Creston's Saxophone Concerto

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Paul Creston (1906 – 1985) Saxophone Concerto, Op. 26 James Abato, saxophone; Hollywood Bowl Symphony; Leopold Stokowski, cond. Archival broadcast recording (August 26, 1945)

On This Day

Births

• 1756 - Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Salzburg;

• 1806 - Spanish composer Juan Crisostomo Arriage, in Rigoitia;

• 1823 - French composer Edouard Lalo, in Lille;

• 1885 - American composer Jerome Kern, in New York City;

Deaths

• 1901 - Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, age 87, in Milan;

Premieres

• 1726 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 72 ("Alles nur nach Gottes Willen") performed on the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1733 - Handel: opera "Orlando" in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket(Gregorian date: Feb. 7);

• 1844 - Erkel: opera "Hunyady László," considered the first national Hungarian opera, in Budapest;

• 1849 - Verdi: opera "La battaglia di Legnano" (The Battle of Legnano), in Rome at the Teatro Argentina;

• 1874 - Mussorgsky: opera "Boris Godunov", in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Feb. 8);

• 1944 - Paul Creston: Saxophone Concerto, in New York;

• 1947 - Stravinsky: Concerto in D, in Basle (Switzerland), by the Basle Chamber Orchestra conducted by Paul Sacher (who commissioned the work);

• 1955 - Tippett: opera "The Midsummer Marriage," in London at the Royal Opera House, with John Pritchard conducting (and soprano Joan Sutherland in the cast);

• 1967 - Leon Kirchner: Quartet No. 3 for strings and electronic tape, in New York City, by the Beaux Arts Quartet; This work was awarded the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Music;

• 1991 - Off-Broadway premiere of Sondheim: musical "Assassins."