Beethoven and Brusa take it slow

Synopsis

For later Romantic composers like Richard Wagner, Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony was “the apotheosis of the dance,” and certainly sitting still during the Symphony’s dizzying finale is not always easy…

…But for those in the audience at its premiere in 1813, as part of a benefit concert for wounded Bavarian and Austrian soldiers, it was the somber slow movement that proved most attractive. Maybe audiences read more into it that Beethoven intended, given the occasion, but over time, the slow movements of many Romantic symphonies not only got longer, but also became the emotional “heart” of the composition.

By the time of Bruckner and Mahler, some of these slow movements alone lasted as long as an entire symphony by earlier composers like Haydn and Mozart. And many composers since then have written slow symphonic movements, which stand alone as complete works in themselves.

On today’s date in 1999, this “Adagio” by the Italian composer Elisabetta Brusa received its premiere performance by the Virtuosi of Toronto. Brusa was born in Milan in 1954, and studied music at the Milan Conservatory.

“My Adagio,” she writes, “is a freely structured composition in a single movement inspired by well-known masterpieces, such as those by Albinoni, Mahler, and Barber. Independent of a pre-established form, sonata, or suite, it originated as an autonomous composition in the expressive style which have distinguished the numerous Adagios of the past.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Symphony No. 7 Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, cond. DG 471 490

Elisabetta Brusa (b. 1954) Adagio Ukraine National Symphony; Fabio Mastrangelo, cond. Naxos 8.555267

On This Day

Births

• 1814 - Belgian inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax, in Dinant; He invented the instrument around 1840, and was granted a 15-year patent in 1846;

• 1854 - American composer and bandmaster John Philip Sousa, in Washington, D.C.;

• 1860 - Polish composer, piano virtuoso, and statesman, Ignace Jan Paderewski, in Russian Poland (Gregorian date: Nov. 18);

Deaths

• 1672 - German composer Heinrich Schütz, age 87, in Dresden;

• 1795 - Czech-born German opera composer Jiri Antonin (Georg Anton)Benda, age 73, in Köstritz;

• 1893 - Russian composer Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, age 53, dies of cholera after drinking un-boiled water during an epidemic in St. Petersburg (see Julian date: Oct. 25); Some speculate this was a deliberate and suicidal act;

• 1965 - Franco-American composer Edgard (or Edgar) Varèse, age 81, in New York City;

Premieres

• 1825 - Beethoven: String Quartet in a, Op.132, in Vienna, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet; The was the first public performance (The same players performed the work at a private performance two months earlier, on September 9, for an audience of fourteen at the Tavern “Zum Wilden Mann” in Vienna);

• 1891 - Tchaikovsky: symphonic balled “The Voyevode” in Moscow (Gregorian date: Nov. 18);

• 1902 - Cilea: opera, "Adriana Lecouvreur" in Milan at the Teatro Lirico;

• 1913 - Saint-Saëns: "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" for violin and orchestra, in Paris;

• 1924 - Janácek: opera "The Cunning Little Vixen," in Brno at the National Theater;

• 1935 - first complete performance of Walton: Symphony No. 1, by the BBC Symphony, Sir Hamilton Harty conducting; Harty had conducted the premiere performance of this work's first three movements (the fourth and final movement had not yet been written) on a London Philharmonic concert of Dec. 3, 1934;

• 1936 - Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting;

• 1940 - Florence Price: Symphony No. 3, in Detroit, by the Michigan WPA Symphony, Valter Poole conducting; Also on the program was Price’s Piano Concerto (which had premiered earlier in Chicago) with the composer as soloist; First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended a rehearsal for this concert, and wrote favorably about Price’s Symphony in her national newspaper column “My Day” for November 14, 1940;

• 1943 - Orff: "Catulli carmina," in Leipzig at the Städische Bühnen;

• 1950 - Copland: Clarinet Concerto, on an NBC Symphony broadcast conducted by Fritz Reiner, with Benny Goodman as soloist;

• 1953 - Nikolaus Nakokov: Cello Concerto ("Les Hommages"), with Lorne Munroe, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1976 - Andrew Imbrie: opera "Angle of Repose," in San Francisco;

• 1999 - Elisabetta Brusa: “Adagio” for strings, by the Virtuosi of Toronto, Fabio Mastrangelo conducting;

• 2004 - Augusta Read Thomas: "Brass Rush" for brass band, by the Illinois Brass Band at the U.S. Open Brass Band Competition in Arlignton Heights, Il.

Others

• 1717 - J.S. Bach temporarily imprisoned by his employer, Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, who was upset that Bach had taken another post (with Prince Leopold of Coethen) without first securing the Duke's permission to do so.