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 54 minutes
An important date for Copland and Bernstein
If ever there was a red-letter day in American music, November 14th must surely be it. For starters, it’s the birthday of Aaron Copland, who was born in New York City on today’s date in 1900—and th...
Casals and Copland at the White House
On this date in 1961, cellist Pablo Casals gave a chamber concert at the White House, at the invitation of President John F. Kennedy. The concert was given in honor of Governor Luis Muñoz of Puerto...
William Schuman writes a "Symphony for Strings"
On today’s date in 1943, the Boston Symphony and conductor Serge Koussevitzky gave the first performance of a “Symphony for Strings” by the American composer William Schuman. Schuman was just 33 ...
Hannibal Lokumbe's "African Portraits”
At Carnegie Hall in New York City on today’s date in 1990, a new work by the American composer and jazz trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe had its premiere performance by the American Composers Orchestra. ...
A cold welcome for Verdi?
On today’s date in 1862, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “La Forza del Destino” or “The Force of Destiny” had its premiere at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. Verdi and his wife, Giuseppina, ...
Senor Rodrigo's popular Concierto
The world’s most popular classical guitar concerto, the “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo, had its first performance on today’s date in 1940, in Barcelona. Joaquin Rodrigo was born in Sp...
Musical tales from Stravinsky and Marsalis
On today’s date in 1919, a concert suite from Igor Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale” had its premiere in Lausanne, Switzerland—the same city in which the original theatrical version of Stravinsky’s...
"Starry Night" variations by McLean and Dutilleux
In 1971, after reading a book about the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, the American pop singer Don McLean wrote a song he titled “Vincent” that became a big hit the following year. The song is bet...
Mr. Sax's instrument and Ms. Perry's Quartet
The saxophone—whose flashing serpentine figure is now virtually synonymous with jazz clubs and military bands—was the brainchild of woodwind craftsman Adolphe Sax, born on this day in 1814, in Belg...
Barber offers "two for the price of one"
On today's date in 1938, two orchestral works by the American composer Samuel Barber received their very high-profile premiere performances, on a live, coast-to-coast broadcast by the NBC Symphony ...