Converse salutes Henry Ford

Synopsis

It's the Romantic composer, Franz Liszt, who is usually credited with the invention of the "tone poem," defined as an orchestral piece that usually has some sort of "program" or story depicted in music. In the Romantic Era these stories were often, well, romantic in nature. Enchanted huntsmen, water fairies, and tales of thwarted lovers were popular, as were depictions of mountains, rivers, and other evocative natural scenes.

On today's date in 1927, the Boston Symphony premiered a modern tone-poem on a modern subject. The music was by the American composer, Frederick Converse, and the complete title was: "Flivver Ten Million: A Joyous Epic Inspired by the Familiar Legend 'The Ten Millionth Ford is Now Serving Its Owner.'"

"Flivver" was a slang term appropriated by the Ford Motor Company for its inexpensive, mass-produced cars. The advertising tag-line about the "10 Millionth Flivver" must have struck Converse as poetic, in a modern American sort of way, and so fit material for a tone poem.

"I set about it for my own amusement," wrote Converse. "I wondered what Mark Twain would have done with such a theme if he had been a musician. He who wishes to express American life or experience must include the saving grace of humor."

As a "road map" for this musical Flivver, Converse provided descriptive titles for sections of the tone-poem, like "Dawn in Detroit," "The Din of the Builders," "The Joy Riders," and (perhaps predictably) "The Collision."

Music Played in Today's Program

Frederick Converse (1871 – 1940) Flivver Ten Million Buffalo Philharmonic; JoAnn Falletta, cond. Naxos 8.559116

On This Day

Births

• 1688 - German composer Johann Friedrich Fasch, in Buttelstadt;

Premieres

• 1738 - Handel: opera "Serse" (Xerxes), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: April 26);

• 1739 - Handel: oratorio "Israel in Egypt" (Julian date: April 4);

• 1902 - Ravel: "Pavane pour une infante défunte" (Pavan for the Dead Princess, or perhaps more accurately: Pavan for a Princess of the Past), in Paris, by Ravel's friend Ricardo Viñes;

• 1915 - de Falla: ballet "El Amor brujo" (Love the Magician), in Madrid;

• 1918 - Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 3 and "Visions fugitives" Op. 22, in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), by the composer;

• 1926 - Douglas Moore: opera "The Pageant of P.T. Barnum," by the Cleveland Orchestra, Nikolai Sokoloff conducting;

• 1927 - Converse: orchestral fantasy "Flivver Ten Million" (celebrating the ten millionth Ford automobile produced), by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1931 - Copland: "A Dance Symphony," by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski; This work incorporates material from Copland's 1923 ballet"Grohg," which had not been produced; The symphony was one the winners of the 1929 Victor Talking Machine Company Competition Prize; The judges of the competition decided that none of the submitted works deserved the full $25,000 prize, so they awarded $5000 each to four composers, including Copland, Ernest Bloch, and Louis Gruenberg, and gave $10,000 to Robert Russell Bennett (who had submitted two works);

• 1976 - William Schuman: "Concerto on Old English Rounds" for viola, women's chorus and orchestra, in New York City;

• 1979 - John Harbison: Quintet for Winds, at Jordan Hall in Boston, by the Aulos Quintet;

• 1980 - Paul Creston: Piano Trio, Op. 112, in Grinnell, Iowa, by the Mirecourt Trio;

• 1981 - Stanislaw Skrowaczewski: Clarinet Concerto, in Minneapolis, by soloist Joseph Longo and the Minnesota Orchestra, with the composer conducting;

• 1989 - Andrew Lloyd Webber: musical "Aspects of Love," in London; The musical premiered on Broadway on April 8, 1990;

• 1994 - Michael Torke: "Bone" for mixed ensemble, at the Rensselaer (N.Y.) Polytechnical Institute, by the Dog of Desire ensemble, David Alan Miller conducting;

• 1998 - Philip Glass: "digital" opera "Monsters of Grace," at UCLA, by the Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman conducting, to computer animated images created by Robert Wilson;

• 2000 - Steve Mackey: "Tuck and Roll" (Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra), in Miami with the composer as soloist with the New World Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas;

Others

• 1847 - American premiere of Verdi's opera "Ernani," at the Park Theatre in New York City;

• 1971 - Igor Stravinsky's funeral mass held at Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice; Stravinsky is buried on the island of San Michele.