Synopsis
Do you believe in angels? It seems Finnish composer Einojuhanni Rautavaara did — and produced a number of orchestral pieces with evocative titles like Angels and Visitations or Angel of Light. One of these, a concerto for double-bass and orchestra titled, Angel of Dusk, had its premiere performance on today's date in 1981, in Helsinki.
“Looking out the window of a plane, I saw a strikingly shaped cloud, gray but pierced with color, rising above the Atlantic horizon. Suddenly, the words Angel of Dusk came to mind,” he wrote. When asked to write a double-bass concerto, he recalled the vision of the cloud and had his title.
In an interview, Rautavaara spoke of a scientist who wrote that “the existence of music is an intellectual scandal. With that he meant that there is a message in music, and yet there are no words for that message. It’s from another world. For a scientist that is a scandal. For me, it’s a wonderful thing. In the end, I agree with Carl Jung. The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him,” he explained.
Music Played in Today's Program
Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016): Angel of Dusk; Olli Kosonen, double bass; Finnish Radio Symphony; Leif Segerstam, conductor; Finlandia 009
On This Day
Births
1915 - American composer George Perle, in Bayonne, New Jersey
1918 - Canadian composer Godfrey Ridout, in Toronto
Deaths
1667 - (on May 6 or 7) German composer and keyboard player Johann Jakob Froberger, 50, in Hericourt, nearr Montbeliard, France
Premieres
1897 - Leoncavallo: opera La Boheme in Venice
1981 - Rautavaara: Double-bass Concerto (Angel of Dusk), in Helsinki, with bassist Olli Kosonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony, Leif Segerstam conducting
1985 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Trumpet and Five Players, by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
1992 - Libby Larsen: Symphony No. 3 (Lyric), by the Albany Symphony (New York), Joel Revzen conducting
1999 - Magnus Lindberg: Cello Concerto, by the Orchestre de Paris, with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting and Anssi Karttunen the soloist
1999 - Christopher Rouse: Seeing (Piano Concerto), at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Slatkin, with Emanuel Ax the soloist
Others
1872 - Theodore Thomas conducts the first concert of the Cincinnati Music Festival (May Festival). His program includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum, a Mozart aria, and a chorus from Haydn’s Creation.
Love the music?
Show your support by making a gift to YourClassical.
Each day, we’re here for you with thoughtful streams that set the tone for your day – not to mention the stories and programs that inspire you to new discovery and help you explore the music you love.
YourClassical is available for free, because we are listener-supported public media. Take a moment to make your gift today.
Your Donation
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.