Composers Datebook

• Thomson's 'Mother of Us All'

  SynopsisOn today’s date in 1947, a new opera, The Mother of Us All debuted at Columbia University in New York City.The libretto was by American poet Gertrude Stein, and dealt with the life and times of Susan B. Anthony, a 19th century champion of women’s rights. In Stein’s dream-like account, iconic figures from America’s past like President John Adams, orator Daniel Webster and entertainer Lillian Russell interact even though they lived at different times in history. Two of the opera’s 27 characters, playwright Constance Fletcher and Yale librarian Donald Gallup, in fact, were contemporary friends of Stein’s.The music was by American composer Virgil Thomson, whose score evoked seemingly familiar 19th century hymns, sentimental ballads, circus band music, drum rolls, and fanfares. The tunes were, in fact, all original creations. The mix of Thomson’s music and Stein’s text results in a rambunctious opera about American life and politics, at turns both amusing and strangely touching. It became an unlikely success.Thomson wrote two other operas: Four Saints in Three Acts, from 1933, was an earlier collaboration with Gertrude Stein, and Lord Byron, from 1972, sets a witty libretto by Jack Larson, an actor famous for his portrayal of Daily Planet cub reporter Jimmy Olson on the old Superman TV series. Lord Byron was intended for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, but never made it there, and performances these days are rare.Music Played in Today's ProgramVirgil Thomson (1896-1989): The Mother of Us; All Santa Fe Opera; Raymond Leppard, conductor; New World 288

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• Larsen's 'Lyric' Third

  SynopsisOn today’s date in 1992, Joel Revzen conducted the Albany Symphony in the premiere of the Third Symphony of American composer Libby Larsen.Larsen subtitled her new work a Lyric Symphony. Now, the early 20th century Viennese composer Alexander Zemlinsky had written a Lyric Symphony, one that involved vocal soloists. As a composer, Larsen is noted for her songs and choral works, but for her own Lyric Symphony she opted for a purely instrumental work that would be somehow quintessentially American. In program notes for her new symphony, she wrote:“As I struggle with the definition of American music, it occurs to me that in all of our contemporary American genres, the dominating parameter of the music is rhythm. Rhythm is more important than pitch. This is a fundamental change in the composition of music in the 20th century. Here we speak American English, an inflected, complex, rhythmic language.“What is lyric in our times?” Larsen continued. “Where is the great American melody? Found, I would say, in the music of Chuck Berry, Robert Lockwood, Buddy Guy, George Gershwin, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, James Brown, Aaron Copland, Walter Piston and those composers who create melodies that are defined more by the rhythm than their pitch. My Symphony No. 3 — the Lyric, is an exploration of American melody.”Music Played in Today's ProgramLibby Larsen (b. 1950): Symphony No. 3 (Lyric) London Symphony; Joel Revzen, conductor; Koch 7370

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• Debussy's Violin Sonata

  SynopsisFrench composer Claude Debussy was too sick to be called up for service when World War I broke out in 1914. His private battle with cancer on top of his nation’s battle with Germany plunged him into depression. But by the spring of 1915, Debussy decided to keep on composing. “I want to work, not so much for myself, but to give proof, however small it may be, that not even 30 million Boches can destroy French thought,” he wrote. He knew his remaining time was precious, so decided to write small chamber works rather than big orchestral pieces. Debussy planned to write six chamber sonatas but completed only three. Working, as he put it, “like a madman,” he finished a Cello Sonata and a Trio Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp by the fall of 1915.In December of that year, the side-effects of radium treatments and morphine injections for his cancer brought Debussy’s Sonata project to a grinding halt. Rallying somewhat by the by the summer of 1916, Debussy vowed to keep on working. He wrote, “If I am doomed to vanish soon, I desire at least to have done my duty.”On May 5, 1917, Debussy made his last public appearance in Paris at the Salle Gaveay, accompanying violinist Gaston Poulet in the premiere of his final work — a Sonata for Violin and Piano. Debussy would die the following spring.Music Played in Today's ProgramClaude Debussy (1862-1918): Violin Sonata; Midori, violin; Robert McDonald, piano; Sony 89699

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• Dvorak salutes the flag

  SynopsisOn today’s date in 1895, the New York Choral Society gave the premiere of The American Flag, a choral work by Antonín Dvořák. Jeannette Thurber, who brought Dvořák to New York City to teach at her National Conservatory, had asked him to set a patriotic poem of that name. The idea was the new work would be performed to coincide with his arrival in the fall of 1892, and the big celebrations planned that year for the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing in the New World.Unfortunately, Dvořák didn’t get the text in time, and so another choral work, his recently completed Te Deum was performed during the big Columbus Quadricentennial. The American Flag was put on a back burner, as it were, and wasn’t performed until after he returned to Prague. He never heard the work performed at all, in fact.The blustery, outright chauvinistic tone of its pro-New World, anti-Old World text would hardly endear it to European audiences of his day. In fact, this work hasn’t proven to be a big hit with American audiences, either.The American Flag remains one of Dvořák’s least-performed pieces. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted a recording of it timed for release in 1976 during the American Bicentennial. Ironically for so American a work, that recording was made in Berlin with a German orchestra and chorus!Music Played in Today's ProgramAntonín Dvořák (1841-1904): The American Flag; soloists; choirs; Berlin Radio Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; CBS/Sony 60297

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• Moog moods by Carlos and Voegeli

  SynopsisA surprise best-selling entry on the Billboard charts in 1968 was an LP titled Switched-On Bach. Of course, the 1960s were a kind of turned-on time in general, but the LP’s title didn’t refer to the sexual revolution or anything that Timothy Leary was advocating — no, this was just Johann Sebastian Bach performed on an electronic synthesizer, a Moog synthesizer to be precise, a maze of electronic circuits, wires, knobs and keyboards invited by Robert Arthur Moog, who enlisted several composers for help in its development as a musical instrument. One of them was Wendy Carlos, whose Switched-On Bach album helped put the Moog on the map.On today’s date in 1971, it was a synthesized electronic theme that introduced a new program from NPR, All Things Considered. The original theme was created by Wisconsin composer Don Voegeli on a tiny Putney synthesizer, but in 1974, when Voegeli was asked to create a new, updated version of the ATC theme, he used the brand-new Moog synthesizer he had just purchased for his Madison studio, which was installed by Robert Moog — and took up an entire room.For almost 10 years, Voegeli’s Moog version of the ATC theme was heard week-in, week out on public radio, until in 1983 the very familiar electronic theme was arranged for live studio musicians.Music Played in Today's ProgramJ.S. Bach (1685-1750) arr. Carlos: Fugue No. 7, from WTC Book 1; Wendy Carlos, Moog synthesizer; Sony 7194 Don Voegeli (1920-2009): All Things Considered theme (1974 version); Don Voegeli, Moog synthesizer NPR recording

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