54, which Clara Schumann premiered in Dresden on Decemat a concert conducted by Ferdinand Hiller ġ876 - First complete performance of Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle begins at Bayreuth with a performance of "Das Rheingold" (this opera had received its premiere performance in Munich on Sept. Schumann: "Concert Fantasy" for Piano and Orchestra, at a closed rehearsal of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Felik Mendelssohn, with Clara Schumann (8 and 1/2 months pregnant) as the soloist This "Concert Fantasy" was revised as the first movement of Schumann's Piano Concerto in a, Op. 10 (Berlin Philharmonic Sir Simon Rattle, cond.) EMI 56972 On This Day Birthsġ879 - English composer John Ireland, in Inglewood (Bowdon), Cheshire ġ912 - French opera composer Jules Massenet, age 70, in Paris ġ841 - R. Even Alma was impressed, and eventually relented, and so, on today’s date in 1964, the London Symphony gave the first complete concert performance of Cooke’s arrangement of Mahler’s Symphony No.
Schoenberg and Shostakovich were both asked to do so, but both declined.ĭeryck Cooke, however, persisted, and completed his version of Mahler’s Tenth in time for some excerpts to be broadcast in 1960. Now, Mahler was a master orchestrator, and many argued that only a similarly gifted composer could flesh out Mahler’s sketches. Secondly, although Mahler had sketched out his symphony in full, most of it was not orchestrated. This was a daunting task for two reasons.įirst, Mahler’s widow, Alma, had resisted efforts for a close examination of Mahler’s manuscript for his 10th Symphony, as it was peppered with emotionally charged comments to her in Mahler’s hand, painful reminders that her husband had just discovered she was having an affair with another man. 10, a work left unfinished at the time of Mahler’s death in 1911. The year 1960 marked the centenary of the birth of composer Gustav Mahler, and the British musicologist named Deryck Cooke hit upon the idea of preparing a performing edition of Mahler’s Symphony No.