Synopsis
Composers can be quite superstitious about numbers. Gustav Mahler, for example, was reluctant to assign the number 9 to his song cycle symphony, Das Lied von der Erde, fearing it would turn out to be his last: after all, Beethoven and Bruckner had only completed nine symphonies. Ironically, Mahler did go on to complete a ninth, but died before he could finish work on his tenth.
Most American composers have avoided this problem by rarely if ever producing more than one or two symphonies of their own. Naturally there are exceptions.
On today’s date in 1963, the Symphony No. 9 of American composer Roy Harris was given its premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy, who had commissioned it. Like many other symphonies by Harris, his Symphony No. 9 has a patriotic program, with each movement having a subtitle from either the American Constitution or Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
Harris went on to write thirteen symphonies in all — although, perhaps submitting to a bit of numerological superstition himself — when his symphony No. 13, a bicentennial commission, was first performed in Washington, D.C. in 1976, it was billed as his Symphony No. 14!
Music Played in Today's Program
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony No. 9; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conductor; Sony 60597
Roy Harris (1898-1979): Symphony No. 9; Albany Symphony; David Alan Miller, conductor; Albany 350
On This Day
Births
1835 - Russian composer César Cui, in Vilnius, Lithuania (Julian date: Jan. 6)
1841 - French composer Emmanuel Chabrier, in Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme
1903 - German-born English composer and conductor Berthold Goldschmidt, in Hamburg
Premieres
1908 - Delius: Brigg Fair in Liverpool
1930 - Shostakovich: opera The Nose (after Nikolai Gogol), in Leningrad at the Maliiy Opera Theater
1942 - Ibert: Ouverture de Fête in Paris
1947 - Elie Siegmeister: Prairie Legend, by the New York Philharmonic, Leopold Stokowski conducting
1963 - Harris: Symphony No. 9 (1963), by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting
1968 - Richard Rodney Bennett: Symphony No. 2 in New York City
1991 - David Ott: Symphony No. 2, by the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Symphony, Catherine Comet conducting
Others
1958 - What Does Music Mean?, broadcast, the first of a series of televised New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts on CBS-TV hosted by Leonard Bernstein. The series continued until 1972, with 53 different programs hosted by Bernstein.
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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.