Composers Datebook®

Leo Sowerby

Composers Datebook - May 1, 2024
DOWNLOAD

Synopsis

Today’s date marks two anniversaries in the life of American composer, teacher and organist Leo Sowerby, who lived from 1895 to 1968. Sowerby was born May 1 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and on his 32nd birthday in 1927, was hired as the permanent organist and choirmaster at St. James’ Church in Chicago, where he remained for the next 35 years.

Sowerby wrote hundreds of pieces of church music for organ and chorus, plus chamber and symphonic works, which are only recently receiving proper attention.

It’s not that Sowerby was neglected during his lifetime — he won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1946 — but many seemed put off by both his unabashedly Romantic style and his unprepossessing physical appearance. American composer Ned Rorem, who took theory lessons from Sowerby, put it this way:

“Leo Sowerby was … of my parents’ generation, a bachelor, reddish-complexioned and milky skinned, chain smoker of Fatima cigarettes, unglamorous and non-mysterious, likable with a perpetual worried frown, overweight and wearing rimless glasses, earthy, practical, interested in others even when they were talentless; a stickler for basic training, Sowerby was the first composer I knew and the last thing a composer was supposed to resemble.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Leo Sowerby (1895-1968): Classic Concerto; David Mulbury, organ; Fairfield Orchestra; John Welsh, conductor; Naxos 8.559028

On This Day

Births

  • 1582 - Early Italian opera composer Marco da Gagliano, in Gagliano

  • 1602 - Baptism of English madrigal composer William Lawes, in Salisbury. He was the younger brother of the more famous English composer Henry Lawes (1596-1662)

  • 1872 - Swedish violinist and composer Hugo Alfvén in Stockholm

  • 1895 - American organist and composer Leo Sowerby, in Grand Rapids, Michigan

  • 1899 - Icelandic composer Jón Leifs, in Sólheimar

Deaths

  • 1904 - Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, 62, in Prague

  • 1978 - Soviet composer Aram Khachaturian, 74, in Moscow

Premieres

  • 1786 - Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna at the Old Burgtheater

  • 1886 - Franck: Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra, in Paris

  • 1909 - Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead, in Moscow, conducted by the composer (Julian date: April 18)

  • 1925 - Piston: Three Pieces for Flute, Clarinet and Bassoon (his first published work), at the École Normale in Paris, by the Blanquart-Coste-Dherin trio

  • 1939 - Barber: The Virgin Martyrs, with students from the Curtis Institute of Music on a CBS Radio broadcast, with the composer conducting

  • 1971 - Dave Brubeck: oratorio Truth Has Fallen, at the opening of the Center for the Arts in Midland, Michigan

  • 1987 - Harrison Birtwistle: Endless Parade for trumpet, vibraphone and strings, in Zurich (Switzerland) by the Collegium Musicum conducted by Paul Sacher, with trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger

  • 2002 - Jennifer Higdon: Blue Cathedral, by the Curtis Institute Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, commissioned to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Curtis Institute of Music

  • 2003 - Lukas Foss: Concertino Passacaglia, Bachanalia, Passacaglia for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra, by the New York Choral Artists and the New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur conducting

Others

  • 1761 - Franz Joseph Haydn begins his 30-year tenure as Second-Kapellmeister at Prince Esterhazy’s estate in Eisenstadt. In 1766, Haydn succeeded the much older composer Gregor Joseph Werner as First-Kapellmeister.

  • 1825 - first documented American performance of Haydn's Symphony No. 100 (Military) at Boylston Hall in Boston, at a benefit concert for Haydn's former pupil, Johann Christian Gottlieb Graupner (1767-1836)

  • 1837 - American premiere of Rossini’s opera Semiramide in New Orleans

  • 1938 - The German Reichsmusikkammer (Imperial Ministry of Music) forbids Aryan music instructors to teach pupils of Jewish extraction

Love the music?

Donate by phone
1-800-562-8440

Show your support by making a gift to YourClassical.

Each day, we’re here for you with thoughtful streams that set the tone for your day – not to mention the stories and programs that inspire you to new discovery and help you explore the music you love.

YourClassical is available for free, because we are listener-supported public media. Take a moment to make your gift today.

More Ways to Give

Your Donation

$5/month
$10/month
$15/month
$20/month
$

Latest Composers Datebook® Episodes

VIEW ALL EPISODES

Latest Composers Datebook® Episodes

YourClassical

Sallinen and Kronos

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): String Quartet No. 17 (‘Quartetto Italiano’); Philips 422 512 Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935): String Quartet No. 5 (‘Pieces of Mosaic’); Sibelius Quartet; Ondine 831

2:00
Get Composers Datebook in your inbox
YourClassical

Water music by Handel and Larsen

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): ‘Water Music’; Royal Philharmonic; Yehudi Menuhin, conductor; MCA 6186 Libby Larsen (b. 1950): Symphony (‘Water Music’); Minnesota Orchestra; Sir Neville Marriner, conductor; Nonesuch 79147

2:00
YourClassical
2:00
YourClassical

Bernstein's sabbatical psalms

Giuseppe Verdi (1913-1901): ‘Act III excerpt,’ from ‘Falstaff’; soloists; Vienna Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; CBS/Sony 42535 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): ‘Chichester Psalms’; Camerata Singers; New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; CBS/Sony 47162

2:00
YourClassical

'La Marseillaise' by Lambert

Roger de Lisle (1760-1836): ‘La Marseillaise’ Detroit Symphony; Paul Paray, conductor; Mercury 434 332 Lucien Lambert, Jr. (1858-1945): ‘Brocéliande Overture’; Hot Springs Music Festival; Richard Rosenberg, conductor; Naxos 8.559 037

2:00
YourClassical

Strauss, Shostakovich, Hitler and Stalin

Richard Strauss (1864-1949): ‘Ein Heldenleben’; Daniel Majeske, violin; Cleveland Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor; London 414 292 Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ excerpts; Scottish National Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor; Chandos 8587

2:00
YourClassical

Requiems and Elegies by Faure and Rouse

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): ‘Requiem’; The Cambridge Singers; John Rutter, conductor; Collegium 101 Christopher Rouse (1949-2019): Symphony No. 2 and Flute Concerto; Carol Wincenc, flute; Houston Symphony; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor; Telarc 80452

2:00
YourClassical

Hollywood anniversaries

George Gershwin (1898-1937): ‘An American in Paris’; Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; John Mauceri, conductor; Philips 438 663 Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): ‘1812 Overture’; Berlin Philharmonic; Herbert von Karajan, conductor; EMI Classics 65690

2:00
YourClassical

Handel declines, Schuman accepts

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): ‘Sinfonia’ from ‘Athalia Academy of Ancient Music’; Christopher Hogwood, conductor; L’Oiseau-Lyre 417 126 William Schuman (1910-1992): ‘Chester (Variations for Piano)’; Alexei Sultanov, piano; Teldec 46103

2:00
VIEW ALL EPISODES

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.

About Composers Datebook®
YourClassical Radio
0:00
0:00