Night music by Delius and Danielpour

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1913, composer Frederick Delius was in Leipzig for the first performances of two orchestral pieces destined to become among his most popular works. These were On hearing the first Cuckoo in Spring and Summer Night on the River, premiered by the world-famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, led by one of the most charismatic conductors of that time, the legendary Artur Nikisch.

In a letter to his wife, Delius reported that the orchestra was “splendid” — as for Nikisch, Delius had this to say: “He played the first piece much too slow, but very expressively. The second piece he played most beautifully — perfect!”

Eighty-four years later, on October 23, 1997, another atmospheric orchestra work received its first performance when conductor Zdenek Macal led the New Jersey Symphony in Celestial Night, a work by the American composer Richard Danielpour, who wrote:

“Part of the inspiration for Celestial Night came to me while star-gazing in New Hampshire and reflecting on the contrast inherent in my life: between summers in rural places where all the driven, frenetic life that I lead in New York City is temporarily suspended and I have a period of peace… [and] the possibility of personal transformation … of discovering something beyond one’s own immediate environment or experience in order to grow.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Frederick Delius (1862-1934) Summer Night on the River BBC Symphony; Andrew Davis, cond. Teldec 90845

Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) Celestial Night Philharmonia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal, cond. Sony 60779

On This Day

Births

• 1801 - German composer Albert Lortzing, in Berlin

• 1906 - American composer Miriam Gideon, in Greeley, Colorado

• 1923 - American composer Ned Rorem, in Richmond, Indiana

Premieres

• 1754 - Rameau: opera-ballet Anacréon, at Fortainebleau

• 1890 - Borodin: opera Prince Igor (completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov) at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, with K.A. Kuchera conducting (Gregorian date: Nov. 4)

• 1897 - Scriabin: Piano Concerto, in Odessa, with the composer as soloist (Gregorian date: Nov. 4)

• 1903 - MacDowell: symphonic poem Lamia (after Keats), by the Boston Symphony, Max Fiedler conducting

• 1913 - Delius: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and Summer Night on the River, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Artur Nikisch conducting

• 1931 - Stravinsky: Violin Concerto, in Berlin, by the Berlin Radio Orchestra conducted by the composer, with Samuel Dushkin as soloist

• 1941 - William Grant Still’s Plain Chant for America, by the New York Philharmonic, John Barbirolli conducting

• 1959 - Piston: Three New England Sketches for orchestra, in Worcester, Massachusetts, by the Detroit Symphony, Paul Paray conducting

• 1959 - Rorem: Eagles, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting

• 1963 - Hovhaness: Symphony No. 17 (Symphony for Metal Orchestra), in Cleveland

• 1970 - Crumb: Black Angels (13 Images from the Dark Lord) for string quartet, in Ann Arbor, Michigan

• 1981 - Sessions: Concerto for Orchestra, by the Boston Symphony; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1982

• 1997 - Danielpour: Celestial Night, by the New Jersey Symphony, Zdenek Macal conducting

• 2002 - Peter Maxwell Davies: Naxos Quartet No. 1, at Wigmore Hall, London, by the Maggini Quartet

Others

• 1739 - Handel completes his Concerto Grosso No. 7 in London (see Julian date: Oct. 12)

• 1881 - First concert by Concerts Lamoureux, in Paris, founded by Charles Lamoureux