NY Phil Premiere of David Concerto

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robcat2075
Posts: 1867
Joined: Sep 03, 2018

by robcat2075 »

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1862

Abraham Lincoln is President, the Southern rebellion falters, "Jimmy Crack Corn" is climbing the charts...

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and... The New York Philharmonic gives the first American performance of a "concertino" for trombone by F. David.

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Everyone's first draft of history, The New York Times, was there to observe and comment...

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The concerto was so well-received that the NY Philharmonic has never programmed it again.
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TromboneTallie
Posts: 53
Joined: Apr 17, 2022

by TromboneTallie »

Joe's played it in Korea, but not with his home orchestra. It's too bad, really.
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robcat2075
Posts: 1867
Joined: Sep 03, 2018

by robcat2075 »

Backwards programming: They do a big symphony first... and an overture last!

This program would almost count as a "new music" program today. Consider...

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._20_(Mozart)]Mozart piano concerto, composed only 77 years earlier

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidelio#Overtures]Beethoven Fidelio Overture, 48 years

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Schubert)]Schubert Symphony 9, 37 years

[url=https://youtu.be/AU-EUXYEV_U]Lipinski violin concerto, 26 years

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombone_Concertino_(David)]David trombone concerto, 25 years

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1VQcSKpTVo]Liszt "Orpheus" 9 years

Two of the composers were still alive!

And, like a concert today, the most recent music will be the least remembered.
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Posaunus
Posts: 5018
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by Posaunus »

This was a VERY ambitious program. The opener, the Schubert Symphony (now known as No. 9) in C Major takes nearly an hour to perform. [By the way, the "world premiere" of this symphony (composed in ~1828) was by the same Philharmonic Society of New York in 1851, just 11 years earlier. But apparently, according the the New York Times review, it still needed additional rehearsal time.] The other works are not exactly lollipops either. The entire concert must have lasted over 2½ hours! And was apparently a bit ragged in places. But I would have loved to be there!
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LeTromboniste
Posts: 1634
Joined: Apr 11, 2018

by LeTromboniste »

[quote="robcat2075"]Backwards programming: They do a big symphony first... and an overture last!

This program would almost count as a "new music" program today. Consider...

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._20_(Mozart)]Mozart piano concerto, composed only 77 years earlier

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidelio#Overtures]Beethoven Fidelio Overture, 48 years

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Schubert)]Schubert Symphony 9, 37 years

[url=https://youtu.be/AU-EUXYEV_U]Lipinski violin concerto, 26 years

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombone_Concertino_(David)]David trombone concerto, 25 years

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1VQcSKpTVo]Liszt "Orpheus" 9 years

Two of the composers were still alive!

And, like a concert today, the most recent music will be the least remembered.[/quote]

Concerts were much longer in the old days. I remember reports of a concert where the orchestra performed Mahler 6 in the first half... And then Mahler 6 again in the second half!

Also the standard was to start a half with a symphony and then move on to shorter works, opera excerpts and solo features.
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robcat2075
Posts: 1867
Joined: Sep 03, 2018

by robcat2075 »

1862... 8PM... this would all be performed under gas light?

I was doubtful, but NYC was getting piped for gas as early as 1823.

[url]<LINK_TEXT text="
https://www.milrose.com/insights/an-ea ... ing-in-nyc">
https://www.milrose.com/insights/an-early-history-of-lighting-in-nyc</LINK_TEXT>


[quote="LeTromboniste"]Concerts were much longer in the old days...[/quote]

With only five concerts per year perhaps there was a motivation give everyone a big fix.

As I peruse other programs, these monster concerts seem to persist for a few decades more until the time that the competing NYC orchestra, the "Symphony Society" gets going.

Then the concerts pare down to about three works per show, but still only about 5 or 6 concerts per year.

I don't know if that is cause-and-effect or coincidence. I can't imagine what the economics of it all was. I presume everyone had a day job.