Synopsis
On today’s date in 1989, NBC transmitted the pilot episode of a sitcom that 180 episodes later would be recognized as a TV classic.
In composing, as in comedy, timing is everything, so when comedian Jerry Seinfeld approached composer Jonathan Wolff about writing the intro music for “Seinfeld,” Wolff knew it was time for something a little different than a generic sitcom theme.
“When he called me,” Wolff recalled, “Jerry described to me the problem he was having: the opening and closing credits for this new show were to be Jerry doing stand-up material in front of an audience. He tells jokes, people laugh. And he wanted unique, signature theme music to go with it, [so I said] how about this? … we treat your human voice telling jokes as the melody of the Seinfeld theme! My job will be to accompany you in a way that’s fun and quirky but does not interfere with the audio of your standup routine.”
That meant that the Seinfeld intro would change each week, with Jonathan Wolff himself performing on slap bass themes and variations that danced before, after, and around the cadence of Jerry’s punchlines like, as Wolff put it, “a vaudeville rim shot.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Jonathan Wolff (b.1958) – Theme, from Seinfeld; Water Tower Music digital download
On This Day
Births
1878 - English composer and pianist Josef Holbrooke, in Croydon
1895 - English composer Gordon Jacob, in London
1897 - German-born Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim (originally Frankenburger), in Munich
1918 - American composer George Rochberg, in Paterson, N.J.
1926 - American composer and teacher Kenneth Gaburo, in Somerville, N.J.
Deaths
1992 - Argentinian composer and bandonion virtuoso Astor Piazolla, age 71, in Buenos Aires
Premieres
1931 - R. Vaughan Williams: ballet, "Job (A Masque for Dancing)," in London
1990 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Clarinet Quintet, at a Chamber Music Northwest concert in Portland, Ore. featuring clarinetist David Shifrin
1996 - Stephen Paulus: "Partita Appassionata," for violin and piano, by William Preucil and Arthur Rowe, at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival
2000 - Leslie Bassett: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra, during a World Saxophone Congress at Pierre Mercure Hall, Montreal, with soloist Clifford Leaman, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Laval, Louis Lavigueur, conducting;
Others
1877 - Polish harpsichordist Wanda Landowska is born in Warsaw
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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.