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MECHANICS' HALL, WORCESTER. BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. ARTHUR NIKISCH, Conductor. 'twelfth Season, 1892-93. PROGRAMME OF THE THIRD CONCERT I Thursday Evening, February 16, At 7.45 o'clock. With Historical and Descriptive Notes prepared by William F. Apthorp. PUBLISHED BY C. A. ELLIS, MANAGER. : MAS0N AND HAMLIN IMPROVED PIANOS Represent that same High Standard of Excellence which has achieved a Reputation for their ORGANS AS THE STANDARB 0F THE WORLB, New " Liszt" MODEL, No. 804, These Instruments have been supplied to Churches, Convents, Sisters of Charity, Missionaries, and Schools the world over. L9GAI2 REPRESENTATIVES G. L SORHAM & GO M NQ. 454 MAIN STREET, WORCESTER. (2) BOSton Mechanics' Symphony H Hal1 - Orchestra season of 1892-93 Mr. ARTHUR NIKISCH, Conductor. Third Concert, Thursday Evening, February 16, At 745 o'clock. PROGRAMME. Ludwig van Beethoven - - - - - Symphony No. 2 ^ I. Adagio molto. D major.— Allegro con brio. D major. II. Larghetto. A major. III. Scherzo : Allegro D major. Trio : The same tempo. D major. IV. Allegro molto. D major. Busoni - "Spring Song,'' for Soprano and Orchestra " " Georges Bizet ----- Snite No. 1, from L'Arlesienne I. Prelude : Allegro deciso (tempo di marcia) (C minor) 4-4 - II. Minuetto : Allegro giocoso (C minor) 3-4 / - - - III. Adagietto : Adagio (F major) - 3-4 IV. Carillon : Allegretto moderato (B major) - - 3-4 Songs with Piano " i Ferrari -- -' - - - - - - " A une Fiancee :> Brahms --_-____-__ "Lullaby" </ j DeKoven -'-------- "Little Doris" ^/ lounod -_- _ _ _ - _ Hymn to St. Cecilia Solo Violin, Mr. FRANZ KNEISEL. iichard Wagner - - Prelude to "Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg" In very moderate movement, broad and weighty throughout (C major) ------- ___ 4.4 Soloist, Mrs. ARTHUR NIKISCH THE PIANO USED IS A STEINWAY. (3) SPECIALTIES : RIDING HABITS, STREET GOWNS, AND COATS, DINNER, PARTY, and WEDDING DRESSES. ORDERS EXECUTED AT SHORT NOTICE, AND TAKEN DURING FEBRUARY AT 25 PER CENT. LESS THAN REGULAR PRICES. SPRING IMPOR- TATIONS FROM LONDON AND PARIS NOW CONSTANTLY ARRIVING. 256 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON. Mr. ADOLPH NOVY is connected with our DRESSmflKINB DEPARTMENT. He makes a specialty of TAILOR-MADE GOWNS, TAILOR-MADE COATS, TAILOR- * MADE OPERA WRAPS . R. H. STEARNS & CO. 21 Rue Martel, TREMONT STREET & TEMPLE PLACE PARIS. BOSTON. a) K i M Symphony No. 2, in D inajor, Op. ?-6, Ludwig van Beethoven. /. Adagio molto {D major) 3-4 Allegro con brio {D major) 4-4 ' 77. Largketto (A major) 3-8 . III. Scherzo: Allegro {D major) . 3-4 Trio : The same tempo {D ??iajor) 3-4 IV. Allegro molto (D major) 2-2 Beethoven's second symphony was long called the "perfect symphony." The theme of the first allegro in particular has been recommended as pos- sessing all the qualities that go to make up an ideal theme for extended treatment. Eduard Hanslick, of Vienna, has expatiated upon its perfec- tions in his famous pamphlet on "The Beautiful in Music," calling atten- tion to how it sets forth the key with the greatest possible distinctness by sounding successively, and then in the inverse order, the three component notes of the chord of D major, to its pregnant, well-defined, and simple rhythm, and to the ease with which it can be dismembered in the working- L. V. HOLLANDER fr CO. Opening of New Cotton Fabrics. GINGHAMS, CHALLIES, ORGANDIES. FRENCH MUSLINS. : : : ALSO : : : Superb Collection of Printed India Silks, ORDERS TAKEN FOR LADIES' COSTUMES AT GREATLY REDUCED PRICES UNTIL FEBRUARY 15. 202-212 BOYLSTON ST. and PARK SQUARE. (5) ; out, every figure in it being plainly recognizable as belonging to it, even when heard separately and severed from the rest. Berlioz says of this " symphony : In this work all is noble, energetic, and proud. The introduc- tion (largo) is a masterpiece. The finest effects follow one upon the other without confusion, and always in an unexpected way. The melody is of a touchingly solemn character, which from the first measures imposes respect, and paves the way for emotion. Already the rhythm shows itself as more daring (i.e., than in the first symphony), the orchestration richer, more sono- rous and varied. To this admirable adagio is bound an allegro con brio of contagious energy. The gruppetto which is met with in the first measure of the theme, first announced by the violas and 'celli in unison, is afterwards taken up separately to build up either progressions in crescendo or else imi- tations between the wind instruments and the* strings, all of which have a physiognomy that is as novel as it is animated. In the middle of the move- ment there is a melody played in its first half by the clarinets, horns, and bassoons, and concluded in tutti by the remainder of the orchestra, the mas- culine energy of which is still further heightened by the choice of chords that accompany it." Berlioz goes on to say of the larghetto (which, with characteristic inac- " curacy, he calls an andante) : The andante is not treated in the same way as in the first symphony. It is not composed of a theme worked out in canonic imitations, but of a pure and immaculate melody, first given out simply by the strings, then embroidered with rare elegance with light figures, the character of which never departs from the sentiment of tender- ness which forms the distinctive trait of the principal idea. It is a ravish- ing picture of innocent happiness, hardly darkened by some few accents of melancholy." This larghetto is a fine example of a symphonic slow move- ment in the regular sonata form ; that is, in the form — somewhat con- densed, to be sure — which is regularly prescribed for the first movement. We find a first theme with its subsidiary, in the tonic A major ; a second theme with its subsidiary, and a conclusion-theme, all in the dominant E major, thus forming the regulation first part of the movement. Then comes a free fantasia, and then the third part, with the second and conclusion themes regularly in the tonic. " Of the scherzo andjznale Berlioz writes : The scherzo is as frankly gay in its capricious fancifulness as the andante was completely happy and calm for all is smiling in this symphony, the warlike outbursts in the first allegro even are wholly free from violence. One can see nothing in it but the youthful ardor of a noble heart in which the. most beautiful illusions of life have kept themselves intact. The composer still believes in immortal glory, in love, in self-devotion. And what self-abandonment there is in his gayety ! how witty he is ! what sallies ! To hear these various instruments quarrelling over the fragments of a theme which no one of them plays en- (6) tire, but every morsel of which is thus colored with a thousand different tints in passing from one to the other, one would think to witness the fairy gambollings of Oberon's graceful sprites. The finale is of the same nature. It is a second scherzo* in 2-2 time, in which the playfulness has perhaps even something more delicate and more piquant." To this need only be added that the third movement of this symphony is the first instance of Beethoven's using the term scherzo in his orchestral works, although he had frequently used it before in his chamber works. Berlioz, who, if gen- erally true enough to the spirit, is seldom quite true to the letter, calls the corresponding movement in the first symphony a scherzo. It is essentially so in character, but Beethoven still calls it a menuetto. This symphony was probably written in 1802, although some sketches for it belong to the year before. Its prevailing cheerful character makes the fact seem strange that it was written at a period when Beethoven was very despondent about his increasing deafness. He had just changed phy- sicians, and was passing the summer at Heiligenstadt, a retired village be- yond Unter-Dobling, with most beautiful wooded valleys lying between it and Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg. In one of his letters written at this " period we find : I live only in my music, and no sooner is one thing done than the next is begun. As I am now writing. I often work at three and four things at once. Letter-writing was never my forte" ENTR'ACTE. Berlioz had his literary side. He is the musical illustrator of Shakspere, Virgil, and Goethe. But what a painter ! the Delacroix of music, who made tones flare up in fulminating contrasts of color. Then the romantic crack in his skull, a religiosity that carries him away, ecstasies that over- top the mountains. A bad builder of operas, wonderful in small forms, sometimes demanding too much of his orchestra, which he tortures, after pushing to extremes the individuality of instruments, each of which repre- sented in his mind a dramatic character. Ah ! what he says about the — clarinets, " Clarinets are women we love,"— ah ! that always made a shiver run over my skin. And Chopin, such a dandy in his Byronism, the winged poet of nervous complaints ! And Mendelssohn, the impeccable carver, Shakspere in ball-pumps, whose songs without words are jewels for intellectual ladies ! . And then, and then, we ought to fall on our knees. Oh ! Schumann, despair delighting in despair ! Yes, the end of everything, the last song of sorrowing purity, soaring above the ruins of the world ! . Oh ! Wagner, the god, in whom centuries of music are in- * Berlioz here uses the term scherzo in its original Italian sense of "joke."' The movement is strictly in the rondo-form. CO ! carnated ! His works are the great, ark, all the arts in one, the real human- ity of the characters expressed at last, the orchestra living the life of the drama by itself.

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