Synopsis

The German composer Richard Wagner tried to limit performances of his final opera, “Parsifal,” to his own theater in Bayreuth, hoping it would provide a source of income for his family after his death. “Parsifal” premiered at Bayreuth in 1882, and after Wagner died the following year, his widow forbade rental of the music for performances elsewhere.

Naturally, Wagner enthusiasts all over the world were eager to hear the new work. One of them was a German-born American named Walter Damrosch, who, at the tender age of 23, headed both the New York Symphony and Oratorio Society, and was a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera.

While visiting London in 1885, Damrosch had bought a miniature score of “Parsifal.” The purchase gave him no right to perform the work, but he discovered the monetary fine for doing so was so small that he hired copyists to prepare orchestral parts for a concert performance in America at the old Metropolitan Opera House on today’s date in 1886.

Unfortunately for Damrosch, Anton Seidl, a close friend of Wagner’s widow was hired as the new music director of the Met. Seidl apparently took offense at Damrosch’s audacity, and so limited Damrosch to only non-Wagnerian repertory!

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Wagner (1813–1883) — Parsifal (excerpt) (SW German Radio Symphony; Erich Leinsdorf, cond.) Hannsler 93.040

On This Day

Births

• 1891 - Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torroba, in Madrid;

Deaths

• 1768 - Italian composer Nicola Porpora, age 81, in Naples;

• 1824 - Italian composer and violin virtuoso Giovanni Battista Viotti, age 68, in London;

• 1932 - British-born German composer and pianist Eugène d'Albert, age 67, in Riga;

Premieres

• 1793 - Haydn: Symphony No. 101 ("The Clock"), conducted by the composer, at the Hanover-Square Concert Rooms in London;

• 1842 - Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish"), by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, with the composer conducting;

• 1853 - revised version of R. Schumann: Symphony No. 4, with the Düsseldorf Municipal Orchestra, conducted by the composer; An earlier version of this symphony premiered in Leipzig in 1841 as Schumann's Symphony "No. 2," but the composer withdrew the score and composed and premiered a new Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 3 before revising and reintroducing this symphony as "No. 4";

• 1870 - Brahms: "Alto Rhapsody," by the singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, in Jena, Germany;

• 1875 - Bizet: opera "Carmen," in Paris at the Opéra-Comique;

• 1893 - George Templeton Strong, Jr.: Symphony No. 2 ("Sintram"), at a public afternoon rehearsal by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, with Anton Seidl conducting; The "official" premiere concert took place the following evening;

• 1899 - R. Strauss: tone-poem "Ein Heldenleben" (A Hero's Life), in Frankfurt, with Strauss conducting;

• 1918 - Bartók: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17, in Budapest, by the Waldbauer Quartet;

• 1944 - Barber: Symphony No, 2, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1951 - Otto Luening: "Kentucky Concerto" by the Louisville Orchestra, with the composer conducting;

• 1959 - Cowell: Symphony No. 13 ("Madras") in Madras, India;

• 1963 - Menotti: television opera "Labyrinth," broadcast over the NBC network;

Others

• 1886 - American premiere (in a concert version) of Wagner's "Parsifal" at the Old Metropolitan Opera House, by the New York Symphony and Oratorio Society conducted by the 24-year old Walter Damrosch; The soloists included soprano Marianne Brandt, who had alternated the role of Kundry with soprano Amalie Materna in the premiere staged performances of the opera in Bayreuth in July of 1882; The first fully staged presentation of "Parsifal" in the U.S. did not occur at the Met until Dec. 24, 1903;

• 1922 - U.S. premiere of concert version of Stravinsky's ballet score, "The Rite of Spring," in Philadelphia, with Leopold Stokowski conducting.