The 4 Best Composers Datebook Podcast Episodes
1) Elgar lights up?
On today’s date in 1919, the British composer Edward Elgar finished a work he labeled jokingly as his “Opus 1001” – a 50 second “Smoking Cantata,” intended, according to the manuscript score, as "an e...Show More
2) Webern conducts Berg
Alban Berg's Violin Concerto had its first performance in Barcelona, Spain, on today's date in 1936, at the opening concert of that year's International Society for Contemporary Music Festival. Berg h...Show More
3) Massenet's "Meditation"
A new opera by Jules Massenet had its premiere at the Paris Opera on today's date in 1894. It was titled "Thais" and was based on a rather spicy novel of the same name by the popular French author of ...Show More
4) The birth of "Les Six"
Today marks the anniversary of the creation of a famous classical music nickname, “Les Six”—French for “The Six.” That’s what Parisian music critic Henri Collet dubbed six composers on this day in 192...Show More
5) Prokofiev's Sixth and Seventh
SynopsisBy a coincidence, the last two symphonies of Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev premiered on today’s date: His Sixth Symphony premiered in Leningrad in 1947, and his final, Seventh Symphony, in ...Show More
6) Gabriela Lena Frank's "Hilos"
SynopsisOn today’s date in 2010, at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music in Nashville, the ALIAS ensemble gave the premiere performance of a new chamber world by American composer Gabriela Le...Show More
7) Handel and "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba”
One of Handel’s “greatest hits” had its premiere on today’s date in 1749 at London’s Covent Garden Theatre, as part of his new Biblical oratorio, “Solomon.” The text of Handel’s oratorio praises the ...Show More
8) The morning after for Sergei Rachmaninoff
In Saint Petersburg on today’s date in 1897 the First Symphony of Sergei Rachmaninoff had its disastrous premiere. Now, there are bad reviews and then there are REALLY bad reviews. When Rachmaninoff ...Show More
9) Román's "Musica de Palladium"
The Palladium Ballroom once stood at the corner of 53rd Street and Broadway in New York City. It opened on today’s date in 1946, and in its heyday, was the mambo capital of the world, showcasing perfo...Show More
10) Johann Strauss the Elder
Johann Strauss the Elder, patriarch of the famous waltz dynasty, was born in Vienna on this day in 1804. His music became immensely popular across Europe, and he dreamed of–but never realized–a tour o...Show More