Quincy Jones and 'The Color Purple'

Synopsis

Any movie buff knows composer John Williams is the usual choice for director Steven Spielberg. But for The Color Purple, which was released on today’s date in 1985, Spielberg turned to jazz great and master orchestrator Quincy Jones.

The Color Purple was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker that tells the story of Celie Harris, graphically depicting the trauma of a young African-American woman during the early 20th century. Spielberg cast Whoopi Goldberg — better-known then for stand-up comedy — in the intensely dramatic role of Celie.

For Spielberg, it was a movie without dazzling special effects or space aliens; for Jones, who had just finished producing Michael Jackson’s Thriller, working on The Color Purple was, as he put it, “An amazing experience … the biggest of my life.”

Whoopi Goldberg was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress — Quincy Jones, for both Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Neither Goldberg nor Jones won an Oscar, but Jones says he felt honored to participate in a project that, despite the many warnings of nay-sayers, he had absolute faith in, inspired by the passion of all those involved in its making.

Music Played in Today's Program

Quincy Jones (1933-2024): The Color Purple: Main Theme; Itzhak Perlman, violin; Pittsburgh Symphony; John Williams, conductor; Sony 63005

On This Day

Births

• 1860 - American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell, in New York City

Deaths

• 1869 - American composer and piano virtuoso Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 40, in Tijuca (near Rio de Janerio)

• 1919 - American composer and teacher, Horatio William Parker, 56, in Cedarhurst, New York. He became chairman of the Yale music department in 1894, where he taught the young Charles Ives.

Premieres

• 1795 - possible premiere of Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 (or less likely, his Concerto No. 2), in Vienna at a concert organized by Haydn to perform three of his London Symphonies in that city

• 1880 - Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien, in Moscow, Nikolai Rubinstein conducting (Julian date: Dec. 6)

• 1892 - Bruckner: Symphony No. 8, with Vienna Philharmonic, Hans Richter conducting; This performance used a revised and cut version of Bruckner’s original 1887 score prepared by the composer and his pupil Franz Schalk in 1889-90. The original 1887 score was first performed in 1973 by the Bournemouth Symphony for a BBC broadcast conducted by Hans-Hubert Schönzeler. The edition prepared by Robert Haas, which is based on the 1889-90 revised version but with the cuts restored, is the version most often performed today.

• 1892 - Tchaikovsky: ballet, The Nutcracker, and opera Iolanta, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Dec. 6)

• 1911 - Rachmaninoff: 13 Piano Preludes, in St. Petersburg, by the composer (Julian date: Dec. 5)

• 1924 - Bliss: Concerto for Two Pianos, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzsky conducting

• 1926 - Janácek: opera The Makropoulos Case, in Brno at the National Theater

• 1929 - Webern: Symphony for Chamber Orchestra, in New York City

• 1941 - Milhaud: Piano Concero No. 2, in Chicago, with the composer as soloist

• 1962 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 (Babi Yar), by the Moscow Philharmonic, with basso Vitaliy Gromadsky, and the bass voices of the Republican State and Gnesin Institute Choirs, Kirill Kondrashin conducting

• 1964 - Creston: Concerto for Koto and Orchestra, by Kimio Eto (Koto soloist), with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting

• 1994 - Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium for chorus, at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Paul Salamunovich conducting

• 1999 - André Previn: Three Dickinson Songs, in Quebec, Canada, by soprano Renée Fleming and pianist Richard Bado

Others

• 1732 - John Rich opens his Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London (Julian date: Dec. 7).