^ SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

FOUNDED IN I88I BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON

SEVENTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1958-1959

Sanders Theatre, Cambridge [Harvard University] Boston Symphony Orchestra

(Seventy-eighth Season, 1958-1959) CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL

Violins Violas Bass Clarinet Richard Burgin Joseph de Pasqualc Rosario Mazzeo Concert-master Jean Cauhape Bassoons Alfred Krips Eugen Lehner Sherman Albert Bernard Walt George Zazofsky Ernst Panenka Rolland Tapley George Humphrey Theodore Brewster Norbert Lauga Jerome Lipson Vladimir Resnikoff Robert Karol Contra-Bassoon Harry Dickson Reuben Green Richard Plaster Gottfried Wilfinger Bernard Kadinoff Horns Vincent Mauricci Einar Hansen James Stagliano Joseph Leibovici John Fiasca Charles Yancich Earl Hedberg Emil Kornsand Harry Shapiro Roger Shermont Violoncellos Harold Meek Minot Beale Samuel Mayes Paul Keaney Silberman Herman Alfred Zighera Osbourne McConathy Stanley Benson Jacobus Langendoen Trumpets Leo Panasevich Mischa Nieland Roger Voisin Sheldon Rotenberg Karl Zeise Armando Ghitalla Fredy Ostrovsky Josef Zimbler Andr^ Come Clarence Knudson Bernard Parronchi Gerard Goguen Pierre Mayer Martin Hoherman Trombones Manuel Zung Louis Berger William Gibson Samuel Diamond Richard Kapuscinski William Moyer Victor Manusevitch Robert Ripley Kauko Kahila Winograd James Nagy Winifred Josef Orosz Melvin Bryant Flutes Lloyd Stonestreet Tuba Doriot Anthony Dwycr K. Vinal Smith Messina Saverio James Pappoutsakis William Waterhousc Phillip Kaplan Harps William Marshall Bernard Zighera Leonard Moss Piccolo Olivia Luetcke Ceci George Madsen Jesse Timpani Noah Bielski Oboes Everett Firth Alfred Schneider Ralph Gomberg Harold Farberman Joseph Silverstein Jean Devergie Percussion John Holmes Basses Charles Smith Georges Moleux English Horn Harold Thompson Henry Freeman Arthur Press Louis Speyer Irving Frankel Piano Henry Portnoi Clarinets Bernard Zighera Henri Girard Gino Cioflfi John Barwicki Manuel Valerio Library Leslie Martin Pasquale Cardillo Victor Alpert Ortiz Walton E\) Clarinet William Shisler SEVENTY-EIGHTH SEASON, 1958-1959

Boston Symphony Orchestra

CHARLES MUNCH, Musk 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. Pai-ne 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 Administratoi Leonard Burkat Rosario Mazzeo Music Administrator Personnel Manager SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON 15

[1] 7?^^^iHIS DEDICATION AND INTERPRETIVE POWERS ARE MOVINGLY

REVEALED IN NEW ORTHOPHONIG SOUND. ON RCAVictor records exclusively

other recen^ albums by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra In

in *; New Orthophonic Sound: Berlioz: Harold Italy Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 , " and Schubert: Unfinished" Symphony ; Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe . For your 11 x

14 copy of this drawing, suitable for framing, send 25^ with your return address to RCA Victor Record Division, Dept. F-2, Box 469, Madison Post Office, N. Y. 10, N.Y.

*AL«0 AVAILABLE ON NEW LIVING STEREO RECORDS. fffTiS

• RAOWCOIirOUnONOFMlEMC*

l«? SEVENTY-EIGHTH SEASON • NINETEEN HUNDRED FIFTY-EIGHT - FIFTY-NINE

Sixth Program

TUESDAY EVENING, April 7, at 8:30 o'clock

Mozart Masonic Funeral Music, K. 477 In memory of Jerome D. Greene October 12, 1874 -March 29, 1959

Faure "Pell^as et Melisande," Suite from the Incidental Music to Maeterlinck's Tragedy, Op. 80

I. Prelude: Quasi adagio

II. "Fileuse": Andantino quasi allegretto

III. Sicilienne: Allegretto molto moderate

IV. "The Death of Melisande": Molto adagio

HoNEGGER Symphony No. 4, "Deliciae Basilienses"

I. Lento e misterioso; Allegro

II. Larghetto

III. Allegro INTERMISSION

Schumann Symphony No. 2, in C major. Op. 6i

I. Sostenuto assai; Allegro ma non troppo

II. Scherzo: Allegro vivace; Trio I; Trio II

III. Adagio espressivo

IV. Allegro molto vivace

BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS

Is] "PELLfiAS AND M£LISANDE," Orchestral Suite, Op. 80, TAKEN FROM THE StAGE MuSIC TO MaETERLINCK's PlAY By Gabriel Faure

Born in Pamiers (Ari^ge), France, May 12, 1845; ^^^^ ^^ Passy, November 4, 1924

Composed in 1898, Faure's incidental music to Maeterlinck's play was first heard in the production given in London, June 21, 1898, with Mrs. Patrick Campbell. There was a performance at the Boston Theatre in Boston, also by Mrs. Campbell's company, April 12, 1902. The suite drawn from the music was first performed at a

Lamoureux concert in , February 3, 1901. It was introduced in Boston at a concert of the New England Conservatory Orchestra, March 8, 1904. There was a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, December 17, 1904, and again

December 2, 1905. Vincent d'Indy, as guest, conducted it March 18, 1911, Pierre Monteux, November 23, 1923, Serge Koussevitzky, April 21, 1939, December 29, 1939, April 20, 1945 (two movements); November 23, 1945 (Paul Paray, conducting). Charles Munch performed the Molto adagio in memory of Ginette Neveu, November 18, 1949. The Suite was performed under the direction of Ernest Ansermet, Decem- ber 14-15, 1951.

(iCT)ELL£AS ET M^L/S^ATDE,'' with Faure's incidental music, was • produced four years before the first performance of Debussy's opera on the same play (the play without music had been published in 1892 and first staged in Paris at the Bouffes Parisiens, May 17, 1893).

The first of the four movements in Gabriel Faure's suite is the prelude to the play. Quasi adagio, it develops two themes of lyric character, and suggests the forest scene to come with a soft horn call.

The second movement, "Fileuse,' is an entr'acte in preparation for the third act where, in a room in the castle, "Pelleas and M^lisande are discovered, M^lisande spinning with a distaff at the back of the room." It is based upon a spinning figure in triplets (andantino quasi allegretto), which is given to the violins and occasionally alternated with the violas. The Adagio is from the closing scene, the death of M^lisande. [copyrighted]

In this relatively democratic age, almost anyone can have an account — checking, trust or savings — with Cambridge Trust Company. To the aristocracy of music lovers, how- ever, the bank's services are offered with enthusiasm, and in the hope that there will be no discords. CAMBRIDGE TRUST COMPANY Harvard Square

Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

[4l SYMPHONY NO. 4 ("DELICIAE BASILIENSES") By Arthur Honegger

Born in LeHavre, March 10, 1892; died in Paris, November 27, 1955

This symphony, composed in 1946, had its first performance by the Orchestra of Basel, January 21, 1947. It was introduced to this country by Charles Munch conducting the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York, December 30, 1948.

'tHhe following is inscribed upon the autographed score: "This fourth -*• and probably last symphony was written for my friend Paul Sacher on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Baslerkammerorchestery* A note by the composer written for the programs of the Basel Orchestra on the occasion of the Symphony's first performance has been quoted in the programs of the Symphony Society in the following translation:

"If the Symphonie Liturgique more or less follows the tradition of Beethoven, being in its essence of a dramatic and affecting quality, the present one, on the contrary, more properly gives evidence of a connec- tion with Haydn or Mozart in its spirit and its form. The instrumen- tation, which comprises two flutes, oboe, two clarinets, bassoon, two horns, trumpet, piano, and percussion, in addition to strings, virtually relates it to chamber music. The writing is transparent and, above all, linear. "The first movement, dating from June, 1946, expresses precisely a 'state of spirit.' In the midst of odious and stupid conditions of life which are imposed upon us, it raises the hope of an escape from such an atmosphere, as, for instance, to spend a summer in Switzerland,

* The words "This fourth and probably last symphony" indicate the later persuasion of Serge Koussevitzky for whom he wrote his Fifth. Paul Sacher, who conducts a chamber orchestra in Zurich and in Basel, has received the dedication and given first performances to Richard Strauss* Metamorphoseon, Martinu's Toccata and Two Canzone, Martin's Petite Symphonie Concertante, Stravinsky's Concerto for Strings in D major, and Honegger's Symphony for Strings, as well as this one. Each of these works, except that by Martinu, has been per- formed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

KNEISEL HALL, BLUE HILL, MAINE Summer School July 6th to August 29th, 1959 INTENSIVE ENSEMBLE and INDIVIDUAL TRAINING Distinguished Faculty includes: JOSEPH FUCHS-ARTUR BALSAM -LOUIS PERSINGER ROBERT GERLE- WALTER TRAMPLER - LUIGI SILVA RUTH BALSAM - CHRISTINE DETHIER - LOUISE BEHREND MARIANNE KNEISEL, Director 190 RIVERSIDE DRIVE, NEW YORK 24, N. Y.

[5] surrounded by affectionate friends for whom the musical art still plays a major role. This expectation instills in the composer the urge to create. "The second movement is based on the old popular song of Basle Z'Basel an mi'm Rhi, which toward the end of the movement is cited entire in its original and ingenious form [horn]:

"The Finale is of polyphonic construction, a bit complex, perhaps (but the listener needn't become too concerned about that), in which the various components are progressively superposed. The form con- tains elements of rondo, passacaglia, and fugue. From all of these superpositions there leaps forth the tune Easier Morgenstreich, which j^,,TT'rfiTl,,>rr,,,r rri|T7, t >f,^^ ^

soars over the stretto of the principal theme, and after a reference to the slow episode of the middle of the movement, there is a quick con- clusion, like a cloud of dust which disappears. "Because of the quotations of these characteristic songs, but even more so for personal reasons, I have employed the subtitle Deliciae Basilienses [Baslerian Delights]. I hope I have not been false to their spirit."

M. Honegger visited America in 1929, and conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra as guest on January 11-12. He returned to this country in the summer of 1947 at the invitation of the Berkshire Music Center, to take the composition class at Tanglewood with Aaron Copland. Arthur Honegger was a son of Switzerland, a true product of the little country where it is claimed the fairer traits of the French and German peoples are "happily blended.'*

IRTlny Your grandfather turned up safe and sound, back where he'd first seen that fascinat- Gz*£i]:icir£i.tHe]f* Rst]:^ ing engine. No spanking from his re- lieved mother. For 95 years, children have been getting happily lost here, He was fi\e years old, and he had seen among the red engines and other fas- a red engine here on a visit to Schwarz cinators we sell, at competitive prices. with his mother. Suddenly she missed Come in and get lost, and love it. him. After quite a boy-hunt, your Send for free Catalogue BS

3 S C H \A^AR Z Famous Toy Store ^^ 40 Newbury St., Boston 16, Hut., Telephom: COnHomrealth 6-5101 ^^'^ New Yort • Ardaorc, Pil

[6] "His education and general culture are purely French," says a colleague, "but there is in his temperament a stratum of undeniable Germanic heredity which allies him to the great masters beyond the Rhine. In him blend harmoniously the intellectual qualities of the Latin, of dimension, clearness, and order, the delicacy of hearing and the sensitiveness natural to the Frenchman, with the instinct for dis- cipline and that depth of sentiment which are considered the heritage of the Germanic race." He was born and grew up in Havre, but his parents were both from Zurich, and the family often visited the Swiss city. Neither parent was particularly musical, but his mother played the piano sufficiently to fire him with an ardor for Beethoven's sonatas. An unnamed lady of the Austrian consulate at Ziirich divined musical possibilities in the small boy of six, and urged his development. He was taught piano and violin, and it is reported that while his instruction was still limited to the beginning violinist's key of G, he wrote little pieces which he naively called "sonatas" and "operas," showing an instinctive understanding of musical forms. At sixteen he entered the business house of his father, but when he attended the Conservatory of Ziirich, the director, Hegar, persuaded the by no means reluctant father that the art of music was the son's true and only place. He entered the Conservatoire in Paris in 1911, and there sat beside the young Darius Milhaud in the classes of G^dalge and Widor. His compositions as a student came under the beneficent eye of Vincent d'Indy. "The plant flourished under this culture," writes Roland Manuel in a monograph which carefully follows his stylistic development. "Where another would have been stung to rebellion by a regime of discipline, Honegger submitted peaceably, while the first foliations of an awaken- ing originality took their free course, quietly, but with increasing boldness, within the formal bounds. He gladly made Bach his master, ." studied the great architect of music with devotion. . .

BOSTON . . .

WELLESLEY . . .

and now in the NORTHSHORE SHOPPING CENTER W. W. WINSHIP Fine Luggage and Leather Goods Est. 1776

[71 TANGLE WOOD LENOX,

July 1 — August 9

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHARLES MUNCH Music Director r^

1959 BERKSHIRE FESTIVAL

Conductors CHARLES MUNCH PIERRE MONTEUX

Soloists RUDOLF SERKIN, Piano ISAAC STERN, Violin In Concertos of Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Beethoven

Other soloists

Programs will include: Mozart, Requiem\ Berlioz, Requiem) Beethoven, Ninth Symphony

Six weekends of concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

Certain composers will be featured as follows:

July 3-4-5 (BACH) July 10-11-12 (MOZART) July 17-18-19 (TCHAIKOVSKY) July 24-25-26 (BRAHMS) • July 31 - August 1-2 (THE ROMANTIC PERIOD) August 7-8-9 (BEETHOVEN)

Full ticket and program information at the FESTIVAL OFFICE

Symphony Hall - CO 6-1492

[8] At twenty-five he was a self-found artist, and while passing under

such influences as Ravel, Debussy, and German romanticism, it was a warrant of personal integrity that heterogeneous elements became fused and apt in his work. From 1916 to 1920, Honegger wrote a considerable amount of chamber music of which M. Roland Manuel considers the 'cello sonata most important. At about the end of the war, Honegger was frequently seen among the "Nouveaux Jeunes," so dubbed by Erik Satie, by him cherished and nurtured at his estab- lishment in the Rue Huyghens. It was here in 1919 that Honegger suddenly found himself publicly

classified as one of the ''groupe des six," a title which is now a legend. The episode may here be dismissed with a few lines from the com- poser himself. "The critic Henri Collet, of Comcedia, came one day to Milhaud, wishing to meet some of the younger musicians. That day he became acquainted with Auric, Durey, Milhaud, Poulenc, Germaine |L Tailleferre and myself. In an article a few days later he compared us "" to the Tive' Russians, and called us the 'Six' French." ^ The unexpected publicity was both widespread and misleading. T These young people were not entirely averse to a reputation, and what they had never officially admitted they were not obliged officially to disclaim. Held together by no stronger bonds than companionship and a musical absorption in music, each continued blithely to pursue his or her own particular path. Honegger's path led him, by way of various incidental music and ballets, into a feat which surprised him probably as much as anyone else — incidental music for "Le Roi David,'* begun and finished by necessity, in two months, performed at the "Theatre du Jorat" in Mezieres, near Lausanne (1921), and within two years spread its wings CHEZ JEAN Restaurant Fran^ais - FIRST CLASS CUISINE -

Lunch 12 to 2 • Dinner 6 to 9 • Sunday 5 to 9

No. 1 SHEPARD STREET, 3 Blocks North of Cambridge Common Jean, Chef and Owner Phone EL 4-8980

"A Resort of True Distinction in the Matchless Berkshire Hills" THE BERK!$HIRE I IV N GREAT BARRINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS invites you to enjoy its New England Charm and Hospitality Fine accommodations at moderate American and European Plan Rates Dining Rooms open from early morning until midnight Cocktail Lounge Landlord Open from May into November James J. Joyce,

[9] as a widely popular oratorio. According to Manuel, he had no time to refine, to experiment, boldly to break new ground in a medium to him unaccustomed. The result was a score which, despite individual force and merit, still leaned on tradition, and delighted the conservatives. But '^Horace Victorieux" (1921) showed him uncorrupted by base concessions. "The rear guard," says Manuel, "were embarrassing the author of King David with welcoming smiles, while the advance guard, disgusted, were ready to bestow upon him the contemptuous label 'The Virtuous Arthur, Hero of the Philistines.* But, oblivious to the rumble of factions, the 'virtuous Arthur' sat unperturbed in his study, smoking his pipe."

Ren^ Chalupt thus sums up his style: "Through the tutelage of an

uncongenial culture he has passed essentially unaffected. He is more interested in the nature of things than their changing phases. We see in him the image of the Horace whom he has created. His art possesses muscular vigor and judicious wisdom, which, while husbanding its native force, can encompass victory." And even in the early Honegger, the same writer divined this virtue:

"Une s^r^nit^ toute goethienne, indice de sa bonne santd intellectuelle." [COPYRIGHl£D]

The New England Conservatory A COLLEGE OF MUSIC Founded in i86y James Aliferis, President

Artist's Diploma Debut Recital by ANNABELLE BERNARD SOPRANO FELIX WOLFES, Accompanist

Wednesday, April 15 8:30 P.M. Jordan Hall

Tickets without charge at Jordan Hall Box Office, or write Dean enclosing stamped return envelope,

290 HUNTINGTON AVENUE BOSTON 15, MASSACHUSETTS

[10] A

Berkshire Music Center

CHARLES MUNCH, Director

The Boston Symphony Orchestra's

Summer Music School AT T NGL E WOO D

JUNE 29 — AUGUST 9

Students — Teachers

Orchestra, Chamber Music, Chorus Conducting, Composition

Amateurs — Music hovers Tanglewood Study Group

2-, 4- or 6-week enrollment

beginning June 29, July 13, July 27

includes admission to Festival concerts

and singing in the Festival Chorus with the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Write to: P. Bossler, Registrar

Symphony Hall, Boston 15, Massachusetts

[»1 SYMPHONY IN C MAJOR, No. 2, Op. 61 By Robert Schumann

Born at Zwickau, on June 8, 1810; died at Endenich, July 29, 1856

This symphony was begun in the latter part of 1845 ^^^ completed in 1846. Numbered second in order of publication, it was actually the third of Schumann's symphonies, for he composed his First Symphony, in B-flat, and the D minor Sym- phony, later revised and published as the Fourth, in 1841. The Symphony in C major was first performed under the direction of Mendelssohn at the Gewandhaus Concerts

in Leipzig, November 5, 1846. The orchestration consists of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.

npHE G major Symphony seems to have been the product of Schu- - mann's emergence from a critical condition verging on nervous collapse. It was composed at Dresden, where the Schumanns, married four years, had taken up their abode at the end of 1844, having left Leipzig. Clara had hoped for an improvement in her husband's con- dition by a change in environment. In Leipzig he had been forced to give up his activities one by one, including his editorship of the "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik.*' Morbid, lurking terrors preyed upon him — fear of insanity, of death, and also of trivial things. According to his Doctor (Helbig), "so soon as he busied

himself with intellectual matters he was seized with fits of trembling, fatigue, coldness of the feet, and a state of mental distress culminating in a strange terror of death, which manifested itself in the fear inspired in him by heights, by rooms on an upper story, by all metal instruments, even keys, and by medicines, and the fear of being poisoned." His sole refuge was his art; but there came the point when even his musical thoughts in the seclusion of his own study were insupportable. He made this pitiable confession about a period of similar difficulty two years later: "I lost every melody as soon as I conceived it; my mental ear was overstrained." The music to Goethe's "Faust," which he was working upon at this time, he had to put definitely aside. And he wrote to Dr. Eduard Kriiger (in October): "I have not been able to bear the hearing of music for some time past; it cuts into my nerves like knives." But these distressing moments were intermittent. Schumann, recover-

For the Exquisite in Fashion for a Lovelier You! GERTRUDE SINGER, Inc. 54 Ghurch Street Harvard Square GAMBRmcE, Mass. COATS SUITS DRESSES SPORTSWEAR MILLINERY ACCESSORIES Phone EL 4-8564 Phone KI 7-4188

[12] LIST OF WORKS Performed in the Cambridge Series DURING THE SEASON 1958-1959

Bach Suite No. 4, in D major I October 28 Barbirolli An Elizabethan Suite, arranged from the "Fitzwilliam Virginal Book" IV February 3 Beethoven Symphony No. 6, in F major, "Pastoral," Op. 68 I October 28 Berlioz "Royal Hunt and Storm," Descriptive Symphony from "The Trojans" V March 17 Bloch "Schelomo" (Solomon), Hebrew Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra Soloist: Samuel Mayes II December 16 Brahms Tragic Overture, Op. 81 III January 20 Symphony No. 2, in D major, Op. 73 IV February 3 Debussy "La Mer," Three Orchestral Sketches I October 28 Delius "The Walk to the Paradise Garden," Intermezzo from "A Village Romeo and Juliet" IV February 3 Faure "Pell^as et M^lisande," Suite from the Incidental Music to Maeterlinck's Tragedy, Op. 80 VI April 7 Visione," Concert Suite from HiNDEMiTH . . "Nobilissima the Ballet "Saint Francis" III January 20 Basilienses" HoNEGGER Symphony No. 4, "Deliciae VI April 7 Symphony No. 3 Piston. . . V March 17 100 Prokofieff Symphony No. 5, Op. II December 16 61 Schumann Symphony No. 2, in C major. Op. VI April 7 Strauss Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 V March 17 Stravinsky "Petrouchka," A Burlesque in Four Scenes III January 20 Walton Partita for Orchestra IV February 3 Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, for Double String Orchestra II December 16

Richard Burgin conducted the concert on December 16; Pierre Monteux conducted the concert on January 20; February Sir John Barbirolli conducted the concert on 3 [>S] OPENING TUESDAY NIGHT, APRIL 28

74th Season

ARTHUR FIEDLER'S 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

The Pops will be given each night except Mondays in May (including Sunday after- noons and evenings), and nightly except Sundays through June 27.

Tickets on sale at Box Office two weeks in advance of each concert. (CO 6-1492) SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON

[14] ing his health, could muster his creative forces, produce voluminously and in his finest vein. It was with timidity and at first for short periods that Schumann resumed his music in the year 1845 — the first year in Dresden. In the winter there was the blank of inaction, and the composer continued despondent. "I still suffer a great deal," he wrote to Kruger, "and my courage often fails me entirely. I am not allowed to work, only to rest and take walks, and often I have not strength enough for it. Sweet spring, perhaps thou wilt restore me!" To Verhulst he wrote on May 28: "The time during which you heard nothing from me was a bad one for me. I was often very ill. Dark demons dominated me. Now I am rather better and getting to work again, which tor months I have been unable to do." The composer took restorative drafts of that prime spiritual tonic — Sebastian Bach, and turned his own hand to counterpoint. The faith- ful Clara was as always at his side, and recorded in her diary her delight when, although she herself could not produce anything better than a barely acceptable fugue, "he himself has been seized by a regular pas- sion tor fugues, and beautiful themes pour from him while I have not yet been able to find one."

The mental exercise was diverting rather than nerve-straining. It led him quietly and gradually into his saving world of musical creation. Robert, still busy with his fugues, began to regain his old confidence, and wrote to Mendelssohn in July: "I am very much behind, and have little to show you. But I have an inward confidence that I have not been quite standing still in music, and sometimes a rosy glow seems to foretell the return of my old strength, and a fresh hold upon my art." A letter of July gives more definite promise: "Drums and trumpets have been sounding in my head for several days (trumpets in C). I do not know what will come of it."

What came of it was the Symphony in C, which took such strong hold on him that it encroached upon another joyful task — the filling out of the concert allegro of 1840 into a full-sized piano concerto, by the addition of two movements.

SCHOENHOF'S, INC. ^""'''S" ^""^^ 1280 Massachusetts Avenub Harvard Square, Cambridge

Exclusive Headquarters of Assimil Language Record Courses Grammars and Dictionaries for 100 Languages

Librairie Francaise; All French Books, Classical and Modern

Vine Pictures — Custom Framing on Premises — Moderately Priced

[15] The first three movements of the C major symphony came into being through days and nights of work in the latter part of December. "My husband," wrote Clara to Mendelssohn on December 27, "has been very busy lately, and at Christmas he delighted and surprised me with the sketch of a new symphony; at present he is music pure and simple, so that there is nothing to be done with him — but I like him like that!" Clara would rejoice as delight in his growing score would possess his thoughts and exclude darker fantasies: "What a joyful sensation it must be," she wrote, "when an abundant imagination like his bears one to higher and higher spheres. ... I am often quite carried away with astonishment at my Robert! Whence does he get all his fire, his imagination, his freshness, his originality? One asks that again and again, and one cannot but say that he is one of the elect, to be gifted with such creative power." When Schumann wrote to Fischof of this symphony that it "appears more or less clad in armor," his thoughts were still borne down by the associations that surrounded it. The music, by turn gently grave and openly joyous, is a life affirmation in every part. It exorcises dark fears, the blankness of impotence and depression. It becomes a triumphant assertion of the spirit restored to confident power. Wagner spoke not only for himself when he wrote: "We should make a grave mistake, if we thought the artist could ever conceive save in a state of profound cheerfulness of soul." With all artists, and with Schumann in exceptional degree, the act of creation was fortification for "cheerfulness of soul." "We musicians, as you are aware," he wrote to Hiller, "often dwell on sunny heights, and when the ugliness of life oppresses us, it is the more painful. . . . Outward storms have driven me into myself, and only in my work have I found compensation." The dreadful fact which Clara, rejoicing in the C major Symphony, was unwilling to admit was that the shaping music, Robert's apparent road to salvation, was also the road to new and threatening exhaustion. As he consummated the adagio, which holds the most impassioned and deeply wrought pages in his symphonies, he was forced to put his sheets away in a trembling misery of acute sensitivity. At last, after more enforced postponements, the Symphony was completed in October, and duly performed at Leipzig, on November 5, by Mendelssohn. Clara did not perceive the beauty of her husband's latest symphony in its full force unti> a performance at Zwickau in the July following, when she wrote: "It warms and inspires me to an especial degree, for it has a bold sweep, a depth of passion such as are to be found nowhere in Robert's other music!" [copyrighted]

[16] 1959-1960

Boston Symphony Orchestra

CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director \y

A Series of Six TUESDAY EVENING CONCERTS

at 8:30

November 3 January 3 March 8

December 1 February 2 April 12 \/

Applications are now being accepted at the

Subscription Office in Symphony Hall.

THOMAS D. PERRY, JR., Manager

Symphony Hall, Boston, Mass. Nicole HENRIOT- SCHWEITZER

. ''Baldwin . . . superior qualities . . great joy and inspiration to plaf*

THE BALDWIN PIANO COMPANY 160 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON

BALDWIN GRAND PIANOS ACROSONIC SPINET AND CONSOLE PIANOS HAMILTON STUDIO PIANOS BALDWIN AMD ORGA-SONIC ELECTRONIC ORGANS