A second wind for Reicha and Ward-Steinman?

Synopsis

Take one flute, one oboe, and mix well with one each of a clarinet, bassoon and French horn — and you have the recipe for the traditional wind quintet. In the 19th century, this tasty musical mix was perfected by Europeans like the Czech composer Anton Reicha, who produced 24 wind quintets in his lifetime.

In the 20th century, American composers like Samuel Barber, Elliott Carter and John Harbison have all written one wind quintet each — matching Reicha’s in quality, if not in quantity. But other American composers have returned to the wind quintet for a second helping. On today’s date in 1993, the Wind Quintet No. 2 of Californian composer David Ward-Steinman received its premiere in Sacramento by the Arioso Quintet.

Ward-Steinman titled his quintet Night Winds, and asked his five players to occasionally double on some non-traditional instruments such as bamboo or clay flutes, a train-whistle, and even the traditional wind instrument of Indigenous Australians, the didgeridoo — all to create some atmospheric “night-wind” sounds.

In addition to wind quintets, David Ward-Steinman composed orchestral works, chamber music and pieces for solo piano. A native of Louisiana, Ward-Steinman studied with Darius Milhaud in Aspen, Milton Babbitt at Tanglewood and Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Music Played in Today's Program

Antonin Reicha (1770-1836): Wind Quintet No. 23; Albert Schweitzer Quintet; CPO 999027

David Ward-Steinman (1936-2015): Woodwind Quintet No. 2 (Night Winds); Arioso Quintet; Fleur de Son Classics 57935

On This Day

Births

• 1841 - Polish pianist and composer Carl Tausig, in Warsaw

Deaths

• 1847 - German composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, 38, in Leipzig

• 1924 - French composer Gabriel Fauré, 79, in Paris

• 1953 - Music patroness and amateur composer Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, 89, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She organized concerts and music festivals in Washington, D.C., and her Foundation commissioned works from Bartók, Malipiero, Schoenberg, Copland, Hanson, Piston, and many others. The recital hall at the Library of Congress bears her name.

• 1957 - French composer and writer, Marie Joseph Canteloube (de Malaret), 78, in Grigny (Seine-et-Oise)

Premieres

• 1732 - Handel: opera Catone in London at the King’s Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: Nov. 15)

• 1783 - Mozart: Symphony No. 36 (Linz), by the orchestra of Count Thun in Linz

• 1863 - Berlioz: Les Troyens à Carthage (The Trojans at Carthage), Part 2 (Acts 3-5) of the opera Les Troyens (The Trojans), in Paris at the Théatre-Lyrqiue. The complete opera was not staged in France until 1920.

• 1876 - Brahms: Symphony No. 1, in Karlsruhe, Germany, with Felix Otto Dessoff conducting;

• 1883 - Chabrier: Espana in Paris, with Charles Lamoureux conducting

• 1890 - Borodin: opera Prince Igor (completed and arranged posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov), at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (see Julian date: Oct. 23)

• 1922 - Hindemith: String Quartet No. 3, in Donauschingen (Germany), by the Amar Quartet (with Hindemith as the violist)

• 1924 - R. Strauss: opera Intermezzo, in Dresden at the State Theater, conducted by Fritz Busch, with vocal soloists Lotte Lehmann (Christine Storch) and Josef Correck (Robert Storch)

• 1932 - Cowell: Polyphonica for 12 instruments, at the New School Auditorium in New York City, by the Pan American Association orchestra, Nicholas Slonimsky conducting. On this same concert was the premiere performance of Those Everlasting Blues, by Jerome Moross, with contralto Paula Jean Lawrence as the soloist.

• 1932 - Revueltas: Ventanas for orchestra, in Mexico City

• 1948 - Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw for narrator, chorus and orchestra, by the Civic Symphony of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Kurt Frederick conducting

• 1957 - José Serebrier: Symphony No. 1, by the Houston Symphony, Leopold Stokowski conducting

• 1976 - Ned Rorem: Women’s Voices, at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, by mezzo Joyce Mathis and pianist Warren Wilson

• 1993 - Bright Sheng: String Quartet No. 3, in Boulder, Colo., by the Takacs Quartet

• 1993 - David Ward-Steinman: Night Winds, for woodwind quintet, at the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, California, by the Arioso Wind Quintet