Hans Sachs
In 1494 Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg. As a child he attended a singing school that was held in the church of Nuremberg. This helped to awaken in him a taste for poetry and music. His father was a tailor. He attended Latin school (German: Lateinschule) in Nuremberg. When he was 14 he took up an apprenticeship as a shoemaker. After the apprenticeship, at age 17, he was a journeyman and set out on his Wanderjahre (or Walz), that is, travelling about with companions and students. Over several years he worked at his craft in many towns, including Regensburg, Passau, Salzburg, Munich, Osnabrück, Lübeck, and Leipzig. In 1513 he reached the small town of Wels in Austria, where he remained for a time, devoting himself to the cultivation of the fine arts. The Emperor Maximilian I chanced to pass through this town with his dazzling retinue, and the young poet allowed himself to be carried away by the splendour of the court. The prince placed him in the halls of the palace of Insbruck. Later Hans Sachs quit the court and went to Schatz and Munich. In the same year, he took up a kind of apprenticeship to become a mastersinger at Munich. Lienhard Nunnenbeck, a linen weaver, was his master. In 1516 he settled in Nuremberg and stayed there for the rest of his life. On 1 September 1519 he married Kunigunde Creutzer (1502-1560), who died in 1560. He married again on 2 September 1561, this time to the young widow Barbara Harscher. He had no known offspring. The great event of his intellectual life was the coming of the Reformation; he became an ardent adherent of Luther, and in 1523 wrote in Luther’s honor the poem beginning “The nightingale of Wittenberg, which is heard everywhere” (German: Die wittenbergisch Nachtigall, Die man jetzt höret überall), and four remarkable dialogues in prose, in which his warm sympathy with the reformer was tempered by counsels of moderation. In spite of this, his advocacy of the new faith earned him a reproof from the town council of Nuremberg, and he was forbidden to publish any more “pamphlets or rhymes” (German: Büchlein oder Reimen). It was not long, however, before the council itself openly threw in its lot with the Reformation. He is the subject of German Romantic operas by Lortzig (“Hans Sachs,” 1840) and Wagner (“Die Meistersinger,” 1868). 1
In 1724 Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sacred Cantata No. 115 (“Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit”) was first performed on the 22nd Sunday after Trinity as part of Bach’s second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25).
In 1846 Richard Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 was premiered by Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn.
In 1876 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Marche slav” was premiered in Moscow (Gregorian date: Nov. 17).
In 1888 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 was premiered in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Nov. 17).
In 1895 Richard Strauss’ tone-poem “Till Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks” was premiered in Cologne, conducted by Franz Wüllner.
In 1903 the inaugural concert by a 50-member Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (the current Minnesota Orchestra) took place, conducted by Emil Oberhoffer, with Metropolitan Opera soprano Marcella Sembrich as guest soloist.
In 1926 Manuel de Falla conducted the premiere of his Harpsichord Concerto with Wanda Landowska as soloist.
In 1927 Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 2 (“To October”) was premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic and Academic Choir, Nikolai Malko conducting.
Nicholas Maw
In 1935 Nicholas Maw was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. He was the son of Clarence Frederick Maw and Hilda Ellen Chambers. He attended the Wennington School, a boarding school, in Wetherby in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was 14. He attended the Royal Academy of Music on Marylebone Road in London where his teachers were Paul Steinitz and Lennox Berkeley. He then studied in Paris withNadia Boulanger and Max Deutsch. From 1998 until 2008, Maw served on the faculty of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he taught music composition. He had previously served on the faculties of Yale University, Bard College, Boston University, the Royal Academy of Music, Cambridge University, and Exeter University. 2
In 1938 Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” and “Essay for Orchestra” No. 1 were both premiered on a broadcast concert by the NBC Symphony, Arturo Toscanini conducting.
In 1943 Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for Two Pianos was premiered with the Luboshutz and Nemenoff Duo, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting.
In 1955 Karl Böhm conducted a performance of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” at the gala re-opening of Vienna Opera House (damaged by Allied bombs on March 12, 1945). During the rebuilding of the Opera House, performances had continued in two nearby Viennese halls: the Theatre and der Wien and the Volksoper.
1. Wikipedia contributors, “Hans Sachs,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hans_Sachs&oldid=675514979 (accessed November 5, 2015).
2. Wikipedia contributors, “Nicholas Maw,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicholas_Maw&oldid=679358209 (accessed November 5, 2015).
The Classical Stream 