Dvořák's 'Toy Story?'

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1893, Anton Seidl conducted the New York Philharmonic in the first performance of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 (From the New World). This was an afternoon concert, meant as a public dress rehearsal for the work’s official premiere the following evening.

Among the December 15 audience was Dvořák's eight-year old son, Otakar, who had a special interest in the success of his father's new symphony. In the preceding weeks, Otakar had accompanied his father to a New York café, where Dvořák met Anton Seidl to go over the new score. Young Otakar amused himself at a nearby toyshop, where a seven-foot long model of the ocean liner Majestic was on display, complete with its own miniature steam-chamber and working propellers. It cost a whopping $45 — a huge amount of money in those days, and the answer from papa was always: NO!

Seeing that the boy’s heart was set on having the toy, Anton Seidl suggested to Otakar that he wait until after the premiere and then ask his father again. Seidl told Otakar that if all went well at the premiere, Dvořák would be in a generous mood. The premiere was a great success, and, as Otakar recalled: “When Seidl offered to pay half the cost of the Majestic, Father could not say no. So that is how the three of us celebrated the success of the first performance of the New World Symphony.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904): Symphony No. 9 (From the New World); New York Philharmonic; Kurt Masur, conductor; Teldec 73244

On This Day

Births

• 1657 - French composer Michel-Richard de Lalande, in Paris

Deaths

• 1792 - German-born Swedish composer Joseph Martin Kraus, 36, in Stockholm

Premieres

• 1807 - Spontini: opera, La Vestale, at the Paris Opéra

• 1893 - Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) by the New York Philharmonic, Anton Seidl conducting, at a public rehearsal at Carnegie Hall, attended by the composers' children, among other members of the general public (the official premiere took place the following evening)

• 1900 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 (second and third movements only), in Moscow, with Ziloti conducting and the composer as soloist (Julian date: Dec. 2). The first complete performance of this concerto, with the same conductor and soloist, occurred in Moscow on 27 October (Julian)/November 9 (Gregorian) in 1901.

• 1901 - Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata, in Moscow, by cellist Anatoly Brandukov, with the composer at the piano (Julian date: Dec. 2)

• 1910 - Reger: Piano Concerto, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Arthur Nikisch, with Frieda Kwast-Hodapp as soloist

• 1916 - American premiere of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, with vocal soloists Tilly Koenen and Johannes Sembach, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting

• 1934 - Jean Françaix: Piano Concertino, in Paris, at a Lamoureux concert, with the composer as soloist

• 1938 - Bloch: Violin Concerto, in Cleveland, Joseph Szigeti, violin and the Cleveland Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting

• 1938 - Revueltas: Sensemayá, in Mexico City

• 1940 - Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 2, in New York City

• 1986 - Bernstein: Opening Prayer for Baritone and Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic conducted by the composer, with Kurt Ollmann as the vocal soloist

• 2000 - John Adams: oratorio El Niño, at Le Châtelet in Paris, by soloists Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Willard White, with the Theatre of Voices and the Deutsches Symphonie conducted by Kent Nagano. The American premiere of this work occurred in San Francisco on January 11, 2001.