Born on the Fourth of July?

Synopsis

Today we celebrate three legendary figures in American popular music.

The first is Stephen Foster, the great American songwriter of the 19th century who composed 189 classic songs including “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Old Folks at Home.” Foster was born on this date in 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania.

The second figure we honor today is the incredibly influential 20th century jazz trumpeter, Louis Armstrong, who claimed to have been born on this date in New Orleans in the year 1900.

It seems too good to be true that Foster and Armstrong should both have been born on the Fourth of July—in fact, Armstrong’s real birthday occurred on August 4, 1901. Apparently, Armstrong wasn’t sure of the exact details, so he and his agent decided that it would be good publicity for Armstrong to be born on the Fourth of July and at the start of the new century.

The great Vaudeville and Broadway song and dance man, George M. Cohan, also believed he was born on the Fourth of July, in 1878—a public misconception reinforced by the famous 1942 biographical film of Cohan’s life, “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” starring James Cagney as George M.

The belated discovery of Cohan’s birth certificate, however, proved that a Yankee Doodle Dandy he may have been, but one actually born on the THIRD of July.

Music Played in Today's Program

Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) Souvenirs d'Amerique Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra; Lazar Gosman, cond. CBS/Sony 45529

George M. Cohan (1878-1942) George M! Overture New York City Opera Orchestra; Paul Gemignani, cond. MusicMaster 67099

On This Day

Births

• 1694 - French composer and organist, Louis Claude Daquin, in Paris

• 1826 - American song composer Stephen Collins Foster, in Lawrenceville, Pa.

• 1903 - Belgian composer and organist and teacher Flor Peeters, in Thielen

Deaths

• 1623 - English composer William Byrd, aged c. 80 (the exact date of his birth is not known) in Stondon, Essex

Premieres

• 1831 - The patriot hymn "America" (to the tune of the British patriotic song "God Save the King/Queen" with new words supplied by Samuel Francis Smith) sung by a children's choir at a Fourth of July service at the Park Street Church in Boston; This premiere performance is commonly (but incorrectly) listed as 1832

• 1900 - final version of Sibelius: Symphony No. 1, in Stockholm by the Helsinki Philharmonic on tour, with Robert Kajanus conducting; An earlier version of the symphony had been premiered in Helsinki on April 26, 1899, with the same orchestra conducted by the composer

• 1923 - R. Vaughan Williams: "English Folk Song Suite," in London, by the band of the Royal Military School of Music

• 1964 - Piston: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire

• 1983 - David Amram: "Honor Song for Sitting Bull" for cello and orchestra, by the Long Island Philharmonic, Christopher Keene conducting, and William Da Rosa the soloist

Others

• 1827 - Opening of "Niblo's Gardens," an important 19th century American concert venue, at Broadway and Prince Street in New York City

• 1828 - The U.S. Marine Band first performed "Hail to the Chief" for a living President at the ground-breaking ceremony for the excavation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal attended by President John Quincy Adams

• 1986 - Amid fireworks and celebration, the Marine Band performed in New York City for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, recreating the band's performance under John Philip Sousa for the original dedication ceremonies 100 years earlier