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Composers Datebook®

with host John Birge

An Italian Western (for English horn)

“Spaghetti Western” is a nickname given a genre of Italian films from the 1960s, most famously directed by Sergio Leone, and often starring Clint Eastwood as the taciturn, gun-toting anti-hero. “Spaghetti Western” is also the title of a Concerto for English horn written by the American composer...Episode details...

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John Birge takes over as host of 'Composers Datebook'

John Birge is the new host of 'Composers Datebook,' the award-winning program about this day in classical music history. A well-known name at Classical Minnesota Public Radio, he will take over from retiring and longtime host John Zech on May 1.

Adolphus Hailstork's “Amazing Grace”

On today’s date in 1875 one of the greatest musical match-makers of all time died in Spartanburg, South Carolina. His name was William Walker, an American Baptist shape note singing master, who published several collections of traditional shape note tunes. Now, “shape note” refers to a simple...Episode details...

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Who’s who and what’s what is our specialty at Composers Datebook. Take 2 minutes to make a gift today, to help us continue to share this musical education experience.

Mackey's “Stumble to Grace"

On today’s date in 2011, the Saint Louis Symphony under David Robertson premiered a new piano concerto by the American composer Steven Mackey. The soloist was Orli Shaham, Robertson’s wife, to whom the new work was dedicated. The new concerto had an odd title, “Stumble to Grace,” which Mackey...Episode details...

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Bernstein gets a "Presidential" title

It’s something of a parlor game for historians of the American presidency to constantly reappraise the status of past occupants of the Oval Office. For example, some recent historians have given President Dwight D. Eisenhower higher marks than others for his political accomplishments in the White...Episode details...

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Beyond "The Planets" with Gustav Holst

On today’s date in 1874 the Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham, England. He was christened “Gustavus Theodore von Holst,” and his early works were published under that name, but he removed the Germanic “von” after World War I broke out in 1914. At the Royal College of Music, Holst studied...Episode details...

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Pauline Viardot and the Last Sorcerer

“Name-dropping” can be VERY annoying, and we all know someone who can’t resist letting us know all the famous people they rub shoulders with–or DID, before social-distancing, that is. Well, name-dropping is hard to avoid when talking about the remarkable mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot, who lived...Episode details...

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Before you go...

Who’s who and what’s what is our specialty at Composers Datebook. Take 2 minutes to make a gift today, to help us continue to share this musical education experience.

Vaughan Williams at Westminster

On today’s date in 1958, just nine days after his death, a funeral service was held for the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams at Westminster Abbey, where his ashes were laid to rest. Now, many famous people are buried at Westminster Abbey, but an actual funeral service there, especially...Episode details...

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Elgar's Fifth

On today’s date in 1930, in Kingsway Hall in London, the British composer Sir Edward Elgar conducted the first performance of his “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 5,” the last in this popular series. Two of the previous marches had been dedicated to organist friends of the composer, and so when...Episode details...

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