^ BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN HENRY LEE HIGGINSON ALUMNAE HALL l>^^. (Wellesley College) li(IHMIUl(|i EIGHTIETH SEASON 1960-1961 — l^iuAicli/ HIS DEDICATION AND INTERPRETIVE POWERS ARE MOVINGLY REVEALED IN FINEST LIVING STEREO ON RCAVictor records exclusively Other recent albums by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony in Living Stereo and regular L.P. — Saint*^ Saens: Symphony No. 3; Beethoven : Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica"). Monophonic only Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe. EIGHTIETH SEASON, 1960-1961 Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor CONCERT BULLETIN with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk The TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Henry B. Cabot • President Richard C. Paine • Treasurer Talcott M. Banks Henry A. Laughlin Theodore P. Ferris John T. Noonan Francis W. Hatch Palfrey Perkins Harold D. Hodgkinson Charles H. Stockton CD. Jackson Raymond S. Wilkins E. Morton Jennings, Jr. Oliver Wolcott TRUSTEES EMERITUS Philip R. Allen M. A. DeWolfe Howe N. Penrose Hallowell Lewis Perry Edward A. Taft Thomas D. Perry, Jr., Manager S. Shirk Norman James J. Brosnahan Assistant Manager Business Administrator Leonard Burkat Rosario Mazzeo Music Administrator Personnel Manager SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON 15 [3] Boston Symphony Orchestra (Eightieth Season, i960- 1961) CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL Violins Cellos Bassoons Richard Burgin Samuel Mayes Sherman Walt Concert-master Alfred Zighera Ernst Panenka Alfred Rrips Jacobus Langendoen Theodore Brewster George Zazofsky Mischa Nieland Rolland Tapley Karl Zeise Contra Bassoon Joseph Silverstein Martin Hoherman Richard Plaster Vladimir ResnikofE Bernard Parronchi Harry Dickson Richard Kapuscinski Horns Gottfried Wilfinger Robert Ripley James Stagliano Einar Hansen Winifred Winograd Charles Yancich Joseph Leibovici Louis Berger Harry Shapiro Emil Komsand John Sant Ambrogio Harold Meek Roger Shermont Paul Keaney Minot Beale Osboume McConathy Herman Silberman Basses Georges Moleux Stanley Benson Trumpets Leo Panasevich Henry Freeman Roger Voisin Sheldon Rotenberg Irving Frankel Armando Ghitalla Fredy Ostrovsky Henry Portnoi Andr6 Come Noah Bielski Henri Girard Gerard Goguen John Barwicki Clarence Knudson Leslie Martin Pierre Mayer Trombones Ortiz Walton Manuel Zung William Gibson Samuel Diamond Flutes William Moyer William Marshall Kauko Kahila Doriot Anthony Dwyer Leonard Moss Josef Orosz William Waterhouse James Pappoutsakis Alfred Schneider Phillip Kaplan Tuba Victor Manusevitch K. Vinal Smith Laszlo Nagy Piccolo Ayrton Pinto George Madsen Timpani Michel Sasson Everett Firth Lloyd Stonestreet Oboes Harold Farberman Julius Schulman Ralph Gomberg Percussion Raymond Sird Jean deVergie John Holmes Charles Smith Violas Harold Thompson Arthur Press Joseph de Pasquale English Horn Jean Cauhap^ Louis Speyer Harps Eugen Lehner Bernard Zighera Albert Bernard Clarinets Olivia Luetcke George Humphrey Gino Cioffi Jerome Lipson Manuel Valerio Piano Robert Karol Pasquale Cardillo Bernard Zighera Reuben Green E\) Clarinet Bernard KadinofE Library Vincent Mauricci Bass Clarinet Victor Alpert Earl Hedberg Rosario Mazzeo William Shisler I4] EIGHTIETH SEASON • NINETEEN HUNDRED SIXTY -SIXTY-ONE Program MONDAY EVENING, October 17, at 8:00 o'clock Haydn Symphony in B-flat major. No. 98 I. Adagio; Allegro II. Adagio cantabile III. Minuetto IV. Finale: Presto; Piii moderato Stravinsky .... "Jeu de Cartes" ("Card Game," Ballet in Three Deals) INTERMISSION Beethoven Symphony No. 7, in A major. Op. 92 I. Poco sostenuto; Vivace II. Allegretto III. Presto; Assai meno presto; Tempo primo IV. Allegro con brio BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS [5] SYMPHONY IN B-FLAT MAJOR, No. 98 By Joseph Haydn Born in Rohrau, Austria, March 31, 1732; died in Vienna, May 31, 1809 Haydn composed this symphony in 1791, for London, where it was first performed at the Hanover Square Rooms March 2, 1792. It is the fourth of the London Series. This symphony had a performance at the concerts of the Boston Symphony Orches- tra, December 15-16, 1905, Wilhelm Gericke conducting, and a second on April 23, 1948. The symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. npHis symphony was the fourth in the first of two series of six, each "'- composed by Haydn for Johann Peter Salomon for his concerts in London between 1791 and 1795. Haydn presided, according to custom, at the harpsichord and afterwards noted in his diary: "The first and last Allegros were encort [5/c]." A review of a later performance in the Morning Chronicle is indication that this work was singled out for special favor: "Every instrument is respected by his Muse, for he gives to each his due proportion of efficacy. He does not elevate one and make all the rest contributory as a mere accompaniment, but the subject is taken up by turns with masterly art, and every performer has the means of displaying his talent." There is a fifteen-bar introduction by the strings. Adagio, opening in a grave and portentous B-flat minor. The theme of this introduc- tion turns out to be the theme of the main A llegro much accelerated — a twist of invention by which the first audiences were no doubt as surprised as they were intended to be. The practice was to become common among the later Romantics, but there was a difference. C^sar Franck was to practice diminution of the opening theme of his sym- phony with the result of sudden dramatic tension. Haydn transformed solemnity into gayety in B-flat major. The composer duly establishes the dominant tonality but no distinct second subject emerges. The development is highly expert, adroit in counterpoint. Tovey has remarked in connection with this symphony that Haydn, for all his scholarly knowledge, was like Verdi, a man well equipped by experi- ence: "In saying that Haydn was not only an experienced but a learned composer, I have especially in mind the style and forms of this sym- phony. The Haydnesque animal spirits are moderated though not suppressed in the first movement by highly intellectual themes devel- oped in ways which, though not actually more thoughtful, seem more learned than usual." According to this writer, "The slow movement [6] is one of Haydn's broadest and gravest utterances. It might be called his requiem for Mozart, the news of whose death had so deeply shocked him during his London visit." Both Tovey and Geiringer find marked Mozart resemblances in this symphony, and the former discerns in the second theme of the slow movement a "reminiscence" from the slow movement of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony (but he would have had considerable difficulty in proving that Haydn had ever seen that score — he certainly never heard it). The Minuet is as Haydnesque as you could find, with a rippling Trio where the flutes, oboes and bassoons are matched with the strings. The Finale, in 6-8 time, is one of Haydn's most whimsical. In the development a solo violin toys with the second theme, so pivoting the discourse into contrasting tutti passages. The coda slows the tempo of the main theme to moderato, but builds a climax with scale passages in turbulent sixteenths for the full orchestra. [copyrighted] i3^ The IVeiv England Conservatory A COLLEGE OF MUSIC James Aliferis, President JORDAN HALL Thursday, October 20 • 8:30 p.m. CONSERVATORY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA JAMES DIXON, Conductor Schubert, Symphony No. 7 in C Anton Webern, Passacaglia for Orchestra, Opus 1 Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini No tickets required 290 Huntington Ave., Boston 15 [7] ''JEU DE CARTES, Ballet en trois donnes" By Igor Stravinsky Bom in Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg, on June 17, 1882. Stravinsky composed his ballet "The Card Game" between the summer of 1936 and the end of the year. The piece was performed by the American Ballet (for which it was composed) on April 27 of 1937, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. George Balanchine was in charge of the choreography; Mr. Stravinsky conducted. The ballet as a concert piece (which uses the score unaltered) was presented by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting, January 14, 1938. It was first heard in Boston when Stravinsky conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra, December 1, 1939, repeated, again under the composer's direc- tion, January 14, 1944, and under the direction of Charles Munch on January 27, 1950, under Guido Cantelli, January 30, 1953, Charles Munch, November 9, 1956. The orchestration of the suite is as follows: 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes and English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba, timpani, bass drum, and strings. TTTHEN Stravinsky was asked by Mr. Warburg for a new piece to '^'^ be presented by the American Ballet, he had already contem- plated a ballet with an interplay of numerical combinations, with "Chiffres dansants** not unlike Schumann's "Lettres dansantes." The action was to be implicit in the music. One of the characters would be a malignant force whose ultimate defeat would impart a moral conclusion to the whole. The ballet, as it was at last worked out, presented an enormous card table, the cards of the pack represented by individual dancers. The shuffling and dealing made a ceremonial introduction to each of the three deals. According to the mis-en-scene, at the end of each play, giant fingers, which might have been those of invisible croupiers, removed the cards. The following summary is that of the composer: "The characters in this ballet are the cards in a game of poker, dis- puted between several players on the green baize table of a gaming house. At each deal the situation is complicated by the endless guiles of the perfidious Joker, who believes himself invincible because of his ability to become any desired card. "During the first deal, one of the players is beaten, but the other two remain with even 'straights,' although one of them holds the Joker. "In the second deal, the hand which holds the Joker is victorious, thanks to four Aces who easily beat four Queens.