Synopsis
On today’s date in 1960, the second season of The Twilight Zone — the legendary TV series created by Rod Serling — began airing on CBS. For this, the producers added a new signature theme written by Marius Constant, a Romanian-born French composer. Constant had studied composition with Olivier Messiaen, Arthur Honegger and Nadia Boulanger and had a respectable career as a composer and teacher, but he’s best known for his brief, but iconic, Twilight Zone theme.
During its five-season run, that show also employed the talents of other famous composers, including Jerry Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman, Fred Steiner and Franz Waxman.
And in case you’re wondering who wrote the theme for the first season of The Twilight Zone, well, that was another famous Hollywood composer: Bernard Herrmann.
Music Played in Today's Program
Marius Constant (1925-2004): The Twilight Zone Main Theme (second version); Orchestra; Joel McNeely, conductor; Varese-Sarabande VSD2-6087
Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975): The Twilight Zone Main Theme (first version); Orchestra; Joel McNeely, conductor; Varese-Sarabande VSD2-6087
On This Day
Births
1840 - Norwegian composer Johann Svendsen, in Christiania
1852 - Irish-born British composer Sir Charles Villers Stanford, in Dublin
Deaths
1989 - American composer and music critic Virgil Thomson, 92, in New York City
Premieres
1791 - Mozart: opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), in Vienna at the Freihaustheater auf der Wieden, conducted by the composer
1863 - Bizet: opera Les Pecheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers), in Paris at the Théâtre Lyrique
1935 - Gershwin: opera Porgy and Bess, during trial run at Boston’s Colonial Theater. According to Opera America magazine, this is one of the most frequently-produced American operas during the past decade.
1944 - R. Vaughan Williams: Oboe Concerto, with soloist Leon Goosens and the Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent
1960 - Barber: Toccata Festiva for organ and orchestra, at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy, with Paul Callaway the soloist
1979 - Penderecki: Te Deum in Assisi, Italy
1989 - Daniel Asia: Piano Quartet, at Wigmore Hall in London, by the Domus ensemble
1999 - Michael Tilson Thomas: Whitman Songs for Orchestra, by the San Francisco Symphony, composer conducting
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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.