This Week in Classical Music: November 18, 2024. A Day Worth a Week. Here’s what happened on this day in classical music: In 1786, Carl Maria von Weber was born in Eutin, a small town not far from Lübeck. He’s famous as one of the first German Romantic composers, especially for his opera Der Freischütz. At his time, he was also known as a virtuoso pianist, conductor, and an important music critic, like E.T.A. Hoffmann around the same time and Robert Schumann a generation later. Here’s the Overture to Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter or The Marksman in English). Carlos Kleiber conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden.
Though not a musician himself, our next celebrated birthday is that of an essential part of the famous duo responsible for the best comic operas in English: the librettist and playwright William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, in partnership with the composer Arthur Sullivan, created such comic masterpieces as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Gilbert was born on this day in London in 1836. His partnership with Sullivan lasted 20 years and together they wrote 14 operas.
Ignacy Jan Paderewski¸ the Polish pianist, composer and statesman, was born on this day in a village of Kurilovka, then part of the Russian Empire, in 1860. Padarewski was one of the most famous pianists of his time, but during the Great War, he became a politician, joining the Polish National Committee in Paris: Poland, divided between Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany, didn’t exist as a state, and the National Committee pressed for the recognition of Poland once the war was over. Paderewski spoke to President Wilson, the Congress, and the leaders of France and the UK. More persuasive than any other Polish leader, he was instrumental in birthing Poland as a state. In January of 1919, he was appointed Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this new state. In this capacity, he signed for Poland the Treaty of Versailles. He proved to be a poor administrator and resigned his premiership in December of 1919. He continued as the foreign minister till 1922 and then left politics for good, resuming his musical career. He returned to public life in 1939, after Germany (and then the Soviet Union) invaded Poland. He was made President of the Sejm (parliament) in exile in London. Paderewski died in New York in 1941.
Heinrich Schiff, a wonderful Austrian cellist, was also born on this day, in 1951. His performances of Bach’s unaccompanied cello pieces were peerless. All standard cello concertos were part of his repertoire; he also premiered several concertos of his contemporaries, like Henze and Richard Rodney Bennett. Schiff’s career was not very long: in 2010, when he was 60, he quit performing because of a consistent pain in his right shoulder. Schiff died in December of 2016.
And one more, and important, anniversary: the great conductor Eugene Ormandy was born on this day 125 years ago as Jenő Blau into a Jewish family in Budapest, then in Austria-Hungary. He started studying the violin at the age of three and entered the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music when he was five, the youngest student ever. He emigrated to the US in 1921, and for the first several years played violin in small orchestras. He started conducting, sporadically, in 1927 and in 1931, almost by chance, led a Philadelphia Orchestra concert, substituting for Toscanini who fell ill. Following this successful performance, he was appointment the music director of the Minnesota Symphony. In 1936 he returned to Philadelphia to share the leadership of the orchestra with Stokowski, and two years later became their single music director, the position he held for the following 42 years, the longest tenure in any major US orchestra.
Special Day, 2024
This Week in Classical Music: November 18, 2024. A Day Worth a Week. Here’s what happened on this day in classical music: In 1786, Carl Maria von Weber was born in Eutin, a
small town not far from Lübeck. He’s famous as one of the first German Romantic composers, especially for his opera Der Freischütz. At his time, he was also known as a virtuoso pianist, conductor, and an important music critic, like E.T.A. Hoffmann around the same time and Robert Schumann a generation later. Here’s the Overture to Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter or The Marksman in English). Carlos Kleiber conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden.
Though not a musician himself, our next celebrated birthday is that of an essential part of the famous duo responsible for the best comic operas in English: the librettist and playwright William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, in partnership with the composer Arthur Sullivan, created such comic masterpieces as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Gilbert was born on this day in London in 1836. His partnership with Sullivan lasted 20 years and together they wrote 14 operas.
Ignacy Jan Paderewski¸ the Polish pianist, composer and statesman, was born on this day in a village of Kurilovka, then part of the Russian Empire, in 1860. Padarewski was one of the most famous pianists of his time, but during the Great War, he became a politician, joining the Polish National Committee in Paris: Poland, divided between Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany, didn’t exist as a state, and the National Committee pressed for the recognition of Poland once the war was over. Paderewski spoke to President Wilson, the Congress, and the leaders of France and the UK. More persuasive than any other Polish leader, he was instrumental in birthing Poland as a state. In January of 1919, he was appointed Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this new state. In this capacity, he signed for Poland the Treaty of Versailles. He proved to be a poor administrator and resigned his premiership in December of 1919. He continued as the foreign minister till 1922 and then left politics for good, resuming his musical career. He returned to public life in 1939, after Germany (and then the Soviet Union) invaded Poland. He was made President of the Sejm (parliament) in exile in London. Paderewski died in New York in 1941.
Heinrich Schiff, a wonderful Austrian cellist, was also born on this day, in 1951. His performances of Bach’s unaccompanied cello pieces were peerless. All standard cello concertos were part of his repertoire; he also premiered several concertos of his contemporaries, like Henze and Richard Rodney Bennett. Schiff’s career was not very long: in 2010, when he was 60, he quit performing because of a consistent pain in his right shoulder. Schiff died in December of 2016.
And one more, and important, anniversary: the great conductor Eugene Ormandy was born on this day 125 years ago as Jenő Blau into a Jewish family in Budapest, then in Austria-Hungary. He started studying the violin at the age of three and entered the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music when he was five, the youngest student ever. He emigrated to the US in 1921, and for the first several years played violin in small orchestras. He started conducting, sporadically, in 1927 and in 1931, almost by chance, led a Philadelphia Orchestra concert, substituting for Toscanini who fell ill. Following this successful performance, he was appointment the music director of the Minnesota Symphony. In 1936 he returned to Philadelphia to share the leadership of the orchestra with Stokowski, and two years later became their single music director, the position he held for the following 42 years, the longest tenure in any major US orchestra.