Schoenberg hissed

Synopsis

In Vienna, on today’s date in 1907, the String Quartet No. 1 by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg had its first performance by the Rosé Quartet, an ensemble headed by Arnold Rosé, the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic and Gustav Mahler’s brother-in-law.

One eyewitness reported: “Many found the work impossible, and left the hall during the performance, one rather humorously through the emergency exit. As the hissing continued afterward, Gustav Mahler, who was present, approached one of the unsatisfied and said: ‘You should not hiss!’ — to which the unhappy audience member responded: ‘Don’t worry — I hiss your symphonies, too!’”

In 1936, Schoenberg was living in Los Angeles, where one of his students was the Hollywood composer Alfred Newman. Newman arranged to have all four of Schoenberg’s quartets recorded by the visiting Kolisch Quartet at the United Artists Studios in Hollywood. To do this, Newman had to first obtain permission from none other than film mogul Samuel Goldwyn.

“And so, a hack movie-musician, a movie producer, and a movie studio made possible the recording of four important modern compositions. Once in a while, you see, we can be unfaithful to the great god Profit,” recalled Newman years later.

Music Played in Today's Program

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951): String Quartet No. 1; Kolisch Quartet; Music and Arts 1056

On This Day

Births

• 1810 - Norwegian composer and violinist Ole Bull, in Bergen

• 1909 - Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, in Lódz

• 1943 - French-American composer Ivan Tcherepnin, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris

Deaths

• 1907 - German composer Ludwig Thuille, 45, in Munich

• 1962 - French composer Jacques Ibert, 71, in Paris

Premieres

• 1887 - Verdi: opera Otello, in Milan at the Teatro all Scala, with composer conducting (and cellist Arturo Toscanini in the orchestra)

• 1895 - Ippolitov-Ivanov: Caucasian Sketches, in Moscow, with the composer conducting (Julian date: Jan. 24)

• 1907 - Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 1, in Vienna, by the Rosé Quartet

• 1939 - Carl Orff: opera Der Mond (The Moon), in Munich at the Nationaltheater

• 1958 - Tippett: Symphony No. 2, in London, by the BBC Symphony, with Adrian Boult conducting

• 1969 - Thea Musgrave: Clarinet Concerto, in London

• 1970 - Elliott Carter: Concerto for Orchestra by the New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez conducting

• 1995 - Olly Wilson: Shango Memory for orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, Neeme Järvi conducting

• 2000 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 4 (The Gardens), for chorus, children’s chorus and orchestra, by Michigan State University ensembles conducted by Leon Gregorian

Others

• 1875 - American premiere of J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and soloists S.E. Jacobsohn and Richard Arnold. The same performers also gave the New York City premiere at Steinway Hall the following day. Following a Dec. 10, 1881, New York Philharmonic performance under Thomas with the same soloists, the New York Times reviewer wrote: “The concert possesses no interest to anyone but a violinist and even for a musically disposed audience is not a felicitous selection.”