Brahms and Rzewski for amateurs

Synopsis

The first performance of the Liebeslieder — or the Love Song Waltzes — for piano four-hands by Johannes Brahms took place on today’s date in 1869. The performers were two distinguished soloists: Clara Schumann, widow of composer Robert Schumann, and Hermann Levi, a famous conductor of his day. But in fact, the Liebeslieder Waltzes were intended for amateur musicians to play. These popular scores provided Brahms with some steady income, certainly more than he earned from performances of his symphonies, which some of his contemporaries considered difficult “new” music.

Brahms wrote to his publisher: “I must admit that, for the first time, I grinned at the sight of a work of mine in print. Moreover, I gladly risk being called an ass if our Liebeslieder don’t give more than a few people pleasure.”

Some much more recent piano music designed for amateur performers was collected into a volume, Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book. This volume was conceived by composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and the artistic director of Carnegie Hall, Judith Arron. They were concerned about the lack of contemporary piano works that intermediate-level piano students could perform, so commissioned ten composers to write suitable piano pieces from composers ranging from Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carte to Chen Yi and Tan Dun.

Music Played in Today's Program

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Liebeslieder Waltz No. 18; Silke-Thora Matthies and Christian Köhn, piano; Naxos 553140

Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021): The Days Fly By; Ursula Oppens, piano; Companion CD to Boosey and Hawkes ‘The Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book’ ASIN: B003AG8IUK

On This Day

Births

• 1882 - Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, in Tymoszówska, Ukraine

• 1943 - German composer Udo Zimmermann, in Dresden

Deaths

• 1909 - American composer and organist Dudley Buck, 70, in West Orange, New Jersey

• 1947 - Finnish composer Leevi Medetoja, 59, in Helsinki

Premieres

• 1600 - Jacopo Peri: opera, Euridice, at the marriage of Maria de Medici to King Henri IV of France, in Florence, Italy. It is the oldest surviving complete opera

• 1868 - Offenbach: operetta La Périchole, at the Variétés, in Paris

• 1911 - Reger: A Comedy Overture, by the Boston Symphony with Max Fiedler conducting

• 1939 - William Schuman: American Festival Overture, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting

• 1963 - Ibert: Symphonie Marine (composed in 1931), in Paris

• 1977 - Tippett: Symphony No. 4, by the Chicago Symphony, Georg Solti conducting

• 1991 - Hovhaness: Symphony No. 65, (Artstakh), at Carnegie Hall in New York, with the composer conducting

• 1996 - Zemlinksy: opera Der König Candaules (King Candaules), posthumously, in Hamburg at the Staatsoper. This unfinished opera was written in 1936, and completed for its 1996 premiere by Anthony Beaumont.

Others

• 1739 - Handel completes in London his Concerto Grosso No. 3 (Gregorian date: Oct. 17)

• 1802 - Beethoven files his will, the so-called Heiligenstadt Testament, to be opened after his death