By Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
6:30 pm – Canton Symphony Summer Serenades present a string quartet concert at Quail Hollow Park in Hartville. It’s free. Click here to visit the Concert Listings page for information about coming events.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Among the winners of the 2023 Cleveland Arts Prize is Oberlin Conservatory associate professor and bassoonist Dana Jessen. CAP winners will be honored at an October 26 awards event at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Read the story in Cleveland Magazine here.
Canton Symphony single tickets will go on sale August 15. Details here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On the 10th of August, Michael Haydn (brother of Joseph) died in Salzburg in 1806, Russian composer Alexander Glazunov was born in St. Petersburg in 1865, French organist Marie-Claire Alain (sister of composer Jehan) was born in St. Germain-en-Laye in 1926, and American-Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow (known for his player piano works) died in Mexico City in 1997.
In a previous edition of our almanac, we explored the history of the BBC Proms. On August 10 of 1895, the first Henry Wood Promenade Concert was held in London’s Queen’s Hall, an event that blossomed into the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Renowned for its often unruly “promenaders” — purchasers of cheap standing-room spots on the main floor of the hall — the series has also given rise to the “Last Night at the Proms,” a traditional blowout that culminates in an effusion of British patriotism. (It happens this year on Saturday, September 9. We’ll let you know how to watch it online.)
On this date in 1880, African American concert violinist, composer and educator Clarence Cameron White (pictured above) was born in Clarksville, Tennessee. He attended the Oberlin Conservatory, from which his mother had graduated, from 1896 to 1901, then studied composition with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in England, and violin in Paris. He succeeded R. Nathaniel Dett as head of the music department of the Hampton Institute from 1932-1935. White’s compositions include a ballet (A Night in Sans Souci) and an opera (Ouanga), two works based on Haitian themes for which he collaborated with playwright John Matheus.
Click here to watch a recent performance of White’s Suite Spirituale for Clarinet Quartet (at Clarinettissimo 2020), and here to watch an online video of his Levee Dance, Op. 27, No. 4 (performed by violinist Augustin Hadelich, and pianist Joyce Yang).
And on this date in 1909, Leo Fender, one of the pioneers of the electric guitar, was born in Anaheim, California. While this new, 20th century invention became synonymous with rock virtuosi like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, it also gained something of a foothold in classical music. Click here to read Christopher Fox’s article, “How The World Plugged into the Electric Guitar” in The Guardian, and here to read Anastasia Tsioulcas’ NPR article, “Electric Guitars Amp Up New Classical Music.”
Click here to listen to Bang on a Can All-Star Mark Stewart play Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, written in 1987 for Pat Metheny. And click here to hear the electric guitar introduction to s aria “Here Where Footprints Erase The Grave” from Missy Mazzoli’s 2012 chamber opera Song from the Uproar.
