Ned Rorem's "Pilgrims"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Ned Rorem (b. 1923) Pilgrims Royal Liverpool Philharmonic;José Serebrier, cond. Naxos 8.559278

On This Day

Births

• 1697 - German composer and flutist Johann Joachim Quantz, in Oberscheden, Hannover;

• 1861 - French-born American composer Charles Martin Loeffler, in Alsace;

• 1862 - German-born American composer and conductor, Walter Damrosch, in Breslau;

Deaths

• 1963 - French composer Francis Poulenc, age 64, in Paris;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 81 ("Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?") performed on the 4th Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);

• 1735 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 14 ("Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit") performed in Leipzig on the 4th Sunday after Epiphany;

• 1892 - Rachmaninoff: “Trio élégiaque” No. 1 in G minor (Gregorian date: Feb. 11);

• 1893 - Brahms: Fantasies for piano Nos. 1-3, from Op. 117 and Intermezzo No. 2, from Op. 117, in Vienna;

• 1917 - Zemlinsky: opera "A Floretine Tragedy," in Stuttgart at the Hoftheater;

• 1920 - Frederick Converse: Symphony in c, by the Boston Symphony, Pierre Monteux conducting;

• 1942 - Copland: Orchestral Suite from "Billy the Kid" ballet, by the Boston Symphony;

• 1948 - Harold Shapero: "Symphony for Classical Orchestra," by the Boston Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein;

• 1958 - Walton: "Partita" for orchestra, in Cleveland;

• 1959 - Hindemith: "Pittsburgh Symphony," by the Pittsburgh Symphony, conducted by the composer;

• 1970 - William Schuman: "In Praise of Shahn," in New York;

• 1985 - Libby Larsen: Symphony ("Water Music"), by the Minnesota Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner conducting.