Brant's "Angels and Devils"

Synopsis

Long before the “76 Trombones” made famous by “The Music Man,” there were the “76 flutes” of Henry Brant. At least that’s what the score of his flute ensemble piece “Angels and Devils” called for, although when it received its premiere performance on today’s date in 1933, a much smaller group assembled on the stage of Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City.

In February of 1933, American composer Henry Brant was 29 years old, and must have been a pretty good pianist as well: On the same program he accompanied soprano Judith Litante in the premiere performances of three songs by the then 58-year old composer Charles Ives.

Brant says that as a young composer he was much influenced by the music and ideas of Ives, adding to these an expanded awareness of the possibilities of spatial music, inspired in part by the colossal ensembles called for by Hector Berlioz in some of his grander sacred works, which Brant heard performed in the great cathedrals of Europe. Many of Brant’s most famous works involve multiple ensembles of players performing with and against each other in large indoor and outdoor venues.

“I had come to feel that single-style music could no longer evoke the new stresses, layered insanities, and multi-directional assaults of contemporary life on the spirit,” explains Brant.

Music Played in Today's Program

Henry Brant (1913 - 2008) Angels and Devils Bonita Boyd, flute; Eastman Wind Ensemble; Donald Hunsberger, cond. Centaur 2014

On This Day

Births

• 1941 - American composer Stephen Albert, in New York;

Deaths

• 1497 - Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem, age c. 76, in Tours;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 144 ("Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin") performed on Septuagesimae Sunday as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);

• 1727 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 157 ("Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn") for a funeral service in Leipzig;

• 1813 - Rossini: opera "Tancredi," in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;

• 1851 - R. Schumann: Symphony No. 3 ("Rhenish"), in Düsseldorf, conducted by the composer;

• 1930 - Roussel: "Petite Suite" for orchestra, in Paris;

• 1933 - Henry Brant: "Angels and Devils" for solo flute and flute ensemble, at a Pan-American Association of Composers concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City, with the famous French-born flautist Georges Barrère as the soloist; On the same program, Brant accompanied soprano Judith Litante at the piano in the premiere performances of three songs by Charles Ives: "Afterglow," "Ann Street," and "Like a Sick Eagle";

• 1941 - Hindemith: Cello Concerto, at the Sanders Theater (Cambridge, Mass.) by the Boston Symphony conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, with Gregor Piatigorsky the soloist;

• 1944 - Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, by the NBC Symphony conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Eduard Steuermann as soloist;

• 1959 - Poulenc: opera "La voix humaine" (The Human Voice), in Paris at the Opéra Comique;

• 1976 - John La Montaine: opera "Be Glad, Then, America," at University Park, Pa.;

• 1996 - Stephen Paulus: "Dramatic Suite," for flute, viola, cello and piano, in St. Cloud, Minn., by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center;

Others

• 1838 - Mendelssohn finishes his String Quartet in Eb, Op. 44, no. 3.