December 2 is – was – a great date for world premieres, as well as for one unfortunate and extremely notable exit.  

Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 received its first performance on December 3, 1883 – 136 years ago today – in Vienna, when it was performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Hans Richter.  

On this date in 1949 – 70 years ago today – Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto, completed posthumously by Tibor Serly [TEE-bor SHARE-ly] (Bartók himself had died four years earlier, in 1945), received its premiere in Minneapolis, where it was performed by violist William Primrose and the Minneapolis Symphony, conducted by Antal Dorati.   

We would note the unfortunate exit, on December 2, 1990, of the composer Aaron Copland.  He died at the age of 90 in North Tarrytown (known today as “Sleepy Hollow”), New York, about 30 miles north of New York City.

There’s one more premiere to note, which will occupy the remainder of today’s post.  We mark the premiere, in Boston on December 2, 1949 – the same day as the premiere of Bartók’s Viola Concerto – of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein.  In my less-than-humble opinion, the symphony must be numbered among the most thrilling and original works composed during the twentieth century, and it will occupy us for two days.  This Music History Monday post will discuss Messiaen’s life and the creation of the symphony, and tomorrow’s Dr. Bob Prescribes post (which can be found on Patreon) will get into the particulars of the piece – which is Messiaen’s one-and-only symphony – and my recommended recording.  

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992, left) in 1913 with his brother Alain and his mother Cécile Sauvage

Olivier Messiaen was born in Avignon, France, on December 10, 1908.  His mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a well-respected poet, and his father, Pierre Messiaen, taught English.  Among Messiaen pere’s accomplishments was having translated the complete works of Shakespeare into French.  In such a highly cultured household, Olivier’s musical precocity was recognized early and carefully cultivated.  He began composing at the age of seven.  When he was ten years old, his harmony teacher, Monsieur de Gibon, gave his precocious young charge a score of the then just deceased Claude Debussy’s one and only opera, Pelleas and Melisande.  It was, for Messiaen, a revelation; he later wrote that receiving and then studying the score was:

“Probably the most decisive influence in my life.”  

Without any doubt, it was Debussy’s extraordinary and utterly original treatment of harmony, tonality, and rhythm – rhythm liberated from a predictable pulse and the tyranny of the bar line – that inspired Messiaen to even greater tonal and rhythmic freedoms in his own music.  If any single composer can be said to be the successor of Debussy – in terms of both musical syntax and sheer originality – it is Olivier Messiaen.

The year after he received that oh-so-important score of Pelleas and Melisande, the eleven-year-old Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatory.  He put the place on its ear, truly; I have been told that they still talk about him at the Conservatory to this day, so amazing was his tenure there.  In 1926, at the age of 18, he won first prize in harmony, counterpoint, and fugue.  In 1928, he won first prize in piano accompaniment.  In 1929, he won first prize in music history.  And in 1930,