Four Centuries of Great Music November 16, 2024 Composers with Birthday Anniversaries in November

Four Centuries of Great Music 11-10-24
November Anniversaries of Composer Births

Today on Centuries of Great Music we are celebrating the anniversaries the births of composers born in  the month of November.  Of the many composers born in the month of November we are celebrating those of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Aaron Copland, Joaquín Rodrigo and Virgil Thomson.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was the older sister of Felix Mendelssohn was probably more talented than her brother and would have been as internationally recognized as her brother except that she had to fit into the mold of the woman in the early 1800s.  Just a few weeks ago I included much of her Gartenlieder in a program.  But today I will be playing this entire work for chorus and soloists.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel born on 11/14/1805

01 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 1. Im Wald
02 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 2. Lockung
03 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 3. Abschied
04 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 4. Waldeinsam
05 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 5. Seid gegrusst
06 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 6. Morgendammerung
07 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 7. Komm
08 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 8. Morgengruss
09 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 9. Schone Fremde
10 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 10. Schweigend
11 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 11. Nachklange No. 1
12 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 12. Nachklange No. 2
13 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 13. Nachklange No. 3
14 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 14. Wer will mir wehren
15 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 15. Ariel
16 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 16. Der Abend
17 Gartenlieder, Op. 3  No. 17. Schilflied
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel Gartenlieder, Op. 3
Cologne Leonarda Ensemble Choir
Mendelssohn-Hensel: Gartenlieder
CPO Records

Let’s close this first hour of todays Four Centuries of Great Music, on which we are celebrating the anniversaries the births of composers born in  the month of November with American composer Aaron Copland born on 11/14/1900

Copland is referred to by many as the “Dean of American Composers”. The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as “populist” and which the composer labeled his “vernacular” style. Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony.  And with his clarinet concerto which was commissioned by clarinetist Benny Goodman, he explored the elements of jazz

Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto
Charles Neidich, clarinet with the I Musici De Montreal conducted by Yuri Turovsky

01 Clarinet Concerto  I. Slowly and Expressively —
02 Clarinet Concerto  II. Cadenza (freely) —
03 Clarinet Concerto  III. Rather Fast
Composers in New York
Chandos Records

Let’s open this second hour of todays Four Centuries of Great Music, on which we are celebrating the anniversaries the births of composers born in  the month of November with perhaps the most famous work by composer Joaquín Rodrigo, his Concierto De Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra.  Joaquín Rodrigo was born on 11/22/1901 in Sagunto, Province of Valencia Spain. At the age of three, he lost his sight completely after contracting diphtheria.  At the age of eight he began to study solfège, piano, and violin and from the age of 16 he studied harmony and composition. He wrote his compositions in Braille and they were transcribed for publication. Although distinguished by having raised the Spanish guitar to dignity as a universal concert instrument and being best known for his guitar music, he never mastered playing the instrument.

John Williams, guitar and Louis Fremaux conducting the Philharmonia  Orchestra
Joaquín Rodrigo: Concierto De Aranjuez – 1. Allegro Con Spirito
Joaquín Rodrigo: Concierto De Aranjuez – 3. Adagio
Joaquín Rodrigo:  Concierto De Aranjuez – 3. Allegro Gentile

Rodrigo -Concierto De Aranjuez/Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre
Sony

We are closing today’s episode of todays Four Centuries of Great Music, on which we are celebrating the anniversaries the births of composers born in  the month of November with a greatly under appreciated American composer Virgil Thomson.  Along with Aaron Copland, he was instrumental in the development of the “American Sound” in classical music. Many don’t realize that this master of Americana while at Harvard, Thomson focused his studies on the piano work of Erik Satie. He studied in Paris on fellowship for a year, and after graduating lived in Paris from 1925 until 1940. While studying in Paris he was influenced by several French composers who were members of “Les Six” including: Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, and Germaine Tailleferre.  He eventually studied with Nadia Boulanger and became a fixture of “Paris in the twenties”. I will be spending more time talking about him in a later episode.  

Today, let’s listen to the music that he wrote for the documentary film The Plow That Broke the Plains

Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  Prelude
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  Pastorale (Grass)
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  Cattle
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  The Homesteader
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  Warning
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  War and the Tractor
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  Speculation (Blues)
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  Drought
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains –  Wind and Dust
Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains – Devastation

Angel Gil-Ordonez   conducting the Post-Classical Ensemble

Virgil Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains/The River
Naxos Records