Synopsis
On today’s date in 1944, Russian composer Igor Stravinsky completed an orchestral score, Scenes de Ballet, or Ballet Scenes. Now, considering Stravinsky had achieved international fame for his earlier ballet scores for The Firebird, Petroushka and The Rite of Spring, perhaps the generic title Ballet Scenes was not all that surprising.
What was surprising was that the commission for this 1944 score came from an unusual source — Broadway. New York impresario and nightclub owner Billy Rose had achieved fame the previous year for his Broadway production of Carmen Jones — an updated American version of Bizet’s opera Carmen with an all-Black cast and a jazzed-up score. Rose decided to capitalize on this popular success with something more “upscale and highbrow.” Rose conceived of a stage review, The Seven Lively Arts, and for the dance component decided to commission the most famous living composer of ballet scores, Igor Stravinsky, who was then living in Los Angeles.
Rose liked the score when he heard it played on the piano, but he thought Stravinsky’s orchestration a bit too far-out, and this led to a famous coast-to-coast telegraph exchange. After a preview performance in Philadelphia, Rose sent this telegram message to Stravinsky: “Great success, but could be sensational success if you would authorize Robert Russell Bennett to retouch orchestration.”
Stravinsky telegraphed this reply to Billy Rose: “Satisfied with great success.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Scènes de Ballet; London Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; RCA/BMG 68865
On This Day
Births
1854 - German pianist and composer of Polish descent Moritz Moszkowski, in Breslau (now Wrocław)
1900 - Austrian-born American composer Ernst Krenek, in Vienna
1905 - English composer, conductor and writer Constant Lambert, in London
Deaths
1937 - French composer Albert Roussel, 68, in Royan
1960 - American lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, 65, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania
1962 - American composer Irving Fine, 47, in Boston
Premieres
1735 - Rameau, opera-ballet Les Indes Galantes, in Paris
1906 - R. Vaughan-Williams: Norfolk Rhapsody, in London
1913 - Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 (first version), at Pavlovsk, conducted by A.P. Aslanov with the composer as soloist (Gregorian date: Sept. 5). A second version of this concerto premiered in Paris on May 8, 1924, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, again with the composer a soloist.
1964 - Stravinsky: Abraham and Isaac (dedicated to the people and the state of Israel), in Jerusalem by the Israel Festival Orchestra conducted by Robert Craft
Others
1934 - The Berkshire Symphonic Festival in founded in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, by American composer and conductor Henry Hadley, with the participation of the New York Philharmonic. The Festival later became associated with the Boston Symphony under Serge Koussevitzky.
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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.