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Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa, Music Director

Colin Davis, Principal Guest Conductor Joseph Silverstein, Assistant Conductor

Thursday, April 1, 1976, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, April 2, 1976, at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, April 3, 1976, at 8:30 p.m. Symphony Hall, Boston Ninety-fifth Season

Baldwin Piano Deutsche Grammophon Records Philips Records Program Program Notes

Colin Davis conducting Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Three orchestral excerpts from Wagner: Three Orchestral Excerpts Der Ring des Nibelungen from Der Ring des Nibelungen Forest Murmurs Siegfried and Die Gotterdammerung, the two concluding Siegfried's Rhine Journey operas in Wagner's Ring cycle, were given their first performances at Bayreuth one day apart in August, 1876. These orchestral Siegfried's Funeral March excerpts are scored for 3 flutes and piccolo, 3 oboes and English horn, 3 clarinets and bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 8 horns, 4 Wagner Intermission tubas, 3 trumpets and bass trumpet, 4 trombones and 2 tubas, timpani (2 players), snare drum, glockenspiel, triangle, cymbals, Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 43 tamtam, 2 harps and strings. Allegretto Tempo andante ma rubato Forest Murmurs: Vivacissimo; lento e suave The concert piece arranged by Wagner from the second Finale: allegro moderato act of Siegfried is a distillation of the mood which dominates the last scene of the act. It is music of dreaming and of The Thursday and Saturday programs will end at about 10:10 p.m., awakening. Siegfried lies on a grassy bank, listening idly to the Friday program at about 3:40 p.m. the familiar, lulling sounds in which he has grown up. He is on the threshold of his career, has just slain the dragon The Next Program Fafner; but he is unexcited. Since he knows neither fear nor guile, the deed means as little to him as the Tarnhelm and Friday, Apri116, at 12:00 noon. the Ring he has gained by it, and the treasure of gold which Saturday, April 17, at 5:00 p.m. is his rejected booty. A bird singing in the tree above becomes intelligible to him through the blood of the slain Seiji Ozawa conducting monster, which, staining his hand, he had touched to his lips. He sees clearly now that the dwarf Mime, his guard- Bach: St. Matthew Passion (complete) Elly Ameling, soprano ian, while fawning and wheedling, is in reality contriving Maureen Forrester, contralto to put an end to him in order to seize the rich spoil. Sieg- Hermann Prey, baritone fried dispatches Mime summarily with the sword Nothung. Robert Tear, He thinks of his origin, dwells wonderingly upon the Richard Stilwell, baritone knowledge of his mother, the facts of whose identity and John Aler, tenor death he has wrested from Mime. Through the soft, undu- lating murmurs of the orchestra, and interspersed with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus bird calls, is the motive of the race of the Walsungs, his John Oliver, conductor own, and the motive of "Filial love." This suggests the theme of love itself, personified by the Goddess Freia, and This program will end at about 4:40 p.m. on Friday and at about finally the bird tells him of Briinnhilde, and the motive of 9:40 p.m. on Saturday. sleep is heard as he learns of the warrior maiden, lying at the summit of a rocky crag, surrounded by a protecting cir- For up-to-date program information, please dial C-O-N-C-E-R-T. cle of fire by decree of Wotan, her father. That fire, the bird says, he is about to penetrate, and the sleeping demi- goddess he is to awaken as his bride.

Siegfried's Rhine Journey: When the curtain was first raised in the Prelude to Die Gotterdammerung, the three Norns were seen holding des- tiny in their hands as they wove their thread of fate. They were dismayed to find it suddenly broken, and vanished into the night. "The day, which has been slowly approach- ing, now dawns brightly and obliterates the distant fire glow in the valley." In the scene which is to follow, Siegfried in armor enters from the cave, Briinnhilde at his side. She has been sub- jected to him in mortal love, but she is blissful and unreluc- tant. Siegfried, about to depart for new adventure, draws the fateful ring from his finger and places it upon her own. He bids her farewell and embarks in a boat, floating on the current of the Rhine, as she gazes after her departing lover. The interlude now follows. Siegfried's horn call leads into the rapturous and sweeping motive, sometimes called "the decision to love," which was first developed in the third act of Siegfried. The horn call is combined with reminiscences of Jean Sibelius (1865 -1957) the fire music, and undergoes development almost sym- Symphony No. 2 in D Op. 43 phonic. There follows in full statement the undulating theme of the Rhine and its attendant themes of the Rhine The composer began this work in Italy during the spring of 1901 maidens, the Gold, the Ring, and the renunciation of love, and completed it by the end of the year; he conducted its first per- formance in Helsinki in March, 1902. It is scored for 2 flutes, Siegfried's Funeral March: 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones The magnificent stature of Wagner's Siegfried, as musi- and tuba, timpani and strings. cally conceived, is never more apparent than in the moving Sibelius begins his Second Symphony with a characteris- scene in Act Three [of Gotterdiimmerung] where the hero is tic string figure, a sort of sighing pulsation, which mingles slain by Hagen on a hunting party; . . . nothing could be with the themes in the first pages and recurs at the end of more dramatically effective than Siegfried's dawning reawareness of Briinnhilde as his bride at the moment that the movement. One would look in vain for a "first" and Hagen's spear is thrust into his back. He is borne off by vas- "second" theme in the accepted manner. There is a six-bar melody for the woodwinds, a theme given out by the bas- sals on a litter of boughs while the orchestra reviews in a soons, another of marked and significant accent for the vio- succession of Leitmotiven, tragically set forth, the whole of lins, and another, brief but passionate, for the violins. his career. These themes are laid forth simply, one after another, with A "funeral march" this music certainly is not. Albert no transitions or preparations. Yet the tale is continuous, as Lavignac has called it rather "the most touching and most eloquent of funeral orations. . . . Here the whole life of the if each suggested, quite naturally, the next. There follows the theme for the flutes which Cecil Gray refers to as what hero is retraced. All the heroic motives that we know pass "would in ordinary parlance, no doubt, be called the 'first before us, not in their accustomed dress, but gloomily subject'." It appears as nothing more than a high sustained veiled in mourning, broken with sobs, inspiring terror, and C sharp, followed by a sort of shake and a descending fifth. forming in the atmosphere surrounding the dead hero an invisible and impalpable train, the mystic train of living The phrase would be quite meaningless outside of its con- thoughts. First, grave and solemn, comes 'The Heroism of text, but Sibelius uses it with sure effect over the initial the Walsungs,' which we remember having heard the first string figure to cap his moments of greatest tension, and time when Siegmund, at the opening of finally increases it by twice its length to an eloquent period. Die Walkiire, sadly The initial scraps of themes succeed each other, are com- tells of his misfortunes; next comes 'Compassion,' repre- bined, gather meaning with development. The whole dis- senting the unhappy Sieglinde, and 'Love,' the love of Siegmund and Sieglinde which was to give birth to Sieg- course unfolds without break, coheres in its many parts, mounts with well-controlled graduation of climax. The fried. . . . Then, we have 'The Race of the Walsungs' in its fusion of many elements is beyond the deliberate analyst. It entirety, which, in a superb movement of the basses, joins bespeaks a full heart, a magnificent fertility, an absorption the funeral cortege in the same way as the weapons of the which pervades all things and directs them to a single end. deceased are laid upon the coffin; 'The Sword,' the proud The slow movement opens, as did the first, with a string sword, is there, still glittering and flaming, having become figure which is an accompaniment and yet far more than an heraldic in the luminous glow of C major, which only accompaniment. Various woodwinds carry the burden of appears for this single moment; finally comes the one melody, introduced and maintained in an impassioned motive above all others of the hero, 'Siegfried, Guardian of minor, "lugubre." Thematic snatches of melody follow the Sword,' twice repeated in an ascending progression, each other in rich profusion. In the opening movement, the second time with its frank and loyal ending, and fol- Sibelius has made telling use of the time-honored contrast lowed by 'The Son of the Woods' in its heroic form, again between the lyric and the incisive, proclamatory elements. singularly extended, which occasions a sacred memory of In his Andante 'Briinnhilde,' his only love. Could anything more affecting this sharp opposition is notably increased. be imagined?" An oratorical, motto-like theme, launched by stormy, ascending scales, keeps drama astir. As the melodic themes —John N. Burk recur, an undercurrent of the spinning, whirring figures in the strings, such as are to be found in almost any score of Sibelius, dramatizes lyricism itself. The third movement pivots upon a swift 6/8 rhythm; it suggests Beethoven in its outward contour, but is more tumultuous than gay. A suspensive pause with pianissimo drum taps introduces the tender trio in which the oboe sings a soft melody which is echoed by its neighbors and subsides in a pianissimo from the solo cello. It is as peaceful and unruffled in this symphony of violent contrasts as its surroundings are stormy. The vivacissimo and trio are repeated—with a difference. There creeps into the trio, at first hardly perceptibly, the solemn chant of the finale, asyet but softly intoned, and adroitly, without any sense of hopping ov er an awkward stile, the master leads his hearers straight into the finale, which is at once in full course. There are two principal themes, the first making itself known as an elementary suc- cession of half notes, the second a longer breathed, incen- diary melody with an accompanying scale figure adding fuel to its flame. The structure of the movement is tradi- tional, with two themes alternating, interlarded with epi- sodic matter; the simple scheme serves its contriver in building with great skill a long and gradual ascent to a cli- max in full splendor. Rising sequences, mounting sonori- ties, contribute to the impressiveness of the final conflagration.

— John N. Burk

Colin Davis Colin Davis, the Principal Guest Conductor of the Boston Symphony, is Musical Director of the , Covent Garden. His conducting career began in 1949; in 1957 he became assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra, and, soon after taking the place of an ailing Otto Klemperer at short notice for a concert in Festival Hall, he was appointed Musical Director of the Sadlers Wells Opera. He made his debut with the Minneapolis Symphony and has guest conducted the New York Philhar- monic as well as the Boston Symphony. In 1967 Colin Davis became Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony, a post which he relinquished at the end of the 1970-71 season to take up his duties at Covent Garden. His performances at Covent Garden of La Clemenza di Tito, Peter Grimes and the much discussed new production of Wagner's Ring have been highlights of his conducting career during the past year, and he has been invited to conduct both at the Paris Opera and at the Bayreuth Festival. Just before coming to Boston last fall, Mr. Davis spent a month as guest conduc- tor with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. He records exclu- sively for Philips Records, and has already made the first in a series of the complete symphonies of Sibelius for that company with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Ticket Resale. If for some reason you are not able to attend a Boston Symphony concert for which you already hold tickets call Symphony Hall at 266-1492 and offer your seat for resale. This helps bring needed revenue to the Orches- tra, makes your seat available to someone who wants to attend the concert, and guarantees you a tax deductible receipt.

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First violins Cellos Contra bassoon Joseph Silverstein Jules Eskin Richard Plaster Concertmaster Philip R. Allen chair Charles Munch chair Martin Hoherman Horns Emanuel Borok Mischa Nieland Charles Kavaloski Max Hobart Jerome Patterson Helen Sagoff Slosberg chair Rolland Tapley Robert Ripley Charles Yancich Roger Shermont Luis Leguia Max Winder -Carol Procter David Ohanian Harry Dickson Ronald Feldman Richard Mackey Gottfried Wilfinger Joel Moerschel Ralph Pottle Fredy Ostrovsky Jonathan Miller Leo Panasevich Martha Babcock Trumpets Sheldon Rotenberg Armando Ghitalla Alfred Schneider Basses Andre Come Stanley Benson William Rhein Rolf Smedvig Gerald Gelbloom Harold D. Hodgkinson chair Gerard Goguen Raymond Sird Joseph Hearne Ikuko Mizuno Bela Wurtzler Trombones Cecylia Arzewski Leslie Martin Ronald Barron Amnon Levy John Salkowski William Gibson John Barwicki Norman Bolter Second violins Robert Olson Gordon Hallberg Victor Yampolsky Lawrence Wolfe Personnel Managers Fahnestock chair Henry Portnoi Tuba William Moyer Marylou Speaker Chester Schmitz Harry Shapiro Michel Sasson Flutes Timpani Ronald Knudsen Doriot Anthony Dwyer Librarians Leonard Moss Everett Firth Victor Alpert Walter Piston chair Sylvia Shippen Wells chair Bo Youp Hwang James Pappoutsakis William Shisler Laszlo Nagy Paul Fried Michael Vitale Percussion Stage Manager Charles Smith Alfred Robison Darlene Gray Piccolo Arthur Press Ronald Wilkison Lois Schaefer Assistant timpanist Harvey Seigel Thomas Gauger Jerome Rosen Oboes Frank Epstein Sheila Fiekowsky Ralph Gomberg Gerald Elias Mildred B. Rernis chair Harps Vyacheslav Uritsky John Holmes Bernard Zighera Wayne Rapier Ann Hobson Violas Burton Fine English Horn Charles S. Dana chair Laurence Thorstenberg Reuben Green Eugene Lehner Clarinets George Humphrey Harold Wright Jerome Lipson Ann S.M. Banks chair Pasquale Cardillo Robert Karol Peter Hadcock Bernard Kadinoff E-flat clarinet Vincent Mauricci Earl Hedberg Bass Clarinet Joseph Pietropaolo Felix Viscuglia Robert Barnes Michael Zaretsky Bassoons Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sherman Walt Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts 02115. Edward A. Taft chary (617) 266-1492. Roland Small Thomas D. Perry, Jr., Executive Director Matthew Ruggiero Who's who in energy.

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