A Matter of Life and Death
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Tonight we commemorate the anniversary of birthdays (and deathdays) of several prominent composers.
We'll start with the earliest: Carlo Gesualdo, the infamous Venosian Prince who murdered his wife and her lover (as well as wrote a few wildy modern sounding madrigals in his time) was born on this date in 1566. Early music specialists La Venexiana perform Gesualdo's "Or che in gioia" during our first hour.
Another birthday is marked in our second hour by the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra under Thomas Hengelbrock as they perform Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's "Hamburg" Symphony No. 3. The second surviving son of Johann Sebastian, C.P.E. Bach was born on today's date back in 1714.
Opera enthusiasts will be interested in our next birthday celebrant, Ruggiero Leoncavallo (born in 1857). We'll hear the intermezzo from his most famous opera, "I pagliacci." Herbert von Karajan conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in our third hour.
And finally, we'll note the anniversary of Hector Berlioz's death in 1869 at the age of 62. Dimitri Mitropoulos conducts the Columbia Symphony Orchestra in the lush song-cycle "Nuits d'ete" featuring the equally lush soprano Eleanor Steber.
We'll start with the earliest: Carlo Gesualdo, the infamous Venosian Prince who murdered his wife and her lover (as well as wrote a few wildy modern sounding madrigals in his time) was born on this date in 1566. Early music specialists La Venexiana perform Gesualdo's "Or che in gioia" during our first hour.
Another birthday is marked in our second hour by the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra under Thomas Hengelbrock as they perform Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's "Hamburg" Symphony No. 3. The second surviving son of Johann Sebastian, C.P.E. Bach was born on today's date back in 1714.
Opera enthusiasts will be interested in our next birthday celebrant, Ruggiero Leoncavallo (born in 1857). We'll hear the intermezzo from his most famous opera, "I pagliacci." Herbert von Karajan conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in our third hour.
And finally, we'll note the anniversary of Hector Berlioz's death in 1869 at the age of 62. Dimitri Mitropoulos conducts the Columbia Symphony Orchestra in the lush song-cycle "Nuits d'ete" featuring the equally lush soprano Eleanor Steber.
