O 8 ¥
Fourteenth Concert^ Thursday, February 3rd to the parents:
THE FINAL YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT of the season by the DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VALTER POOLE conducting is . . . SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12 at 11:00 A.M. in the MASONIC AUDITORIUM with LAURENTINE COLLINS, commentator and featuring RICHARD A. FORSYTH narrator ROBERT NEWKIRK cellist (Winner Instrumentalist Contest)
—LINCOLN’S BIRTHDAY PROGRAM — WAGNER, Prelude to “Die Meistersinger" BOCCHERINI, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B flat major (first movement only) Robert Newkirk, 17 COPLAND, A Lincoln Portrait Mr. Forsyth RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, “Introduction" and “Cortege” from “Le Coq d'Or"
Reserved Seats: $2, $1.25, 75< at the Symphony Office, Masonic Temple, TE. 1-3900 or Grinnell’s
Page Three Hundred Sixty-sever RESERVE NOW for the next . . . “FAMILY CONCERT”
by the
DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VALTER POOLE conducting
Sunday, February 20th — 3:30 P.M. Masonic Auditorium
with
EARL WILD pianist
MUSIC BY GEORGE GERSHWIN
— P ROGRAM-
STRIKE UP THE BAND
CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, F MAJOR
INTERMISSION
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
RHAPSODY IN BLUE
RESERVED SEATS: $1.25, Unreserved: 75# at the Symphony office, Masonic Temple or Grinnell’s
Page Three Hundred Sixty-eight Office
JOHN B. FORD, President NATE S. SHAPERO, Vice-President JOHN S. SWEENEY, JR., Vice-President JEROME H. REMICK, JR., Vice-President CHARLES T. FISHER, JR., Treasurer CHARLES W. BROWNELL, Asst. Treasurer EDGAR H. AILES, Secretary C. GRANT BARNES, Asst. Secretary
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Page Three Hundred Sixty-nine Policy and finance
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delations Committe e
CHESS LAGOMARSINO, JR., Chairman
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■J^onorari^
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MRS. JEROME H. REMICK
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COVER: SONG OF THE POET, by Peppino Mangravite (American, 1896-....)
One of the great array of Europe's artists who have become Americans. Painted during the World War years: over vast mountains tramp warring armies and on distant seas navys destroy each other: dead men hang on the gallows. Near by on a hill rock sits a youth singing ardently as he accompanies himself on a guitar, oblivious of the terrifying world beyond the grove of Spring trees that shield him. But in the valley below, a farmer frantically drives two horses on a plow to plant more grain to feed more armies or possibly a hungry poetl
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Odonorary
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Officers
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(committee (chairmen
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Page Three Hundred Seventy-one Fourteenth Concert Thursday, February 3rd
MOZART, Overture to "The Abduction from the Seraglio" *PARAY, Symphony No. 2 in A major
allegro ma non troppo scherzo larghetto allegro moderato
[INTERMISSION]
BRAHMS, Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, for Piano and Orchestra
allegro non troppo allegro appassionato andante allegretto grazioso
soloist: ARTUR RUBINSTEIN, pianist
conductor
‘ First American Performance.
The Steinway is the official piano of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Mercury Recordings
Page Three Hundred Seventy-three by J. Dorsey Callaghan
OVERTURE “THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO” (DIE ENTFUEHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL) . . WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Born Salzburg, 1756; Died Vienna, 1791. If one were to seek for the well-spring of the real German opera, Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” is the most obvious candidate. For this utterly charming singspiel had its immediate and lasting impact on the Viennese, who took it to their hearts. But even though the sprightly excursion into romance bears that honor proudly, it nevertheless has the essential of true art in that its appeal has been universal and lasting. Today, the opera is revived frequently for performance, in one of those rarely fortunate English translations, and the overture is even more frequently included in concert programs. To sense the lasting appeal of the opera, one must consider not only the fact that this is some of Mozart’s most beguiling music for the stage, but that the story of abduction by the Corsairs is eternally romantic. Within the past lifetime, it was the theme of an enormously successful novel by Rafael Sabatini, and down through the years it has been a consistent source of adventure plot. It bore something of the same relation to lovers of fiction as the realms of Outer Space do to child watchers of television and to so-called science-fiction fans. The mythical kingdom of Graustark and Hentzau have had much the same appeal within recent memory. During Mozart's time the recurrent story of capture and release of lovely maidens from the clutches of Mediterranean pirates was a favorite of the European stage. Indeed the libretto of “The Abduction,” by Gottlieb Stephanie, is based on a play by one Christoph Friedrich Bretzner. The latter gentleman gained immortality of sorts by a letter to a Leipzig newspaper in which he announced that “a certain person of the name of Mozart, living in Vienna, has had the impudence to use my drama ‘Belmont und Konstanze’ for an opera text. I hereby protest most solemnly against this invasion of my rights, and reserve further action.” Mozart's “theft” of the plot and libretto was nothing unusual for those days, when the protection of the copyright was unkown. There is even a possibility that the play had been plagiarized frequently before coming to Bretzner. The score which Mozart wrote reflects the joy of young love, for he had his beloved Constanze Weber in mind when he wrote it. It was because of the success of the opera at its first performance in Vienna that Mozart and Constanze were married within the year. That the leading role of Constanze was a lover’s tribute to his heart’s desire may hardly be doubted. When, in 1818, the opera was introduced at Dresden by Weber, he recom mended it as a picture of what every man's “joyous youthful years are to him; years the bloom of which he will never recapture.” Continued on page 377 »
Page Three Hundred Seventy-five PROGRAM NOTES continued
The music of the overture is exactly what the 18th Century accepted as “Turkish" music. The piccolo, triangle, big drum and cymbals lend the coloring that lovers of romance associated with the life of Oriental luxury in the Eastern Mediterranean. There is a vigorous statement pronounced in the opening bars which is reflected in its counterpart in the lower register. As the material is developed, we hear a forecast of the first song of Belmonte which will open the action of the opera. The overture does not have a formal ending, but advances immediately into the tenor’s apostrophe sung to Konstanze: “Hier soli ich denn sehen, Konstanze, dich mein Glueck!” (’Tis here that I shall find you, Konstanze, my dearest friend).
The opera, having been written under patronage of the Emperor Josef II, had as its basis the monarch’s desire to bring opera nearer to a German expression, in contrast to the Italian domination which had been the rule. Nevertheless, at the first performance, Josef was about the only one to offer adverse criticism, and then only to the effect that the score had too many notes. To this observation, Mozart replied that it had exactly enough, and there the matter rested. Mozart began the composition of the opera, at his usual headlong speed, in August of 1781. When it became apparent that the Emperor would not be able to attend at the date originally set, the composer proceeded at a more leisurely rate. The imperial intention had been to use the new Mozart opera in connection with a visit by the Grand Duke Paul of Russia which was to have occurred within six weeks. The arrival of the Russian personage was delayed, and when he did finally get to Vienna, he was entertained by Gluck’s "Alceste” instead. No reason for the substitution has been advanced, royalty having been accustomed to keeping its own counsel. Continued on page 378 »
DETROIT SYMPHONY RECORDINGS — MERCURY “Living Presence” Label: BEETHOVEN, Symphony No. 7 in A major...... MG 50022 DUKAS, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice...... MG 50035 FAURE, Pavane ...... MG 50029 FAURE, Incidental Music, “Pelleas and Melisande” MG 50035 FRANCK, Eros and Psyche...... MG 50029 FRANCK, Symphony in D minor...... MG 50023 LISZT, Les Preludes...... MG 50036 RAVEL, Bolero...... MG 50020 RAVEL, La Valse...... MG 50029 ROUSSEL, Spider’s Feast...... MG 50035 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, Capriccio Espagnol...... MG 50020 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, Russian Easter Overture...... MG 50028 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, Symphony No. 2 “Antar” .... MG 50028 SCHUMANN, Symphony No. 4 in D minor...... MG 50036 WAGNER, Die Meistersinger Prelude...... MG 50021 WAGNER, Lohengrin Preludes, Acts 1 and 3...... MG 50021 WAGNER, Ride of the Valkyries...... MG 50021 WAGNER, Tannhäuser Overture...... MG 50021
Page Three Hundred Seventy-seven Result was that “The Abduction" was not presented till July 16, 1782, at the Burgtheater, where it was acclaimed in triumph. Mozart’s concern for the borning brain-child was evident in his correspondence with his father, in which he gives us an interesting look into the creative mind: “As the original text began with a monologue, I asked Herr Stephanie to make a little arietta out of it . . and then to put in a duet instead of making the two chatter together after Osmin’s short song (referring to Osmin and Belmonte who share the opening moments of the opera). “As we have given the part of Osmin to Herr Fischer, who certainly has an excellent bass voice in spite of the fact that the Archbishop told me that he sang too low for a bass and that I assured him that he would sing higher the next time, we must take advantage of it, as he has the whole Viennese public on his side." Thus one may see that Mozart, like all good showmen, had the public in mind, even when creating within an art form. As for the overture, Mozart writes his father that he has sent him “only fourteen bars of the ouverture, which is very short with alternate fortes and pianos, the Turkish music always coming in at the fortes. The ouverture modulates through different keys, and I doubt if anyone, even if his previous night has been a sleepless one, could go to sleep over it." SECOND SYMPHONY IN A MAJOR...... PAUL PARAY Born at Le Treport, France, 1886. Like other works from the pen of Paul Paray, the Second Symphony was fully completed in the mind of the composer before he set it down on paper. Continued on page 379 »
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PROGRAM NOTES *> continued ♦ *
“It had been slowly germinating in my mind for a number of years before being completed in 1936,’’ he said (Paray is noted for his ability to organize a com position, down to the last marking, before writing it. This includes all matters of correction and detail). “I finally got around to putting it on paper in October-November, 1939 in; Treport, where it served as a calming influence for me during the terrible days of the Nazi ascendancy in Europe.’’
The first performance of this symphony was given in Paris at the Concerts Colonne, on April 28th, 1940, under the direction of the composer, who received at that time the famous Prix Loeffler which was established in America and which the Institut de France awarded for the first time on this occasion. When the symphony was performed, March 18, 1942, by the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire de Toulouse, the following explanatory notes were included in the program, without annotator credit: “This work which the composer conceived upon the death of his father, bears the dedication: ‘To my Father and Mother.’ “One would think from the outset that he is going to draw on folklore and write symphonic variations on an old song sung by the sailors of Treport, a little fishing village in Normandy where the composer was born. Nd. He has merely taken his inspiration from the musical spirit of this song — as well as from the naive Continued on page 381 »
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Page Three Hundred Seventy-nine text which accompanies it — without exploiting the material. Here it is, as a humble offering from the author to his father who protected and guided him through child hood and to his mother who hummed this tune to him as she rocked him to sleep:
“We note that the composer has grafted a group of three other notes onto the last note of the song which form with it, in the ‘fourth tone’ of the liturgical modes, the ‘germ’ of the principal theme of the Allegro ma non troppo which begins immediately. “But first the ‘Tolling for the Dead’ sounds the unique summons of many French churches:
“Its echo resounds through the four movements of the score, in the most diverse nuances and rhythms, notably in the finale when the Tolling for the Dead becomes a bright and joyful carillon:
“1. Allegro ma non troppo — This first movement unfolds in a succession of episodes linked together by the same nostalgic thought. “2. Scherzo — Evocation of happy, carefree, playful childhood. “The theme of the middle section of the movement is in the style of the old popular roundeleys in which the statement of a principal solo voice alternates with the reply of the other voices in chorus. “3. Larghefto — Mourning and sadness, expressed by the song of the clarinet which is punctuated by the uninterrupted tolling of the funeral bells. “The idea which follows has the religious character of a meditation under the vaulting arches of the church in the composer's native town. Continued on page 385 »
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PROGRAM NOTES ♦ continued ♦ ♦ » . “A long crescendo brings back the original phrase by the full orchestra; and the movement comes to a close in the serenity of the now broadened religious theme. “4. Allegro moderato — Hymn of ¡oy, filial gratitude, and confidence in life.” The little song mentioned in the notes as the “germ of the principal theme of the Allegro ma non troppo” is a wry sentiment which reflects the attitude of the fishing sailor the world over: ‘‘What do the men of Treport do when the wind is against them? They reef the mainsail and wait for the storm to pass. ‘‘Well, now I will do ¡ust the same as I wait for my sweetheart’s tantrum to pass over.” Mr. Paray, who replies to all queries as to his age with the charming French proverb, “On est toujours vingt ans dans quelque coign du coeur” (One is always twenty years old in some corner of his heart), is at the peak of his powers as a musician and conductor. His Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc is a masterful work which has been acclaimed throughout Europe. It was performed at these concerts last year under the composer’s direction. A graduate of the Paris Conservatory, he won the Prix de Rome for composition in 1911 for his cantata “Yanitza.” After World War I, in which he served at the front and was captured by the Germans, his conducting career began in earnest when he was made assistant to Camille Chevillard of the Lamoureux Orchestra. He became the orchestra’s principal conductor in 1923. In 1932, Mr. Paray succeeded Gabriel Pierne as president and conductor of the famed Concerts Colonne Orchestra. His American debut was in 1939 with the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra at New York's Stadium concerts. During World War II he served in the French underground resistance. He became head of the reorganized Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1952. Continued on page 387 »
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PROGRAM NOTES ♦ continued ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ CONCERTO No. 2 IN B-FLAT MAJOR FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA...... JOHANNES BRAHMS Born Homburg, 1833; Died Vienna, 1897. In the matter of composition for the piano, Brahms stood four-square on his own solid ground. He was first and last a pianist, with an unfailing pianistic sense. His skill in his youth as an artist of the keyboard has become legendary, although there is reason to believe that it lessened in his later years. It was his ability as a pianist that brought him to the attention of Joachim when he was twenty years old, and through him to Robert Schumann. It was his first long step forward along the path to fame. It is told that Brahms was accompanist to the Hungarian violinist Remenyi when his fortune turned. They were to play a concert together at Goettingen, where, unfortunately, the piano was tuned a half-tone below concert pitch. Nothing daunted, Brahms transposed the entire piano part of the Kreutzer Sonata from memory, thus saving the day for the violinist. Joachim, in the audience, asked to meet the young pianist. A friendship began which continued, with the usual brief storms, for a life time. The Second Piano Concerto was completed in 1881, the same year which produced the Academic Festival Overture. It was preceded by several years of work and planning, having been started while he was under the influence of a visit to Italy when he was forty-four years old. The start consisted only of sketches for the concerto and was laid aside till a second visit to that sunny land gave him the added incentive. After that it was a matter of a few months until the concerto was ready for performance. The composer was at the piano at the first performance, conducted by Buelow at a rehearsal of the Meiningen Orchestra on October 17, 1881. Its first public Continued on page 388 »
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52 PUTNAM AVENUE TEmple 1-2870 Member of the National Association of Schools of Music
Page Three Hundred Eighty-seven PROGRAM NOTES continued presentation was in November in Budapest, with Brahms again at the piano. The composer, with his usual labored humor, spoke of the concerto as “the long terror." Before presenting it to Buelow, he first played it through for the critic Hanslick, with Buell at a second piano. Brahms referred to Buelow as his “victim." Later, when the Meiningen Orchestra visited Vienna in November and Decem ber, Hanslick recorded his impressions of Brahms the soloist. They are included in “Vienna’s Golden Years of Music” as translated by Henry Pleasants III (Simon & Schuster). “There was an extraordinary reception for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat," Hanslick wrote. “The composer himself was the pianist, playing with his characteristic rhythmic strength and masculine authority. One sensed that he stood above the work, but this majesty and objectivity sometimes contributed to an impression of carelessness, not to say indifference. Nor was the purely technical execution adequately polished or smooth. It was not, in any case, brilliant. “Brahms played as a great musician who had once been a great virtuoso but who now had more important things to do than practice a few hours a day." The composer was merciless in his demands on the performer. The work is Continued on page 389 »
ABOUT OUR SOLOIST . . . ARTUR RUBINSTEIN, pianist “Artur Rubinstein made his first American appear ance more than forty years ago. He has long been a great musician and a grand executant; and now . . . he is king of his profession. He is a master pianist and a master musician. There has not been his like since Busoni!" So wrote Virgil Thomson, noted writer for the New York Herald Tribune after a recent Rubinstein concert. The world-famous artist, currently on his seventeenth consecutive tour of the United States, ranks as one of the greatest pianists of all time. Born in Warsaw, Poland, son of a hand-'com manufacturer, he first displayed signs of musical talent at the age of three. At six he had already performed at a charity concert in Warsaw. At eleven, young Artur made his formal debut in Berlin under the baton of the venerable Joachim, who had assumed responsibility for Artur's musical future. By the time Rubinstein was fifteen, his reputation had spread throughout Europe and he had earned the praise of Saint-Saëns, Paderewski and Max Bruch. In 1906, he paid his first visit to America where he gave 75 concerts in three months. Rubinstein returned to Europe to begin his global peregrinations, which have since covered more than two million miles and have taken him to every country in the world except Tibet. Upon the outbreak of World War I, he tried to join the Polish Legion but his knowl edge of eight languages made him more valuable as an interpreter. In 1946, the most international of all living artists, Rubinstein became a U. S. citizen. He is prouder of the simple document that officially makes him an American than any of the many decorations and citations he has received from universities and governments. Wherever Rubinstein plays, his concerts evoke unparalleled demonstrations. His appear ances in Paris have set all-time records. In Rome, box-office lines have formed at midnight before the morning tickets were put on sale. In Dallas, he topped all attendance figures when he played with the Dallas Symphony. In Chicago he shattered box-office records for a single concert at the mammoth Opera House. Mr. Rubinstein makes his home in Hollywood and after the last concert on his itinerary he rushes back to spend as much time as he can with his wife and four children.
Page Three Hundred Eighty-eight PROGRAM NOTES continued of terrifying difficulty, but with comparatively little of the compensation for the soloist which is to be found in the show-piece concertos. The satisfaction lies far deeper than the surface. Great as are the technical demands, the intellectual ones are as great, if not greater. He is called upon to view the work as a whole, and to a degree demanded by few other such works. As a voice in the orchestra he may become submerged unless he is careful to assert himself. To one who is less than a finely accomplished virtuoso, performance of the concerto may not appeal. But when played by a master, it is quite likely to become one of the season’s most magnificent events. The B-flat concerto is in four movements, rather than the conventional three, which may be taken as an evidence of the composer’s rugged individuality. He felt the need for contrast between what are now the first and third movements, and forthwith inserted it. The opening movement is long and filled with difficulty for the pianist . “not a piece for small girls,” as the composer himself put it. The piano, assumes, in effect, a place in the orchestra, being subordinated to the greater voice. Intimations of the first theme may be heard in the beginning of the movement. The theme is proclaimed by horns, the piano replying. The horn call dominates the movement, with the piano adorning orchestral developments of the thematic material in glittering arpeggios. The movement is filled with contrasts of powerful climaxes and pianissimi, till the basic theme is exploited brilliantly in the final measures. The second movement might be termed a scherzo. It is stormy and fiery, broken by interludes of calm. The melody of the trio is gracefully cheerful. One cello sings the opening theme of the third movement. It is a song as lovely as any Brahms ever wrote, including “Immer leiser wird mein schlummer," which it resembles. Bassoons and violins take it up and the piano assumes a decorative function. In the fintil movement the piano becomes more strongly the solo instrument, even though the work as a whole remains what may justly be called a symphony for orchestra and piano. The piano states not only the principal theme, but portions of olhers. The movement is in rondo form, with three themes of importance, the second of which appears in strings and woodwinds. The third is given to the piano with accompaniment by plucked strings. The concerto ends in a mood of excitement, expressed in powerful sonorities.
Our next concert . . . THURSDAY, February 10th VALTER POOLE conducting — Program — BEETHOVEN, Overture to "Leonore,” No. 3 STRAUSS, Suite from “Der Rosenkavalier”
INTERMISSION SIBELIUS, Symphony in E minor, No. 1
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