by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 12:00 Noon Piano Cleveland presents Daniela Liebman in the Ames Family Atrium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and at the same hour, Tuesdays at the Church of the Covenant hosts organist Mikhail Grazhdanov.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Today we celebrate the births of two British musical luminaries who made their debuts on May 13.
In 1842 composer Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan came into the world in London. Sullivan exhibited his musical prowess early on — at the age of eight he composed his first anthem and soon after became a soloist in the boys’ choir of the Chapel Royal. At age 14 the Royal Academy of Music awarded Sullivan the first Mendelssohn Scholarship, allowing him to pursue his musical studies at the Academy as well as at the Leipzig Conservatory.
His early works include a ballet, a symphony, and a cello concerto, and his early catalogue features 80 popular songs, parlour ballads and hymns including Onward, Christian Soldiers, and a sentimental solo song, The Lost Chord, which Enrico Caruso sang at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 29, 1912 at a benefit concert for families of victims of the sinking of the Titanic. Listen to a 1922 performance by John McCormack here.
Today Sullivan is best known for his fourteen Savoy Opera collaborations with librettist William Schwenck Gilbert, their first being Thespis in 1871. Patience, or Bunthorne’s Bride will be presented this summer as part of Ohio Light Opera’s season at the College of Wooster. Click here for performance details.
In 1949 conductor Dame Jane Glover was born in Helmsley, England. Glover’s first conducting experiences came while she was a student at Oxford. She made her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in 1975 leading the first modern performance of Eritrea. In 1979, she began her association with the Glyndebourne Festival and served as music director of its touring company from 1981 to 1985.
Glover was a regular on BBC Television during the 1980s, hosting the series Orchestra with Jane Glover in 1983 and Mozart – His Life with Music in 1985. She served as music director of the London Mozart Players from 1984 to 1991 and since 2002, has been music director of the Chicago-based ensemble Music of the Baroque.
As an author, her book Mozart’s Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music delves into influences of the women surrounding the composer, and her Handel in London: The Making of a Genius, looks at the composer’s work as “immigrant musical genius, composer, performer and impresario.”
In 2018 at Severance Hall, Glover led The Cleveland Orchestra in a milestone — her 100th performance of Handel’s Messiah.
