Berio's 'Sinfonia' in New York

Synopsis

In James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, the thoughts of its major characters keep shifting from the sights and sounds they encounter in and around Dublin to their private, non-stop interior monologues. This narrative technique came to be called “stream of consciousness” writing.

In music, something similar occurred on today’s date in 1968, when the Italian composer Luciano Berio conducted the Swingle Singers and the New York Philharmonic in the premiere performance of his new work, Sinfonia.

Sinfonia included music quotes from Bach to Mahler intermingled with sung and spoken texts ranging from Claude Levi-Strauss to Samuel Beckett. There’s even a bit of Joyce’s Ulysses tossed in as well, alongside slogans from the student protests of 1968. The text of Sinfonia’s second movement was a tribute to the recently-assassinated Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King — and consisted of nothing but the intoned syllables of his name.

Sinfonia was Berio’s “stream of consciousness” interior monologue on the year 1968 made public with great theatrical flair: a dizzying mix of poignant music and political text. Berio was quoted as saying, “The juxtaposition of contrasting elements, in fact, is part of the whole point.”

Somewhat to everyone’s surprise, Sinfonia turned out to be a hit, and Columbia Records even released a recording of the work with its premiere performers.

Music Played in Today's Program

Luciano Berio (1925-2003): Sinfonia; New Swingle Singers; French National Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor; Erato 88151

On This Day

Births

• 1813 - Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, in Le Roncole, near Parma. Probable true date of his birth, according to parish records, though Verdi celebrated it on the 9, the date he believed correct.

• 1903 - Russian-born American composer and songwriter Vernon Duke (Vladimir Dukelsky), in Pskov (Julian date: Sept. 27)

• 1906 - American composer Paul Creston (Giuseppe Guttoveggio), in New York

• 1920 - American Jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Monk, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina

Deaths

• 1825 - Russian composer Dimitri Bortniansky, 74, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Sept. 28)

Premieres

• 1919 - R. Strauss: opera, Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) at the Vienna Staatsoper, conducted by Franz Schalk, and with vocal soloists Lotte Lehmann (Barak’s wife), Maria Jeritza (The Empress), Karl Oestvig (The Emperor), Richard Mayr (Barak), and Lucie Weidt (The Nurse)

• 1931 - Walton: oratorio, Belshazzar’s Feast, at the Leeds Festival

• 1935 - Gershwin: opera Porgy and Bess at the Alvin Theater in New York City. The opera had a trial run in Boston which opened on September 30, 1935.

• 1938 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 1, in Leningrad, by the Glazunov Quartet

• 1948 - Bernstein: song-cycle, La Bonne Cuisine (Four Recipes for Voice and Piano), at Town Hall in New York City, with mezzo-soprano Marion Bell and pianist Edwin MacArthur

• 1968 - Berio: Sinfonia, by New York Philharmonic and The Swingle Singers, with the composer conducting

• 1985 - Benjamin Lees: Symphony No. 4 (Memorial Candles) in Dallas, with Pinchas Zukerman the soloist

Others

• 1739 - Handel completes his Concerto Grosso No. 5 and possibly his Concerto Grosso No. 9 as well in London (Gregorian date: Oct. 21)

• 1739 - Handel completes his Concerto Grosso No. 1 in London (see Julian date: Sept. 29)