TCHAIKOVSKY FESTIVAL SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Branch Exchange Telephones, Ticket and Administration Offices, Commonwealth 1492 FIFTY-THIRD SEASON, 1933-1934 CONCERT BULLETIN OF THE INC. Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE * NOTES BY PHILIP HALE AND JOHN N. BURK COPYRIGHT, 1934, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, INC. THE OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. BENTLEY W. WARREN President HENRY B. SAWYER . Vice-President ERNEST B. DANE Treasurer ALLSTON BURR ROGER I. LEE ' HENRY B. CABOT WILLIAM PHILLIPS ERNEST B. DANE HENRY B. SAWYER N. PENROSE HALLOWELL EDWARD A. TAFT M. A. DE WOLFE HOWE BENTLEY W. WARREN W. H. BRENNAN, Manager G. E. JUDD, Assistant Manager 1113 Sofa me reAutt ol uecwti e/ uatwta^ eocfiewience mib {omnAanu e6> <mau= lied tor- efuctevit man= <meme?i£ e/JweAwiu ok (oxemtcr* cwid\j mibfe Old Colony Trust Company 17 COURT STREET, BOSTON Allied with The First National Bank of Boston EXECUTOR * TRUSTEE * GUARDIAN * CONSERVATOR * AGENT 1114 Frontispiece '. Page 1116 Title Pages 1113-1117 Programmes 1119-1120-1121 Trustees' Report 1141 List of Subscribers to the Deficit and Endowment Funds 1142 Analytical Notes: Peter Hitch Tchaikovsky: Biographical Sketch 1122 Symphony No. 1 in G minor 1126 Symphony No. 5 in E minor 1132 Symphony No. 6 in B minor, "Pathetique" 1138 Pianoforte Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor 1148 String Quartet No. 1 in D major 1150 Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Pianoforte 1152 List of Works Performed this Season at the Friday After- noon and Saturday Evening Concerts 1155 List of Works Performed this Season at the Monday Evening and Tuesday Afternoon Concerts 1165 Pop Announcement 1167 Announcement for Next Season 1169 Teachers' Directory 1170—1172 Personnel Opposite page 1 172 1115 ...... .•:-^v,- <:-.<• PETER ILITCH TCHAIKOVSKY 1116 SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON April 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 1934 TCHAIKOVSKY FESTIVAL BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Assisted by MARIA KURENKO Soprano JOSEF LHEVINNE Piano RICHARD BURGIN JEAN BEDETTI Violin Violoncello JESUS MARIA SANROMA Piano Robert Gundersen, Violin Iean Lefranc, Viola (The Monday Evening Concert, April 23, is included in the Festival) 1117 Cljantiler & Co. Tremont Street at West Designed to make the Woman 5 feet 5 look her best Dark Crepes with Lighter Tones 1975 The dress sketched is so much more attractive when you see the ribbed crepe and the stunning color effect! A lovely French blue is scalloped in the wide collar! A sapphire blue sparkles in the new pin! Sheer suits are crisply dotted in white, while scallops of organdie edge the collars and make fresh corsages. Sizes 16 }4 to 28 y2 —Third Floor PROGRAMME WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 25, at 8.15 Concerto for Pianoforte, No. 1, in B-flat minor, Op. 23 I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso. Allegro con spirito. II. Andantino semplice. Allegro. Vivace assai. III. Allegro con fuoco. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, "Pathetique," Op. 74 I. Adagio. Allegro non troppo. II. Allegro con grazio. III. Allegro molto vivace. IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso. SOLOIST JOSEF LHEVINNE BALDWIN PIANO USED There will be an intermission after the concerto A statement from the Trustees will be found on page 1141 (For announcement of symphony concerts for next season, see page 1169) 1119 PROGRAMME THURSDAY AFTERNOON, APRIL 26, at 2.30 Quartet in D major, No. 1, Op. 11 I. Moderato e simplice II. Andante cantabile III. Scherzo (Allegro non tanto e con fuoco) —Trio IV. Finale (allegro giusto) Burgin String Quartet (Richard Burgin, Robert Gundersen, Jean Lefranc, Jean Bedetti) Songs with Pianoforte If I Only Knew, If I Could Foresee At the Ball Only You Lisochek ) ^..i , . Children s Songs Lullaby J The Terrible Moment (Violoncello Obligato, Jean Bedetti) The Word Maria Kurenko, Soprano Benjamin King, Accompanist Trio for Violin, Violoncello, and Pianoforte, Op. 50 I. Pezzo elegiaco II. Tema con variazioni; Finale I. Andante con moto II. Piu mosso III. Allegro moderato IV. L'istesso tempo V. L'istesso tempo VI. Tempo di valse VII. Allegro moderato VIII. Andante flebile ma non tanto IX. Tempo di mazurka X. Moderato Finale (Allegro risoluto e con fuoco) e coda (Andante con moto) (Richard Burgin, Jean Bedetti, Jesus Maria Sanroma) STEINWAY PIANO A statement from the Trustees will be found on page 1141 (For announcement of symphony concerts for next season, see page 1169) 1120 PROGRAMME FRIDAY AFTERNOON, APRIL 27, at 2.30 o'clock SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 28, at 8.15 o'clock Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 ("Winter Dreams") I. "Winter Journey Dreams": Allegro tranquillo. II. "Dark Country, Hazy Country": Adagio cantabile, ma non tanto. III. Scherzo: Allegro scherzando giocoso. IV. Finale: Andante lugubre; allegro maestoso; allegro vivo. (First performances at these concerts) Symphony No. 5, in E minor, Op. 64 I. Andante; Allegro con anima. II. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza. III. Valse (Allegro moderato). IV. Finale (Andante maestoso): Allegro vivace. There will be an intermission between the symphonies A statement from the Trustees will be found on page 1141 (For announcement of symphony concerts for next season, see page 1169) 1121 PETER ILITCH TCHAIKOVSKY (Born at Votkinsk in the government of Viatka, Russia, May 7, 1840; died at Leningrad, November 6, 1S93) Changing musical fashions have brought upon the head of Tchaikovsky a good deal of condescension from musicians with other points of view. But there is also always to be reckoned with the world that listens. And this world insists upon its Tchaikovsky with a steadfastness that is eloquent. After the Russian composer had made a fairly sudden and com- plete conquest with the impact of his brass and the affecting flood of his melody, there came the reaction. Tchaikovsky had overstepped, it was said, and time was finding him out. There was music pro- duced in Russia more continent and more colorful. There were new wonders in the West—music of prismatic deftness, of a more be- coming reticence. These fresh marvels made the music of some of Tchaikovsky's contemporaries sound a little faded and a little ridic- ulous; his own music they did not eclipse, but rather deflected the interest in certain quarters. It was always possible, too, to find frailties in Tchaikovsky's methods—to accuse him of having sedulously studied popular ap- plause, of having committed himself to the mixed metal of the morceau de salon, of having lent an acquisitive ear to Italian opera, or other doubtful material, and, what was considered even more un- pardonable by the Russian purists, of having twisted Russian tunes to his symphonic purposes. Yet these compromises and borrowings were melted in his crucible to the casting of a music of individuality, genius—call it what you will—which has always stood quite apart, unchallenged by imitation, unsuperseded, remaining somehow vividly alive as the years roll by. There have been those who have reproached Tchaikovsky for "wearing his heart upon his sleeve." But, as R. W. S. Mendl re- marked in a recently quoted article, "Why shouldn't he?" It is true that fish easily caught are less prized, that fine restraint, veiled allusion, austere grandeur, still depths—all have their place in the general scheme. So also, it is here submitted, has the quality of a direct, sensuous address to the ear, of delight in intense melody, and engaging sonority. Time may prove, if it has not already proved, that Tchaikovsky's abundant melodic genius is his first claim to immortality. Perhaps that there is something in the make-up of the spontaneous melodist requires in the man a childlike simplicity, an openly affectionate nature, a direct desire to please all about him, which is translated into tones. Tchaikovsky, as his letters show, had these traits no he less than Mozart or Schubert. It is not without significance that loved Mozart far above every other composer. "To me," he wrote the in his diary, "Mozart is the culminating point of all beauty in de- sphere of music. He alone can make me weep and tremble with light at the consciousness of the approach of that which we call the ideal." Brahms was repellent to his artist's nature; the Wagner colossus, which was then the musical event of the day, he gave grudging praise—he must secretly have dreaded this im- 1122 perious force in music. But in two new French scores—Bizet's "Carmen" and Delibes' "Sylvia"—he repeatedly expressed his de- light. There are those who protest that he fills his music with his per- sonal troubles. But rasped nerves, blank, deadening depression, neurotic fears—these painful feelings are not in the province of music, nor are they found there. They probably in some indirect way colored his inclinations towards a Byronic melancholy, highly fash- ionable at the time. But the pathological and the musical Tchaikov- sky were two different people. The first was mentally sick, pitiably feeble. The second was bold, sure-handed, thoroughgoing, increas- ingly masterful, eminently sane. Tchaikovsky's musical melancholy is not painful to the ear, but luscious—even exuberant. He simply revels in the mood which somehow peculiarly belongs to him. It is worth noting that during the nervous collapse of 1877, in the midst of his disastrous marriage of a few weeks, he was busily at work upon his Fourth Symphony—music far surpassing anything he had done in brilliance and exultant strength.* One is almost forced to *Tchaikovsky's letter to Mme. von Meek of March 1, 1878, the long and interesting letter in which he plays with the idea of a "programme" for this symphony, on the whole confirms this impression. He there defines his act of composition as "a purely lyrical process; a kind of musical shriving of the soul, in which there is an encrustation of material which flows forth again in notes just as the lyrical poet pours himself out in verse.