The Sessions Violin Concerto

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Roger Sessions (1896 –1985) Violin Concerto Paul Zukofsky, violin; French Radio-Television Orchestra; Gunther Schuller, cond. CRI 676

On This Day

Births

• 1792 - American composer and educator Lowell Mason, in Medford, Massachusetts;

• 1812 - Swiss composer and pianist Sigismond Thalberg, in Pâquis, near Geneva;

• 1896 - Czech composer Jaromir Weinberger, in Prague;

• 1899 - Russian-born American composer Alexander Tcherepnin (Gregorian date: Jan. 21);

• 1905 - Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi, in La Spezia;

• 1924 - Russian-American composer Benjamin Lees (née Lysniansky), in Harbin, Manchuria;

• 1924 - Austrian-born American composer Robert Starer, in Vienna;

• 1935 - The charismatic rock 'n' roll performer Elvis Presley is born in Tupelo, Miss.;

• 1937 - American composer Robert Moran, in Denver;

Deaths

• 1713 - Italian composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli, age 59, in Rome;

• 1831 - Moravian-born composer and violinist Franz Krommer, age 71, in Vienna;

• 1998 - British composer Sir Michael Tippett, age 93, in London;

Premieres

• 1705 - Handel: opera "Almira" in Hamburg; This was Handel's first opera (see also Dec. 5 & 30 for related contemporary incidents);

• 1720 - Handel: opera "Radamisto" (2nd version), in London (Julian date: Dec. 28, 1720);

• 1735 - Handel: opera "Ariodante" in London at the Covent Garden Theater (Gregorian date: Jan. 19);

• 1843 - Schumann: Piano Quintet in Eb, Op. 44, at Leipzig Gewandhaus with pianist Clara Schumann;

• 1895 - Brahms: Clarinet Sonata, Op. 120, no. 1 (first public performance), in Vienna, by clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, with the composer at the piano, as part of the Rosé Quartet's chamber music series; The first performance ever of this work occurred on September 19, 1894, at a private performance in the home of the sister of the Duke of Meiningen at Berchtesgaden, with the same performers; Brahms and Mühlfeld also gave private performances of both sonatas in Frankfurt (for Clara Schumann and others) on November 10-13, 1894; at Castle Altenstein (for the Duke of Meiningen) on Nov. 14, 1894; and on Jan. 7, 1895 (for members of the Vienna Tonkünstler Society);

• 1911 - Florent Schmitt: "La tragédie de Salomé" for orchestra, in Paris;

• 1927 - Berg: "Lyric Suite" for string quartet, in Vienna, by the Kolisch Quartet;

• 1928 - Hindemith: "Kammermusik" No. 7, Op. 46, no. 2, in Frankfurt, with Ludwig Rottenberg conducting and Reinhold Merten the organist;

• 1940 - Roger Sessions: Violin Concerto, by the Illinois Symphony conducted by Izler Solomon, with Robert Gross as soloist; The work was to have been premiered by Albert Spalding with the Boston Symphony under Koussevitzky in January of 1937, but did not take place);

• 1963 - Shostakovich: opera "Katerina Izmailova" (2nd version of "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District"), in Moscow at the Stanislavsky-Nemirovich-Dachenko Music Theater;

• 1971 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15, in Moscow, by the All-Union Radio and Television Symphony, with the composer's son, Maxim, conducting;

• 1987 - Christopher Rouse: "Phaethon" for orchestra, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti conducting;

• 1988 - Schwantner: "From Afar . . . " (A Fantasy for Guitar and Orchestra), by guitarist Sharon Isbin with the St. Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting;

Others

• 1923 - First broadcast in England of an opera direct from a concert hall, Mozart's "The Magic Flute" via the BBC from London;