Synopsis
In September of 1825, Englishman Sir George Smart came to Vienna, hoping to meet Beethoven. Smart had conducted the British premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and wanted, as he put it in his journal, “to ascertain from Beethoven himself the exact tempos of the movements of his sinfonia.”
By luck, Smart arrived in time to attend the first reading of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15, which occurred on today’s date that year in a private room at the Viennese Tavern Zum Wilden Mann.
Smart recalled: “… we took ourselves to the Wilden Mann … as there was an assembly to hear Beethoven’s new manuscript quartet. It is most chromatic and there is a slow movement entitled ‘Praise for the recovery of an invalid.’ Beethoven intended it to allude to himself, I suppose, for he was very ill during the early part of this year. Beethoven directed the performers, and took off his coat, the room being warm and crowded. A staccato passage not being expressed to the satisfaction of his eye, for alas, he could not hear, he seized the violin and played the passage himself — a quarter of a tone too flat.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): String Quartet No. 15, Emerson Quartet; DG 447 075
On This Day
Births
1872 - American composer Edward Burlingame Hill, in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1937 - American composer Olly Wilson, in St. Louis
Deaths
1965 - Mexican composer Julián Carrillo, 90, in Mexico City
Premieres
1825 - Beethoven: String Quartet in a, Op.132, at a private performance for an audience of fourteen at the Tavern Zum Wilden Mann (The Wild Man) in Vienna, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. The same players gave the first public performance in Vienna on Nov. 6 that year.
1973 - Frank Martin: Polyptyque (Six Passiontide Images for Violin and Two Small String Orchestras), in Lausanne, by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra conducted by Edmond de Stoutz, with Yehudi Menuhin the soloist
1995 - Michael Torke: Telephone Book for chamber ensemble (consisting of The Yellow Pages from 1985 and two new pieces: The Blue Pages and The White Pages composed in 1995), at the Milwaukee Art Museum by the Present Music ensemble, Kevin Stalheim conducting
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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.