Synopsis
On today’s date in 1904, during his first visit to America, German composer Richard Strauss conducted a program of his music at Carnegie Hall in New York. Featured were Strauss’ tone poems Don Juan, Also Sprach Zarathustra and the world premiere of Sinfonia Domestica, or A Domestic Symphony.
After tone poems devoted to philanderers like Don Juan and philosophers like Zarathustra, Strauss apparently decided it was time to deal with family values.
He dedicated his Domestic Symphony to “my beloved wife and our young one,” and the work supposedly depicts 24 hours in the Strauss household, complete with baby’s bath, temper tantrum and connubial bliss after baby settles down for the night.
It raised eyebrows then and still does today. Strauss remained unflappable.
“I see no reason why I shouldn’t write about myself,” he said. “I find the subject as interesting as Napoleon or Alexander the Great.”
One waggish New York music critic, no doubt after meeting the formidable Mrs. Strauss, who accompanied her husband on his American tour, wrote: “If this were a true biographical sketch, we fancy that the wife would be portrayed by trombones and tuba, while the husband would be the second fiddle.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Richard Strauss (1864-1949): 'Sinfonia Domestica’; Minnesota Orchestra; Edo de Waart, cond. Virgin 61460
On This Day
Births
1685 - German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach, in Eisenach
1839 - Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, in Karevo, Pskov district (Julian date: March 9)
Deaths
1934 - German composer Franz Schreker, 55, in Berlin
1936 - Russian composer Alexander Glazunov, 70, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Premieres
1826 - Beethoven: String Quartet, Op. 130, in Vienna, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet
1839 - Schubert: Great Symphony (old No. 9, now No. 7), in a posthumous, heavily cut premiere performance by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn
1860 - Brahms: Ballads Nos. 2-3, from Op. 10, for piano, in Vienna
1904 - R. Strauss: Sinfonia domestica, at Carnegie Hall in New York, with Strauss conducting
1918 - Stravinsky: Ragtime for Eleven Instruments, in Morges
1925 - Ravel: opera L'enfant et les sortiléges (The Child and the Spells), in Monte Carlo at the Grand Théatre
1971 - William Mayer: Octagon for piano and orchestra, in New York City, by the American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting, with William Masselos, piano
1972 - David Amram: Bassoon Concerto, in Washington, D.C., by the National Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting, with Kenneth Pasmanick the soloist
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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.