Carter's Cello Sonata

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1950, the Sonata for Cello and Piano by the American composer Elliot Carter had its premiere at New York’s Town Hall, as part of a recital by cellist Bernard Greenhouse and pianist Anthony Markas. According to the Times review, the Carter Sonata was (quote): “grave in character, almost unrelieved by any touch of lightness and gaiety. While it is neatly scored for cello and piano, it is NOT an easy work.”

The new Cello Sonata marked a shift in the 41-year old composer’s style away from the more populist mode of Aaron Copland and toward a more deliberate attempt to find his own unique voice as a composer.

Decades later, recalling this period in his life, Carter recalled: “About the time of the Second World War, I began to feel that the neo-classical or populist music that I was writing wasn't strong enough. It didn't express the feelings that I felt. We had all overwhelming feelings about the war and its result, and Hitler and all that, and this made me feel that I had to write something more serious and much more meaningful ̶—to me at least, if not to the audience. It was like a blind man trying to find things. It was a probing period. Gradually, I began to find out what it is that meant a lot to me, and I began to narrow my attention to the point where I really knew the kind of thing I wanted to write."

Music Played in Today's Program

Elliot Carter (1908 - 2012) Cello Sonata Anthony Ross, cello; Evelyne Brancart, piano Boston Records 1006

On This Day

Births

• 1848 - English composer (Sir) Hubert Parry, in Bournemouth;

Deaths

• 1887 - Russian composer Alexander Borodin, age 53, at a fancy dress ball in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Feb. 15);

Premieres

• 1729 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 159 ("Sehet, wie gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem") probably performed in Leipzig on Estomihi Sunday as part of Bach's fourth annual Sacred Cantata cycle (to texts by Christian Friedrich Henrici, a.k.a. "Picander") during 1728/29;

• 1737 - Handel: opera “Giustino,” in London (Julian date: Feb. 16);

• 1740 - Handel: oratorio “L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato,” in London at Lincoln’s Inn Field, with the premiere of Handel’s Organ Concerto in Bb, Op. 7, no. 1 (Gregorian date: Mar. 9);

• 1814 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 8, in Vienna, with composer conducting;

• 1908 - Amy Beach: Piano Quintet, at Boston's Potter Hall, with the Hoffmann Quartet and the composer at the piano;

• 1913 - Walter Damrosch: opera, "Cyrano de Bergerac," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City;

• 1915 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 3, in Moscow (Julian date: Feb. 14);

• 1940 - William Schuman: String Quartet No. 3, at Town Hall in New York City, by the Coolidge Quartet;

• 1945 - Amy Beach: opera "Cabildo," by the Opera Workshop at the University of Georgia in Athens, directed by Hugh Hodgson; The first professional production occurred on May 13, 1995, at Alice Tully Hall in New York City as a "Great Performances" telecast conducted by Ransom Wilson;

• 1947 - Hindemith: Piano Concerto, by the Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell conducting, with Jesús Maria Sanromá the soloist;

• 1947 - Peter Mennin: Symphony No. 3, by the New York Philharmonic, Walter Hendel conducting;

• 1949 - Elliott Carter: Woodwind Quintet, at Times Hall in New York City, at a new music concert of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors, sharing a program with Henry Cowell's Suite for Wind Quintet, Vincent Perischetti's "Pastorale," Richard Franko Goldman's Duo for Tubas, Ingolf Dahl's "Music for Five Brass Instruments," and a revised version of Carl Ruggles; "Angles" for seven brass instruments;

• 1949 - Wm. Schuman: Symphony No. 6, by the Dallas Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting;

• 1950 - Elliott Carter: Cello Sonata, at Town Hall in New York, by cellist Bernard Greenhouse and pianist Anthony Markas;

• 1958 - Peter Mennin: Piano Concerto, by the Cleveland Orchesttra conducted by George Szell, with Eunice Podis the soloist;

• 1984 - Libby Larsen: "Parachute Dancing" for orchestra, by the American Composers Orchestra, Tom Nee conducting;

• 1986 - U. Zimmermann: opera "Weisse Rose" (White Rose), in Hamburg by the Opera stabile;

• 1999 - Peter Lieberson: Horn Concerto, at Carnegie Hall, with soloist William Purvis and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Others

• 1885 - First documented American performance of Handel's Concerto Grosso in B Minor (op. 6, no.12), by the Boston Symphony, William Gericke conducting.