Beeson at the opera

Synopsis

On today's date in 1975, the Kansas City Lyric Theater opened its 18th season with the world premiere performance of a new opera by Jack Beeson entitled "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines." As if to prove that everything IS "up-to-date" in Kansas City, even BEFORE this world premiere, this Missouri company could boast a long tradition of staging contemporary operas by American composers, and they continue to do so to this day.

"Captain Jinks" was the sixth of some ten operas composed by Jack Beeson, who was born in Muncie, Indiana, in 1921. Beeson says the radio broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera are to blame for his catching the opera bug. "When I was about 12," says Beeson, "the Met started regularly broadcasting on Saturday afternoons, and I was seduced. With what spending money I had, I bought scores, and I would place the score up on the piano, and with a little radio on the piano and a big radio across the room, I would accompany the Met."

In addition to "Captain Jinks," some of Beeson's other operas include, "The Sweet Bye and Bye" from 1957, "Lizzie Borden" from 1965, and "Sorry, Wrong Number" from 1999. In addition to his career as an opera composer, Beeson taught for many years at Columbia University in New York City, mentoring hundreds of his composition students.

Music Played in Today's Program

Jack Beeson (1921 - 2010) Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines Kansas City Lyric Opera and Philharmonic; Russell Patterson, cond. RCA ARL2-1727 (LP)

On This Day

Births

• 1880 - Italian composer Ildebrando Pizetti, in Parma;

• 1885 - Frequently cited birth date of American composer and jazz pianist Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, in New Orleans; This date has been proven incorrect (See October 20, 1890);

• 1900 - Finnish composer Unno Klami, in Virolahti;

Deaths

• 1908 - Spanish violin virtuoso and composer Pablo de Sarasate, age 63, in Biarritz;

• 1957 - Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, age 91, in Järvenpää;

Premieres

• 1878 - Tchaikovsky: "Valse-scherzo" for violin and orchestra, in Paris, with Nicolai Rubinstein conducting and Stanislaw Barcewicz the soloist;

• 1930 - first public performance of Elgar: "Pomp and Circumstance" March No. 5, at Queen's Hall in London, Sir Henry Wood conducting; The first performance ever of this music occurred two days earlier, when Elgar himself recorded his new march at HMV's London studios;

• 1954 - Stravinsky: "In Memoriam Dylan Thomas," in Los Angeles, conducted by Robert Craft; Stravinsky had met the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas the previous year, and they had discussed collaborating on an opera project, but Thomas died on November 9, 1953;

• 1975 - Jack Beeson: opera "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines" in Kansas City, Mo.