by Daniel Hathaway
TODAY ON THE WEB AND AIRWAVES:
In addition to the regular daily events — Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra (Haydn, Bernstein and Brahms) and the free MET Opera nightly stream (Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia) — today’s events include two new items.
Early afternoon Bach Cantatas from New York’s Trinity Wall Street Choir and Baroque Orchestra include two early works: Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn (BWV 152) and Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106.
This evening, organ fans can stream the first program in the American Guild of Organists’ OrganFest 2020, a five-evening series that replaces the organization’s biennial National Convention, originally scheduled to take place this week in Atlanta. The series features a variety of solo organ performances and choral works, and first performances of commissioned works.
For details, consult our Concert Listings.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
July is a bit snoozy for anniversaries, but on this date in 1752, German-British composer and conductor John Christopher Pepusch died at the age of 85 in London. One of the founders of what eventually became the Academy of Ancient Music, Pepusch was active in London during the era of Handel. His interest in earlier music inspired his student William Boyce to publish his Cathedral Music, an anthology of 16th and 17th century works, although Pepusch is probably best known today for his collaboration with John Gay in The Beggar’s Opera. A satire on the high art of Italian opera originally suggested by Jonathan Swift, the show dispensed with recitative in favor of a string of re-texted popular ballads, hymns, and popular tunes.
That concept has been popular with many later producers, directors, and composers. Benjamin Britten arranged and revived the work in 1948, twenty years after Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill had updated it with completely new music in Die Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera). Click here for a 1963 BBC video recording of Britten’s version (subsequent acts are to be found nearby).