Today's Composers Datebook featured an instrument that is not particularly well-known, but important to any discussion of the music of Olivier Messiaen, whose music UMWO is currently working on. Composers Datebook Audio-4/20/2011 The Ondes Martenot Today in 1928, a French musician and inventor named Maurice Martenot gave the first public demonstration of a strange, new electronic instrument he had created. It was a gadget that had pull-wires, pointers and a keyboard diagram w

See the text and audio link from today's Composers Datebook that highlights Giannini's Symphony No. 3 for band. Composers Datebook Audio: April 10, 2011 On today's date in 1959, the Duke University Band under its conductor, Paul Bryan, gave the official premiere performance of a new work they had commissioned: the Symphony No. 3 for concert band by the American composer, Vittorio Giannini, a noted composer of vocal music, including songs and operas. With the growth of concert

See below the post and audio link from Composer's Datebook for today featuring Howard Hanson's work for wind band, Laude. Audio Link for Composer's Datebook: 2/7/2011 Howard Hanson's Laude On today's date in 1975, Laude, a new work for symphonic winds by American composer Howard Hanson received its premiere performance in Berkeley, California, by the California State University Long Beach Band conducted by Larry Curtis. The new work was a commission from the College Band Dire

Today on Composers Datebook, you can read about Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques, which will be performed by UMWO on our April 1 concert. The text is below and you can get audio of today's broadcast here. More information on Birds can be found elsewhere on this blog. Messiaen and Respighi: For the Birds The song of birds has fascinated composers for centuries, and imitations of especially melodious birds like the lark or the nightingale are fairly common in musical works from the

Composers Datebook Audio 10/1/2010 "Flagg-waving" in Colonial Boston? On today's date in 1768, two regiments of British redcoats marched into Colonial Boston with colors flying -- and bayonets fixed -- accompanied by martial music provided by their regimental wind band. It was that city's introduction to the exotic sound of massed oboes, bassoons, and French horns. One Bostonian who was very impressed by these new sounds was Josiah Flagg, an engraver by trade, and a boyhood f

Below you can find today's Composers Datebook, discussing Kurt Weill's Three-Penny Opera. Composers Datebook audio Weill's Three-penny Opera in Berlin On today's date in 1928, Kurt Weill's Three-Penny Opera debuted at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, a small, but opulent Baroque-style theater in Berlin. It must have seemed a rather ironic setting for Kurt Weill's "opera for beggars," whose cast members portrayed thieves, murderers, prostitutes and other low-lifes. The Three-Pe

Below is Composers Datebook which features the wind band icon John Philip Sousa. You can find the audio clip and the text below. Enjoy! Composers Datebook audio (8/30/10) Sousa gets stiffed in Minneapolis It was on this day in 1929 that a new march by John Philip Sousa was played for the first -- and last -- time until almost 60 years later. The Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March was commissioned by Wilbur Foshay, a high-flying Minneapolis businessman of the Roaring 20's

Percy Grainger was featured on today's Composers Datebook. See below! Composers Datebook audio (8/9/2010) Grainger and Shostakovich go public On today's date in 1928, Percy Grainger -- Australian-born American composer, pianist and folk song collector -- was married to Ella Viola Ström, a Swedish poet and painter. It was a very public ceremony that took place in the Hollywood Bowl amphitheater, outside Los Angeles. Illuminated by a lighted cross on a nearby mountain, and with

For those of you who are in the band camp spirit, today's Composers Datebook featured another piece for winds: Hector Berlioz's Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale. You can read our post on the Grande Symphonie here. Composers Datebook audio link Berlioz gets hot Playing in a marching band isn't always as easy as it looks, musically speaking. Imagine the predicament in which Berlioz found himself on today's date in 1840, conducting 210 musicians under a broiling noontime s

Today's Composers Datebook focuses on Hindemith's Konzertmusik, Op. 41, a fantastic piece for winds. We have posted on this piece here, but you should find the information below enlightening. You can find the text below and the audio clip. There is also some great commentary in the piece on how far band music has come since 1926. Composers Datebook audio (7/24/2010) Hindemith for Winds In 1926 the German composer Paul Hindemith was the director of that year's Donaueschingen M