VETERANS DAY
November 11
1889 first performance of Richard Strauss's Don Juan by the Orchestra of the Weimar Opera with the composer conducting; the piece put the 24-year-old composer on the map and the extreme virtuosity of nearly every part has made the piece a staple of orchestral auditions for most instruments.
1890 first performance of Johannes Brahms's String Quintet No. 2 in Vienna by the Rosé Quintet; known as the 'Prater' (the public park in Vienna); at the first rehearsal, a friend told Brahms the first movement reminded him of “Brahms strolling in the Prater” and the composer replied, “You've hit it. Among the pretty girls!”
1898 premiere of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's oratorio Hiawatha's Wedding Feast at the Royal College of Music in London, commissioned by England's Three Choirs Festival; the recommendation for the commission came from Sir Edward Elgar.
1906 premiere of Ethel Smyth's opera The Wreckers (under its German title Strandrecht) in Leipzig; Sir Thomas Beecham conducted the British premiere in 1909; the American premiere waited until 2007 in a concert performance by the American Symphony.