Barber offers "two for the price of oneandrdquo

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) First Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12 Detroit Symphony; Neeme Järvi, cond. Chandos 9053

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 Berlin Philharmonic; Semyon Bychkov, cond. Philips 434 108

On This Day

Births

• 1494 - German poet and songwriter ("Master Singer") Hans Sachs, in Nuremberg; He is the subject of German Romantic operas by Lortzig ("Hans Sachs," 1840) and Wagner ("Die Meistersinger," 1868);

• 1935 - British composer Nicholas Maw, in Grantham, Lincolnshire;

Deaths

• 1942 - American songwriter and vaudevillian George M. Cohan, age 64, in New York City; He won the Congressional Medal for his patriotic song, "Over There" (recorded by Enrico Caruso among others);

• 1956 - American jazz pianist and improviser Art Tatum, age 47, in Los Angeles;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 115 ("Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit") performed on the 22nd Sunday after Trinity as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1846 - R. Schumann: Symphony No. 2, by Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn;

• 1876 - Tchaikovsky: “Marche slav” in Moscow (Gregorian date: Nov. 17);

• 1888 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Nov. 17);

• 1895 - R. Strauss: tone-poem "Till Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks," in Cologne, conducted by Franz Wüllner;

• 1926 - de Falla: Harpsichord Concerto, with Wanda Landowska as soloist with the composer conducting;

• 1927 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 2 ("To October"), by the Leningrad Philharmonic and Academic Choir, Nikolai Malko conducting;

• 1938 - Barber: "Adagio for Strings" and "Essay for Orchestra" No. 1, on a broadcast concert by the NBC Symphony, Arturo Toscanini conducting;

• 1943 - Martinu: Concerto for Two Pianos, with Luboshutz and Nemenoff Duo, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1987 - Broadway premiere of Sondheim: musical "Into the Woods";

Others

• 1903 - First concert by a 50-member Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (the current Minnesota Orchestra), conducted by Emil Oberhoffer, with Metropolitan Opera soprano Marcella Sembrich as guest soloist;

• 1955 - Karl Böhm conducts a performance of Beethoven's "Fidelio" at the gala re-opening of Vienna Opera House (damaged by Allied bombs on March 12, 1945); During the rebuilding of the Opera House, performances had continued in two nearby Viennese halls: the Theatre and der Wien and the Volksoper.