On August 9, 1928, the dynamic Australian-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger, ever the showman, married Swedish poet and artist Ella Viola Ström in one of the most spectacular, theatrical public weddings in history. The wedding came before an audience estimated at nearly 22,000 at the Hollywood Bowl, capping off a concert he was conducting there, with one of the largest orchestras to ever fill the
At the heart of this week's Sunday on Blue Lake with Foley Schuler will be a recreation of some of the musical elements of that concert, including with the extended work Grainger wrote in honor of his new bride and that served to end the concert and as a prelude to the ceremony—To A Nordic Princess.
In honor of the occasion, we'll enjoy several declarations of love from composer's to their wives, including Richard Wagner's tender work dedicated to his wife, Cosima, and named for their newborn son, the Siegfriend Idyll, as well as Gustav Mahler's epic Symphony No. 5, at the heart of which is the wordless love song, scored for strings and harp, he wrote for his wife Alma, and which would form the Adagietto of this great work.
You can hear Sunday on Blue Lake with Foley Schuler every Sunday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake Public Radio.
