#ClassicsaDay #Classical1922 Week 3
For January, 2022 the Classics a Day Team decided to go back a century. The challenge this month is to post classical works associated with the year 1922. It can be a composition that was completed, published, or premiered that year. It can even be a work recorded for the first time in 1922.
01/17/22 Hamilton Harty – Piano Concerto
Harty composed this work while he was permanent conductor of the Hallé Orchestra (1920-1933). Harty was also a pianist, and would often perform as a concerto soloist.
01/18/22 Jean Cras – Polyphème
Cras wrote this opera in 1914, while serving in the French navy during World War I. It’s based on Albert Samain’s poem, which reinterprets the Greek myth of Polythemus. When it premiered in 1922, Jean Cras became a celebrity.
01/19/22 Jules Massenet – Amadis
Massenet died in 1912. “Amadis” was premiered ten years later, in April of 1922. It was one of three of Massenet’s operas to be performed posthumously.
01/20/22 Dmitri Shostakovich – Suite to Two Pianos in F-sharp Minor Op. 6
The was composed in 1922, the same year as his Theme and Variations in B-flat major for orchestra, Op. 3, Three Fantastic Dances, Op. 5, and Two Fables of Krylov for mezzo-soprano, Op. 4. Shostakovich was 16.
0/21/22 Alexander Zemlinsky – Der Zwerg, Op. 17
This one-act opera was premiered in May of 1922. Zemlinsky composed it after his relationship with Alma Mahler ended. He identified with the hero, a dwarf, who dies after his love is rejected.
