In 1958, the state of Minnesota was celebrating its centennial, and decided to commission a symphony in honor of the occasion.
Now, thanks to Garrison Keillor, just about everyone these days knows there are a lot of Norwegians in Minnesota, but even back in 1958, that was still fairly obvious,...Episode details...
By the mid-1940s, the famous American bandleader Paul Whiteman was not as popular as he once was during the 20s and 30s. Even so, his name and orchestra were still a draw, and Whiteman was ever hopeful of introducing new pieces that might prove as popular as Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and...Episode details...
There are some operas which are rarely—if ever—staged, but whose music becomes famous—even wildly popular—in the concert hall. Everyone has heard the overture to Rossini’s “William Tell,” for example, but only a few fortunate (or very determined) opera fans ever get to see the whole opera...Episode details...
The expatriate American composer Conlon Nancarrow is famous for writing pieces for player pianos.
Nancarrow apparently came to the conclusion that the rhythmically complex, intricate contrapuntal music he wanted to write would prove just too difficult for mere mortals to tackle. Despite its...Episode details...
Imagine the cocktail party bragging rights you’d have if you had attended the first night of “Girl Crazy,” a new musical that opened in New York on today’s date in 1930. That show marked the Broadway debut of Ethel Merman, and co-stared Ginger Rogers.
But that’s just for starters…
“Why,” you...Episode details...
On today’s date in 1944, a 29-year-old American composer named David Diamond had his Second Symphony premiered by the Boston Symphony under the famous Russian conductor Serge Koussevitzky.
Diamond says he had actually written this music for the charismatic Greek maestro Dimitri Mitropoulos, who...Episode details...
On today’s date in 1945, the Third Symphony of the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu had its premiere performance at Symphony Hall in Boston.
The new symphony’s dedication read: “To Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony,” and the new score was presented on the occasion of Koussevitzky’s 20th...Episode details...
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then composers must really have a thing about birds.
For centuries, composers have imitated bird song in their music: Vivaldi’s “Goldfinch” concerto for flute is one of the best-known examples from the18th century, and there are hundreds of other...Episode details...
On today’s date in 1903, a baby boy was born in the Russian railroad station of Parfianovka. The proud parents of little Vladimir Dukelsky were both musical, and so lulled the little boy to sleep with Italian opera arias—presumably the slow ones!
Not surprisingly, little Vladimir eventually...Episode details...
