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Monday, December 7, 2015

Birthdays

Pietro Mascagni

In 1863 Pietro Mascagni was born in Livorno, Italy. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music. While it was often held that Mascagni, like Leoncavallo, was a “one-opera man” who could never repeat his first success, L’amico Fritz and Iris have remained in the repertoire in Europe (especially Italy) since their premieres. Mascagni said that at one point, Iris was performed in Italy more often than Cavalleria (cf. Stivender). Mascagni wrote fifteen operas, an operetta, several orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and piano music. He enjoyed immense success during his lifetime, both as a composer and conductor of his own and other people’s music. He created a variety of styles in his operas: a Sicilian passion and warmth of Cavalleria, the exotic flavor of Iris, the idylls of L’amico Fritz and Lodoletta, the Gallic chiaroscuro of Isabeau, the steely, Veristic power of Il piccolo Marat, the over-ripe post-romanticism of the lush Parisina, which demonstrate a versatility. 1

Premiers

In 1889 Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta The Gondoliers was premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London.

In 1939 William Walton’s Violin Concerto was premiered  by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodziński and Jascha Heifetz soloist (he also commissioned the piece).

On This Day in Classical Music

In 1732 the Theatre Royal opened in London’s Covent Garden. It would later be known as The Royal Opera House.

In 1787 Mozart was given the position of Imperial and Royal Chamber Composer in Austria, after the death of Christoph Willibald von Gluck.

1791 Mozart was buried in Vienna. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians  reports: “Mozart was interred in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7 December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.” The expression “common grave” refers to neither a communal grave nor a pauper’s grave, but to an individual grave for a member of the common people (i.e., not the aristocracy). Common graves were subject to excavation after ten years; the graves of aristocrats were not. 2

In 1814 Luigi Cherubini was made a chevalier of the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur by King Louis the XVIII.

In 1823 Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Two Pianos was first heard at his family home in Berlin. It would receive its official premier in 1825. It is considered to be one of the first compositions for full orchestra by Mendelssohn. He was fifteen at the time of its composition.

In 1842 The New York Philharmonic Orchestra makes its concert debut. Founded by conductor Ureli Corelli Hill, with the aid of the Irish composer William Vincent Wallace, the first piece heard was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The NY Phil operated as a cooperative society, deciding by a majority vote such issues as who would become a member, which music would be performed and who among them would conduct. At the end of the season, the players would divide any proceeds among themselves (this management style would last until 1909).

In 1857 Camille Saint-Saëns begins work as organist at the Madelein in Paris.

In 1881 Leoš Janáček founded the Organ School and held the post of director, which would later become the Brno Conservatory.

In 1887 Charles Villiers Stanford was made Professor of Music at Cambridge University.

In 1892 Enrique Granados marries Empar Gal Llobera. They both would perish in a German torpedo attack while crossing the English Channel in 1916.

In 1921 military bands in Great Britain standardize their instrumentation, dropping tenor horns and including saxophones.

In 1980 Leonard Bernstein was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor for Lifetime Contributions to American Culture through the Performing Arts. His fellow honorees were James Cagney, Agnes de Mille, Lynn Fontanne, and Leontyne Price.

In 1982 Aaron Copland conducts for the last time, directing the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

 

1.Wikipedia contributors, “Pietro Mascagni,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pietro_Mascagni&oldid=693606786 (accessed December 7, 2015).

2. Wikipedia contributors, “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart&oldid=693870400 (accessed December 6, 2015).