Vivian Fine

Synopsis

Today’s date in 1913 marks the birthday of American composer Vivian Fine in Chicago.

At the tender age of five, she became a scholarship piano student at the Chicago Musical College. As she grew up she became enthralled with the great composers and performers she heard at her regular visits to the Chicago Symphony. Fine initially intended to be a concert pianist, but theory studies with American composer Ruth Crawford Seeger nudged her towards composition. 

Fine became an avid follower of the emerging Ultra-Modern school of composers, including Henry Cowell, who proved to be one of her early mentors. Her debut as a composer came in Chicago when she was 16, and at 17 she moved to New York City to she studied composition with Roger Sessions and orchestration with George Szell.

When Roger Sessions saw her sketches for her Concertante for Piano and Orchestra in 1944, he commented, “Now we are colleagues,” and George Szell praised its orchestration. Teaching became an important part of Fine’s own professional life, first at New York University and Juilliard, and ultimately at Bennington College.

Following a traffic accident in Vermont, Fine died at 86 in March of 2000.

Music Played in Today's Program

Vivian Fine (1913-2000): ‘Concertante’; Reiko Honsho, piano; Japan Philharmonic; Akeo Watanabe, conductor; CRI 692

On This Day

Births

• 1870 - French composer Florent Schmitt, in Blámont

• 1913 - American composer Vivian Fine, in Chicago

Deaths

• 1825 - Russian composer Dimitri Bortniansky, 74, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Oct. 10)

• 1964 - English composer Sir George Dyson, 81, in Winchester

Premieres

• 1918 - Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale for narrator and seven instruments, in Lausanne at the Théatre Municipal with Ernest Ansermet conducting

• 1961 - Bartók: Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra, an early work by the late composer, in Budapest

• 1972 - Petrassi: Concerto for Orchestra No. 8, in Chicago

• 1997 - James MacMillan: Symphony (Vigil), at the Barbican in London, by the London Symphony, Mstislav Rostropovich conducting

Others

• 1951 - Sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still opens in theaters across America, featuring memorable score by Bernard Herrmann that included eerie, other-worldly sounds imitating the electronic instrument known as a Theremin (after its Russian-born inventor, Leon Theremin). In the movie, actress Patricia Neal’s rendition of the space alien command “Gort: Klaatu barada nikto” prevents Earth's destruction by a death-ray robot from outer space.

• 2007 - Conductor Philip Brunelle awarded the Champion of New Music Award by the American Composers Forum at their 2007 Annual Meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota. This award recognizes artists who have commissioned and performed a significant number of new works by living composers.