Lauridsen's "Rose Songs"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943) Les Chansons des Roses L.A. Master Chorale; Paul Salamunovich, cond. RCM 19705

On This Day

Births

• 1464 - English composer Robert Fayrfax, in Deeping Gate, Lincolnshire;

• 1857 - Italian opera composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo, in Naples;

• 1869 - German composer and conductor Hans Pfitzner (see May 5);

• 1872 - American composer and music educator Arthur Farwell, in St. Paul, Minn.;

• 1891 - Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, in Sontsovka (Bakhmutsk region, Yekaterinoslav district), Ukraine (Julian date: April 11);

Deaths

• 1691 - French composer, harpsichordist and organist Jean Henri d'Angelbert, age 62, in Paris;

Premieres

• 1627 - Heinrich Schütz: opera "Dafne" (now lost), at Hartenfels Castle for the wedding of Princess Sophia of Saxony; This work is supposedly the first German opera;

• 1776 - Gluck: Alceste (2nd version), in Paris at the Académie Royale;

• 1881 - Gilbert Sullivan: operetta "Patience," at the Opera-Comique Theatre oinLondon;

• 1904 - Chadwick: "Euterpe" Overture, by the Boston Symphony;

• 1911 - Berg: String Quartet, Op.3, in Vienna, by the ad hoc quartet Brunner-Holzer-Buchbinder-Hasa Quartet; A later performance in Salzburg on August 2, 1923, by the Havemann Quartet at the First International Festival for Chamber Music , however, attracted wider attention and established Berg's worldwide reputation in musical circles;

• 1920 - Janácek: opera "The Excursions of Mr. Broucek," in Prague at the National Theater;

• 1922 - Varèse: "Offrandes" for voice and small orchestra, in New York City, with Carlos Salzedo conducting;

• 1948 - Jolivet: Concerto for Ondes Martenot and Orchestra, in Vienna;

• 1958 - Robert Kurka: opera "The Good Soldier Schweik" (posthumously) at the New York City Opera;

• 1979 - Rochberg: "The Slow Fires of Autumn," for flute and harp, at Tully Hall in New York, with flutist Carol Wincenc;

• 1981 - Ezra Laderman: String Quartet No. 6 ("The Audubon"), in New York City, by the Audubon Quartet;

• 1993 - Morten Lauridsen: "Les Chanson des Roses"(five French poems by Rilke) for mixed chorus and piano, by the Choral Cross-Ties ensemble of Portland, Ore., Bruce Brown conducting;

• 1994 - Broadway premiere of Sondheim: musical "Passion";

• 1998 - James MacMillan: "Why is this night different?" for string quartet, at London's Wigmore Hall by the Maggini Quartet;

Others

• 1738 - Handel is a founding subscriber to the "Fund for the Support of Decayed Musicians" (now the Royal Society of Musicians) at its first meeting at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in London; The fund was started after the widow and children of Handel's oboe soloist, John Kitch, were found impoverished on the streets of London; Other subscribers to the fund included the British composers Boyce, Arne, Green, and Pepusch (Gregorian date: May 4).