Synopsis
On today’s date in 1789, Mozart was in Dresden, performing his new piano concerto at the Royal Saxon Court. Mozart was pretty good at documenting his own compositions, and we know from a catalog of his works that he finished this concerto in late February the previous year.
Unfortunately for posterity, he was less dutiful in copying out all of the solo piano part, which he no doubt just kept in his head. The surviving manuscript score contains just a shorthand version of the solo piano part, with the music for the left-hand hardly there at all.
Modern performers have to rely on their own wit and imagination to fill in the blanks, and, who knows: maybe he played it differently each time, improvising around his own sketchy outline as the mood took him?
In any case, Mozart must have been proud of this concerto. He played it again at the festivities surrounding the coronation of Emperor Leopold II in Frankfurt in October of 1790. Ever since, this concerto has been known as the Coronation Concerto.
Music Played in Today's Program
Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791): Piano Concerto No. 26 (Coronation); Jenö Jandó, piano; Concentus Hungaricus; Mátyás Antál, conductor; Naxos 8.550209
On This Day
Births
1933 - American electronic music composer Morton Subotnik, in Los Angeles
Deaths
1759 - German-born British composer George Frideric Handel, 74, in London; He is buried in Westminster Abbey (see April 20)
1843 - Austrian composer and violinist Josef Lanner, 42, in Oberdöbling
1915 - Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin (Gregorian date: April 27)
Premieres
1789 - Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 26 (Coronation), at the Royal Saxon Court in Dresden, with the composer as soloist. Mozart performed this concerto again in Frankfurt on October 15, 1790, at the festivities surrounding the coronation of Emperor Leopold II — hence its nickname.
1883 - Delibes: opera Lakmé, in Paris at the Opéra-Comique
1932 - Hindemith: Philharmonic Concerto in Berlin, for the jubilee of the Berlin Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting
1944 - Roy Harris: Symphony No. 6, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting
1951 - Cowell: Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 3, for strings, in Los Angeles
1967 - Penderecki: oratorio Dies Irae, in Krakow
1967 - Webern: Three Pieces for Orchestra, posthumously, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting
1972 - Paul Chihara: Grass for double-bass and orchestra, at Oberlin College, Ohio
1972 - Sessions: Concertino for small orchestra, in Chicago
1977 - Leon Kirchner: opera Lily (after Saul Bellow’s novel, Henderson, the Rain King), in New York City
1996 - Zwilich: Jubilation for orchestra, by the University of Georgia (Athens) orchestra, Yoel Levi 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.