by Daniel Hathaway
CELEBRATING LvB’s 250th:
There’s not much happening today except that we’re putting together a mammoth Tuesday email blast for our annual CD issue, thus a short diary for December 15.
We did want to remind everyone that we think Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16 in 1770 — at least he was baptized on the 17th, as most newborns were within a day of their birth. Oberlin piano professor Peter Takács has made sure that a group of colleagues and former students will be first out of the gate to celebrate — he’s organized a marathon of all the composer’s 32 piano sonatas that will begin at 12:01 am on Wednesday and last about 6 hours.
You don’t need to stay up for the party — neither do the performers, who have pre-recorded their sonatas for the occasion. The six-hour event will be available for replay following its debut. Read an Oberlin preview article by Cathy Partlow Strauss for more details.
Before all of that, Oberlin’s Arts and Sciences Orchestra and the faculty Kouzov Duo will also be streaming performances. Check the Concert Listings for details.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
This date in music history, marks the births and deaths of some famous figures in the popular music world: Stan Kenton (born in 1911), Fats Waller (died in 1943), and Glen Miller (died in 1944).
Otherwise, December 15 is memorable as the date when the 21st amendment to the U.S. Constitution repealed the 18th amendment, which had prohibited the sale, manufacture, and importation of alcoholic beverages. We’ll raise a glass to that.
Improvisation: the act of creating something without preparation. 
I know noble accents 
Both accessible and deeply original, the music of London-born composer Anna Clyne is a convergence of tradition and invention, sometimes set against each other to provide a fascinating contrast, other times wrapped up into one enchanting package — familiar sound and fresh sensibility. Her latest album, 
Robert Schumann wrote his three string quartets in a span of less than two months during the summer of 1842. We think of such intensely productive times as manic, especially for Schumann, who is now thought to have suffered from bipolar disorder. But in some ways, the music of Op. 41 belies that.
Four string players and a clarinetist, all from The Cleveland Orchestra, came together on December 7 for a quartet and a quintet in “Nothing But Mozart,” streamed live from West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church as part of the 62nd season of the Rocky River Chamber Music Society.
On December 6, CityMusic Cleveland continued its season-long chamber series celebrating 100 years of the 19th amendment with “Baroque Reflections,” streamed live from the Maltz Performing Arts Center.
