A recently rediscovered recording of a 1958 concert in Los Angeles gives us a rare opportunity to hear the composer perform his own music: Three Hebrew Chorales (1926) for solo piano, selections from Coplas (1915) in which he accompanies the renowned soprano Marni Nixon, and his First Piano Quintet (1932) together with acclaimed Los Angeles chamber musicians. The occasion was an evening honoring Castelnuovo-Tedesco hosted by “The Composer’s Workshop,” a series created by Dr. Anneliese Landau, a musicologist who was also an emigré to the United States.
On 29 Jan 1958 at the Westside Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, Dr.Landau introduced the evening with pre-concert remarks about the importance of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s contributions to Jewish music and beyond, and she underscored her belief that his work had not yet received the attention it deserved. She also observed that some of Mario’s Jewish-inspired works — Sacred Service (for the Sabbath Eve,) The Book of Ruth and The Book of Jonah — had never been performed in Los Angeles, a statement that unfortunately is still true in 2026.
She introduced the composer to the audience with these words: “Tonight you will hear not only the composer [but also] the brilliant pianist, the fine and understanding teacher of composition, the kind and warm person who seems to have no enemies in this city….”
The following program was performed:
- Three Chorales on Hebrew Melodies, op. 43 for piano (1926), performed by Castelnuovo-Tedesco
- Coplas, op. 9 for voice and piano (1916) performed by Marni Nixon and Castelnuovo-Tedesco
- First piano quintet (1931) performed by violinists Laurent Halleux and Constance Fiasca; cellist Adolphe Frézin; and violist Myra Kestenbaum, with Castelnuovo-Tedesco at the piano.
Marni Nixon, the soprano who performed the Coplas with Castelnuovo-Tedesco, became known in Hollywood as the singing voice behind many famous actresses in film musicals of the period: for Deborah Kerr in the soundtrack to The King and I (1956), for Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961), and for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964). Although Mario had written Coplas in 1916, while he was still a young composer in Florence, the 1958 composer’s workshop concert marked the work’s first American performance.
The other musicians involved in the concert were also well known in L.A.’s music circles. The Belgian-American violinist Laurent Halleux had previously had great success in Europe and America as second violinist of the Pro-Arte Quartet; Adolphe Frézin, the Belgian-American cellist who had been a member of the Paganini Quartet, which had collaborated a few years before with Andrés Segovia on the American premiere of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Quintet for Guitar and Strings; the violist Myra Kestenbaum, who had studied composition with Castelnuovo-Tedesco; and Constance Fiasca, the second violinist, about whom,unfortunately, we have little information at the moment.
The evening was recorded by Gerald Zelinger, at the time a budding sixteen year old sound engineer, who went on to have an award-winning career in Hollywood. Mr Zelinger kept the recording for more than 70 years and generously shared a copy with us. In the 1950s, Mario’s public performances were rare, and recordings of them even rarer; we are thrilled to have this piece of living history to share with our community and express our sincere thanks to Mr. Zelinger.
You can listen to the concert on YouTube HERE.