Show: Centennial Special

Title: WNYC Centennial: The New Sounds of 1924

Announcer: WNYC Studios is supported by Chicago Humanities, presenting live events and music with Asia Monet, novelist Richard Powers and historian David Greenberg on the life and legacy of John Lewis. Plus, a day of art and experience is curated by Alberto Aguilar in the Pilsen neighborhood. Tickets for these events and more conversations on the arts, culture and current affairs at chicagohumanities.org.

John Schaefer: You're listening to New Sounds. On demand streaming audio available when you want via newsounds.org. Were also on every day at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM on the 24/7 New Sounds stream, available via the WQXR app.

[MUSIC - Brian Eno: Julie With]

For many years, most of these New Sounds programs began with this music by Brian Eno. I just liked the way the music seemed to come out of nowhere. It just seemed perfect for a late-night radio show. Well, WNYC didn't just come out of nowhere. It began exactly 100 years ago tonight, July 8th, 1924. Earlier this evening, we did a recreation of that first night downstairs in The Green Space. But strangely, New Sounds did nothing to figure in that recreation, which frankly, I don't understand because I have incontrovertible proof that New Sounds did indeed conclude that first night on WNYC.

Yes, I have recovered the tape of that first show, and sure, I can't say that I actually remember hosting it, but it was 100 years ago, so, you know, cut me some slack. I was apparently pretty plugged into the new music scene in 1924, and some of it still sounds pretty avant-garde a century later. Of course, this was before electronic music, so that Brian Eno piece sounded a bit different, but let's hear how that first edition of New Sounds went when I, John Schaefer, hosted it on WNYC's first day on the air 100 years ago tonight.

Another transcribed feature of your city station.

[MUSIC - Brian Eno: Julie With]

This is the municipal broadcast system. Welcome to the New Sounds with your host, John Schaefer. Radio station WNYC concludes this historic first day of broadcasting with an hour of music spanning both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in a search for the new and unusual in the world of music. We begin this edition of the New Sounds with music by George Antheil, American composer, and a work called Ballet Mechanique. A somewhat controversial work because of its scoring, the work calls for several pianos, as well as such oddities as airplane propellers and an anvil. The work again is entitled Ballet Mechanique. It is a work by the so-called Bad Boy of Music, George Antheil.

[MUSIC - George Antheil: Ballet Mechanique]

Music of the self-styled Bad Boy of New Music, George Antheil, American composer and a work composed last year in 1923 entitled Ballet Mechanique. The work created quite a scandal when performed in Europe. It scored for several pianos and various other noisemakers, which include several airplane propellers and an anvil, as well as other bits of percussion. You're listening to radio station WNYC broadcasting for the first time this 8th of July 1924. The municipal broadcasting system.

We continue with this program of new and unusual music, the New Sounds, with music of Henry Cowell, another American composer, and a piece entitled The Aeolian Harp. Henry Cowell is an inventive composer who has been inspired by the music of the Orient and in this case by Irish mythology. The Aeolian Harp also employs some unusual piano techniques. In this case, the pianist must reach inside the piano after silently depressing some of the keys on the keyboard and strum the strings, producing a harp like effect. Henry Cowell is the composer of this piece, The Aeolian Harp.

[MUSIC - Henry Cowell: The Aeolian Harp]

The Aeolian Harp is the name of that work composed several years ago by Henry Cowell, an American composer, many of whose works of the past 10 years have included unusual piano technique, smashing the forearm across the keys of the keyboard, or, as in this piece, strumming the strings inside the piano. This is the municipal broadcasting system.

You are listening to the first ever edition of New Sounds, broadcast 100 years ago tonight when WNYC first went on the air. That is my claim. I'm sticking to it. We've got more of the New Sounds of 1924 as we continue. I'm John Schaefer. 100 years later and you're listening to new sounds.

[MUSIC]

Tonight marks the 100th anniversary of WNYC's first broadcast. Now back to the New Sounds program that I maintain concluded that first night of broadcasting.

You're listening to your city station WNYC, concluding its first day of broadcasting with this program, the New Sounds. Coming up shortly will be a pair of works, one from an American, one from a French composer, which combine the sounds of the concert hall with the sounds of the jazz club. By way of preparation for these two works, we shall now hear some music from Kid Ory and his Sunshine Orchestra, a group of transplanted musicians from New Orleans now recording in Los Angeles. The work, recorded just two years ago, is entitled Ory's Creole Trombone.

[MUSIC - Kid Ory: Ory's Creole Trombone]

You've just heard the first issued recording by a band of New Orleans jazz musicians. The style is jazz. The musicians are Kid Ory and his Sunshine Orchestra, with Kid Ory playing the trombone. The work is called Ory's Creole Trombone. This first issued recording, released just two years ago in Los Angeles. This is a program of new and unusual music, the New Sounds which will conclude the broadcast day of WNYC, the municipal broadcasting system, broadcasting for the first time this 8th of July 1924.

We move along now to a recent recording, a brand-new recording, in fact, made less than one month ago on June 10th by Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra. Perhaps some listeners were uptown in February for Paul Whiteman's historic concert at Aeolian Hall, which featured the premiere of a work by George Gershwin entitled Rhapsody in Blue. This remarkable work brought the sounds of the jazz club into the concert hall and in fact opens with a new sound of its own, namely a glissando performed on the clarinet. Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra will now perform the work on their brand-new Victor recording, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

[MUSIC - George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue]

The work is by American composer George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue. The work was premiered less than six months ago, and this recording is less than one month old. Made on June 10th of 1924 by Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra. The work premiered at Aeolian Hall here in New York City in February of this year. Your announcer seems to recall the work as being a little longer than that, but perhaps not surprising that it's shorter here, for these recordings can only accommodate three to four minutes of music per side.

We have another recording of music that also combines the sounds of the jazz club with the sounds of the concert hall, this time from a French composer Darius Milhaud. Coming up in just a moment. This is the inaugural broadcast day of city station WNYC, the municipal broadcasting system, and you're listening to WNYC's late-night program of new music called the New Sounds.

[MUSIC - Percy Grainger: Free Music]

These new and certainly unusual sounds come to us from a well-known composer, Percy Grainger. Unlike such well known pieces as Molly on the Shore, this work, entitled Free Music, is composed without regular rhythms or harmonies or melodies. The work was composed initially in 1907, and over the years Grainger has become interested in the possibility of electric music instruments. Aficionados of new music will perhaps recall the telharmonium, an instrument which was displayed here in New York about 10 or 12 years ago.

On our next edition of the New Sounds, we will examine some of the new electric instruments, including this music of Percy Grainger. We also hope to have for you in the studio a live performance from the Russian electric music inventor Lev Theremin and his instrument, the Thereminvox. We hope you will join us for the next edition of the New Sounds and stay with WNYC, your city radio station, throughout the broadcast day.

We continue now with another work which, like the Gershwin piece, combines the sounds of the concert halls uptown with the sounds of the jazz clubs even further uptown. Milhaud himself has written that this piece was very much inspired by the music heard in Harlem at various jazz clubs. The work is called La Creation du Monde, the creation of the world, and it was composed last year, 1923. We will hear the concluding segment of this most colorful piece.

[MUSIC - Darius Milhaud: La Creation du Monde]

The music of Darius Milhaud, French composer, and a piece entitled La Creation du Monde, the creation of the world, a work composed shortly after a visit to the nightclubs of Harlem here in New York City. The work dates from 1923. We've heard the second half of this colorful work from this very talented French composer. Your announcer hopes that some of the gentlemen listeners in our audience tonight joined him in loosening their ties during the ebullient conclusion of that piece. This is the municipal broadcast system.

100 years ago tonight, WNYC first went on the air, and there I was ending the day with an edition of New Sounds. I know there are some killjoys out there who are going to say that there's no way you possibly could have been doing that back then. I've got the tape. I'm playing you the tape of that opening night. So sit down, be quiet, and just listen to the rest of the show, which is coming up in just a moment.

[MUSIC]

As we approach the conclusion of this historic first day of broadcasting at WNYC, your city station, we move along to work by Igor Stravinsky and a work which features a pianola, a mechanical instrument invented around the turn of this century. Far more complex than the instruments many of our listeners undoubtedly have in their salons, this instrument is capable of rather intricate musical technique.

Stravinsky's Etude pour Pianola is a somewhat motoric work commissioned by the Aeolian company and premiered at Aeolian Hall in London in 1921. Having heard The Aeolian Harp of Henry Cowell and the George Gershwin piece premiered at New York's Aeolian Hall, this third aeolian piece will both contrast and complement the earlier two.

[MUSIC - Igor Stravinsky: Etude pour Pianola]

The music of Igor Stravinsky is Etude or Study for Pianola, performed on that mechanical piano created around the turn of the century, and an instrument which has become increasingly popular among serious musicians. Your announcer is sure he is not the only one wondering whether there will be further developments in the field of mechanical music as we head through this 20th century.

We are fast approaching the end of this historic first broadcast day of the municipal broadcasting system. Our broadcast day, ending today as it will in the future, with a program of new and unusual music, the New Sounds. This edition of the program will conclude with a work by American composer Charles Ives. The work dates from 1908 and is entitled The Unanswered Question.

[MUSIC - Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question]

From the pen of Charles Ives, American composer, The Unanswered Question. Many unanswered questions remain as WNYC, your city station, concludes this historic first broadcast day. Will you be with us again tomorrow? We certainly hope so. This is John Schaefer, and you've been listening to the New Sounds, the concluding part of the broadcast day from the municipal broadcasting system.

[MUSIC]

The century old chimes in historic city hall. This is New York, the city of opportunity, where more than 8 million people live in peace and harmony and enjoy the benefits of democracy.

Okay, I admit I cannot confirm the veracity of all of the statements you've heard, especially that last bit about peace and harmony and democracy, but that is what new music sounded like 100 years ago when this station, WNYC, first went on the air. It's WNYC's centennial. I'm glad you spent some of it with us on this "historic edition" of New Sounds.

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