Ben (Variation Fantasy on the Westminster Chimes)” for orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1939 - Prokofiev: cantata "Zdravitza" (A Toast), in Moscow, to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin;