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.
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 3 days 20 hours 52 minutes
The Panufniks
At Westminster Abbey on today’s date in 1998 a haunting new setting of the Latin mass written by the British composer Roxanna Panufnik received its premiere performance. Roxanna Panufnik was born ...
A Becker premiere in Saint Paul
These days composer John J. Becker is almost totally forgotten, but back in the 1930s his name was linked with Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, and Wallingford Riegger as one of the so-cal...
Ursula Mamlok
On today’s date in 2013, a new work by a 90-year old German-born American composer and teacher named Ursula Mamlok received its premiere performance in Switzerland. “Five Fantasy Pieces” for oboe,...
Heggie Writes a Choral Opera
In Costa Mesa, California, on today’s date in 2014, the Pacific Chorale premiered a new choral opera. And what exactly is a “choral opera” you ask? Good question – and one that puzzled Jake Heggie ...
Debussy and the persistence of Ms. Elisa Hall
Today, a tip of the hat to the persistence of one Ms. Elisa Hall, who lived in Boston from 1853-1924. Ms. Hall was at the heart of that city's musical life for many years. She was a Francophile, ...
Mozart made to order
Today we have a letter to read, written by Mozart in the middle of May in the year 1778. Mozart was in Paris, 22 years old, and had this to say to his father back in Salzburg: "I think I told you ...
Stravinsky and Rochberg start trends
Today we celebrate two premieres and one three-letter prefix: "neo, n-e-o, meaning "new". On today's date in 1920, Igor Stravinsky's ballet "Pulcinella" was produced for the first time in Paris by...
Michael Daugherty's "Alligator Alley"
"Alligator Alley" is the nickname for the east-west stretch of Interstate 75 between Naples and Fort Lauderdale that crosses through Florida Everglades National Park. This park is home to many enda...
A less-than-magnificent reception for Bach 's "Magnificat"
On today's date in 1875, American conductor Theodore Thomas, a passionate advocate for both old and new music, led the Cincinnati May Festival chorus and orchestra in the first American performance...
Shostakovich gets on first
On this date in 1926, a 19-year old composer and sometime silent film piano accompanist named Dimitri Shostakovich saw his First Symphony performed in style by the Leningrad Philharmonic. It must ...