# A moment in time



## GodNickSatan (Feb 28, 2013)

If you could be transported to one performance or one concert in history which would it be? Remember you're only a spectator and any intrusion could unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!


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## Guest (May 5, 2013)

I'd like to see the premiere of LvB's 9th.

Are you selling tickets?


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

..first performance of Shostakovich 13th Symphony on 18 December 1962! Must have been electrifying... 

/ptr


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## Bone (Jan 19, 2013)

Premiere of Rite of Spring. Just to set the record straight about what kind of riot REALLY happened (and maybe instigate some of it myself if I'm not satisfied with an appropriate level of mayhem)


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

At the court of the Sun King, watching the first performance of Lully's 'Alceste', with Monsieur le Marquis, my very attentive husband, by my side...


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## Jimm (Jun 29, 2012)

I'd want to be transported into the future .. when organizers, venues & performers are completely ready & suited for the first complete full-staging of Stockhausen's week long LICHT cycle magnum opus. Maybe on his centenary, 2028?


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

The concert in 1808 which premiered Beethoven's 5th and 6th symphonies, 4th piano concerto and the Choral fantasy, which are four of my most favorite works. The music was conducted/performed by Beethoven and also included a piano improvisation by Beethoven himself.

How powerful an experience it must have been to see Beethoven himself commanding the finale of the Choral fantasy as both pianist and conductor.


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## Kazaman (Apr 13, 2013)

Do I have to pick just one? 

- Glenn Gould's first concert in Moscow
- The American premiere of Harry Somers' opera Louis Riel (Kennedy Center in Washington)
- Tatiana Nikolayeva playing the complete Art of Fugue (which she did several times in recital)
- One of Bach's Collegium Musicum meetings
- The premiere of Strauss' Elektra
- The premiere of Hindemith's Sancta Susanna
- Richter's Carnegie Hall Recital on December 26th, 1960

... etc.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Kept strictly to classical music travel, it would be to Mozart's performances of his later piano concertos, especially #'s 20 or 21, when he was in his heyday of popularity. Then I'd bribe the Time Machine driver to let me hang around for his improvisations on the piano afterwards...


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Kazaman said:


> - Tatiana Nikolayeva playing the complete Art of Fugue (which she did several times in recital)


I head one of those she gave late in life (1991), was quite electrifying as well!

/ptr


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## Kazaman (Apr 13, 2013)

ptr said:


> I head one of those she gave late in life (1991), was quite electrifying as well!
> 
> /ptr


I am so incredibly envious you can't even imagine.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I don't think I would accept this offer. I'm pretty sure these historical performances would be disappointing by our standards, though I might like to see what really happened at the debut of The Rite of Spring.

I'd be far more tempted to go back in time and relive my favorite progressive rock concert. That would have been Yes, ca. 1974 with a Roger Dean designed stage and lighting effects, an unforgettable stunning experience.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

Mendelssohn's performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in 1829.


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## Kazaman (Apr 13, 2013)

Feathers said:


> Mendelssohn's performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in 1829.


Ah! Yes, how could I forget?


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

It would have to be Leningrad 9 August 1942.
To show that humanity can endure.
It would be an experience that would humble me, and make me understand what man is capable of


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

Italy, 1914. The premiere performance of Luigi Russolo's Intonarumori orchestra.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

StevenOBrien said:


> The concert in 1808 which premiered Beethoven's 5th and 6th symphonies, 4th piano concerto and the Choral fantasy, which are four of my most favorite works. The music was conducted/performed by Beethoven and also included a piano improvisation by Beethoven himself.


A true monster concert, four hours long and thoroughly under-rehearsed. Here's a nice NPR story about the concert.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12424757


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## GodNickSatan (Feb 28, 2013)

StevenOBrien said:


> The concert in 1808 which premiered Beethoven's 5th and 6th symphonies, 4th piano concerto and the Choral fantasy, which are four of my most favorite works. The music was conducted/performed by Beethoven and also included a piano improvisation by Beethoven himself.
> 
> How powerful an experience it must have been to see Beethoven himself commanding the finale of the Choral fantasy as both pianist and conductor.


This would probably be mine as well.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Well, truthfully it would have to be the Mothers of Invention residency at the Garrick Theater, New York, 1967. It's practically a black hole in terms of documentation, so I would take recording equipment with me. Another Zappa example: _The Big One_ at the New York Palladium, 1978 - a single four-hour set and Frank's longest ever concert.

Others (including some more "classical" examples) include:
Mahler premièring his 3rd Symphony in 1902.
Première of the full _Ring_ in Bayreuth, 1876.
Première of _Daphnis et Chloé_ in Paris, 1912.
The concert of Webern at which John Cage and Morton Feldman met for the first time.
The original performances of Robert Ashley's "TV opera" _Perfect Lives_.

But yes; if I had to pick one, Garrick Theater, no doubt.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

For me it would be Bourgogne (Varese first performed work) 

– was performed in 1910 by the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin under Josef Stransky.


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

KenOC said:


> A true monster concert, four hours long and thoroughly under-rehearsed. Here's a nice NPR story about the concert.
> 
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12424757


A dramatization of the rehearsals from the Hazlewood documentary on Beethoven:


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

Crudblud said:


> The concert of Webern at which John Cage and Morton Feldman met for the first time.


Why would you particularly want to be there for that? What would you do, stand around looking at John and waiting for him to meet Feldman?


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

1876 Beyreuth premier of the complete Ring


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

hello said:


> Why would you particularly want to be there for that? What would you do, stand around looking at John and waiting for him to meet Feldman?


I actually have no idea why I put that one down.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Crudblud said:


> I actually have no idea why I put that one down.


Maybe you were thinkng of creaing a paradox and ending the universe............


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Maybe you were thinkng of creaing a paradox and ending the universe............


No, no, no, you've got it all wrong, I'm not like that anymore, that thing with Universe #72 was all a big misunderstanding, honest it was. I'm a reformed man, Eddie, I swear!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Any performance of Jonny Spielt Auf in the 1920s would make me very happy.


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## Zabirilog (Mar 10, 2013)

It's just my favourite production, but... Der Ring from Bayreuth 1992.


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## Karabiner (Apr 1, 2013)

I'd like to go to the keyboard contest between Handel and Scarlatti in 1708/09. Not sure which one I'd be rooting for though...


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

No doubt about it. 27 April 1749. The Music for the Royal Fireworks composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park. It was to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

The first time Ligeti did the metronome thing. I'd probably burst out laughing, but I'd like to have been there.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

How about the Mahler 8 premiere?

piano stuff:
Liszt sightreading through Grieg's PC
Horowitz and Rachmaninoff playing together 
Rachmaninoff playing his third PC with Mahler as conductor
Scriabin playing his etudes


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Mahler conducted Rachmaninov playing his third PC? That's one I'd love to have been at...


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Kieran said:


> Mahler conducted Rachmaninov playing his third PC? That's one I'd love to have been at...


It was in New York.

I would have loved to be present at the premiere of Mahler's 6th, so that I could be one of the few cheering amongst the hecklers.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Mahlerian said:


> It was in New York.
> 
> I would have loved to be present at the premiere of Mahler's 6th, so that I could be one of the few cheering amongst the hecklers.


Contrarian!


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## IBMchicago (May 16, 2012)

I would love to see little Amadeus performing his amazing keyboard/memory/variations tricks in royal courts. His abilities were so incredible that there are many who doubt him even today. I would love, just for comparison's sake, to see just how different he was from all those wunderkinds on YouTube. I.e., what made him not merely a child prodigy, but THE child prodigy.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

IBMchicago said:


> I would love to see little Amadeus performing his amazing keyboard/memory/variations tricks in royal courts. His abilities were so incredible that there are many who doubt him even today. I would love, just for comparison's sake, to see just how different he was from all those wunderkinds on YouTube. I.e., what made him not merely a child prodigy, but THE child prodigy.


That's great - and it would be nice to listen to Mozart's sister too, also a prodigy...


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Ingenue said:


> That's great - and it would be nice to listen to Mozart's sister too, also a prodigy...


Here's the whole happy family: Leopold, Wolfgang, and Nannerl.


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Nannerl.


What an unfortunate name.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

hello said:


> What an unfortunate name.


Why? (15 characters)


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

Feathers said:


> Why? (15 characters)


It sounds like a beast from a Dr. Suess book.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

hello said:


> It sounds like a beast from a Dr. Suess book.


Oh I see. :lol:


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

hello said:


> What an unfortunate name.


But Nannerl was only the pet name her family gave her, she was christened :

*Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia*

Nannerl is not an uncommon pet name for Germanic Ladies whose name include Anna and Maria and/or mutations of those! (I know several pets that go by Nannerl!  )

/ptr


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## IBMchicago (May 16, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Here's the whole happy family: Leopold, Wolfgang, and Nannerl.


Yes - it would be real treat to actually witness that!


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## IBMchicago (May 16, 2012)

Ingenue said:


> That's great - and it would be nice to listen to Mozart's sister too, also a prodigy...


I read once that she was considered one of the top youth pianists in Europe in her time. But, I do wonder how overused is the word "prodigy." I've seen a number of 8-year-olds committing 3+ hours per day of practice. This certainly makes them passionate, musical and highly disciplined...but prodigious?


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