Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchBernard Herrmann gets a pink slip from Hitch
Synopsis
Alfred Hitchcock’s cold war spy film Torn Curtain, opened in New York Theaters on today’s date in 1966. It was the swinging 60s, and Hitchcoc…
1 week, 3 days ago
Seeing things at Wagner's 'Parsifal'
Synopsis
On today’s date in 1882, the first performance of Richard Wagner’s new opera Parsifal took place at the Bayreuth Festival in Bavaria. In the …
1 week, 4 days ago
Opera Glass?
Synopsis
On today’s date in 1976, an unusual opera premiered at the Théatre Municipale in Avignon, France. It ran for five hours with no breaks betwee…
1 week, 5 days ago
Arnaud's after-the-fact Olympic tune
Synopsis
The composer of this familiar theme was born on today’s date in 1904 in Lyon, France. He was christened Noel Arnaud, but is better known as L…
1 week, 6 days ago
Scarlatti (and Persichetti) Sonatas
Synopsis
On today’s date in 1757, Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti died in Madrid. He was 71, and for the last 38 years of his life was employed at…
2 weeks ago
A Verdi premiere in London
Synopsis
On today’s date in 1847, Giuseppe Verdi conducted the premiere performance of his newest opera, I Masnadieri or The Robbers, at Her Majesty’s…
2 weeks, 1 day ago
Hindemith's St. Francis ballet
Synopsis
In London on today’s date in 1938, the Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo presented Nobilissima Visione, a work by German composer Paul Hindemith ba…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Morton Feldman salutes his piano teacher
Synopsis
Today a tip of the hat to a much-beleaguered and frequently unacknowledged species: the piano teacher. Do you, for example, remember the name…
2 weeks, 3 days ago
The 'Leningrad Symphony' on NBC
Synopsis
During WWII, German troops encircled Leningrad for 900 days, a siege that caused immense suffering for that city’s residents. One of them, co…
2 weeks, 4 days ago
Pauline Viardot-Garcia
Synopsis
Today we pay tribute to Pauline Viardot-Garcia, born in Paris on today’s date in 1821. Her father was Manuel Garcia, the tenor for whom Rossi…
2 weeks, 5 days ago