Schumann and Zaimont

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1830, 11-year-old piano virtuoso Clara Wieck took the stage of the Leipzig Gewandhaus for her first solo recital. Her father was a piano teacher, who had prepared Clara for a solo career since infancy.

This was the age of the great composer-pianists Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin, and little Clara also wrote original works for her performances. Her Four Polonaises was published the following year. Her career as a composer and performer would eventually span five decades, and, like her father, she became one of the most famous piano teachers of her time.

Nowadays, composer-performers are more common in the world of jazz than classical music, although there are exceptions. One of them is Judith Lang Zaimont, who, like Schumann, developed a triple career as composer, performer and teacher.

“Composing is the central fact of my life. My music seeks to appeal both to the heart (the ‘Ahh!’ response) and to the head (the ‘Aha!’ response). When this mix is just right, I can sense it — and reactions from audiences can be positive, too,” she said.

Music Played in Today's Program

Clara Schumman (1819-1896): Four Polonaises; Josef de Beenhouwer, piano; CPO 999 758

Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945): “September” from Calendar Collection; Judith Lang Zaimont, piano; Four Tay 4001

On This Day

Births

• 1770 - German composer Friedrich Witt, in Niederstetten, Württemberg. Like Beethoven, he composed nine symphonies, and one of them, his Jena Symphony, was for a time mistakenly believed to be an early work by Beethoven.

• 1883 - English composer Arnold Bax, in Streatham

• 1945 - American composer and pianist Judith Lang Zaimont, in Memphis

Deaths

• 1599 - Spanish composer Francisco Guerrero, 71, in Seville

• 1890 - Belgian-French composer César Franck, in Paris, 67

• 1894 - Russian composer Anton Rubinstein, 64, near St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Nov. 20)

• 1924 - Russian composer Sergie Liapunov, 65, in Paris

Premieres

• 1879 - Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 1, in Bonn, by violinist Joseph Joachim and the composer at the piano

• 1919 - Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale Suite (for violin, clarinet and piano), in Lausanne. The staged version of The Soldier’s Tale had premiered in Lausanne at the Théatre Municipal on September 28, 1918.

• 1926 - Gershwin: musical Oh, Kay! at the Imperial Theater in New York City. This show featured Gertrude Lawrence, and included the classic Gershwin songs “Clap Yo’ Hands,” “Do, Do, Do,” and “Someone to Watch over Me.”

• 1936 - Jean Françaix: Piano Concerto, in Berlin