Synopsis
On today’s date in 2001, during the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered Tango, Song and Dance, a new chamber work for violin and piano. She had commissioned the work from Andre Previn several years earlier, but its premiere was delayed as Mutter embarked on a project to perform and record all Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas.
“After doing all those stern [Beethoven] recitals, I wanted to play pieces which reflected the basis of musical history, the folksongs and dances which has inspired composers through so many centuries. Tango, Song and Dance is both modern and old-fashioned, and it touches the heart, especially the slow movement, which is really a Song Without Words,” said Mutter.
And that wasn’t the only thing to touch her heart. It was around this time that Previn and Mutter became husband and wife. For his part, Andre said, “I have one piece of advice to composers for the violin — make sure Anne-Sophie premieres your piece. Then you’re home and dry, and everything works!”
Other composers seem to agree, and Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski, Henri Dutilleux, Wolfgang Rihm and John Williams have all written violin works for Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Music Played in Today's Program
Andre Previn (1929-2019): Tango Song and Dance III. Dance; Lambert Okis, piano; Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin; DG 8143
On This Day
Births
1887 - Nicaraguan composer Luis Delgadillio, in Managua
1915 - British composer Humphrey Searle, in Oxford
Deaths
1958 - British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, 85, in London
Premieres
1815 - Weber: Clarinet Quintet, in Munich, featuring clarinetist Heinrich Bärmann;
1846 - Mendelssohn: oratorio Elijah, at Birmingham Festival in England, with composer conducting;
1954 - Alan Rawsthorne: Practical Cats (after T.S. Eliot), for speaker and orchestra, at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland
1956 - Martinu: Frescoes of Piero della Francesca, for orchestra, at the Salzburg Festival in Austria
1957 - Panufnik: Rhapsody for orchestra, in London
2001 - André Previn: Tango, Song and Dance, at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis.
Others
1717 - French flutist and composer Jacques-Martin Hotteterre is appointed royal flutist (“flutte de la chamber de Roy”) at a salary of 6000 livres
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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.