Synopsis
On today’s date in 1938, at the New York Philharmonic’s summertime concert home at Lewissohn Stadium, a 24-year-old American composer named Morton Gould conducted the first performance of his new piece entitled “American Symphonette No. 2.”
As Gould put it, his “American Symphonette” was “entertainment music attempting to utilize the elements of American swing in the classical form of the sinfonietta.”
The new piece was in three movements, and the second, which proved especially popular, was entitled “Pavanne” and fused elements of jazz in swing time with the form of the old-fashioned courtly dance made famous by Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane for Dead Princess.”
In the published score, Gould spelled “Pavanne” with two “n’s.” He explained much later—“I know the spelling is incorrect, but at the time I wrote the piece, Pavane was not a well-known word. Those who knew their Ravel could spell and say it right, but the people who knew only mine had difficulty in pronouncing the title. Among the misspellings were Pavayne, Puvunie, and even Parvenue! So I decided to use two n’s to give at least some idea of what the phonetic sounds were.”
For many decades, Morton Gould was much in demand as a conductor and arranger, but writing original music was what he loved best. “Composing is my life blood,” he claimed. “That is basically me, and although I have done many things in my life—conducting, arranging, playing piano, and so on—what is fundamental is my being a composer.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Morton Gould (1913 – 1996) Pavanne, fr American Symphonette No. 2 St. Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, cond. RCA 60778
On This Day
Deaths
1886 - Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt, age 74, in Bayreuth
Premieres
1922 - Hindemith: "Kammermusik" No. 1, Op. 42a, at Donaueschingen, Germany, with Hermann Scherchen conducting
1938 - Morton Gould: "Second American Sinfonietta," at a New York Philharmonic concert at Lewisohn Stadium conducted by the composer
1982 - Rochberg: opera "The Confidence Man" (after the novel by Hermann Melville), at the Sante Fe Opera in New Mexico
2004 - Jennifer Higdon: "Loco," at the Ravinia Festival, by the Chicago Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Others
1750 - Probable date of J.S. Bach's burial in Leipzig (see July 28).
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.