Zwilich anniversaries

Synopsis

Today is the birthday anniversary of the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, born on this date in Miami in 1939. As a young musician in Florida, Zwilich studied violin and composition, and eventually moved to New York, where she continued her composition studies at the Juilliard School and played violin in the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski.

In 1975, she was the first woman to earn a Doctorate in Music degree at Juilliard, and, in 1983, was the first woman to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Music. The Pulitzer was for this music, her Symphony No. 1.

Zwilich has also composed a number of successful solo concertos, for flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, piano, and violin. On today's date in 1991, her 52nd birthday, THIS concerto was premiered by the Chicago Symphony under Daniel Barenboim, a piece which showcased an instrument often overlooked by composers: the bass trombone. The concerto was written for Charles Vernon, bass trombonist in the Chicago Symphony's famous brass section.

Zwilich explains, "The work is almost like an orchestral tone poem with the solo trombone being first among many characters. Throughout the ages there have been great instrumental virtuosos who have opened up new vistas for composers… Charlie Vernon's remarkable virtuosity on the bass trombone opens up a whole new approach to the instrument."

Music Played in Today's Program

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939) Symphony No. 1 Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; John Nelson, cond. New World 336

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939) Bass Trombone Concerto Charles Vernon, Bass Trombone; MSU Symphony; Leon Gregorian, cond. Koch 7487

On This Day

Births

• 1870 - Hungarian-born Austrian composer Franz Léhar, in Komorn;

• 1939 - American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, in Miami, Fla.; She was the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music (in 1983 for her Symphony No. 1);

Premieres

• 1728 - Handel: opera "Tolomeo, re d'Egitto" (Ptolomy, King of Egypt), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: May 11);

• 1855 - Berlioz: "Te Deum," at the church of St. Eustache in Paris;

• 1902 - Debussy: opera "Pelléas and Mélisande," in Paris at the Opéra-Comique;

• 1925 - Hindemith: "Kammermusik" No. 3, Op. 36, no. 2, in Bochum, Germany, conducted by the composer with Rudolf Hindemith the cello soloist;

• 1934 - Stravinsky: opera "Persephone," at the Paris Opéra, with Ida Rubinsetin in the principal role (spoken part) and the composer conducting;

• 1973 - Lou Harrison: Concerto for Organ, at San Jose State University, with organist Philip Simpson;

• 1991 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Bass Trombone Concerto, by soloist Charles Vernon with the Chicago Symphony, Daniel Barenboim conducting;

• 1994 - John Harbison: String Quartet No. 3, at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., by the Lydian String Quartet;

Others

• 1932 - Opening of the first "Yaddo" Festival of Contemporary Music at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.