Henri Lazarof

Synopsis

Today’s date marks the birthday of a significant American composer with an intriguing name, sounding at once both French and Slavic. Henri Lazarof was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 12, 1932, and began his musical studies at the age of 6. He graduated from the Sofia Academy at the age of 16, studied composition in Rome with the Italian modernist Goffredo Petrassi, came to the United States in 1957 for further study, and eventually settled in California, securing a teaching position at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he taught not only composition, but French language and literature as well.

Lazarof organized L.A.’s first festival of contemporary music in 1963 and has continued enthusiastically promoting new music. In a Festival brochure, Lazarof once wrote that his music series was “dedicated to the presentation of the entire broad range of this historically evolving art without adopting a single ideology but the one of continuity—accepting tradition and altering it in terms of contemporary experimentation, which in turn is to become the legacy for the next generation to alter."

The American conductor Gerard Schwarz has championed Lazarof’s music on both coasts, making recordings with both the Seattle Symphony and New York Chamber Orchestra.

Music Played in Today's Program

Henri Lazarof (1932 - 2013) Violin Concerto Yukiko Kamei, violin; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, cond. Naxos 8.559159

On This Day

Births

• 1772 - Italian composer and violinist Pietro Nardini, in Livorno;

• 1801 - Austrian composer and violinist Josef Lanner, in Vienna;

• 1932 - Bulgarian-born American composer Henri Lazarof, in Sofia;

Deaths

• 1814 - British composer, music journalist and historian Charles Burney, age 88, in Chelsea;

Premieres

• 1735 - Handel: Organ Concertos Op. 4, no. 4. (Julian date: April 1);

• 1747 - Handel: oratorio "Judas Maccabaeus" (Julian date: April 1);

• 1826 - Weber: opera "Oberon," in London at Covent Garden, conducted by the composer;

• 1867 - Offenbach: operetta "Le Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein" (The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein), in Paris;

• 1892 - Loeffler: 2nd 3rd mvts, fr String Quartet in A minor, at Boston's Union Hall by the Adamowski Quartet; The same ensemble had premiered the 2nd mvt of this four-movement Quartet in Philadelphia during the 1889-90 season, that performance being the first public performance of any of Loeffler's compositions;

• 1907 - Henry Hadley: tone poem "Salome" (after Oscar Wilde), by the Boston Symphony, Karl Muck conducting;

• 1930 - Janácek: opera "From the House of the Dead," in Brno at the National Theater; The score for this performance was extensively reorchestrated by two pupils of Janácek; More recent performances have used editions prepared by Rafael Kubelik or Charles Mackerras which are closer to Janácek's original score;

• 1933 - Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Violin Concerto No. 2 ("The Prophets"), at Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic, with Arturo Toscanini conducting and Jascha Heifetz as soloist;

• 1957 - Wallingford Riegger: Symphony No. 4, at the University of Illinois, Urbana;

• 1978 - Ligeti: opera "La Grand Macabre," in Stockholm at the Royal Opera;

• 1995 - John Williams: "Bassoon Concerto ("The Five Sacred Trees"), by Judith LeClair and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur;

Others

• 1877 - American premiere of Verdi's opera "Don Carlos" in New York City.