Christopher Rouse / 42nd Street

On this day in classical music: Christopher Rouse’s orchestral work “Phaethon” was given its premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1987. Riccardo Muti conducted. A student of Richard Hoffmann, Karel Husa and George Crumb, Rouse taught at the University of Michigan from 1978 to 1981, and at the Eastman School of Music from 1981 to 2002. Since 1997, he has been a member of the composition faculty at the Juilliard School. Rouse’s “Trombone Concerto” was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He has served as composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Helsinki Biennale, the Pacific Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. Listen to Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony Orchestra perform Rouse’s “Phaethon.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loBE5_PrHAo

On this day in the musical theatre: The musical “42nd Street” closed on Broadway in 1989 after an eight-year run. Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes and the 1933 film adaptation, it focuses on Broadway director Julian Marsh and the challenges he faces in mounting a stage extravaganza during the Great Depression. Directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, this David Merrick-produced spectacular won the 1981 Tony Award as best musical. Not surprisingly, it also took an award for best choreography. In a curtain speech following the musical’s premiere, Merrick announced to the cast and audience that Champion had died just hours earlier. “42nd Street” also proved to be Merrick’s last blockbuster musical. Listen to the musical’s lively overture and the audition sequence that follows. The excerpt is from the original Broadway cast recording. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJT_z0csy-E

Musical musings: Completed in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 22, 1986, “Phaethon” is one of several of my scores — including “Gorgon,” “Alloeidea,” “Morpheus,” and the “Aphrodite Cantos” — which takes its inspiration from ancient Greek mythology. The legend tells of Phaethon, son of the sun god, Helios. The boy, after doubts had been aroused concerning his parentage, secured from his mighty father a promise that he would be allowed to demonstrate irrevocably his divine origins. Helios swore to permit such a demonstration, but he was horrified when Phaethon demanded to be allowed to guide the chariot of the sun across the sky for one day; as Helios had made his oath in the name of the river Styx, Olympian law required that he guarantee his promise. Once off, Phaethon realized quickly that he lacked the ability to control his father’s horses, which dashed madly across the sky. They hurtled too close to the earth, set its land aflame, and dried up its rivers. They raced through the universe and finally threatened even Olympus itself, forcing Zeus to destroy Phaethon by hurling at him a thunderbolt which knocked him from the chariot to his death. Perhaps the best known musical precursor to “Phaethon” is the tone poem of the same name by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns. Saint-Saëns’ work attempts to relate the entire story, while mine concerns itself with Phaethon’s ride only. There is also a darker, more threatening hue to my score as well as a more frenzied ride. “Phaethon” was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra in celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution. In a disturbingly ironic twist, I found myself on the morning of January 28, 1986 at bar 443 of the work, the measure in which Zeus’ thunderbolt knocks Phaethon from the sky, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff. “Phaethon” is dedicated to the memory of Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Michael Smith, Francis Scobee, and Christa McAuliffe — the seven astronauts who lost their lives that morning when they, too, were knocked from the sky. From a program note by Christopher Rouse

Thank you for joining our conversation on Articulations. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.