Huss in Boston

Synopsis

If the name Henry Holden Huss [pronounced “Hoos”] doesn’t ring a bell, we’re not surprised—but in his heyday, around 1900, he was famous as a leading American concert pianist and composer. On today’s date in 1894, Huss was the soloist with the Boston Symphony for the premiere of his own Piano Concerto in B Major.

Now, piano concertos written in the key of B Major are not exactly thick on the ground, and Huss’s unusual choice was probably influenced by the “Liebestod” or “Love-Death” music from Wagner’s ultra-Romantic opera “Tristan and Isolde.” Certainly, Huss’s Piano Concerto is in a similarly ultra-Romantic vein. After many decades of neglect, it was revived and recorded by the British compact disc label Hyperion for inclusion in their “Romantic Piano Concerto Series,” devoted to both famous and downright obscure examples of the genre.

In addition to his musical fame, Huss was justly proud of his ancestors: He was related on his father’s side to the early 15th century Protestant martyr John Huss and on his mother’s side to a member of George Washington’s staff.

Like his contemporary, pianist-composer Edward MacDowell, Huss studied in Germany. Unlike the more famous but tragic short career of MacDowell, Huss enjoyed a long, healthy and productive creative life. In addition to his Piano Concerto, Huss wrote symphonic poems, chamber works, music for chorus, and, not surprisingly, a number of solo piano works.

He died at the age of 91 in 1953.

Music Played in Today's Program

Henry Holden Huss (1862–1953) Piano Concerto, Op. 10 Ian Hobson, piano; BBC Scottish Symphony; Martyn Brabbins, cond. Hyperion 66949

On This Day

Births

• 1812 - German composer, cellist and conductor Julius Rietz, in Berlin;

• 1837 - American composer, conductor, pianist and organist B. J. Lang, in Salem, Ma.;

• 1896 - American composer Roger Sessions, in Brooklyn;

Deaths

• 1937 - French composer Maurice Ravel, age 62, in Paris;

• 1963 - German composer Paul Hindemith, age 68, in Frankfurt;

Premieres

• 1720 - Handel: opera "Radamisto" (2nd version), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket, with the great Italian alto-castrato Senesino making his debut in one of Handel's works (Gregorian date: Jan. 8, 1721);

• 1737 - Handel: anthem "The Ways of Zion do Mourn"(Julian date: Dec. 17);

• 1894 - Henry Holden Huss: Piano Concerto in B, by the Boston Symphony, Emil Paur conducting, and the composer as soloist;

• 1925 - Gershwin: musical "Tip-Toes," at the Liberty Theater in New York City; This show included the classic Gershwin songs "Sweet and Low Down," "That Certain Feeling," and "These Charming People";

• 1930 - Cowell: Piano Concerto, in Havana, Cuba, by the Havana Philharmonic, with the composer at the piano;

• 1944 - Bernstein: musical "On the Town," in New York City at the Adelphi Theater; A trial run of this show had opened in Boston at the Colonial Theater on December 13, 1944; The 1944 Broadway production would run for 462 performances;

• 1944 - Miklós Rósza: Concerto for String Orchestra, in Los Angeles;

• 1948 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 26, in Moscow;

• 1952 - Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano (part two of a two-part recital), in Leningrad, by pianist Tatyana Nikolayeva; See also Dec. 23rd;

Others

• 1945 - Igor Stravinsky becomes an American citizen;