Joaquin Rodrigo's popular concierto

Synopsis

The world’s most popular classical guitar concerto, the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo, had its first performance on today’s date in 1940, in Barcelona.

Rodrigo was born in Spain in 1901 and lost his sight at the age of three. He wrote all his music on a Braille music typewriter. The Concierto de Aranjuez, inspired by a small town of that name thirty miles south of Madrid, remains his signature piece, though he wrote a number of other successful works. He died on July 6, 1999, at 97.

In 1959, a friend had played a recording of Rodrigo’s concerto for American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who said, “After listening to it for a couple of weeks, I couldn’t get it out of my mind.” So, he played it for his friend, jazz composer and arranger Gil Evans, and in short order the two collaborated on their own 16-minute version of the score. Their collaboration was included on their classic 1960 Columbia LP, Sketches of Spain.

At the recording session, Miles paid Rodrigo this compliment: “That melody is so strong that the softer you play it, the stronger it gets…”

Music Played in Today's Program

Joaquin Rodrigo (1902-1999): Concierto de Aranjuez; Manuel Barrueco, guitar; Philharmonic Orchestra; Placido Domingo, conductor; EMI 56175

On This Day

Births

• 1907 - American composer Burrill Phillips, in Omaha, Nebraska

Deaths

• 1951 - Hungarian-born American operetta composer, Siegmund Romberg, 64, in New York City

Premieres

• 1879 - Dvorák: String Sextet No. 1, in Berlin

• 1881 - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Budapest, by the National Theater Orchestra conducted by Alexander Erkel and the composer as the soloist

• 1901 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, (first complete performance), in Moscow, with Alexander Siloti conducting and the composer as soloist (see Julian date: Oct 27). The second and third movements had been premiered in Moscow on Dec. 2/15, 1900, by the same conductor and soloist (Rachmaninoff finished the first movement of this concerto on April 21/May 4, 1901).

• 1926 - Hindemith: opera, Cardillac (first version) in Dresden at the Sächisches Staatstheater

• 1940 - Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, in Barcelona;

• 1945 - American premiere of Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting.

• 1967 - Takemitsu: November Steps for biwa (Japanese lute), shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, Seiji Ozawa conducting

• 1975 - Corigliano: Oboe Concerto, at Carnegie Hall in New York City by the American Symphony, with Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducting Bert Lucarelli the soloist

• 1994 - Michael Torke: Nylon for guitar and chamber orchestra, at the Assembly Rooms in Derby (U.K.), by the East of England Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Nabarro, with Nicola Hall the soloist

• 2000 - Karen Tanaka: Guardian Angel, at Carnegie Hall in New York, by the Brooklyn Philharmonic

• 2002 - David Del Tredici: Grand Trio for piano, violin and cello, in College Park, Maryland, by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio

Others

• 1760 - Joseph Haydn signs a marriage contract with Maria Anna Keller (after her younger sister, whom Haydn reportedly preferred, became a nun). See also Nov. 26 below for the actual ceremony.

• 1784 - Mozart finishes his String Quartet No. 17 (The Hunt)

• 1878 - Leopold Damrosch conducts first concert of the New York Symphony Society Orchestra in Steinway Hall. This orchestra merged with its older competitor, the New York Philharmonic, in 1928.

• 1921 - The American Academy in Rome awards American composer Howard Hanson its second two-year composition fellowship. The first fellowship was awarded to Leo Sowerby on October 4, 1921. The third fellowship was awarded to Randall Thompson on June 6, 1922. The Academy's fellowship awards for composers continue to this day.