Delos 3484 On This Day Birthsġ830 - Austro-Hungarian composer Karl Goldmark, in Keszthely, Hungary ġ901 - French composer Henri Sauguet, in Bordeaux ġ733 - German composer and organist Georg Böhm, age 71, in Lüneburg ġ909 - Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz, age 48, in Cambo-les-Bains ġ910 - French composer and opera singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, age 88, in Paris ġ911 - Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, age 50, in Vienna ġ975 - American composer Leroy Anderson, age 66, in Woodburg, Conn. 1961) The Radio Hour John Alexander Singers Pacific Symphony members John Alexander, conductor.
Spoiler alert: the opera ends on a hopeful note for poor Nora.
And where does Nora turn for comfort? Why, to the radio of course – hence the titled of the new choral opera: The Radio Hour. Even Nora’s apartment furniture gets in a word or two about her unhappy state. They came up with a unique solution involving one character, Nora, a silent, on- stage actress, whose inner thoughts are sung by half of the choir, while the other half expresses the sounds and surroundings of the outside world Nora chooses to hear on a day in her life on which everything seems to go wrong – starting with a returned, unopened, handwritten letter she had sent, pouring out her heart, to her jerk of a boyfriend. Choirs stand still and make beautiful sound.” As Heggie put it, “Operas require action, characters, conflicts, journeys, transformation movement. Heggie and his librettist Gene Sheer at first scratched their heads. And what exactly is a “choral opera” you ask? Good question – and one that puzzled Jake Heggie as well, since he was the composer commissioned for that occasion. In Costa Mesa, California, on today’s date in 2014, the Pacific Chorale premiered a new choral opera.
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