Massenet (and Laurie Anderson)

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1885, the Paris Opera gave the first performance of Le Cid, the 11th opera written by the French composer Jules Massenet.

Le Cid is set in medieval Spain and tells the story of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, a legendary hero who defended his country against the Moors. The same story inspired a 1961 movie, El Cid, starring — who else? — Charlton Heston.

But back in 1890, the New Orleans Opera introduced Massenet’s opera to American audiences and reached New York City in 1897, serving as a vocal showcase for turn-of-the-century superstars of the early Metropolitan Opera. Enrico Caruso made a famous recording of the opera’s most famous excerpt — Rodrigo’s Act III aria, “O souverain, O Juge, O Pere,” which translates as “Oh Lord, Oh Judge, Oh Father.”

Unlikely as it may seem, this aria inspired a pop hit in 1981, when composer and performance artist Laurie Anderson translated its opening line as “O Superman, O Judge, O Mom and Dad.” As a credit to the French composer, O Superman is even subtitled For Massenet.

Trained as a classical violinist with the Chicago Youth Symphony, Anderson soon shifted to a variety of electronically-altered fiddles, and one of her albums is titled, appropriately, Life on a String.

Music Played in Today's Program

Jules Massenet (1842-1912): O Souverain, O Juge, O Pere; from Le Cid; Ben Heppner, tenor; Munich Radio Orchestra; Roberto Abbado, conductor; RCA/BMG 62504

On This Day

Births

• 1796 - German composer Carl Loewe, near Halle

• 1813 - French composer and pianist Charles-Henri-Valentin Alkan (née Morhange), in Paris

• 1861 - Austrian composer Ludwig Thuille, in Bozen, the Tyrol

• 1884 - Swedish composer Ture Rangström, in Stockholm

• 1895 - Russian composer and pianist Sergei Liapunov (Lyapunov), in Yaroslavl (see Julian date: Nov. 18)

Deaths

• 1623 - English composer Thomas Weelkes, age ca. 48, in London;

• 1954 - German conductor and composer Wilhelm Furtwängler, age 68, near Baden-Baden;

Premieres

• 1877 - Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, in Moscow, with Nicolai Rubinstein conducting, and Wilhelm Fitzenhagen as the soloist (see Julian date: Nov. 18)

• 1885 - Massenet: Le Cid, in Paris

• 1913 - Rachmaninov: choral symphonic poem, The Bells, in St. Petersburg, composer conducting (Gregorian date: Dec. 13)

• 1930 - Ibert: Divertissement, in Paris

• 1934 - Berg: Five Symphonic Pieces from Lulu, at the State Opera, Berlin

• 1945 - Martinu: Symphony No. 4, in Philadelphia

• 1963 - Shulamit Ran: Capriccio for piano and orchestra, with the teenage composer as soloist, on a New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. In 1991, Ran would win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her symphony commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

• 1989 - John Harbison: November 19, 1928 for piano quartet, in Atlanta, Georgia, by the Atlanta Chamber Players

• 2000 - Corigliano: Symphony No. 2, by the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting. This symphony is a reworking of Corigliano’s String Quartet of 1995, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2001.

• 2001 - Philip Glass: Dancissimo for violin and orchestra, with Robert McDuffie and the Milwaukee Symphony conducted by Andrea Delfs

• 2001 - Tobias Picker: opera Thérèse Raquin, by the Dallas Opera

Others

• 1903 - The old Brooklyn Academy of Music facility (at 176-194 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights) burns to the ground (See Nov. 14, 1908 for gala reopening).