Composers Datebook podcast

#Music #American Public Media

17:27

Why do so many of us get nervous when public speaking? Communication expert Lawrence Bernstein says the key to dealing with the pressure is as simple as having a casual chat. He introduces the "coffee shop test" as a way to help you overcome nerves, connect with your audience and deliver a message that truly resonates. After the talk, Modupe explains a similar approach in academia called the "Grandma test," and how public speaking can be as simple as a conversation with grandma. Want to help shape TED’s shows going forward? Fill out our survey ! Become a TED Member today at ted.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Composers Datebook

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Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.

102 episodes

Composers Datebook

23 subscribers

updated about 15 hours ago

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102 episodes

#Music #American Public Media

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Composers Datebook

1
Brahms rediscovered 2:00

15 hours ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In the summer of 1853 Johannes Brahms had just turned twenty and was touring as the piano accompanist of the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi. On today’s date, they arrived in Gottingen, where they were hosted by Arnold Wehner, the Music Director of that city’s University. Wehner kept a guest book for visitors, and over time accumulated signatures from the most famous composers of his day, including Mendelssohn, Rossini, and Liszt. Now, in 1853, Brahms was not yet as famous as he would later become, but as a thank-you to his host, he filled a page of Wehner’s album with a short, original composition for piano. Fast forward over 150 years to 2011, when Herr Wehner’s guest book fetched over $158,000 at an auction house in New York City, and this previously unknown piano score by Brahms attracted attention for many reasons. First, few early Brahms manuscripts have survived. Brahms was notorious for burning his drafts and sketches, and second, the melody Brahms jotted down in 1853 showed up again in the second movement of his Horn Trio, published 12 years later. Finally, there’s a still-unresolved controversy about who had rediscovered the long-lost score: the auction house had the manuscript authenticated in 2011, but in 2012 British conductor Christopher Hogwood claimed he had stumbled across it while doing other research. Music Played in Today's Program Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Albumblatt (1853); Sophie-Mayuko Vetter, piano; Hännsler 98048…

Composers Datebook

1
Dvorak's 'The Water Goblin' 2:00

1 day ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In the late 19th Century, there were two rival musical camps: one favored “absolute music” like the symphonies, concertos, and chamber music of Brahms; the other the “music of the future,” namely the operas of Wagner and the tone poems of Liszt, works that told dramatic stories in music. Now, Dvořák’s mentor was Brahms, and Dvořák was famous for his symphonies, concertos and chamber music. But on today’s date in 1896, at a concert of the Prague Conservatory Orchestra, three tone poems by Dvořák premiered: The Water Goblin , The Noonday Witch , and The Golden Spinning Wheel , all three based on Czech folk legends — and rather lurid, even gruesome ones at that. Not surprisingly, the “absolute music” camp was shocked. Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick lamented: “It is strange that Dvořák now indulges in ugly, unnatural, and ghastly stories which correspond so little to his amiable character and to the true musician that he is. In The Water Goblin we are treated to a fiend who cuts off his own child’s head!” But another Czech composer, Leos Janacek, heard something quite different: “In all the orchestral tone poems that I have known, the ‘direct speech’ of the instruments, if I might describe it thus, has never sounded with such certainty, clarity and truthfulness within the wave of melodies, as it does in The Water Goblin .” Music Played in Today's Program Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904): The Water Goblin ; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor; Teldec 25254…

Composers Datebook

1
Walton and the Royals 2:00

3 days ago2:00

2:00

Composers Datebook

1
Handel's Testament 2:00

4 days ago2:00

2:00

Composers Datebook

1
Peter Sellars and John Adams 2:00

5 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis For fans of British comedy, the name Peter Sellars conjures up an actor famous for his iconic role as the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in Pink Panther movies. But for opera fans, the name refers to a completely different fellow: an American theater director born in 1957. The American Peter Sellars is notorious for staging classic operas as if they were set in present-day America. For example: Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a dangerous, drug-dealing neighborhood in New York City’s Spanish Harlem, or The Marriage of Figaro in a luxury penthouse in Trump Tower. Sellars is also the frequent partner of American composer John Adams in brand-new operas and concert projects. On today’s date 2012, a new oratorio by Adams and Sellars, The Gospel According to the Other Mary received its world premiere at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The new work’s libretto, crafted by Sellars, tells the Biblical story of the passion and death of Jesus from the point of view of “the other Mary,” Mary Magdalene, alongside texts and scenes from contemporary American life, including a women’s shelter, labor and social justice protests, and the opioid crisis. If Jesus were alive today, Sellars and Adams seem to be saying, He would be ministering to the suffering margins of American society, not to the rich and powerful. Music Played in Today's Program John Adams (b. 1949): Chorus , from The Gospel According to the Other Mary ; Los Angeles Master Chorale & Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor; DG 0289 479 2243 8…

Composers Datebook

1
Britten's 'War Requiem' 2:00

6 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1962, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem for soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus, and orchestra, had its premiere performance at Coventry Cathedral in England. The Cathedral had been virtually destroyed in World War II bombing, and Britten’s big choral work was commissioned to celebrate its restoration and reconsecration. Britten was a committed pacifist, and his War Requiem text combines poems by Wilfred Owen, who had been killed in World War I, with the traditional Latin text of the Mass for the Dead. For the premiere, Britten requested soloists representing nations who had fought during World War II. With Britten’s life-time partner, tenor Peter Pears, representing England, the plan was to have a German baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and a Russian soprano, Galina Vishnevskaya, for the 1962 premiere. As a young man, Fischer-Dieskau had been drafted into the German army, and had been a prisoner of war, but was eager to participate. Unfortunately, the Soviet authorities wouldn’t issue a visa for soprano Vishnevskaya to sing in the new Britten piece. “How can you, a Soviet woman, stand next to a German and an Englishman and perform such a political work,” they told her. British soprano Heather Harper substituted for her. For many, Britten’s War Requiem is his masterpiece, and shortly after its premiere, Britten wrote to his sister, “The idea did come off, I think … I hope it will make people think a bit.” Music Played in Today's Program Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): War Requiem ; soloists; choirs; BBC Scottish Symphony; Martyn Brabbins, conductor; Naxos 8.553558…

Composers Datebook

1
Stravinsky's 'Rite' at 100+ 2:00

7 days ago2:00

2:00

Composers Datebook

1
John Williams and Alfred Hitchcock 2:00

8 days ago2:00

2:00

Composers Datebook

1
Higdon's 'Rhythm Stand' 2:00

9 days ago2:00

2:00

Composers Datebook

1
Edward Collins premieres 2:00

10 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In 1923, the Chicago North Shore Festival sponsored a competition for new orchestral works. Of the 47 scores submitted, five finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of judges that included two leading American composers of that day: George W. Chadwick and Henry Hadley. Two of the five works that made the final cut were by the same composer, 33-year-old Illinois native Edward Collins. On today’s date in 1923, conductor Frederick Stock and his Chicago Symphony played through the five finalists’ scores at a public event at Northwestern University, with Collins in attendance to hear his two contrasting pieces. The first was Mardi Gras , and, as you might expect, it was an upbeat work in a party mood. The second Collins piece was 1914 — a grim orchestral evocation of World War I that Collins later retitled Tragic Overture . It was that work that won the competition’s $1000 first prize, and so impressed conductor Stock that he performed the piece in New York and Chicago. Although Collins was famous in his day, after his death in 1951, his music was largely forgotten. Perhaps his unabashedly Romantic style seemed dated in the avant-garde 50s and 60s. After more than half a century after his death, a series of new recordings of Collins’ orchestral works made by the Concordia Orchestra under Marin Alsop have helped to reintroduce his music to a new generation. Music Played in Today's Program Edward Collins (1889-1951): Mardi Gras and Tragic Overture ; Concordia Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor; Albany 267…

Composers Datebook

1
Verdi, Wagner and Sousa for the Red Cross 2:00

11 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis When the United States entered World War I, American animosity against all things German resulted in a ban on German symphonic music and operas. During World War II however, musically speaking, things were different. With America at war with Germany and Italy, music by Wagner and Verdi, for example, continued to be performed in our concert halls and opera houses. In fact, just as the Nazis tried to appropriate German classical music for their propaganda purposes, the Allies adopted the opening notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as a Morse Code “V” for Victory motive, and in our wartime propaganda, Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries , accompanied images of Allied bombers racing through the clouds to strike German cities. On May 25, 1944, the combined orchestras of the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony presented a Red Cross Benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. The first half of the program was all-Wagner, the second half, all-Verdi. During the intermission, New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia auctioned off maestro Toscanini’s baton. As a grand finale, after the German and Italian music, Toscanini closed with a rousing all-American encore — his own arrangement of John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever . So, as Walter Cronkite would put it: “That’s the way it was, May 25, 1944.” Music Played in Today's Program Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Ride of the Valkyries , from Die Walküre ; New York Philharmonic and NBC Orchestra; Arturo Toscanini, conductor; Radio Years 71/72 John Philip Sousa (arr. Toscanini): Stars and Stripes Forever ; New York Philharmonic and NBC Orchestra; Arturo Toscanini, conductor; Radio Years 71/72…

Composers Datebook

1
Carter and Copland in dancing shoes 2:00

12 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In 1935, 26-year-old American composer Elliott Carter returned to the States after composition studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Carter found work as the music director of Ballet Caravan, an ambitious and enterprising touring ensemble whose mission was to present specially-commissioned new dance works on quintessentially American themes. Virgil Thomson, for example, wrote the ballet Filling Station , and Carter, decades before the animated Disney movie, wrote a ballet version of the story of Pocahontas and John Smith. While on tour, these new scores were presented in two-piano versions, but on today‘s date in 1939, the orchestral version of Carter’s Pocahontas Ballet was presented by the Ballet Caravan at its home base at the Martin Beck Theater in New York. The New York Times reviewer didn't much care for the staging or Carter’s music: “The costumes are in the manner of the old-fashioned cigar box Indian,” he wrote, “and after the first amusing glimpse their psuedo-naiveté begins to grow irksome. Mr. Carter’s music is so thick it is hard to see the stage through it.” The Times reviewer did like another new ballet also receiving its orchestral debut that same night. This was Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid . “A perfectly delightful piece of work," enthused the same critic, concluding, “Aaron Copland has furnished an admirable score, warm and human, and with not a wasted note about it anywhere.” Music Played in Today's Program Elliott Carter (1908-2012): Pocahontas Ballet ; American Composers Orchestra; Paul Dunkel, conductor; CRI 610 Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Billy the Kid Ballet ; St. Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, conductor; EMI 73653…

Composers Datebook

1
Daniel Pinkham's 'Nocturnes' 2:00

13 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis An old music dictionary’s definition of “nocturne” reads as follows: “A night piece, a musical composition that suggests a nocturnal atmosphere, for example Haydn’s Notturno or Mozart’s Serenata Notturna , but more specifically a short piece of romantic character. First to use this title for this genre was John Field, followed by Chopin.” Hundreds of composers since Field and Chopin have tried their hand at writing nocturnes. This particular one was written for flute and guitar by Boston-based composer Daniel Pinkham, as part of a five-movement suite of nocturnes, all premiered on today’s date in 1993, at the First and Second Church in Boston. Now, as any insomniac will tell you, there are all sorts of night moods, and the descriptive titles of Pinkham’s set of five Nocturnes ranges from the sprightly to the serene, with others titled “brooding,” “sultry” and “restless” tossed in for good measure. Pinkham was particularly fortunate in his teachers. Imagine studying composition with Aaron Copland, Walter Piston and Samuel Barber, or harpsichord with Wanda Landowska and organ with E. Power Biggs. Pinkham did — and in turn became a successful teacher himself, with a long tenure at the New England Conservatory of Music. He served as music director of Boston’s historic King’s Chapel, and as a composer was particularly honored by his church musician colleagues for his many works for chorus and organ. Music Played in Today's Program Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006): Nocturnes ; Fenwick Smith, flute; David Leisner, guitar; Koch 7423…

Composers Datebook

1
Richard Wagner at 200+ 2:00

14 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Today’s date marks the anniversary Richard Wagner’s birth. During Wagner’s lifetime, his most famous — and perhaps most perceptive — critic was Prague-born Viennese writer on music Eduard Hanslick. Hanslick knew Wagner personally, and described him as follows: “A stranger would have seen in his face not so much an artistic genius as a dry Leipzig professor or lawyer. He spoke incredibly much — and fast — in a monotonous sing-song Saxon dialect and always of himself, his works, his reforms, his plans. If he mentioned the name of another composer it was always in a tone of disparagement.” For Wagnerians, Hanslick was a crusty old conservative who preferred Brahms and was too thick-headed to appreciate the Music of the Future epitomized by Wagner’s operas. But if one actually reads Hanslick’s writings on Wagner, a more nuanced and balanced picture emerges. “I know very well that Wagner is the greatest living opera composer and the only one in Germany worth talking about in a historical sense,” Hanslick wrote. “But between this admission and the repulsive idolatry which has grown up in connection with Wagner and which he has encouraged, there is an infinite chasm.” Upon learning of Wagner’s death in 1883, Hanslick wrote: “Wagner stands at the head of the moving forces of modern art. He shook opera and all its associated theoretical and practical issues from a comfortable state of repose bordering on stagnation.” Music Played in Today's Program Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Transformation Music from Parsifal…

Composers Datebook

1
Brubeck's 'Pange Lingua Variations' 2:00

15 days ago2:00