Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 22,1902
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MUSIC HALL, BALTIMORE. BostonSumpnony Orchestra Mr. WILHELM GERICKE, Conductor. Twenty-second Season, \ 902- \ 903. PROGRAMME OF THE SECOND CONCERT TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, AT 8.J5 PRECISELY. With Historical and Descriptive Notes by Philip Hale. Published by C> A. ELLIS, Manager. (i) MESSRS. CHICKERING & SONS PIANOFORTE MAKERS Invite Critical Inspection of Their Latest Production The Quarter Grand The Smallest Grand Embodying Modern Principles Ever Made RETAIL W A R E R O O M S 791 TREMONT STREET, BOSTON REPRESENTED BY KRA/NZ-SMITH PI A/NO COMPANY, : Music Ha"' Boston . w MountM Royal, and„ - Haryland Avenues, Q\^frif>flOriV Baltimore. T Twenty-second Season, 1902-1903. Orchestra Eighteenth Season in Baltimore. Mr. WILHELM GERICKE, Conductor. SECOND CONCERT, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, AT 245 PRECISELY. PROGRAMME Schumann Symphony No* 2, in C major, Op* 61 I. Sostenuto assai (C major). Allegro ma non troppo (C major). II. Scherzo: Allegro vivace (C major). Trio I. (G major). Trio II. (A minor). III. Adagio espressivo (C minor). IV. Allegro molto vivace (C major). H n Beethoven Song with Orchestra, An die Hof fnung Dvorak Symphonic Variations on an Original Theme, Op* 78 " u u Wagner * Wotan's Farewell " and Fire Charm," from Die Walkure » SOLOIST Mr. ANTON VAN ROOY* There will be an intermission of ten minutes after the Beethoven Selection* (3) ..Everett Pianos.. We especially invite the critical attention of artists and lovers of the beautiful in pianos to the mar- vellous productions of the present season, Our stock is always fresh and complete. C H. HILDEBRANDT & SON 321 No. Howard Street BALTIMORE (*) Symphony in C major, No. 2, Op. 61 ... Robert Schumann. (Born at Zwickau, June 8, 1810 ; died at Endenich, July 29, 1856.) In October, 1844, Schumann left Leipsic, where he had lived for about fourteen years. He had given up the editorship of the Neue Zeitschrift in July. He had been a professor of pianoforte playing and composition April, at the Leipsic Conservatory from 1843 ; Du t ne was a singularly re- served man, hardly fitted for the duties of a teacher, and he was without disciples. He was in a highly nervous condition, so that his physician said he must not hear too much music. A change of scene might do him good. Schumann therefore moved to Dresden. " Here," he wrote in 1844, " one can get back the old lost longing for music ; there is so little to hear. This suits my condition, for I still suffer very much from my nerves, and everything affects and exhausts me directly." He lived a secluded life. He saw few, and he talked little. In the early eighties they still showed in Dresden a restaurant frequented by him, where he would sit alone hours at a time, dreaming day-dreams. He tried sea-baths. In 1846 he was ex- ceedingly sick, mentally and bodily. " He observed that he was unable to remember the melodies that occurred to him when composing, the effort of invention fatiguing his mind to such a degree as to impair his memory." When he did work, he applied himself to contrapuntal problems. The Symphony in C major, known as No. 2, but really the third,— for the one in D minor, first written, was withdrawn after performance, remodelled, and finally published as No. 4, — was composed in the years 1845 an<^ J 846. Other works of those years are four fugues for pianoforte, studies and sketches for pedal piano, six fugues on the name of Bach for organ, inter- " " mezzo, rondo, and finale to Fantasie (published as Concerto, Op. 54), five songs by Burns for mixed chorus, four songs for mixed chorus, Op. 59, and a canon from Op. 124. The symphony was first played at the THE MANAGEHENT OF THE NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OE MUSIC annou he TetJrn op sic. oreste bimboni AND THE OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF OPERA, Which will give, in addition to the performances in JORDAN HALL, TWO PERFORMANCES, ZIZ^T™ BOSTON THEATRE. MR. CEORG HENSCHEL will teach — until March, 1903 — EXCLUSIVELY in the Conservatory. Particulars and terms (for one or any number of lessons) may be had of the Registrar or from Mr. Henschel personally. (5) Gewandhaus. Leipsic, under Mendelssohn's direction, on Nov. 5, 1846.* The first performance in Boston was at a concert of the Harvard Musical \— m iation, March 1, 1S66. The Philharmonic Society of New York per- formed it as earl\- as Jan. 14, 1S54. lumann wrote from Dresden on .April 2, 1849, to Otten,t a writer and conductor at Hamburg, who had brought about the performance of the symphony in that city: " 1 wrote the symphony in December, 1S45, when I was still half-sick. It seems to me one must hear this in the music. In the Finale I first began to feel myself; and indeed I was much better after I had finished the work. Yet, as I have said, it recalls to me a dark period of my life. That, in spite of all, such tones of pain can awaken interest, shows me your sympathetic interest. Everything you say about the work also shows me how thoroughly you know music ; and that my melancholy bassoon in the adagio, which I introduced in that spot with especial fondness, has not escaped your notice, gives me the greatest pleasure." Jn the same letter he expressed the opinion that Bach's Pas- sion according to John was a more powerful and poetic work than his Passion according to Matthew. And yet when Jean J. H. Verhulst of the Hague (1816-91) visited Schumann in 1845, and asked him what he had written that was new and beautiful, Schumann answered he had just finished a new symphony. Verhulst asked him if he thought he had fully succeeded. Schumann then said : " Yes, indeed, I think it's a regular Jupiter." There is a dominating motive, or motto, which appears more or less " " •The first part of the program included the overture, an aria, and the finale <>t Ait II. of Kurvanthe " and the overture and finale of Act 1 I . of William Tell." The latter overture made such a sensation under delssohn's direction that it was Imperiously redemanded. The symphony, played from manuscript, pleased very few. Some went so far as to say that the demand lor a second performance of Rossini's overture I deliberate reflection on Schumann, whose symphony was yi t to he heard. I Dietrich Otten. born at Hamburg in [806. showed a marked talent for drawing, which he studied, as w ell as the pianoforte and the organ ; but he finally devoted himself to music, and became a pupil of Schneider .a I icisau (1H2H-32) He taught at Hnmburg. and led the concerts of the Hamburg Musik-Verein, which he founded, from iV;^ to 180^. In 1883 he moved to Vcvey, Switzerland. ESTABLISHED 1838. "RARE OLD VIOLINS." SOLE AGENTS FOR EVERETT pianos. C. H. HILDEBRANDT & SON, 321 N. HOWARD-STREET. : prominently in three of the movements. This motto is proclaimed *at the very beginning, Sostenuto assai, 6-4, by horns, trumpets, alto trombone, pianissimo, against flowing counterpoint in the strings. This motto is heard again in the finale of the following allegro, near the end of the scherzo, and in the concluding section of the finale. (It may also be said here that relationship of the several movements is further founded by a later use of other fragments of the introduction and by the appearance of the theme of the adagio in the finale.) This motto is not developed its appearance is episodic. It is said by one of Schumann's biographers that the introduction was composed before the symphony was written^ and that it was originally designed for another work. The string figure is soon given to the wood-wind instruments. There is a crescendo of emotion and an acceleration of the pace until a cadenza for the first violins brings in the allegro, ma non troppo, 3-4. The first theme of this allegro is exposed frankly and piano by full orchestra with the exception of trumpets and trombones. The rhythm is nervous, and accentuation gives the idea of constant syncopation. The second theme, if it may be called a theme, is not long in entering. The exposition of this movement, in fact, is uncommonly short. Then follows a long and elaborate devel- opment. In the climax the motto is sounded by the trumpets. The scherzo, Allegro vivace, C major, 2-4, has two trios. The scherzo proper consists of first violin figures in sixteenth notes, rather simply accom- panied. The first trio in G major, 2-4, is in marked contrast. The first theme, in lively triplet rhythm, is given chiefly to wood-wind and horns ; it alternates with a quieter, flowing phrase for strings. This trio is followed by a re- turn of the scherzo. The second trio, in A minor, 2-4, is calm and melo- dious. The simple theme is sung at first in full harmony by strings (with- out double-basses) and then developed against a running contrapuntal figure. The scherzo is repeated, and, toward the close, trumpets and horns loudly sound the motto. ^Uz jit&ffed. BALTIMORE. E. B. McCAHAN, Manager. (T) Mr. William Foster Apthorp has contributed an interesting personal note concerning the scherzo. "The late Otto Diesel once told me a curious fact about this first trio. When, as a boy, he was studying under Men- delssohn, in Leipsic, he happened to be left alone one day in Mendels- sohn's study. While mousing round there, with a boy's curiosity, he espied on a desk a MS.