Nadia Boulanger / No, No, Nanette

On this day in classical music: French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger was born in Paris in 1887. She attended the Paris Conservatoire as a composition student and hoped to win the Grand Prix de Rome just as her father had. Boulanger did compose a small number of works that received some success but her real talents lay as a teacher of composition. In 1921 the French Music School for Americans opened in Fontainebleau with Boulanger named a professor of harmony. In the half century that followed, Boulanger taught many aspiring American composers, many of whom would establish significant careers. Among her students were George Antheil, Marc Blitzstein, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Philip Glass, Roy Harris, Gian Carlo Menotti, Walter Piston, Roger Sessions and Virgil Thomson. Watch Boulanger coaching 10-year old Emile Naoumoff in a Mozart Fantasy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ur7SoOVRhk

On this day in the musical theatre: The Vincent Youmans, Otto Harbach and Irving Caesar collaboration “No, No Nanette” opened on Broadway in 1925. The lighthearted musical had a run of 321 performances, a substantial run in that era. In 1971, a Broadway revival became even more popular than the original production, with an 861-performance run. The popular musical introduced a pair of classics: the lilting “Tea for Two” and the optimistic “I Want to Be Happy.” Watch Ruby Keeler and the Broadway revival cast perform the latter at the 1971 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aDJGvFSVOQ 

Musical musings: I can’t provide anyone with inventiveness, nor can I take it away; I can simply provide the liberty to read, to listen, to see, to understand. When you accept a new pupil, the first thing is to try to understand what natural gift, what intuitive talent he has. Each individual poses a particular problem. It does not matter what style you use, as long as you use it consistently. When you are writing music of your own, never strain to avoid the obvious. You need an established language and then, within that established language, the liberty to be yourself. It’s always necessary to be yourself – that is a mark of genius in itself. – Nadia Boulanger

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