It’s Not All Cimarosa’s

I actually heard somebody shout it once. But the person was only trying to be amusing.

An audience at a play will sometimes shout: “Author, Author” during a curtain call. It’s a request for the playwright to come out and take a bow.

It came to mind while I was preparing the program for December 17. And remembering the light-hearted moment when I was introduced to it, I began the program with a variation: “Arthur, Arthur.” It was the 275th anniversary of the birth of Mozart’s contemporary Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), who spent much of his life in the city of Naples, and who’s best remembered for his operas.

What does that have to do with “Arthur, Arthur?” Well, in the 1940s, the Australian-born composer Arthur Benjamin arranged and orchestrated bits and pieces of keyboard works by Cimarosa into an oboe concerto. I’ve seen it listed as a concerto on themes of Domenico Cimarosa. But most often, you’ll see it listed as an oboe concerto by Cimarosa, which it is not, and with no reference to Arthur Benjamin. The concerto was dedicated to British oboist Evelyn Rothwell Barbirolli, wife of Sir John Barbirolli. I played the recording with oboist Nicholas Daniel and the Peterborough String Orchestra (Helios 55034).

It was also the birthday of Arthur Fiedler, longtime conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, who was born on December 17,1894 – 130 years ago. The mid-December birthday invites listening to his famous holiday recordings. I played a piece I first heard on one of those recordings. It’s the third of Mozart’s 3 German Dances, K. 605, which he wrote in February, 1791 – the last year of his life. He subtitled the dance “Schlittenfahrt’” which means “sleigh ride.”

Fiedler was born in Boston. His father, who was born in Austria, was a violinist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 25 years Arthur’s mother was a pianist, who gave him his first piano lessons. According to a PBS bio of Fiedler, the family returned to Austria after his father retired from the BSO. And Arthur spent some time in Vienna. He later studied violin, piano, and conducting in Berlin.

He returned to Boston in 1915 and became a second violinist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1924, he formed the Boston Sinfonietta, made up of players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and began a series of outdoor concerts in 1929. In 1930, Fiedler became the 18th conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. He died in 1979 at age 84, during his 50th year of conducting the ensemble.

I had thought of stretching the “Arthur, Arthur” idea a bit by playing performances featuring Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Artur Rubinstein, as well as selections from Purcell’s King Arthur and Bach’s Art of the Fugue. I might have called it a Classic Mornings Celebration of the ‘Arts.’

I did remind listeners of two celebrations from earlier in the year.  2024 marked the centennial of the birth of Sir Neville Marriner and the 40th anniversary of the release of the film Amadeus, which featured music conducted by Sir Neville. It was a soundtrack that introduced many to the music of Mozart.

The new year has brought us some noticeably cold temperatures. On January 3, I wondered if music listeners could still get those “aesthetic chills” when they hear a favorite piece of music on days like these? I played a bit of George Frideric Handel’s Water Music, written for festivities on the Thames River. I related to listeners that the temperatures in London that day were in the upper 30s, and the water temperature of the Thames was 7° Celsius or 44.6° Fahrenheit. The average temperature of the river is about 54° F. So, King George and company, on those barges when the music was first performed during the summer of 1717, were experiencing more than aesthetic chills from the music, especially if they were getting splashed. I’ve seen a note that swimming in the Thames, even in the summer, can give you a bit of a shock.

It’s been in the 20s in Wengen, Switzerland over the past week. Composer Felix Mendelssohn travelled there. I learned that there’s a hiking trail named for him. It was created based on journal entries about places he had visited. It’s 6.8 km. And they say it takes 2.5 hours to walk the entire distance. Given the scenery they show online, I’m guessing it could take a lot longer once people stop and just look for hours. The scherzo in Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 11 is subtitled “Schweizerlied” (Swiss Song), and he called the one in his String Symphony No. 9: “La Suisse.”

Want to know why I call my daily program Classic Mornings? Tune in Monday through Friday from 9 to noon on FM 90.9 FM or online at will.illinois.edu.