Synopsis
Today’s date marks the birthday of Andrew Lloyd Webber, British composer of blockbuster musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. In addition to winning Grammy and Tony Awards in our country, he’s racked up Olivier Awards in his own. He was knighted in 1992, and in 1997 was created a life peer as Baron Lloyd-Webber, of Sydmonton in the County of Hampshire.
Estimates of his net worth suggest a figure well over $900 million.
Despite all that, Lloyd Webber has always had detractors, including those who accuse him of plagiarizing everyone from Mendelssohn to Puccini to Pink Floyd. His musicals are criticized for their supposed glitz and superficiality, and adversely compared with those of his American contemporary, Stephen Sondheim.
Sarah Crompton, writing for the Telegraph, offered a more nuanced comparison between the two, referencing the Beatles, no less.
“Lloyd Webber is McCartney to Stephen Sondheim's Lennon,” she wrote. “He suffers from just the same undervaluing as an innovator because his essential impulse to go for the big, thumping number with the catchy tune will always obscure the subtlety and bravery he is capable of.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Andrew Lloyd Webber (b. 1948): ‘Memory,’ from 'Cats’; Julian Lloyd Webber, cello; Royal Philharmonic; Barry Wordsworth, cond. Philips 426 484-2
On This Day
Births
1930 - American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, in New York City
1868 - Scottish composer and conductor Hamisch MacCunn, in Greenock
1943 - American composer Joseph Schwantner, in Chicago
1948 - British composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, in London
Deaths
1687 - Italian-born French composer Jean Baptiste Lully, 54, in Paris, following an inadvertent self-inflicted injury to his foot (by a staff with which he would keep time for his musicians) which developed gangrene
Premieres
1963 - William Kraft: Concerto grosso, in San Diego, Calif.
1973 - Ginastera: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Indianapolis, with Hilde Somer as soloist
1984 - John Harbison: Symphony No. 1, in Boston, with the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting
1985 - John Harbison: Twilight Music for horn, violin and piano, at Alice Tully Hall, by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (David Jolley, horn; James Buswell, violin; Richard Goode, piano)
1997 - Zwilich: Peanuts Gallery (after the Peanuts comic strip characters by Charles Schultz) for piano and chamber orchestra, at Carnegie Hall in New York by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with soloist Albert Kim
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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.