Harris's '1933' in 1934

Synopsis

In 1933, Aaron Copland introduced Roy Harris to Serge Koussevitzky, the famous conductor of the Boston Symphony in those days. Now, Koussevitzky was one of the great patrons of American music and was always looking for new American music and new American composers. Roy Harris had been described to him as an “American Mussorgsky,” which probably intrigued the Russian-born conductor.

When Koussevitzky learned that Harris had been born in a log cabin in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, no less — well, perhaps he hoped the 41-year old Harris might produce music equally all-American in origin. “Write me a big symphony from the West,” asked Koussevitzky, and Harris responded with a three-movement orchestral work: Symphony, 1933, which had its premiere performance on today’s date in 1934 with the Boston Symphony under Koussevitzky’s direction.

Koussevitzky loved it. “I think that nobody has captured in music the essence of American life — its vitality, its greatness, its strength — so well as Roy Harris,” enthused the famous conductor, who recorded the piece at Carnegie Hall in New York just one week after its premiere.

And it was Koussevitzky’s Boston Symphony that would subsequently premiere Harris’s Symphonies No. 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Music Played in Today's Program

Roy Harris (1898-1979): Symphony No. 1 (1933); Louisville Orchestra; Jorge Mester, conductor; Albany 012

On This Day

Births

• 1924 - American composer Warren Benson, in Detroit, Michigan;

Deaths

• 1795 - German composer Johann Christioph Friedrich Bach, age 62, in Bückeburg

• 1993 - American composer and teacher Kenneth Gaburo, age 66, in Iowa City;

Premieres

• 1732 - Handel: opera "Ezio" (Julian date: Jan.15);

• 1790 - Mozart: opera, "Così fan tutte," in Vienna at the Burgtheater;

• 1873 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2, in Moscow (Gregorian date: Feb. 7);

• 1882 - Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Feb. 7);

• 1905 - Schoenberg: symphonic poem "Pelleas und Melisande," in Vienna, with the composer conducting;

• 1908 - Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Feb. 8);

• 1911 - Richard Strauss: opera, “Der Rosenkavalier,” in Dresden at the Hofoper, conducted by Ernst von Schuch, with vocal soloists Margarethe Siems (Marschallin), Eva von der Osten (Octavian), Minnie Nast (Sophie), Karl Perron (Baron Ochs), and Karl Scheidemantel (Faninal);

• 1920 - Prokofiev: "Overture on Hebrew Themes," in New York by the Zimro Ensemble, with the composer at the piano;

• 1922 - Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 3 "Pastoral," by the Royal Philharmonic, London, Sir Adrian Boult conducting;

• 1934 - Roy Harris: Symphony No. 1, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1952 - Ernst von Dohnányi: Violin Concerto No. 2, in San Antonio, Texas;

• 1957 - Bernstein: "Candide" Overture (concert version), by New York Philharmonic conducted by the composer; The musical "Candide" had opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York City on December 1, 1956;

• 1957 - Poulenc: opera, "Les dialogues des carmélites" (The Dialogues of the Carmelites) in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala, Nino Sanzogno conducting;

• 1962 - Diamond: Symphony No. 7, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1966 - Dominick Argento: Variations for Orchestra and Soprano (The Masque of Night"), at the St. Paul Campus Student Center of the University of Minnesota, by the Minneapolis Civic Orchestra, Thomas Nee conducting, with soprano Carolyn Bailey; A second performance took place on Jan. 27th at Coffmann Memorial Union on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota;

• 1967 - Frank Martin: Cello Concerto, in Basel, Switzerland;

• 1994 - Elisabetta Brusa: “La Triade” for large orchestra, by the Tirana (Albania) Radio and Television Orchestra, Gilberto Serembe conducting;

• 1994 - Christopher Rouse: Cello Concerto, by the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by David Zinman, with Yo-Yo Ma the soloist;

• 1995 - Joan Tower: "Duets for Orchestra," by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Christoph Perick conducting.