Danielpour salutes "The Greatest Generation"

Synopsis

In the closing months of World War II, a young American lieutenant named Charles von Stade was killed in Germany when his jeep ran over a land mine. Six weeks later, at a hospital back home in New Jersey, his young widow, Sara, gave birth to a daughter, Frederica, who would grow up to become one of the most acclaimed singers of her generation.

Frederica von Stade never knew her father, but the love letters he sent his young bride from the front survived. Von Stade recalls that a chance comment led to the idea of these letters somehow becoming a song-cycle, and, with the help of poet Kim Vaeth and composer Richard Danielpour, that is exactly what happened.

On today’s date in 1998, mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade and baritone Thomas Hampson gave the premiere performance of “Elegies” in Jacksonville, Florida, and soon after recorded the work in London.

Vaeth’s poems and Danielpour’s music move through a dreamscape of light and darkness, in which the voice of a grown-up daughter and a long-lost father reach out toward each other through time and space.

Among the many tributes and recollections to what has come to be called “The Greatest Generation,” this song-cycle has proven to be a particularly moving one.

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) In Paradisum from Elegies Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Hampson, baritone; London Philharmonic; Roger Nierenberg, cond. Sony Classical 60850

On This Day

Births

• 1893 - English composer Ivor Novello (David Ivor Davies), in Cardiff;

• 1909 - American composer Elie Siegmeister, in New York;

• 1960 - American composer Aaron Jay Kernis, in Philadelphia;

Deaths

• 1775 - Italian composer Giovanni Battista Sammartini, age c. 74, in Milan;

Premieres

• 1732 - Handel: opera "Ezio" in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: Jan. 26);

• 1890 - Tchaikovsky: ballet, "Sleeping Beauty," at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Jan. 3);

• 1923 - Pierné: "Cydalise et le chèvre-pied," at the Paris Opéra;

• 1924 - Prokofiev: "Chout" Symphonic Suite, Op. 21a, in Brussels, conducted by F. Ruhlmann;

• 1941 - Messiaen: "Quartet for the End of Time," at Stalag VIII-A, a German prisoner of war camp in Görlitz (Silesia), with the composer at the piano and fellow-prisoners Jean Le Boulaure (violin), Henri Akoka (clarinet) and Etienne Pasquier (cello);

• 1947 - Korngold: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35, by the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Vladimir Golschmann, with Jascha Heifetz the soloist;

• 1958 - Barber: opera "Vanessa" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Dimtri Mitropoulos conducting;

• 1976 - Paul Chihara: "Missa Carminum" for a capella chorus, in Los Angeles;

• 1994 - Zwilich: "Fantasy" for orchestra, by the Long Beach Symphony, JoAnn Falletta conducting;

• 1998 - Danielpour: "Elegies," in Jacksonville, Fla., by mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and baritone Thomas Hampson, with the Jacksonville Symphony conducted by Roger Nierenberg;

• 1998 - Christopher Rouse: "Der gerettete Alberich" (Alberich Redeemed) for percussion and orchestra, by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi, with Evelyn Glennie the percussion soloist;

Others

• 1785 - Likely date of the premiere performances of three of Mozart's "Haydn" Quartets (K. 387, 421, and 428), at Mozart's apartment in Vienna, with Haydn present and possibly with Mozart playing the viola.