Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / The Boy Friend
On this day in classical music: Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” received its premiere in Vienna in 1791. The composer conducted the premiere which occurred just two months before his death. One of Mozart’s finest operas, “The Magic Flute” deals with lovers whose quest for each other is not without its trials, an evil queen, a birdcatcher dressed as a bird, all set in a world of fantasy. “The Magic Flute” contains some of Mozart’s most memorable tunes, from Papageno’s charming opening aria to the Queen of the Night’s rangy Act II aria in which she seeks revenge. Listen to Natalie Dessay perform the Queen of the Night aria. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUEbgNS15dw
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
On this day in the musical theatre: “The Boy Friend” opened in New York in 1954. The success of the musical’s London production prompted a Broadway version that marked the U.S. debut of Julie Andrews. Set on the French Riviera during the Roaring Twenties, “The Boy Friend” features one of Sandy Wilson’s most attractive scores, including such gems as “Won’t You Charleston With Me,” “I Could Be Happy With You,” “The Riviera” and the rousing title number. Andrews’ fine performance in “The boy Friend” was largely responsible for her getting cast as Eliza Dolittle two years later. Fifty years after starring in “The Boy Friend,” Andrews directed a production of the musical. Watch a montage from that production. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iIvSe2UxGM
The Boy Friend - Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: From the first note of the overture, rendered by a band replete with banjo and wood block, you are transplanted to the hilarious days of John Held, Jr., the Charleston and flat-front dresses. You are aware that your leg is being pulled, at the same time you feel a tug at your heart strings. What keeps it better than just an enlarged sketch is that you really get carried away by the romance of the boy and the girl. Julie Andrews, the girl, looks like all the musical comedy heroines you’ve ever seen, only more so. – from Opening Night on Broadway by Stephen Suskin
Alexander Tcherepnin / My Fair Lady
On this day in classical music: Russian composer Alexander Tcherepnin died at age 78 in 1977. The son of Nikolai Tcherepnin (a student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), Alexander Tcherepnin moved with his family to Paris in 1921 when Russia’s political situation began to deteriorate. From there, he launched an international career as a pianist and composer. His works for solo piano have remained quite popular among young students. Listen to Rollin Wilber play the first six of Tcherepnin’s Op. 5 “Bagatelles.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYWOmy8zBew
Alexander Tcherepnin
On this day in the musical theatre: Lerner and Loewe’s masterpiece “My Fair Lady” ended its 6 ½-year Broadway run in 1962. A musical setting of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” “My Fair Lady” starred Rex Harrison as the demanding Professor Henry Higgins and Julie Andrews as his reluctant student, the Cockney Eliza Dolittle. “My Fair Lady” took home nine Tony Awards, including one for Harrison, another for Lerner and Loewe’s brilliant score, one for Moss Hart’s direction, most of the technical awards and the final for best musical. It quickly established a place of honor in the history of the musical theater and has frequently been revived. Its last Broadway revival was a 1994 production starring Richard Chamberlain and Melissa Errico as teacher and student, with Julian Holloway (son of Stanley, the original Alfred P. Dolittle) following in his father’s footsteps. Wacth Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Audrey Hepburn perform “The Rain In Spain” from the film version of “My Fair Lady.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVmU3iANbgk
My Fair Lady - Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: Given its enormous popularity, it’s not surprising that “My Fair Lady” earned unanimous raves from all the New York theater critics. In the World-Telegram & Sun, William Hawkins arguably best summed up the show’s appeal, with considerable prescience about its long-term success. “My Fair Lady” prances into that rare class of great musicals. Quite simply, it has everything. The famed “Pygmalion” has been used with such artfulness and taste, such vigorous reverence, that it springs freshly to life all over again. The show is dumbfoundingly beautiful to look at, and it is magnificently performed. The songs are likely to be unforgettable. “My Fair Lady” takes a grip on your heart, then makes you exit with laughter. It is a legendary evening. – from Opening Night on Broadway by Stephen Suskin
Florent Schmitt / The Happy Time
On this day in classical music: French composer Florent Schmitt was born in the Lorraine (northeastern France) in 1870. He studied with Faure and Massenet at the Paris Conservatory. Schmitt won the Prix de Rome in 1900. Schmitt is perhaps best remembered today for his 1907 ballet score “La tragédie de Salomé.” He subsequently created a symphonic poem using music from the ballet. The highly rhythmic work foreshadows Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” composed six years later. Listen to Yannick Nezet-Seguin conduct Quebec’s Orchestre Metropolitain in the “Danse de l’effroi” from “La tragédie de Salomé.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJGoKIwSzQo
Florent Schmitt
On this day in the musical theatre: Kander and Ebb’s “The Happy Time” closed on Broadway in 1968. The musical, which was based Samuel A. Taylor’s play of the same name, relates the story of Jacques Bonnard, a prize-winning photographer who travels the world. After an absence of five years, he returns to his Canadian home in search of love. He reconnects with his father, brothers and nephew and enjoys some carefree times but ultimately realizes that his search for love will be unsuccessful. Gower Champion directed and choreographed “The Happy Time” and won Tony awards in both categories. Robert Goulet, who played Bonnard, won a Tony Award as best actor in a musical. Listen to Goulet perform the title number from “The Happy Time.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY-sQFJ5e00
The Happy Time - Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: So much of a musical’s success depends on the simple musicality of its central idea that it is always a wonder how a group of otherwise talented people could have chosen a rhythmless, tuneless idea and then tried dancing to it. The central story of The Happy Time is so entirely unmusical that the composer, lyricist and choreographer were foredoomed not only to irrelevance but to a production that had no music theatre identity at all. When it is musical, it is very musical, but then when it is musical, it has very little to do with The Happy Time. The songs and the dances could be easily lifted and then dropped in to a dozen different stories and be just as relevant. We are left with an unmusical musical that has an instantly forgettable, old-fashioned score, an abundance of wonderful dances, a perfectly ridiculous book and an overall quality that can best be defined as duration. – Martin Gottfried in Women’s Wear Daily
Engelbert Humperdinck / Hair
On this day in classical music: German composer Engelbert Humperdinck died at age 67 in 1921. He’s remembered today for the opera “Hansel and Gretel” which he completed in 1892. While Humperdinck intended his work as a singspiel featuring 16 songs, he subsequently re-envisioned it as a full-length opera. His sister provided the libretto. Richard Strauss conducted the premiere in December 1893. It has remained a staple of the repertoire ever since and is most often performed during the Christmas season. Hansel is traditionally performed by a mezzo soprano and Gretel by a soprano. Listen to Frederika von Stade and Kathleen Battle perform the touching “Evening Prayer.” Andre Previn conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Fr3I4fUAo
Englebert Humperdinck
On this day in the musical theatre: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical “Hair” opened in London in 1968. Featuring music by Galt MacDermot and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, “Hair” focused on a group of politically active hippies who protested the war in Vietnam. The musical was both embraced and shunned because of its profanity, its racially integrated cast, its treatment of sexuality and the nude scene that ended the first act. The musical’s innovative and tuneful score produced several hits, including “Aquarius,” “Easy to Be Hard,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Let the Sunshine In” and the rousing title song. The London production ran for five years. Listen to members of the original London cast perform an excerpt from the show’s title song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53MdcA4yu58
Hair - Original London Cast
Musical musings: The work’s originality derives from the synthesis of four opposite pairs of concepts — childhood/adulthood, fairy-tale/reality, diatonic/chromatic and through-composition/episodic form. The subtle flexibility with which Humperdinck combined his resources gives the work its unique charm. As an heir to the Wagnerian tradition combined with folksong and realism — a strong influence on the composers of the time — Hansel and Gretel occupies a startlingly individual place in musical history. – from The New Penguin Opera Guide.
Bela Bartok / A Little Night Music
On this day in classical music: Hungarian composer and pianist Béla Bartók died at age 64 in 1945. A student at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest, Bartok befriended fellow student Zoltan Kodaly. Years later, they traveled widely throughout Hungary to collect ethnic and gypsy folk songs, some of which were incorporated into their music. As the political climate in Hungary worsened after the outbreak of World War II, Bartok and his wife Ditta emigrated to the United States in 1940. Their son Peter joined them two years later. Bartok’s health began to fail in 1940 and he found it difficult to compose. Fritz Reiner, a friend from their student days together, along with violinist Joseph Szigeti and Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Serge Koussevitzky, commissioned Bartok to write an orchestral piece. His outlook improved and he began composing the “Concerto for Orchestra.” Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony premiered the work in 1944 to great success. The five-movement concerto became Bartok’s best known work. Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra recorded Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra” in 1955, a riveting account that has never gone out of print. In 1944, Bartok was diagnosed with leukemia and would succumb to the disease in September 1945. Listen to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada perform the finale. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSJo1RnqfrE
Bela Bartok
On this day in the musical theatre: The London revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” opened in 1995. Judi Dench won an Olivier Award as best actress in a musical for her role as the actress Desiree Armfeldt. Listen to Dench perform “Send in the Clowns” at the BBC Proms, an 80th birthday tribute to Sondheim. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeA8AlctmSw
A Little Night Music - London Revival Cast
Musical musings: The heart of the production … is Judi Dench’s superb Desiree Armfeldt. It’s the second time in a year that she has played a grand, bad actress in the Olivier. The difference between Desiree and Chekhov’s Arkadina, though, is that the latter lives in a fortress of illusion, whereas the enduring quality of Sondheim’s all-too-experienced heroine, which Dench conveys beautifully, is the wry self-mockery and the feisty, stubborn hope that has not been soured by playing a hundredth Hedda in some provincial dump. Her husky-voiced rendering of “Send in the Clowns” is the most moving I’ve ever heard. – Paul Taylor writing in the London Independent
Julius Fucik / Evita
On this day in classical music: Czech composer Julius Fucik died at age 44 in 1916. Fucik composed a large body of music for military bands and served as conductor for many such ensembles. In 1913, Fucik created the Prager Tonkunstler-Orchester. Although he composed scores of marches, he’s known worldwide as the composer of “Entry of the Gladiators.” This popular circus march is also known as “Thunder and Blazes.” Listen to the Banda Filarmonica do Rio de Janeiro perform this classic march. Antonio Henrique Seixas conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yawCNmMgMo
Julius Fucik
On this day in the musical theatre: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical “Evita” opened on Broadway in 1979. First released in 1976 as a British concept album, this story about the first lady of Argentina opened in London in 1978 and on Broadway a year later. Patti LuPone and Bob Gunton played Eva and Juan Peron, with Mandy Patinkin as Che. LuPone and Patinkin won Tony Awards for their performances. The production also took awards for book, score, direction, lighting design and best musical. Listen to LuPone, Gunton, Patinkin and company perform “A New Argentina.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrXiWh7yh5k
Evita - Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: Evita … was all to (Harold) Prince’s credit, his guidance transforming Lloyd Webber and Rice’s not-uninteresting song album into a dazzling stage entertainment. Evita’s libretto was more like a string of singing postcards than a traditional book, but this fit in with the show’s pseudo-documentary aspect. It all proved highly workable, thanks in large part to the use of the highly powered narrator/character Che (who seems descended from the Master of Ceremonies of Cabaret and the Reciter from Pacific Overtures). There are … more than a half dozen fine songs, certainly a rarity in musicals of the 1970s, and Hal Prince’s supervision of the entire enterprise was instrumental in making Evita intriguing and exciting. – from More Opening Nights on Broadway by Stephen Suskin
Samuel Barber / Colette
On this day in classical music: Samuel Barber’s “Piano Concerto,” with soloist John Browning, received its premiere in 1962 by the Boston Symphony conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. The work was performed as part of the inaugural series of concerts at Lincoln Center’s newly-opened Philharmonic Hall. Barber’s “Piano Concerto” earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1963. His opera “Vanessa” received the same honor five years earlier. Browning remained an ardent champion of Barber’s concerto and was frequently invited to perform it with major symphony orchestras. Listen to the dedicatee perform the finale of Barber’s devilish difficult piano concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra. George Szell conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkMFpLUZNGE&playnext=1&list=PLE670C21EF830A34E&feature=results_video
Samuel Barber
On this day in the musical theatre: “Colette,” a British musical about the life of French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, opened in London in 1980. Composer/author John Dankworth wrote the musical for his wife Cleo Laine. Although Colette published 50 novels during her lifetime, she is best known for her 1944 novella “Gigi.” Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe based their 1958 film and 1973 stage musical on Colette’s “Gigi.”
Colette - Original London Cast
Musical musings: Was (Colette) an authoress, an actress, a businesswoman, a public figure, a national heroine, a femme fatale? To some extent she was all of these, but there is little doubt that it is the first role that posterity will come to revere here. Her many books show brilliance and greatness as a writer which her peers acknowledged, especially in her later life. The show (“Colette”) in no way attempts to deal with the merits, the thought-processes, the artistic dilemmas or indeed any aspect whatsoever of Colette the writer. It sets out solely to inform the audience, by means of the special language of the musical, of facts surrounding this very special lady’s life and lifestyle. Whatever the motivations of her inner soul, she was quite plainly a vivacious, amusing and extremely interesting human being, whose sheer love of living deserves chronicling quite apart from the undoubted significance of her work on a more profound level. The musical ‘Colette’ was written as a result of a suggestion by Cleo Laine, who I suspect feels a special affinity with this lady whom she never met. – John Dankworth
Malcolm Arnold / A Doll’s Life
On this day in classical music: British composer Sir Malcolm Arnold died at age 84 in 2006. One of the leading British composers of the 20th century, Arnold had a natural gift for melody which quickly earned him an international reputation. His musical output, both large and varied, includes nine symphonies, numerous concertos, several suites of dances, ballets, operas, works for band, chamber music and film. Arnold won an Academy Award for his score to “The Bridge On the River Kwai.” He was knighted in 1993 for his services to music. Listen to the Grand Rapids Symphonic Band perform the final movement (Giubiloso) from Arnolds second set of “English Dances.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubQk6uDDBxs
Malcolm Arnold
On this day in the musical theatre: “A Doll’s Life,” a musical set during a rehearsal of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” opened on Broadway in 1982. Featuring a score by Larry Grossman, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, “A Doll’s Life” became one of Broadway’s biggest flops, closing after just five performances. Insider’s referred to the ill-fated musical as “A Doll’s Death.” Even so, the musical earned three Tony Award nominations but failed to win in every category. The show addressed the question of what might have taken place after Nora slammed the door and abandoned her tyrannical husband Torvald.
A Doll's Life - Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: The season is still young, but it’s not likely to produce a more perplexing curiosity than “A Doll’s Life,” the dour musical that opened at the Mark Hellinger last night. On this occasion, three legendary Broadway hands — Harold Prince, Betty Comden and Adolph Green — have inflated a spectacularly unpromising premise with loads of money, good intentions and hard work, only to end up with a show that collapses in its prologue and then skids into a toboggan slide from which there is no return. (Larry Grossman’s) operetta-like score, feelingly orchestrated by Bill Byers, is frequently impaled by the prosaic lyrics, but it strives for subtle, thematically integrated effects rather than Broadway numbers. Despite a few thrown-in party songs, some Sondheimisms and an opera parody as endless as the one in “Nine,” Mr. Grossman at least seems to know where he’s going in “A Doll’s Life.” Maybe his next collaborators will turn up the lights so he can find his way. – Frank Rich in the New York Times
Michael Torke / Fiddler on the Roof
On this day in classical music: American composer Michael Torke was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1961. Torke studied composition with Christopher Rouse and Joseph Schwantner at the Eastman School of Music. While still a student, Torke gained recognition through two of his earliest works: “Ecstatic Orange” and “Yellow Pages.” He’s best known for his 1994 orchestral work “Javelin,” composed for the 50th anniversary of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the 1996 Summer Olympics. Listen to the Texas Medical Center Orchestra perform Torke’s “Javelin.” Libi Lebel conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZARDqznfyo
Michael Torke
On this day in the musical theatre: Bock and Harnick’s “Fiddler on the Roof” opened on Broadway in 1964. The enormously popular musical about an impoverished milkman, his nagging wife and five daughters introduced such hits as “Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Miracle of Miracles.” “Fiddler” took home nine of the 10 Tony Awards for which it was nominated. The musical amassed an impressive 3,242-performance run. Watch Zero Mostel (Tevye) perform “If I Were a Rich Man.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJLZkxqtPVk
Fiddler on the Roof - Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: Style and method are dubious bases for judging worth. Michael Torke’s “Javelin,” which Yoel Levi and the Atlanta Symphony played at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday evening, is, in format at least, frivolous, flashy and eager to please. It is also frivolity beautifully made. The racing chord figures distribute themselves cunningly throughout this brief piece; they provide balance and coherence. The rhythmic placements are eccentric but their off-centeredness has always a unifying purpose. The Atlanta handled Mr. Torke’s sophisticated writing very well. – Bernard Holland in the New York Times
Gustav Holst / The Vagabond King
On this day in classical music: English composer Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham, England in 1874. He attended the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. While there, Holst also met Ralph Vaughan Williams who became a lifelong friend. Holst spent nearly 30 years as director of music at London’s St. Paul’s Girls’ School. His early music shows the influence of Wagner and Strauss but the bulk of his extensive output was inspired by English folk song and Hindu mysticism. Holst gained international recognition for his suite “The Planets,” a seven-movement orchestral suite completed in 1916. Each movement is named for a planet, with the exception of Earth and Pluto, the latter not yet identified at the time. Holst also composed a series of works for the concert band, including two suites (from 1909 and 1911) and “Hammersmith,” a prelude and scherzo dating from 1930. The two suites have remained part of the wind ensemble’s repertoire for a century. Listen to the final movement (“Chaconne”) from Holst’s “Suite in E-Flat Major.” Frederick Fennell conducts the Cleveland Symphonic Winds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rBw-km64Nc
Gustav Holst
On this day in the musical theatre: Rudolph Friml’s “The Vagabond King” opened on Broadway in 1925. Based upon Justin Huntly McCarthy’s play “If I Were King,” Friml’s operetta is a fictionalized tale about the 15th century poet François Villon and how he successfully defended France and won the heart of Katherine De Vaucelles. The original production ran for more than a year and was revived on Broadway in 1943. Listen to Oreste Kirkop and Kathryn Grayson sing “Only a Rose” from “The Vagabond King.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW7fzGFtDg0
The Vagabond King - 1951 Studio Cast Recording
Musical musings: “The Vagabond King” swept theatergoers into the world of pure operetta. Rudolf Friml dropped the unusual chordings and rhythms that gave a suggestion of American flavor to “Rose-Marie.” His score was full-blooded and glowingly, throbbingly romantic as befitted a musical version of Justin Huntly McCarthy’s “If I Were King.” Happily, the score was the best thing Friml ever wrote. – from American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle by Gerald Bordman
