Many of us grew up listening to Top Hits radio, but the top hits are usually from that week, or month, at the most. For centuries before radio even existed, people had to go to concert halls or church services to hear the “latest and greatest.”
Here are some of the Top Hits from the years ending in ’24:
1624
Although Claudio Monteverdi’s tragic operatic scene Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (The combat of Tancredi and Clorind) wasn't published until 1638, it was first performed during carnival (Mardi Gras) season in 1624 in Venice. The story, told by the narrator, a priest, is about the Christian knight, Tancredi, and his beloved, the Saracen woman, Clorinda. Imagine that palace audience knowing that the two are lovers, but are helpless as they watch the pair meet in battle unknowingly because they are both wearing armor. Tancredi strikes a mortal blow to his enemy, only to realize it is his Clorinda, once she falls and he removes her helmet. The scene ends with Tancredi baptizing her on the battlefield, and just before she dies, she sees heaven opening to receive her.
Here’s the full piece, performed by the Netherlands Opera Company.
1724
1724 saw big hits from Bach, Boismortier, and Rameau, to name a few.
The French composer, Jean-Philippe Rameau, wrote three books of pieces for the harpsichord. His second Pièces de clavecin was published in 1724, containing 20 pieces in all: nine in the Suite in E minor, and ten in the Suite in D major, with a final Menuet in C Major.
While the Suite in E minor had dance tunes with standard names of the day such as Allemande, Courante, and Gigue, the Suite in D major had more descriptive names, such as “The Tender Complaints,” “The Joy,” and “The Interview of the Muses.”
Here’s Number 2 from that set, sarcastically called “Les Niais de Sologne,” or “The Simpletons of Sologne,” played by Jean Rondeau:
George Frideric Handel’s 1724 opera, Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt), is an opera about Caesar traveling to Egypt in pursuit of his enemy. While there he falls in love with Cleopatra, the sister of Tolomeo, the boy king. The opera tackles issues of loyalty and betrayal, attempted rape, a battle between the armies of the royal brother and sister, and Caesar’s declaration that Cleopatra would be the new queen of Egypt, while pledging Rome’s assistance to her.
Here is a scene from a 1982 performance in Barcelona with the incomparable Montserrat Caballe singing “V’adoro, pupille” (“I adore you, dear eyes”):
Johann Sebastian Bach premiered his St. John Passion at Good Friday Vespers, April 7, 1724, at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig. It was performed during church services in two parts, meant to bookend the sermon. Bach revised it the next year, and in two additional versions after that.
Here’s Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Peter Sellar’s staged version of the piece in one extraordinary scene with the chorus singing while laying on their backs!
1824
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote three major pieces in 1823: his Ninth Symphony, with its “Ode to Joy,”Missa solemnis, and the Diabelli Variations. By this time he was profoundly deaf, so these masterpieces were written by a man who could only hear the music in his mind.
The Symphony No. 9 was premiered in Vienna in May of 1824. It was a marvel and a spectacle in that it was the first time a chorus and soloists were added to a symphony, which until that time had only been instrumental pieces.
Herbert Blomstedt conducts soloists, chorus and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig in the Finale, the “Ode to Joy.”
You may be familiar with the story, that Beethoven stood by the conductor beating out the time. Knowing that he was deaf, the conductor instructed the musicians and chorus to ignore Beethoven and to only follow him. When the symphony was over, Beethoven had no idea that the entire audience had risen to its feet as he was a few measures behind and was still conducting. The contralto, Caroline Unger, had to turn him around to see the audience applauding wildly.
Franz Schubert was on fire in 1824 – he wrote at least 24 pieces or sets of pieces that we know of in that one year, including the String Quartet No. 14, “Death and the Maiden,” sets of marches and dances, and at least one religious piece, honoring the Virgin Mary, Salve Regina.
One of his 1824 pieces is for an instrument few know today: the arpeggione, which had only been invented in 1823! This instrument looks like a cello or viola da gamba, positioned between the musician’s legs and played with a bow. Here is the first movement of Schubert’s Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor, with arpeggione player Nicolas Deletaille and fortepiano player Alain Roudier.
It is possible that this is the only piece still in existence today for the rare arpeggione.
French composer Hector Berlioz was only 20 when he began working on a setting of the Catholic Mass, his Messe solennelle. He finished it by December of 1824, and wanted it performed right away, but the choirboys who were copying the sheet music apparently made numerous mistakes. When the musicians tried rehearsing the Mass, chaos ensued and Berlioz wrote in his memoirs: “All was confusion. I suffered the torments of the damned; and my long-cherished vision of a full orchestral performance had, for the moment, to be abandoned.”
By the following July, Berlioz had secured enough funding from a wealthy friend to hire professional musicians and the Church of St. Roch in Paris. It received favorable reviews from critics and an appreciative audience. Here is the Kyrie, with John Eliot Gardiner conducting the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Monteverdi Choir, and soloists, in a 1994 performance:
Despite the good reception, Berlioz claimed he destroyed the score, no reason given. It wasn’t until 1991 that a copy was found in Antwerp. John Eliot Gardiner gave the first modern day performance in 1993 in Bremen.
1924
Where do we begin with music of 100 years ago? So many great pieces that year have become beloved modern classical.
In 1924 George Gershwin wrote his Rhapsody in Blue. The piece seamlessly blends classical elements with American jazz. Bandleader Paul Whiteman commissioned the work and premiered it in February 1924 in a concert called “An Experiment in Modern Music.” Gershwin had to write the piece in only five weeks, admitting to his biographer that it was on a train ride to Boston that the steady rattle of the train served as the launchpad for the rhythm of the music.
It was Whiteman’s pianist and arranger Ferde Grofé who orchestrated the piece, and while Gershwin gets the credit as composer, it was Grofé’s magic touch that helped catapult it into the hearts of audiences everywhere.
Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic from the keyboard in this performance.
And fun fact, since the 2024 Paris Olympics are still on our minds, the timeless Rhapsody in Blue was played by 84 pianists simultaneously at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles!
Also “born” in 1924 was Italian composer Ottorino Respighi’s Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome). It was the second part of his tryptic, an homage to Italy’s capital city, which also included his Fountains of Rome from 1916, and the Festivals of Rome from 1928.
Pines of Rome is a four-movement piece that describes historic sites in the city known for its unusual canopy-like pine trees. Respighi describes the gardens of Villa Borghese, the catacombs, the Janiculum Hill, and finally the Appian Way, an ancient Roman street still standing and a popular tourist attraction.
Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony:
The piece was received enthusiastically by the audience at the December 1924 premiere and is Respighi’s most recorded piece to this day.
Rome factored into another 1924 piece still loved to this day: Jacques Ibert’s Escales (Ports of Call). Ibert was a 1922 winner of the Prix de Rome and was composing during his residency in the city. Escales is a three-movement work describing the ports of Rome, Nefta in Tunisia, and Valencia, Spain.
Here's André Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra:
Just like Respighi’s Pines, Ibert’s Escales was an overnight sensation that remains his most popular work to this day.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this musical time travel piece. As a classical radio announcer, it’s fun for me to see that the “top hits” from 400, 300, 200 and 100 years ago are still the top hits. I wonder if other musical genres will have the same staying power 400 years from now?
CODA: When Disney’s sequel to 1940’s Fantasia was released, Respighi’s Pines of Rome was used in a particularly dramatic, poignant, scene. The baby whale is separated from mother and father whale, but remember, it’s Disney. And it’s Respighi. Here’s the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from the soundtrack to Fantasia 2000:
