by Daniel Hathaway
TUESDAY’S AGENDA:
At noon, Jonathan Moyer takes advantage of the two very different organs at the Church of the Covenant, playing a Bergamasca by Samuel Scheidt and Johann Pachelbel’s Aria Quarta on the 17th-century-style instrument in the rear gallery, followed by a Mendelssohn Andante and Dudley Buck’s The Last Rose of Summer on the large, eclectic instrument in the chancel. Nice to have a choice! The concert is free.
Details in our Concert Listings.
INTERESTING READ:
Last Thursday’s performance of the Brahms Requiem by the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus was remarkable for a number of reasons, but one of the most noticeable was that the 120 singers performed wearing special face masks. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran a story a few days ago about Joan Fernley, a soprano who designed such a device that improved the performing experience for singers. “Fearnley says she couldn’t find a mask online that was suitable for the needs of a singer. ‘They were really close to the lips and you would breathe in and you would suck the fabric right into your mouth. You would open [your mouth] wide to make a tall vowel and the mask would pop off,’ she said. Her design has caught on with vocalists around the world. Read the story here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Some random milestones to recall on November 2 in classical music history,
On this date in 1887, Swedish coloratura soprano Jenny Lind died in England at the age of 67. Having made her mark in opera, she retired at the age of 29 in 1849, but the next year undertook a 93-concert tour of the U.S. under the management of P.T. Barnum. She raised today’s equivalent of nearly $11 million, endowing free schools in her native country and contributing to charities. Lind settled in England in 1852, raised three children, and taught at the Royal College of Music.
Jumping across into the mid-20th century, Gian Carlo Menotti’s Piano Concerto had its debut on November 2, 1945 by Rudolf Firkusny and the Boston Symphony with Richard Burgin on the podium. An instrumental work by Menotti, who was known principally as an opera composer? Give it a try in this performance by Earl Wild and the Symphony of the Air under the baton of Jorge Mester.
On this date in 1979, Peter Shaffer’s musical Amadeus, opened in London.
And on November 2, 1960, Greek American conductor Dimitri Metropoulos died of a heart attack in Milan while rehearsing Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Orchestra of La Scala. Here’s some footage of Metropoulos rehearsing part of Liszt’s tone poem, Faust, with the New York Philharmonic.
