Cowell in Paris

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1931, the Russian-born American conductor, and composer Nicolas Slonimsky was in Paris conducting the first of two concerts of ultra-modern music from the New World. These were presented under the auspices of the Pan American Association of Composers, and funded by an anonymous philanthropist Slonimsky later identified as retired insurance executive and fellow composer Charles Ives.

Slonimsky had approached Ives early in 1931 with the idea of presenting a series of new music concerts in New York. When that proved too costly, they suggested mounting the same concerts in Paris.

“In 1931, the dollar was still almighty among world currencies,” recalled Slonimsky. “Ives gave me a letter of credit to the Paris branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank in the amount of $1500, an enormous sum of money in French francs at the time. The prestigious Orchestra Straram was engaged for my first Paris concert. I had a brilliant audience: composers, journalists, painters, Italian futurists. There was applause, but also puzzled responses.”

One French music critic even entitled his review “The Discovery of America,” writing, “We have, (without joking), just discovered America, thanks to a Christopher Columbus called Slonimsky.” As for Ives, he was very pleased with the success of the concerts, and for a time jokingly addressed Slonimsky as either “Columbus et Vespuccius,”

Music Played in Today's Program

Henry Cowell (1897 – 1965) Synchrony Polish National Radio Orchestra; William Strickland, cond. Citadel 88122

On This Day

Births

• 1840 - English composer Sir John Stainer, in London;

• 1869 - German composer and conductor Siegfried Wagner, in Triebschen (near Lucerne), Switzerland; He was the third of three children born out-of-wedlock to Richard Wagner and Cosima Liszt-von Bulow; Cosima's marriage to Hans von Bulow was annulled in 1870, and she married Wagner in 1870;

• 1903 - Soviet-Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, in Tiflis (Julian date: May 24);

• 1915 - American composer Vincent Perischetti, in Philadelphia;

• 1922 - Scottish composer Iain Hamilton, in Glasgow;

• 1939 - Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, in Utrecht;

Deaths

• 1881 - Belgian composer and violinist Henri Vieuxtemps, age 61, in Mustapha, Algiers;

• 1915 - Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, in Dyud'kovo, near Zvenigorod (Gregorian date: June 19);

Premieres

• 1921 - Hindemith: one-act opera "Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen" (Murder, Hope of Women) and Burmese puppet-play "Nusch-Nuschi," in Stuttgart at the Württembergisches Landstheater;

• 1921 - Milhaud: ballet "L'Homme et son désir" (Man and His Desire), in Paris;

• 1924 - Schoenberg: one-act melodrama "Erwartung" (Expectation), in Prague at the New German Theater;

• 1925 - Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2, in Paris, with Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1928 - R. Strauss: opera "Die aegyptische Helena" (The Egyptian Helen), in Dresden at the Staatsoper, conducted by Fritz Busch, and with vocal soloists Elisabeth Rethberg (Helena) and Curt Taucher (Menelas);

• 1931 - Henry Cowell: "Synchrony," in Paris, at the first of two concerts of modern American music with the Orchestre Straram conducted by Nicholas Slonimsky and funded anonymously by Charles Ives; On the same program, Slonimsky also conducted the Orchestre Straram in the European premieres of works by Adolph Weiss ("American Life"), Ives ("Three Places in England"), Carl Ruggles ("Men and Mountains"), and the Cuban composer Amadeo Roldan ("La Rehambatamba"); See June 11, 1931 for the program of the second concert of chamber works;

• 1943 - Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No. 2, in Moscow, by the composer;

• 1947 - Leroy Anderson: "Irish Suite" by the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall, Arthur Fiedler conducting (commissioned by the Eire Society of Boston for its annual "Irish Night" at the Pops);

• 1998 - Esa-Pekka Salonen: "Gambit" at the Holland Festival, by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by the composer;

Others

• 1727 - The opera season of the Royal Academy in London ends early, when rival prima donnas Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni come to blows on stage during a performance of Bononcini's opera "Astianatte" (Gregorian date: June 17);

• 1922 - The American Academy in Rome awards American composer Randall Thompson its third two-year composition fellowship; The first fellowship was awarded to Leo Sowerby on October 4, 1921, and the second to Howard Hanson on November 9, 1921; The fellowship awards continue to this day;

• 1962 - The Beatles audition with music producer George Martin at their first recording session at London's famous Abbey Road Studios.