ffiartt^gfe l|aU • N^ut fork Fifty-eighth Season in New York k^^ '%. %. •Vh- AN'*' BOSTON "»^^M SYAPHONY ORCnCSTRS FOUNDED [N 1881 DY HENRY L. HIGGINSON SIXTY-THIRD SEASON 1943-1944 {51 Thursday Evening; March 30 Saturday Afternoon, April 1 VICTOR RED SEAL RECORDS by the Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Also Sprach Zarathustra Strauss Battle of Kershenetz Rimsky-KorsakOT Bolero Ravel Oapriccio ( Jestis Maria Sanroma, Soloist) Stravinsky Classical Symphony Prokofieff Concerto for Orchestra in D major K. P. E. Bach Concerto Grosso in D minor Vivaldi Concerto in D major (Jascha Heifetz, Soloist) Brahms Concerto No. 2 ( Jascha Heifetz, Soloist) Prokofieff Concerto No. 12 — Larghetto Handel Damnation of Faust : Minuet — Waltz — Rakoczy March Berlioz Daphnis et Chlo6 — Suite No. 2 Ravel Dublnushka Rimsky-Korsakoff "Enchanted Lake" Liadov Frtihlingsstimmen — Waltzes (Voices of Spring) Strauss Gymnop^die No. 1 Erik Satie-Debussy "Khovanstchina" Prelude Moussorgsky "La Mer*' ("The Sea") Debussy Tiast Spring Grieg "Lieutenant Kije" Suite Prokofieff Love for Three Oranges — Scherzo and March Prokofieff Maiden with the Roses Sibelius Ma Mfere L'Oye (Mother Goose) Ravel Mefisto Waltz Liszt Missa Solemnis Beethoven Pell6as et M611sande Faur6 "Peter and the Wolf Prokofieff Pictures at an Exhibition Moussorgsky-Ravel Pohjola's Daughter Sibelius "Romeo and Juliet,'* Overture-Fantasia Tchaikovsky Rosamunde — Ballet Music Schubert Sal6n Mexico, El Aaron Copland Sarabande Debussy-Ravel Song of Volga Boatmen Arr. by Stravinsky "Swanwhite" ( "The Maiden with Roses" ) Sibelius Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major ("Spring") Schumann Symphony No. 2 in D major Beethoven Symphony No. 2 In D major Sibelius Symphony No. 3 Harris Symphony No. 4 In A major ("Italian") Mendelssohn Symphony .No. 4 in B minor Brahms Ssrmphony No. 4 in F minor Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major Sibelius Symphony No. 6 in B minor ("Path6tlque**) Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 8 in F major Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in B minor ("Unfinished") Schubert Symphony No. 29 In A major Mozart Symphony No. 34 In C niajoi Mozart Symphony No. 94 In G major ("Surprise") (Second moyement) . Haydn Symphony No. 102 in B-flat major Haydn Tapiola ( Symphonic Poem) Sibeliup Voices of Spring . Strausi Waltz (from String Serenade) . Tchaikovsky Wiener Blut — Waltzes ( Vienna Blood) Strauss I CHarnrgt^ Mall • N^m fork Fifty-eighth Season in New York SIXTY-THIRD SEASON, 1943-1944 Boston Symphony Orchestra SP:RGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor Concert Bulletin of the Fifth Concert THURSDAY EVENING, March 30 AND THE Fifth Matinee SATURDAY AFTERNOON, April 1 with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk The trustees of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Jerome D. Greene . President Henry B. Sawyer . Vice-President Henry B. Cabot . Treasurer Philip R. Allen M. A. De Wolfe Howe John Nicholas Brown Jacob J. Kaplan Reginald C. Foster Roger I. Lee Alvan T. Fuller Richard C. Paine N. Penrose Hallowell Bentley W. Warren G. E. JuDD, Manager C. W. Spalding, Assistant Manager [1] „giteBiammmsmmimtmaeatmttmtuiM Boston Symphony Orchestra [Sixty-third Season, 1943-1944] SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Personnel Violins BURGIN, R. ELCUS, G. LAUGA, N. KRIPS, A. RESNIKOFF. V. Concert-master tapley, r. KASSMAN, N. CHERKASSKY, P. LEIBOVICI, J. rHEODOROWICZ, . J. HANSEN, E. DICKSON, H. fedorovsky, p. zazofsky, G. EISLER, D. PINFIELD, C. BEALE, M. DUBBS, H. KNUDSON, C. ZUNG, M. leveen, p. (iORODETZKY, L MAYER, P. DIAMOND, S. DEL SORDO, R. HILLYER, R. BRYANT, M. STONESTREET, L. MESSINA, S. TRAMPLER, W. MURRAY, J. ERKELENS, H. seiniger, s. SAUVLET, H. Violas LEFRANC, J. FOUREL, G. VAN WYNBERGEN, C. GROVER, H. CAUHAPi, J. ARTIERES, L. BERNARD, A. WERNER, H. LEHNER, E. KORNSAND , E. GERHARDT, S. HUMPHREY, G. Violoncellos BEDETTI, J. LANCENDOEN, J. DROEGHMANS, H. ZEISE, K. fabrizio, E. Z1GHF.RA, A. ZIMBT.F.R, J. NIELAND, M. MARJOLLET, L. Basses MOLEUX, C. JUHT, L. (GREENBERG, H. CIRARD, H BARWICKI, J. DUFRESNE, G. FRANKEL, I. PORTNOI, H. PROSE, P. Flutes Oboes Clarinets Bassoons LAURENT, G. GILLET, F. POLATSCHEK, V. allard, r. PAPPOUTSAKIS, DEVERGIE, VALERIO, M. PANENKA, E. ,J. J. KAPLAN, P. LUKATSKY, J CARDILLO, P. LAUS, A. Piccolo English Horn Bass Clarinet Contra-Bassoon MADSEN, G. SPEYER, L. MAZZEO, R. piller, b. • Horns Trumpfis Trombones Timpani VALKENIER, W. mager, g. RAICHMAN, J. SZULC, R. macdonald, W LAFOSSE, M. HANSOITE, L. polster, m. MEEK, H. VOISIN, R. COFFEY, J. KEANEY, P. OROSZ, J. LANNOYE, M. GEBHARDT, W. Harps Percussion ZIGHERA, B. sternburg, s. Tuba CAUGHEY, E. smith, c. ADAM, E. ARCIERI, E. Librarian rogers, l. j. [2] Qlartt^gw Hall Fifty-eighth Season in New York Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor FIFTH EVENING CONCERT THURSDAY, March 30 Programme Rachmaninoff Symphony in E minor, No. 2, Op. 27 Died March 28, 1943) I. Largo; Allegro moderato II. Allegro molto III. Adagio IV. Allegro vivace INTERMISSION Jtrauss "Death and Transfiguration," Tone Poem, Op. 24 UvEL "Daphnis et Chloe," Ballet, Orchestral Excerpts (Second Suite) Lever du jour — Pantomime — Danse gen^rale BALDWIN PIANO The music of these programmes is available at the Music Library, 58th Street Branch, The New York Public Library. [5] SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN E MINOR, Op. 2'j By Sergei Rachmaninoff Born at Onega in the government of l^ovgorod, April 2, 1873; died in Beverly Hills, California, March 28, 1943 The Second Symphony of Rachmaninoff was published in 1907. It had its first performance at the concerts of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, the composer con- ducting, in the season of 1908-09. The orchestration calls for three flutes and piccolo, three oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trom- bones, tuba, timpani, side drum, bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel and strings. N 1906, Rachmaninoff fled Moscow for a quieter spot where he might I yield undisturbed to the urge for creative work. In Moscow, from early boyhood, he had learned his art. Its older musicians had fathered and encouraged his development. He had taken an increasingly active part in musical performance, conducting at the opera, appearing in concerts, conducting or playing the piano, for the most part in his own music. His friends were many, his engagements pressing, his popularity embarrassing to one seeking the leisure to compose. Dresden, where he could be surrounded by superb musical per- formances and yet free of importunate acquaintances and agents, was the city of his "retreat." There a house with a peaceful garden and a good piano became the incognito dwelling place of the composer, his wife (he had married four years before) and their small daughter. Here Rachmaninoff lived for three winters; here he composed his "Isle of the Dead," his Piano Sonata, and his Symphony in E minor, a set of songs, an opera, "Mona Vanna," which he never finished. The Symphony was published in 1907. On the occasion of the first performance of the symphony in Boston, the following analysis of the score appeared in the Boston Transcript: Unlike the "Isle of the Dead," which demanded an orchestra of "modern" fullness, this symph(iny is content with the normal forces, with the simple exception of the glockenspiel. The symphony begins with an introduction (largo): a stately phrase given to the violoncellos and basses is answered by sombre chords for wood winds and horns, while a tentative figure steals in through the first violins to the seconds. The bass phrase is modified, and subjected again to the same procedure. A new figure, tending upwards, is worked out with logical insistence to a climax at which the tentative first violin figure is announced with some insistence, then subsides gradually until the main body of the movement, allegro moderato, is reached. This portion of the movement is noticeable for its simple conformity to tradition. The opening theme is a simple modification of the opening violin figure. After a lucid transition, the second theme appears in the normal key, divided between wood wind and strings. The "development" section, in which the composer usually ex- [4] hibits the resources of theme-transformation and contrast of mood, is on the whole unusually simple and direct. It is easy to follow the modifications, rhythmical and harmonic, to which Rachmaninoff has subjected his themes. For the most part he uses as material the principal theme of the movement, with occasional reference to the "violin phrase" of the introduction. Towards the end of this section, he employs greater freedom of modulation, and the "recapitulation" section begins with a climax in which the principal theme is announced with more emphasis. The coda is rather long and elaborate, but does not, as is so often the case with Brahms, involve the use of new material. The second movement, allegro molto, is a brilliant scherzo of far less conventional type. First and second violins, with oboes, begin an incisive accompaniment figure, while four solo horns give out a vigorous theme. The strings answer with a phrase, in which an upward leap of a seventh is prominent. There is free modulation, leading to a new section with a broad melody given out by the strings. There is an episode in canonic style in which the figure with leaps of a seventh appears in notes of smaller value (diminution). This movement is conspicuous for its inimitable vivacity, striking use of orchestral resources (especially the glockenspiel) , and its intrinsic musical originality. The third movement, adagio, is naturally of a lyric cast, and at the same time is more conventional in its musical treatment. It opens with an expressive phrase for the strings to which the clarinet answers with a melodic episode. Then comes an episode constructed on the "violin figure" from the introduction to the first move- ment. This is continued at some length. The opening theme of the adagio returns, followed by the clarinet solo.