Howard Hanson's "Laude"

Synopsis

On today's date in 1975, "Laude," a new work for symphonic winds by American composer Howard Hanson received its premiere performance in Berkeley, California, by the California State University Long Beach Band conducted by Larry Curtis. The new work was a commission from the College Band Directors National Association.

The notes supplied for the occasion by the 78-year-old composer were unusually eloquent and reflective:

"As one comes toward the end of a long life," wrote Hanson, "one realizes how many influences go back to early childhood. In my musical and religious life the greatest was, undoubtedly, the chorales which I heard as a young boy growing up in Wahoo, Nebraska… 'Laude' [is] based on a chorale of praise… I took my cue from the 150th Psalm: 'Praise Him with the sound of the Trumpet, With Psaltery and harp, With timbrel and dance, With string instruments and organs, Praise Him upon the loud cymbals, the high-sounding cymbals, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord'… when the chorale melody appears, working up a crescendo which becomes, I hope, a veritable avalanche of sound, with, literally, 'everything that has breath' praising the Lord."

An ardent champion of American classical music, Howard Hanson taught for some 40 years at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and once estimated that over 2000 works by more than 500 American composers were premiered during his tenure.

Music Played in Today's Program

Howard Hanson (1896-1981) Laude Philharmonia á Vent;John Boyd, cond. Klavier 11158

On This Day

Births

• 1871 - Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar, in Stockholm;

• 1883 - American jazz pianist and song composer Eubie Blake, in Baltimore;

• 1897 - American composer Quincy Porter, in New Haven, Conn.;

• 1925 - Rumanian-born French composer Marius Constant, in Bucharest;

Deaths

• 1652 - Italian composer and Papal Chapel singer Gregorio Allegri, age .c 70, in Rome;

• 1779 - English composer and organist William Boyce, age 67, in Kensington;

Premieres

• 1733 - Handel: opera “Orlando” in London (Julian date: Jan.27);

• 1786 - Mozart: opera "Der Schauspieldirektor" (The Impressario), in Vienna at the Orangerie at Schönbrunn;

• 1792 - Cimarosa: opera "Il Matrimonio segreto" (The Secret Marriage), in Vienna at the Burgtheater;

• 1873 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 (“Little Russian”), in Moscow (Julian date: Jan. 26);

• 1875 - Lalo: "Symphonie espagnole" for Violin and Orchestra, in Paris, Edouard Colonne conducting, with Pablo de Sarasate the soloist;

• 1882 - Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Jan.26);

• 1893 - Brahms: Capriccio in d, No. 7 from "Fantasies" for Piano, Op. 116, in Vienna;

• 1908 - Chadwick: "Symphonic Sketches," by the Boston Symphony, with Karl Muck conducting;

• 1907 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera “Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh,” in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Feb. 20);

• 1922 - Stenhammar: incidental music for Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," at the Lorensberg Theater in Gothenburg, Sweden;

• 1931 - Deems Taylor: opera "Peter Ibbetson" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York;

• 1941 - first public performance of Barber: Violin Concerto, by Philadelphia Orchestra, with Eugene Ormandy conducting and Albert Spalding the soloist;

• 1941 - Hindemith: Cello Concerto, Op. 7, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting with Gregor Piatigorsky the soloist;

• 1953 - Martinu: "The Marriage," one-act opera (after Gogol) on the NBC TV network; One of the earliest operas specifically written for television, it is nowadays all but forgotten;

• 1957 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 7 (arr. Bogatiiryov), in Moscow; This arrangement uses sketches for Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3 and for another unfinished work for piano and orchestra as the basis for a "new" symphonic work by the late composer;

• 1964 - Sessions: Symphony No. 5, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1988 - Tan Dun: "Out of Peking Opera" for violin and orchestra, at Lincoln Center, with soloist Vera Weiling Tsu and the New York City Symphony, David Eaton conducting;

• 1996 - Zwilich: Triple Concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra, by the Minnesota Orchestra, Zdenek Macal conducting, with the Kalichstein/Laredo/Robinson Trio as the soloists;

Others

• 1973 - On his 90th birthday, Jazz pianist and song composer Eubie Blake, the son of former slaves, is honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).