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Latest

Composers Datebook®

with host John Birge

Wallingford Riegger

Today in 1961, the American composer Wallingford Riegger died in New York City, about a month shy of what would have been his 76th birthday. Riegger was born in Albany, Georgia, in 1885. Like many American musicians of that era, Riegger studied in Germany. In the years before America entered...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.

Variations on a tune by Handel

On this date in 1747, a crowd of London concert-goers gathered in response to a newspaper announcement, which read, "At the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden tomorrow will be perform'd a new oratorio, call'd 'Judas Maccabaeus'… no person to be admitted without tickets… at half a guinea each." The...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.

Liszt vs. Thalberg

On today's date in 1837, the Princess Cristina Belgiojoso-Trivulzio scored the social coup of the season at her Parisian salon. Ostensibly, it was the culmination of a three-day charity fundraiser in aid of Italian political refugees, but it REALLY was the artistic equivalent of a prize fight—the...Episode details...

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The "Naqoyqatsi" Cello Concerto by Philip Glass

In 2002, film director Godfrey Reggio released his latest movie. Entitled "Naqoyqatsi"—the Hopi word for "Life as War"—this was Reggio's third and final installment in a trilogy of unusual, non-narrative films, all with Hopi titles, each comprised of visually striking, collage-like visuals set...Episode details...

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David Dzubay's "Ra"

OK, if you say "band music," most people think "marching bands—sporting events." So if someone tells you there is a band work titled "Ra"—you might automatically respond: "sis-boom-ba." But that's not at all what composer David Dzubay had in mind. He was thinking of RA, the ancient Egyptian sun...Episode details...

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The Vienna Philharmonic and American composers

In Beethoven's day, there were no independent symphonic orchestras in Vienna, so when Ludwig van wanted to put on an orchestral concert, the way he did it was to hire a theater orchestra for a night or two. Now, Viennese theaters were usually pretty busy and well booked up, but in Catholic...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.

Symphonic Mazuyumi

One of the preeminent figures in 20th century Japanese concert music was a composer named Toshiro Mayuzumi, born in Yokohama in 1929. The range of his music reflects a curious turn of mind. He wrote pieces in a neo-Romantic mode, experimented with electronic music and jazz, composed...Episode details...

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Madeleine Dring

She's been called a "British Gershwin" but perhaps a "British Poulenc" might more accurately describe the genial and graceful music of Madeleine Dring, a woman whose diverse and energetic creative life was cut short, when, at the age of 53, she died suddenly on today's date in 1977. Madeleine...Episode details...

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