Ives and Adamo meet The Alcotts

Synopsis

Now, it might seem unlikely that Katherine Hepburn, Winona Ryder and Charles Ives might have anything in common, but bear with us a moment...

Hepburn appeared in a 1933 film based on Louisa May Alcott’s classic 19th century novel “Little Women,” as did Ryder in a successful 1994 cinematic remake. The second movement of Charles Ives’ “Concord” Sonata—the music we’re hearing now—is titled “The Alcotts,” and evokes Louisa May, her novel and her real-life family and friends, who included the New England “Transcendentalists” Emerson and Thoreau.

Ives wrote his “Concord” Sonata in 1913, but it wasn’t until today’s date in 1939 that pianist John Kirkpatrick gave the first public performance of the sonata in New York City.

As generations of readers and film fans know, “Little Women” chronicles the coming of age of four young women during the American Civil War. The story of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy so captivated a young contemporary American composer named Mark Adamo that he composed an opera based on Alcott’s “Little Women.”

After its premiere in 1998 at the Opera Studio of Houston Grand Opera, that company’s general director predicted that Adamo’s opera was “destined to become an American classic.” He put his money where his mouth was, and rescheduled “Little Women” for main stage performances in Houston, and other opera companies around the country have done so as well.

Music Played in Today's Program

Charles Ives (1874-1954) The Alcotts, from Piano Sonata No. 2 (Concord) Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano New World 378

Mark Adamo (b. 1962) Act 2 Intro, from Little Women soloists; Houston Grand Opera Orchestra; Patrick Summers, cond. Ondine 988

On This Day

Births

• 1586 - German composer Johann Hermann Schein, in Grünhain;

• 1855 - French composer Ernest Chausson, in Paris;

• 1869 - Russian composer and violinist Julius Conus, in Moscow (Gregorian date: Feb. 1);

• 1894 - American composer Walter Piston, in Rockland, Maine;

Deaths

• 1952 - American composer and music educator Arthur Farwell, age 79, in New York;

Premieres

• 1649 - Cesti: opera "Orontea," in Venice;

• 1726 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 13 ("Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen") performed on the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1856 - Brahms: Two Sarabandes (in a & b) and Gavotte in A (arranged from Gluck's "Paris ed Elena"), for piano, in Vienna;

• 1880 - Brahms: Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79, for piano, in Krefeld;

• 1892 - Catalani: opera "La Wally," in Milan;

• 1933 - Gershwin: musical "Pardon My English," at the Majestic Theater in New York City; This show included the classic Gershwin songs "Isn't It a Pity," "My Cousin in Milwaukee," and "So What?";

• 1939 - Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 ([Concord, Mass. 1840-1860), by John Kirkpatrick, in New York City;

• 1941 - Bartók: String Quartet No. 6, in New York City, by the Kolisch Quartet;

• 1944 - Hindemith: "Symphonic Metamorphosis on a Theme of Weber," by the New York Philharmonic, Artur Rodzinski conducting;

• 1956 - Hanson: “Elegy” (to the Memory of Serge Kousseviztky), by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1961 - Poulenc: "Gloria," in Boston;

• 1977 - Tobias Picker: Sextet No. 3, at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, by Speculum Musicae;

• 1979 - Rochberg: String Quartets Nos. 4-6 ("The Concord Quartets"), at the University of Pennsylvania, by the Concord Quartet.

Others

• 1626 - Payments to the royal musician, lutenist and composer John Dowland cease, and his son, Robert Dowland, succeeds him in his post at court; This date is often cited as the day the famous elder Dowland died, but his burial at St Ann Blackfriars was not recorded until a month later, on February, 20, 1626, which suggests the elder Dowland had perhaps been too ill to continue in service as of January 20-21 when the records state the transfer took place, and that the elder Dowland might have in fact died sometime in mid-February;