Handel's famous "Largo"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

George Frederic Handel (1685–1759) Largo, from Xerxes Boston Pops; Arthur Fiedler, cond. BMG 62698

On This Day

Births

• 1688 - German composer Johann Friedrich Fasch, in Buttelstadt;

Premieres

• 1738 - Handel: opera "Serse" (Xerxes), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: April 26);

• 1739 - Handel: oratorio "Israel in Egypt" (Julian date: April 4);

• 1902 - Ravel: "Pavane pour une infante défunte" (Pavan for the Dead Princess, or perhaps more accurately: Pavan for a Princess of the Past), in Paris, by Ravel's friend Ricardo Viñes;

• 1915 - de Falla: ballet "El Amor brujo" (Love the Magician), in Madrid;

• 1918 - Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 3 and "Visions fugitives" Op. 22, in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), by the composer;

• 1926 - Douglas Moore: opera "The Pageant of P.T. Barnum," by the Cleveland Orchestra, Nikolai Sokoloff conducting;

• 1927 - Converse: orchestral fantasy "Flivver Ten Million" (celebrating the ten millionth Ford automobile produced), by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1931 - Copland: "A Dance Symphony," by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski; This work incorporates material from Copland's 1923 ballet"Grohg," which had not been produced; The symphony was one the winners of the 1929 Victor Talking Machine Company Competition Prize; The judges of the competition decided that none of the submitted works deserved the full $25,000 prize, so they awarded $5000 each to four composers, including Copland, Ernest Bloch, and Louis Gruenberg, and gave $10,000 to Robert Russell Bennett (who had submitted two works);

• 1976 - William Schuman: "Concerto on Old English Rounds" for viola, women's chorus and orchestra, in New York City;

• 1979 - John Harbison: Quintet for Winds, at Jordan Hall in Boston, by the Aulos Quintet;

• 1980 - Paul Creston: Piano Trio, Op. 112, in Grinnell, Iowa, by the Mirecourt Trio;

• 1981 - Stanislaw Skrowaczewski: Clarinet Concerto, in Minneapolis, by soloist Joseph Longo and the Minnesota Orchestra, with the composer conducting;

• 1989 - Andrew Lloyd Webber: musical "Aspects of Love," in London; The musical premiered on Broadway on April 8, 1990;

• 1994 - Michael Torke: "Bone" for mixed ensemble, at the Rensselaer (N.Y.) Polytechnical Institute, by the Dog of Desire ensemble, David Alan Miller conducting;

• 1998 - Philip Glass: "digital" opera "Monsters of Grace," at UCLA, by the Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman conducting, to computer animated images created by Robert Wilson;

• 2000 - Steve Mackey: "Tuck and Roll" (Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra), in Miami with the composer as soloist with the New World Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas;

Others

• 1847 - American premiere of Verdi's opera "Ernani," at the Park Theatre in New York City;

• 1971 - Igor Stravinsky's funeral mass held at Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice; Stravinsky is buried on the island of San Michele.