Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 79, 1959
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111 ^JfS $&**>* ,4 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN 1881 BY a HENRY LEE HIGGINSON m X K ^liiiil ^^" H \vv* \ SEVENTY-NINTH SEASON 1959-1960 Carnegie Hall, New York Boston Symphony Orchestra (Seventy-ninth Season, 1959-1960) CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL Violins Cellos Bassoons Richard Burgin Samuel Mayes Sherman Walt Concert-master Alfred Zighera Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Jacobus Langendoen Theodore Brewster George Zazofsky Mischa Nieland Rolland Tapley Karl Zeise Contra Bassoon Joseph Silverstein Martin Hoherman Richard Plaster Vladimir Resnikoff Bernard Parronchi Harry Dickson Richard Kapuscinski Horns Gottfried Wil finger Robert Ripley James Stagliano Einar Hansen Winifred Winograd Charles Yancich Joseph Leibovici Louis Berger Harry Shapiro Emil Kornsand Sant Ambrogio Harold Meek Roger Shermont John Paul Keaney Minot Beale Osbourne McConathy Herman Silherman Basses Georges Moleux Stanley Benson Trumpets Leo Panasevich Henry Freeman Roger Voisin Sheldon Rotenberg Irving Frankel Armando Ghitalla Fredy Ostrovsky Henry Portnoi Andr£ Come Noah Bielski Henri Girard Gerard Goguen John Banvicki Clarence Knudson Leslie Martin Pierre Mayer Trombones Ortiz Walton Manuel /nng William Gibson Samuel Diamond Flutes William Moyer William Marshall Kauko Kahila Doriot Anthony Dwyer Leonard Moss Josef Orosz William Waterhouse James Pappoutsakis Alfred Schneider Phillip Kaplan Tuba Victor Manusevitch K. Vinal Smith Laszlo Nagy Piccolo Ayrton Pinto George Madsen Timpani Michel Sasson Everett Firth Lloyd Stonestreet Oboes Harold Farberman Saverio Messina Ralph Gomberg Percussion Melvin Bryant Jean de Vergie John Holmes Charles Smith Violas Harold Thompson de Pasquale Arthur Press Joseph English Horn Jean Cauhape Eugen Lehner Louis Speyer Harps Albert Bernard Bernard Zighera Clarinets George Humphrey Olivia Luetcke Jerome Lipson Gino Cioffi Robert Karol Manuel Valerio Piano Reuben Green Pasquale Cardillo Bernard Zighera Bernard Kadinoff E\f Clarinet Vincent Mauricci Library John Fiasca Bass Clarinet Victor Alpert Earl Hedberg Roiario Mazzeo William Shisler SEVENTY-NINTH SEASON, 1959-1960 Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor CONCERT BULLETIN with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk The TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Henry B. Cabot President Jacob J. Kaplan Vice-President Richard C. Paine Treasurer Talcott M. Banks Henry A. Laughlin Theodore P. Ferris John T. Noonan Francis W. Hatch Palfrey Perkins Harold D. Hodgkinson Charles H. Stockton C. D. Jackson Raymond S. Wilkins E. Morton Jennings, Jr. Oliver Wolcott TRUSTEES EMERITUS Philip R. Allen M. A. DeWolfe Howe N. Penrose Hallowell Lewis Perry Edward A. Taft Thomas D. Perry, Jr., Manager Norman S. Shirk James J. Brosnahan Assistant Manager Business Administrator Leonard Burkat Rosario Mazzeo Music Administrator Personnel Manager SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON 15 [»1 Next Saturday at 8:30 over WQXR, hear the Boston Symphony in another memorable performance. And every day, early morning to late at night, treat yourself to wonderful listening from America's Number One Good Music Station, WQXR, 1560 AM, 96.3 FM, the radio station of The New York Times. M SEVENTY-NINTH SEASON • NINETEEN HUNDRED FIFTY-NINE-SIXTY Seventy-fourth Season in New York Fifth Evening Concert WEDNESDAY, March 23, at 8:30 o'clock Program Berlioz *Fantastic Symphony, Op. 14a I. Reveries, Passions Largo; Allegro agitato e appassionato assai II. A Ball Waltz: Allegro non troppo III. Scene in the Meadows Adagio IV. March to the Scaffold Allegretto non troppo V. Dreams of the Witches' Sabbath Larghetto; Allegro INTERMISSION Honegger *Symphony No. 2, for String Orchestra I. Molto moderato II. Adagio mesto III. Vivace, non troppo Roussel *"Bacchus et Ariane," Suite No. 2, Op. 43 Music of these programs is available at the Music Library, 58th Street Branch, the New York Public Library. BALDWIN PIANO *RCA VICTOR RECORDS M,— ^——^——ui A REMINISCENT FAREWELL (From the Carnegie Hall programs) The last concerts by this Orchestra in Carnegie Hall prompt a glance back through the years. Among the eminent musical figures attending the dedication of Carnegie Hall on May 5, 1891, with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor, was Henry Lee Higginson. Had not this New England financier founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra almost exactly ten years before? His Orchestra had impressed New York from its first visit in 1887, at Steinway Hall, under Wilhelm Gericke, and continuing there and at Chickering Hall under Arthur Nikisch in the seasons of 1889 and 1890. It was on November 8, 1893 that the Bostonians first played in Carnegie Hall (which, by the way, was called Music Hall and Carnegie Music Hall). The World's review of the event was headlined: "The Musical Season Begins." According to the Tribune's critic, "It was a most appropriate and dignified opening. The appearance of the new conductor, Mr. Emil Paur, served to heighten the interest in the concert, and an audience of fine appearance and evident refinement filled the large music room." Expansively, the World's critic wrote: "It is with deep satisfaction that the music-lovers of this city greet the transfer of this premier musical organization from its former cramped quarters (Chickering Hall) to the more spacious locale, which is destined to be the scene of its future musical achievements. Domi- ciled as it now is to be on the occasion of its monthly visits to New York in the superb building which wealth has erected for the glorifica- tion of musical art, its influence will be greater than before." High approval was bestowed on the soprano soloist, Emma Eames, by all the critics. One of them, in the Press, wrote that the "direct and honest beat of Emil Paur" gave the opportunity "to listen to the score itself without being perplexed by originalities of conception." Others thought him more academic than magnetic. Unanimous praise was expressed for the inherent quality of the Boston Orchestra. This was the program: Beethoven — Fifth Symphony; Massenet — Pleurez, Mes Yeux ("Le Cid"); Dvorak — Slavonic Rhapsody No. 2; Mozart — Dove Sono ("Le Nozze di Figaro"); Berlioz — Overture to "Benvenuto Cellini." Laning Humphrey [41 FANTASTIC SYMPHONY (SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE). Op. 14A By Hector Berlioz Born at la C6te-Saint-Andre (Isere) , December 11, 1803; died in Paris, March 8, 1869 Berlioz's title, "Episode in the Life of an Artist," Op. 14, includes two works: the Fantastic Symphony and Lelio; or, The Return to Life, a lyric monodrama. The Symphony, composed in 1830, had its first performance December 5 of that year at the Conservatoire in Paris, Habeneck conducting. The first performance in the United States was at a concert of the Philharmonic Society of New York, Carl Bergmann conducting, January 27, 1866. The Symphony was first performed in Boston by the Harvard Musical Association, February 12, 1880, and first performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, December 19, 1885. It is scored for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets and E-flat clarinet, 4 bassoons, 2 cornets-d-pistons, 2 trumpets, 4 horns, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, bells, 2 harps, piano, and strings. The score is dedicated to Nicholas I. of Russia. There have been many attempts to explain that extraordinary musical apparition of 1830, the Symphonie Fantastique. Berlioz himself was explicit, writing of the "Episode in the Life of an Artist" as "the history of my love for Miss Smithson, my anguish and my dis- tressing dreams." This in his Memoirs; but he also wrote there: "It was while I was still strongly under the influence of Goethe's poem [Faust] that I wrote my Symphonie Fantastique." The New England Conservatory A COLLEGE OF MUSIC James Aliferis, President BACHELOR AND MASTER OF MUSIC In All Fields ARTIST'S DIPLOMA In Applied Music Performing Organizations SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • CHAMBER ORCHESTRA SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE • OPERA ORATORIO CHORUS • A CAPPELLA CHOIR CHAMBER SINGERS Member, New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools Charter Member, National Association of Schools of Music For information regarding admission and scholarships, write to the Dean. 290 HUNTINGTON AVENUE BOSTON 15, MASSACHUSETTS [51 Yet the "Episode" cannot be put down simply as a sort of lover's confession in music, nor its first part as a "Faust" symphony. In 1830, Berlioz had never talked to Miss Smithson. He was what would now be called a "fan" of the famous Irish actress, for she scarcely knew of the existence of the obscure and perhaps crazy young French composer who did not even speak her language. Her image was blended in the thoughts of the entranced artist with the parts in which he beheld her on the boards — Ophelia or Juliet — as Berlioz shows in his excited letters to his friend Fernand at the time. Can that image be reconciled with the "courtesan" of the last movement, who turned to scorn all that was tender and noble in the beloved theme, the idee fixe? The Berlioz specialists have been at pains to explain the "aflreuses verites" with which Berlioz charged her in his letter to Fernand (April 30, 1830). These truths, unexplained, may have been nothing more fright- ful than his realization that Miss Smithson was less a goddess than a flesh and blood human being who, also, was losing her vogue. The poet's "vengeance" makes no sense, except that illogic is the stuff of dreams. It would also be an over-simplification to say that Berlioz merely wanted to use a witches' sabbath in his score and altered his story accordingly. Berlioz did indeed decide at last to omit the story from his programs (for performances of the Symphony without the companion piece Lelio*) . He no doubt realized that the wild story made for distraction and prejudice, while the bare titles allowed the music to speak persuasively in its own medium. At first, when he drafted and re-drafted the story, he cannot be acquitted of having tried to draw the attention of Paris to his music, and it is equally plain that to put a well-known stage figure into his story would have helped his purpose.