Bernhard Crusell
In 1775 Bernhard Crusell was born in Nystad (Uusikaupunki), Finland. In Stockholm, while in school, he established himself as a clarinet soloist. At the age sixteen he received an appointment as the director of the regimental band, and a year later became principal clarinet with the Hovkapellet (Royal Court Orchestra), which was directed by his composition teacher, the German composer Abbé Vogler. Between 1791 and 1799 Crusell studied music theory and composition with Abbé Vogler and another German teacher, Daniel Böritz, when Böritz was resident in Stockholm. In 1803 while in Paris Crusell studied composition at the Conservatoire with Gossec and Berton. He composed pieces, including concertos and chamber works, not only for his own use, but also for other wind players in the court orchestra. In 1811 he travelled to Leipzig where he established a relationship with the music publisher Bureau de Musique, which became part of C. F. Peters in 1814. From 1818 to 1837 during the summers he conducted military bands in Linköping, providing them with arrangements of marches and overtures by Rossini, Spohr, and Weber and composing pieces for male choir. In 1822 he published three volumes of songs to texts by the Swedish poet Tegnér and others, and in 1826 another volume, Frithiofs saga, with ten songs to texts by Tegnér. An opera, Lilla slavinnan (The Little Slave Girl), was first performed in Stockholm in 1824 and was repeated 34 times in the following 14 years. 1
In 1780 Franz Joseph Haydn’s opera “La Fedelta premiata” premiered at Esterházy.
In 1886 Modest Mussorgsky’s “A Night on Bald Mountain” was premiered posthumously in a re-orchestration by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, in St. Petersburg, by the Russian Symphony conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov (Gregorian date: Oct. 27).
Also in 1886 Antonin Dvorák’s oratorio “St. Ludmilla,” Op. 71, was premiered at the Leeds Festival in England.
In 1900 Zdenek Fibich died at age 49 in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
In 1905 Dag Wirén was born in Noraberg, Oerebro, Sweden.
Also in 1905 Claude Debussy’s “La Mer” was premiered at a Lamoureux Concert in Paris, conducted by Chevillard.
In 1933 Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 was premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic conducted by Fritz Stiedry. He was piano soloist, and the trumpet solos were played by Alexander Shmidt.
In 1938 Richard Strauss’ opera “Daphne” premiered in Dresden at the State Opera, Karl Boehm conducting, with vocal soloists Margarete Teschemacher (Daphne), Torsten Ralf (Apollo), Helena Jung (Gaea), and Martin Kremer (Leukippos).
In 1943 Benjamin Britten’s “Serenade” for tenor, horn, and strings, premiered in London.
In 1943 Lukas Foss’ “The Prairie” was premiered by the Boston Symphony with Serge Koussevitzky conducting.
In 1946 the first concert performance of Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Henry Purcell)” was given in Liverpool. This music was written for an education film entitled “The Instruments of the Orchestra,” which was first shown on November 29, 1946.
In 1955 Iannis Xenakis’ “Metastasis” for 61 instruments was premiered in Donaueschingen, Germany.
In 1981 Robert Starer’s Violin Concerto was premiered by the Boston Symphony, with Seiji Ozawa conducting and Itzhak Perlman as soloist.
In 1985 Christopher Rouse’s “Lares Hercii” for violin and harpsichord was premiered by Charles Castleman (violin) and Arthur Haas (harpsichord) in Rochester, NY.
In 1988 Conlon Nancarrow ‘s String Quartet No. 3 was premiered by the Arditti Quartet in Cologne, Germany.
In 1997 Peter Maxwell Davies conducted the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chorus in the premiered of his “The Jacobite Rising” in Glasgow.
In 2003 Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Naxos Quartet” No. 3 was premiered by the Maggini Quartett in Wigmore Hall, London.
- Wikipedia contributors, “Bernhard Crusell,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bernhard_Crusell&oldid=678176064 (accessed October 15, 2015).
The Classical Stream 