Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season

1^1 s L BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN I88I BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON '0\ >\^ KlIIKIM H V\VV^ 1955 1956 SEASON Sanders Theatre, Cambridge \3Tarvard University^ Boston Symphony Orchestra (Seventy-fifth Season, 1955-1956) CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL Violins Violas Bassoons Richard Burgin Joseph de Pasquale Sherman Walt Concert-master Jean Cauhape Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Eugen Lehner Theodore Brewster George Zazofsky Albert Bernard Contra-Bassoon Roll and Tapley George Humphrey Richard Plaster Norbert Lauga Jerome Lipson Robert Karol Vladimir Resnikoff Horns Harry Dickson Reuben Green James Stagliano Gottfried Wilfinger Bernard Kadinoff Charles Yancich Einar Hansen Vincent Mauricci Harry Shapiro Joseph Leibovici John Fiasca Harold Meek Emil Kornsand Violoncellos Paul Keaney Roger Shermont Osbourne McConathy Samuel Mayes Minot Beale Alfred Zighera Herman Silberman Trumpets Jacobus Langendocn Roger Voisin Stanley Benson Mischa Nieland Leo Panasevich Marcel Lafosse Karl Zeise Armando Ghitalla Sheldon Rotenberg Josef Zimbler Gerard Goguen Fredy Ostrovsky Bernard Parronchi Clarence Knudson Leon Marjollet Trombones Pierre Mayer Martin Hoherman William Gibson Manuel Zung Louis Berger William Moyer Samuel Diamond Richard Kapuscinski Kauko Kabila Josef Orosz Victor Manusevitch Robert Ripley James Nagy Flutes Tuba Melvin Bryant Doriot Anthony Dwyer K. Vinal Smith Lloyd Stonestreet James Pappoutsakis Saverio Messina Phillip Kaplan Harps William Waterhouse Bernard Zighera Piccolo William Marshall Olivia Luetcke Leonard Moss George Madsen Jesse Ceci Oboes Timpani Noah Bielski Ralph Gomberg Roman Szulc Alfred Schneider Jean Devergie Everett Firth Joseph Silverstein John Holmes Percussion Basses English Horn Charles Smith Georges Moleux Louis Speyer Harold Farberman Gaston Dufresne Clarinets Harold Thompson Ludwig Juht Gino Cioffi Piano Irving Frankel Manuel Valerio Henry Freeman Pasquale Cardillo Bernard Zighera Henry Portnoi E\) Clarinet Librarians Henri Girard Bass Clarinet Leslie Rogers John Barwicki Rosario Mazzeo Victor Alpert, Ass't Sanders Theatre, Cambridge ^Harvard University^ SEVENTY-FIFTH SEASON, 1955-1956 Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor Concert Bulletin of the Fifth Concert TUESDAY EVENING, March 6 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, Jr. C. D. Jackson John Nicholas Brown Michael T. Kelleher Theodore P. Ferris Palfrey Perkins Alvan T. Fuller Charles H. Stockton Francis W. Hatch Edward A. Taft Harold D. Hodgkinson Raymond S. Wilkins Oliver Wolcott TRUSTEES EMERITUS Philip R. Allen M. A. DeWolfe Howe N. Penrose Hallowell Lewis Perry Thomas D. Perry, Jr., Manager G. Rector Assistant W. ( J. J. Brosnahan, Assistant Treasurer N. S. Shirk \ Managers Rosario Mazzeo, Personnel Manager [t] : there ts: ^: 6nly MUNCHone ...and he's on l\v_>iA. y/lv>« i OJ\ records " InInhishookhis book I Am a Conductor *.W<;~ ^"'V'"°-ffl HBEBHBC^^i^S Other recordings by Munch: Charles Munch wrote, "Let no one be **The Damnation of Faust astonished then that I consider my (Berlioz) (Complete). Three Loog work a priesthood, not a profession. It Play records (LM-6114) $11.98. is not too strong a word. And like all **Romeo and Juliet (Berlioz) sacred callings, that of the conductor (Complete). Two Long Play records supposes a total self-renunciation (LM-6011) $7.98 and a profound humility." fT<fS SYMFfctOMV ••Boston Symph., Munch. •Boston Symph. Orch., Munch, »*A "New Orlhophonic" High Fidelity recording. With Chorus, Shaw, Dir. Charles Conductor. NtUtonally Advertised Prices, Long Play (LM-1893} $3.98 Long Play (LM-1900) $3.98 [8J SEVENTY-FIFTH SEASON • NINETEEN HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE AND FIFTY-SIX Fifth Concert TUESDAY EVENING, March 6 Program Mozart Adagio and Fugue for String Orchestra, K. 546 Mozart Serenade in B-flat major for 13 Wind Instruments, K. 361 Largo; Molto allegro Adagio Menuetto Rondo; Allegro molto Beethoven Overture, Leonore No. 2 INTERMISSION Debussy "Prelude a I'Apres-midi d'un Faune" (Eclogue by Stephane Mallarme) Tchaikovsky "Romeo and Juliet," Overture-Fantasia Performances by the orchestra are broadcast each week on Monday evenings from 8:15 to 9:00 P.M. on the NBC Network. The Friday afternoon concerts at 2:15 and Saturday evening concerts at 8:30 are broadcast direct by Station WGBH-FM. BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS [»] ADAGIO AND FUGUE IN C MINOR FOR STRINGS, K. 546 By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born in Salzburg, January 27, 1756; died in Vienna, December 5, 1791 Mozart wrote the Fugue at first for two pianofortes, December 29, 1783 (K. 426). In June, 1788, in Vienna, he arranged the piece for strings, adding an introduction. It was performed at the concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra November 25-26, 1910, Max Fiedler conducting it (according to the program) for the first time in Boston. MOZART, living in a musical age which was harmonically and melodically inclined, was seldom required to compose strict fugues. Masses for the Church called for fugal choral writing, and a great quantity of church music by Mozart, of which his C minor Mass is an outstanding example, is proof in itself of his contrapuntal abili- ties (and yet a traditional master like Padre Martini found Mozart's church music a compromise with the severities of the past) . Mozart brought the fugue up to date for eighteenth century uses by giving it the fluent play found in his Overture to The Magic Flute, or in the finale of his ''Jupiter" Symphony where all the customary fugal manipulations, cleverly concealed, can be detected by the ex- pert.* The Fugue in C minor, like others which he wrote in his Vienna years, is evidence enough that Mozart could assume with ease the robe of the fugal logician, and acquit himself handsomely within archaic and prescribed bounds. "The effect of the C minor Fugue," so Otto Jahn has written, "rests neither on the sound effects of the pianoforte nor on those of the stringed instruments. It is so broadly conceived, so earnestly and with such ruthless severity carried out, that the external means of expres- sion fall into the background before the energetic enunciation of the laws of form, obeyed consciously, but without servility. Quite other- wise is the case with the introduction, which, written originally for strings, is expressly adapted to their peculiarities of sound effect. The harmonic treatment, and more especially the enharmonic changes, are of extraordinary beauty and depth, and occasion remarkable effects of suspense and climax. Most admirable is the art with which the character of the movement as an introduction is maintained, and the defiant style of the following fugue clearly indicated, at the same time that the mind is tuned to a pitch of longing and melancholy which makes the entry of the categorical fugue a positive relief and stimu- lant." • • Gottfried, Baron van Swieten, whom Mozart met in Vienna, was a devoted, even an obstinate admirer of the music of Handel and Sebas- tian Bach, composers who in Vienna in his day were little known and seldom performed. The Baron's insistence that musicians should play this music and all of his friends listen to it had the fortunate result of * Mozart, like Beethoven, turned out "canons" for diversion. Sometimes he lifted them to higher purposes, as in his wind octet in C minor. [4l leading Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven after them into a wider ac- quaintance and a deepened interest in the music of Bach and Handel. This wealthy musical amateur held private musical sessions (borrow- ing the French title ''Concert Spirituel") each Sunday in Vienna from noon until two, and at these Mozart and Haydn each provided their talents as performers. For the trio or quartet groups of van Swieten's Sunday sessions, Mozart arranged eight fugues from Bach's "Well Tem- pered Clavichord," one from "The Art of Fugue" and one from an organ sonata, writing his own introductions or adapting movements from Bach. Jahn is of the opinion that the string arrangement of the Fugue in C minor and its introduction were made expressly for a quartet at the Baron's.* So insatiable was this enthusiast that Mozart * And yet John BarbiroUi, who studied the manuscript of the fugue, believes that it was undoubtedly intended for a larger string group : "The whereabouts of the manuscript of the Adagio is at present unknown, but it is obvious from the manuscript of the Fugue (now in the possession of the British Museum), that Mozart intended it for string orchestra, and not for string quartet ; for at Bar 110 I found, on examining the manuscript, that he writes separate lines for the 'cellos and basses (with of course different parts), his two staves being clearly marked, 'violoncelli' and 'contrabassi'. Apart from this incontrovertible evidence, another interesting and vitally important point which Mozart — with his amazing instinct for orchestration — must have realized at the time, is that the whole piece sounds as unsatisfactory for string quartet as it is magnificent for orchestra. The Adagio is of a wondrous beauty and depth of feeling, and the Fugue a marvel of contrapuntal felicity." PEOPLE AHEAD OF THE TIMES FLY AIR FRANCE CHARLES MUNCH. Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra ONLY 11 HOURS 5 MINUTES NON-STOP TO SUPER "C CONSTELLATIONS Tourist and First Class Flights every Saturday from Boston. Daily from New York SAVE ON FAMILY TRAVEL -Write for Free Folder AIRTHE WORLD'SFRANCELARGEST AIRLINE SEE YOUR TRAVEL AGENT. AIR FRANCE. OR 493 BoyUton St , Boston, (Opiey 7 S350 [5] wrote his father in Salzburg to yansack the house for fugues or even some of the church music which Leopold (himself something of an old- schooler) had once written and decently laid away in his attic. Mozart also revised several oratorios of Handel for performances which the Baron organized.

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