On this date in 1928, Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg entered his Symphony No. 6 into a contest held by the Columbia Record Company in honor of the 100th anniversary of the death of Franz Schubert. For his effort, he was awarded the first prize of $10,000. The work became known as Atterberg’s “Dollar Symphony.” It remains the composer’s most-recorded piece, starting all the way back with Sir Thomas Beecham and a recorded broadcast with Arturo Toscanini.
Though Atterberg was the winner of the international competition, divisional winners (by “zone”) included the now-forgotten English composer John St. Anthony Johnson, for his work, “Pax Vobiscum,” and the equally-forgotten American Charles Haubiel, for a piece called “Karma.”
Franz Schmidt was recognized in Austria, for his Symphony No. 3. Havergal Brian won second prize in England, for the first three movements of his “Gothic Symphony.”
You can find all the details here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928_International_Columbia_Graphophone_Competition
Atterberg’s “Dollar Symphony” is one of the darlings of Classical 24, but they only ever play one movement. You’ll have a chance to hear the entire thing this afternoon, sometime between 4:00 and 7:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.