Synopsis
On today’s date in 1948, Leonard Bernstein, 29, conducted the Boston Symphony in the premiere of a new orchestral work by Harold Shapero, 27.
This was Shapero’s Symphony for Classical Orchestra, a work modeled on Beethoven but sounding very much like one of the Neo-Classical scores of Igor Stravinsky. This was exactly what Shapero intended, but some found the music perplexing.
Aaron Copland, for one, wrote, “Harold Shapero, it is safe to say, is at the same time the most gifted and baffling composer of his generation.” That comment by Copland, one should remember, came at a time when Shapero’s generation included the likes of Barber, Bernstein, Menotti and Rorem. But Copland continued, “Stylistically, Shapero seems to feel a compulsion to fashion his music after some great model. He seems to be suffering from a hero-worship complex — or perhaps it is a freakish attack of false modesty.”
“Copland was so original that he just couldn’t understand anyone who wasn’t,” Shapero responded.
Even so, Shapero’s superbly crafted orchestral imitations suffered many decades of neglect. In the 1980s, however, conductor and composer Andre Previn fell in love with Shapero’s Symphony, performing and recording it with the LA Philharmonic, and declared its Adagietto movement the most beautiful slow movement of any American symphony.
Music Played in Today's Program
Harold Shapero (1920-2013): Symphony for Classical Orchestra; Los Angeles Philharmonic; André Previn, conductor; New World 373
On This Day
Births
1697 - German composer and flutist Johann Joachim Quantz, in Oberscheden, Hannover
1861 - French-born American composer Charles Martin Loeffler, in Alsace
1862 - German-born American composer and conductor, Walter Damrosch, in Breslau
Deaths
1963 - French composer Francis Poulenc, 64, in Paris
Premieres
1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 81 (Jesus Schläft, was soll ich Hoffen?) performed on the fourth Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach’s first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24)
1735 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 14 (Wär Gott nicht mit uns Diese Zeit) performed in Leipzig on the fourth Sunday after Epiphany
1892 - Rachmaninoff: Trio Élégiaque No. 1 (Gregorian date: Feb. 11)
1893 - Brahms: Fantasies for piano Nos. 1-3 and Intermezzo No. 2, in Vienna
1917 - Zemlinsky: opera A Floretine Tragedy, in Stuttgart at the Hoftheater
1920 - Frederick Converse: Symphony in c, by the Boston Symphony, Pierre Monteux conducting
1942 - Copland: Orchestral Suite from Billy the Kid ballet, by the Boston Symphony
1948 - Harold Shapero: Symphony for Classical Orchestra, by the Boston Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein
1958 - Walton: Partita for orchestra, in Cleveland
1959 - Hindemith: Pittsburgh Symphony, by the Pittsburgh Symphony, conducted by the composer
1970 - William Schuman: In Praise of Shahn, in New York
1985 - Libby Larsen: Symphony (Water Music), by the Minnesota Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner conducting
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.