Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 51,1931
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CARNEGIE HALL .... NEW YORK Friday Evening, February 5, at 8.45 Saturday Afternoon, February 6, at 2.30 PROGR7WVE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: 188M931" By M. A. De WOLFE HOWE Semi'Centennial Edition It is seventeen years since M. A. De Wolfe Howe's history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was published. The Fiftieth season of the Orches- tra seemed a fitting time to re-publish this prized narrative of its earlier days, and likewise to record, in additional chapters, the last years of Dr. Muck's conductorship, and the years of Henri Rabaud, Pierre Monteux, and Dr. Serge Koussevitzky. New appendices include a complete list of the music played at the regular concerts, giving the dates of performances. The soloists and the personnel through fifty years are also recorded, and the address on Henry Lee Higginson made by Bliss Perry at the Bach Festival, March 25, 1931. Now on sale at the Box Office, or by money order to Symphony Hall, Boston Price $1.50 (postage included) CARNEGIE HALL - - - NEW YORK Forty-sixth Season in New York FIFTY-FIRST SEASON, 1931-1932 INC. Di SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 5, at 8.45 AND THE SATURDAY AFTERNOON, FEBRUARY 6, at 2.30 WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY PHILIP HALE COPYRIGHT, 1932, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, INC. Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY Fifty-first Season, 1931-1932 Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Violins. Burgin, R. Elcus, G. Gundersen, R. Sauvlet, H. Cherkassky, P. Concert-mastei Kassman, N. Hamilton, V. Eisler, D. Theodorowicz, ] Hansen, E. Lauga, N. Fedorovsky, P. Leibovici, J. Pinficld, C. Mariotti, V. Leveen, P. Taplcy, R. Thillois, F. Zung, M. Knudson, C. Gorodetzky, L. Mayer, P. Diamond, S. Zide, L. Fiedler, B. Bryant, M. Beale, M. Stonestrect, L. Messina, S. Murray, J. Del Sordo, R Erkclens, H. Seiniger, S. Violas. Lefranc, J. Fourel, G. Bernard, A. Grover , H. Fiedler, A. Artieres, L. Cauhape, J. Van Wynbergen, C. Werner, H. Avierino, N. Deane, C. Gerhardt, S. Jacob, R Violoncellos. Bedetti, J. Langendoen, J. Chardon, Y. Stockbridge, C. Fabrizio, E. Zighera, A. Marjollet, Barth, C. Droeghmans, H. Warnke, J. L Basses. Kunze, M. Lemaire, J. Ludwig, O. Girard, H. Moleux, G Vondrak, A. Oliver, F. Frankel, I. Dufresne, G. Kelley, A. Flutes. Oboes. Clarinets. Bassoons. Laurent, G. Gillet, F. Polatschek, V. Laus, A. Bladet, G. Devergie, J. Mimart, P. Allard, R. Amerena, P. Stanislaus, H. Arcieri, E. Panenka, E. Allegra, E. (E-flat Clarinet) Piccolo. English Horn Bass Clarinet. Contra-Bassoon. Battles, A. Speyer, L. Bcttoncy, F. Piller, B. Horns. Horns. Trumpets. Trombones. Boettcher, G. Valkenier, W Mager, G. Raichman, J. Pogrebniak, S. Schindler, G. Lafosse, M. Hansotte, L. Van Den Berg, C. Lannoye, M. Grundey, T. Kcnfield, L. Lorbeer, H. Blot, G. Perrct, G. Adam, E. Voisin, R. Mann, J. Tubas. Harps. Timpani. Percussion. Sidow, P. Zighera, B. Ritter, A. Sternburg, S. Adam, E. Caughcy, E. Polster, M. White, L. Organ. Celesta. Librarian. Snow, A. Fiedler, A. Roger*, L. J. : GEORGE GERSHWIN COMPOSITIONS George Gershwin's Second Rhapsody Premiere Public Performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra Issued for First and Second Piano Piano Solo in Preparation Concerto in F First and Second Piano An American in Paris Piano Solo Rhapsody in Blue First and Second Piano Piano Solo Organ Orchestra Three Preludes Piano Solo Composer of the Following Musical Comedies OF THEE I SING OH KAY GIRL CRAZY TIP TOES STRIKE UP THE BAND SONG OF THE FLAME SHOW GIRL OH LADY BE GOOD TREASURE GIRL GEO. WHITE'S SCANDALS ROSALIE SWEET LITTLE DEVIL FUNNY FACE TELL ME MORE LA LA LUCILLE All these Compositions may be secured from your dealer or from NEW WORLD MUSIC CORP. HARMS, Inc., Sole Selling Agents 62 West 45th St. - New York City CARNEGIE HALL NEW YORK Forty-sixth Season in New York Fifty-first Season, 1931-1932 Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor THIRD CONCERT FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 5 AT 8.45 PROGRAMME Prokofieff "Classical" Symphony, Op. 25 I. Allegro. II. Larghetto. III. Gavotte. IV. Finale. d'Indy Symphonic Variations, "Istar," Op. 42 Gershwin Rhapsody No. 2 for Orchestra with Piano (First Performance in New York) Scriabin "Poem of Ecstasy," Op. 54 SOLOIST GEORGE GERSHWIN STEINWAY PIANO There will be an intermission of ten minutes after Gershwin's Rhapsody The music of these programmes is available at the 58th Street Library 5 ;. "Classical" Symphony, Op. 25 . Serge Sergievich Prokofieff (Born at Sontsovka, Russia, April 24, 1891; now living) This symphony, begun in 1916, was completed in 1917. The first performance was at Leningrad by the orchestra now known as the State Orchestra. The first performance in the United States was at a concert of the Russian Symphony Orchestra in New York, in December, 1918. The symphony, scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, kettledrums, and strings, is dedicated to Boris Assafieff, who, as "Igor Gleboff," has written much about music. "The composer's idea in writing this work was to catch the spirit of Mozart and to put down that which, if he were living now, Mozart might put into his scores" (Felix Borowski) I. Allegro, D major, 4-4 time. The chief theme is given to first violins. A transitional passage has material for the flutes. Develop- ment follows. The second theme is for first violins. The develop- ment begins with use of the first subject. The' transitional measures are taken up, later the second theme. The recapitulation opens in C major (strings). Then follows the transitional passage (D major) for the flute. The second theme is again for the strings. There is a short coda. II. Larghetto, A major, 2-2 time. First violins announce the chief theme. There are episodes. III. Gavotta, Non troppo allegro, D major, 4-4 time. The subject is given at once to strings and wood-wind. The trio is in G major (flutes and clarinets above an organ point for violoncellos and double basses). This subject is repeated by the strings. IV. Finale, Molto vivace, D major, 2-2 time. The first theme is for the strings ; the second, A major, for wood-wind. III. Gavotta, Non troppo allegro, D major, 4-4 time. Johann Mattheson in 1737 considered the "gavotta" as sung by a solo voice or by a chorus played on the harpsichord, violin, etc., and danced: "The effect is most exultant joy. Hopping, not running, is a pe- culiarity of this species of melody. French and Italian composers write a kind of gavotta for the violin that often fills whole pages with their degressions and deviations. If a foreign fiddler can excite wonder by his speed alone, he puts it before everything. The gavotta with great liberties is also composed for the harpsichord, but is not so bad as those for the fiddle." The gavotte was originally a peasant dance. It takes its name from Gap in Dauphine : the inhabitants of Gap are called "gavots." The dance "was introduced at court in the sixteenth century, when, to amuse the Royal circle, entertainments were given consisting of dances in national costume, performed by natives of the various provinces, and to the sound of appropriate instruments." It was originally a sort of branle. The dancers were in line or in a circle after some steps made together a couple separated, danced alone, and embraced ; then the women kissed all the male dancers, and the men all the female dancers. Each couple in turn went through this 6 performance. Ludovic Celler informs us that this was the gavotte then the known at the courts of the Valois : "The gavotte was not dignified, pompous and chaste dance of the eighteenth century, with slow and measured postures and low bows and curtsies." At the balls of Louis XIV. and XV. the gavotte was preceded by a menuet, composed of the first repetition of the menuet de la cour and danced by one couple ; and some say that the menuet itself was preceded by the offer of a bouquet and a rewarding kiss. The best and most minute description of the court gavotte, with all its steps, is in Desrat's "Dictionnaire de la Danse" (Paris, 1895). This court dance was of a tender nature until it became a stage dance. Two gavottes by Gluck* and GrStryf became most fashion- able, and Marie Antoinette made the dance again fashionable in society. The gavotte was revived after the Revolution, and a new dance to Gretry's tune was invented by Gardel ; but the gavotte, which then called attention to only two or three couples, was not a favorite. The gavotte which exists today was invented by Vestris ; it is not easy to perform ; but an arrangement invented at Berlin, the "Kaiserin Gavotte," was danced at the court balls, Fertiault described the gavotte as the "skillful and charming off- spring of the menuet, sometimes gay, but often tender and slow, in which kisses and bouquets are interchanged." Sometimes presents instead of kisses were interchanged. There is a tablature "d'une gavotte," with a description, in the *In "Iphigenie en Aulide" (1774). 1The gavotte in Gretry's "Panurge" (1785) was long popular, but Marie Antoinette preferred the one in "Cephale et Procris" (1773) of the same composer. DITSON PUBLICATION jl^JLoZ^Analytic Symphony Series Musical Home Necessity THE ANALYTIC SYMPHONY SERIES Great Symphonies, arranged in the simplest possible playable form for two hands on the piano, with remarkably clear analy- ses by the eminent teacher and theorist, Dr. Percy Goetschius. Understanding depends upon knowledge, and this can be secured only by a study of the music itself, therefore real enjoyment of symphonic works is hugely enhanced by the use of this simplified edition.