Boston Symphony Orchestra

I 957- s . .)2./'-(3 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN I88I BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON • 5 . 1955 ~~tk 1956 ANNJV£RSARV SEASON Academy of Music, Brooklyn Under the auspices of the BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES and the PmLHARMONtc SocrETY OF BROOKLYN THE WOMEN'S COMMITTEE FOR The BostoJz Sy1J1photzy Orchestra Concerts IN BROOKLYN Mrs. Carroll J. Dickson, Chairman Mrs. Edward C. Blum Mrs. William H. Good Mrs. H. Haughton Bell Vice-Chairman Vice-Chairman Vice-Chairman Mrs. Irving G. Idler Mrs. Miles Kastcndicck Chairman Boxes Chairman Membership Mrs. Elias J. Audi Mrs. George H. Gartlan :\Irs. Raymond King Pendleton Mrs. Charles L. Babcock, Jr. \Irs. Ed·win L. Garvin ;>.Irs. Valentine K. Raymond Mrs. Bernard S. Barr Mrs. Andrew L. Gomory :\frs. Frederick H. Rohlfs Mrs. John R. Bartels Mrs. R. Whitney Gosnell Mrs. Donald Ross Mrs. George M. Billings Mrs. Arthur C. Hallan Mrs. !J ving J. Sands Mrs. Robert E. Blum Mrs. James M. Hills Mrs. Oscar P. Schoenemann Mrs. Lawrence J. Bolvig Mrs. Raymond V. Ingersoll Mrs. Eliot H. Sharp Mrs. Irving L. Cabot Mrs. Henry A. Ingraham Mrs. Frank E. Simmons Mrs. Otis Swan Carroll 1\frs. Darwin R. James. III Mrs. Donald G. C. Sinclair Mrs. Oliver G. Carter Mrs. James Vincent Keogh Mrs. Ainsworth L. Smith Mrs. Francis T. Christy Mrs. John Bailey King Mrs. Harry H. Spencer Mrs. Donald M. Crawford Mrs. \Varner King Mrs. David W. Swanson Mrs. Russell V. Cruikshank Mrs. Almet R. Latson, Jr. Mrs. Donald Edgar Swift Mrs. William T. Daily Mrs. l\f. Paul Luther Mrs. Hollis K. Thayer Mrs. Frederick I. Daniels Mrs. Eugene R. 1\Iarwllo Mrs. John F. Thompson, Jr. Mrs. Sidney \V. Davidson Mrs. Carleton D. Mason 1\frs. Theodore N. Trynin Mrs. Berton J. Delmhorst Mrs. Edwin P. Maynard, Jr. Mrs. Franklin B. Tuttle Mrs. Remick C. Eckardt Mrs. Richard Maynard Mrs. Adrian Van Sinderen Mrs. Thomas K. Ware Mrs. Alfred Everson Miss Helen McWilliams Mrs. Robert F. Warren Mrs. James F. Fairman Miss Emma Jessie Ogg Mrs. Carl T. Washburn Mrs. John \V. Faison Mrs. William M. Parke Dr. Virginia T. Weeks Mrs. Merrill N. Foote Mrs. William B. Parker Mrs. George N. Whittlesey Mrs. Lewis \V. Francis Mrs. Frank H. Parsons Miss Elizabeth Wright Academy of Music, Brooklyn SEVENTY-FIFTH SEASON, 1955-1956 Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BuRGIN, Associate Conductor Concert Bulletin of the ~--ifth Concert FRIDAY EVENING, March 23 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. W. RECTOR t Assistant .J. J. BROSNAHAN, Assistant Treasurer N. S. SHIRK ( Managers RosARIO MAzzEo, Personnel Manager [I J TANGLEWOOD 1956 The Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director The Berkshire Festival Nineteenth Season CHARLES MUNCH, Conductor The Berkshire Music Center Fourteenth Season CHARLES MUNCH, Director To receive further announcements, write to Festival Office, Symphony Hall, Boston [a] SEVENTY-FIFTH SEASON · NINETEEN HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE AND FIFTY-SIX Fifth Concert Program BEETHOVEN . Overture to "Coriolan," Op. 62 ~IARTINU "Fantaisies symphoniques" (Symphony No.6) I. Lento; Allegro; Lento II. Allegro III. Lento; Allegro INTERMISSION DvoRAK . Concerto for Violoncello, in B minor, Op. 104 I. Allegro II. Adagio ma non troppo III. Finale: Allegro moderato FALLA Three Dances from the Ballet "El Sombrero de Tres Picos" SOLOIST LEONARD ROSE Performances in Boston by the orchestra are broadcast each week on Monday evenings from 8:15 to g:oo P.I\1. on the NBC Network. BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS [ ~] ovERTURE TO "CORIOLAN," op. 62 (AFTER CoLLIN) By LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Born at Bonn, December 16 (?), 1770; died at Vienna, March 26, 1827 Beethoven composed his overture on the subject of "Coriolanus" in the year 1807. It was probably first performed at subscription concerts of Prince Lobkowitz in Vienna, in March, 1807. The Overture was published in 1808, with a dedication to Court Secretary Heinrich J. von Collin. The orchestration is the usual one of Beethoven's overtures: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. AFTER Fidelio7 Beethoven was ambitious to try his hand at another n opera, and entertained several subjects, among them a setting of Shakespeare's Macbeth for which Heinrich Joseph von Collin, a dramatist of high standing and popularity in Vienna at the time, wrote for him the first part of a libretto. Beethoven noted in his sketchbook: "Overture Macbeth falls immediately into the chorus of witches." But the libretto did not progress beyond the middle of the second act, and was abandoned, according to Collin's biographer, Laban, "because it threatened to become too gloomy." In short, no opera emerged from Beethoven in 1807. But his association with Collin resulted in an overture intended for performance with the spoken tragedy Coriolan. The play had been first performed in 1802 (then with entr'acte music arranged from Mozart's I domeneo), and had enjoyed a considerable vogue which was largely attributable to the acting of Lange in the title part. The popularity of Coriolan had definitely dropped, however, when Beethoven wrote his overture on the subject. Thayer points out that the play was billed only once in Vienna between the years 1805 and 18og. The single performance was on April 24, 1807, and even at this performance Thayer does not believe that the Overture was played. Beethoven seems, then, to have attached himself to the subject for sheer love of it rather than by any set commission. The piece was accepted forthwith as a concert overture, and in this form became at once useful at the concerts, or "academies" as they were called, where Beethoven's music was played. There has been speculation in print as to whether Beethoven de rived his concept of the old Roman legend from Collin or Shakespeare. The point is of little consequence for the reason that both Shakespeare and Collin based their characters directly upon the delineation of Plutarch. Beethoven himself could well have been familiar with all three versions. His library contained a much-thumbed copy of Plu tarch's Lives, and a set of Shakespeare in the translation of Eschenburg, with many passages underlined. The tale of Coriolanus7 as related by Plutarch, is in itself exciting dramatic material (details of which have been questioned by histo- [4] rians). Coriolanus, according to Plutarch, was a patrician general of the Romans, a warrior of the utmost bravery and recklessness who, single handed, had led Rome to victory against the neighboring Volscians. Rome was at this time torn by bitter controversy between the patricians and the plebeians, who declared themselves starved and oppressed be yond endurance. Coriolanus, impulsive and overbearing, had scorned and openly insulted the populace in terms which roused the general anger, and when the military hero was proposed as consul, the senate was swayed by the popular clamor, and voted his permanent exile from Rome in the year 491 B.C. Swept by feelings of bitterness and desire for revenge, he took refuge with the Volscians, the traditional enemies of the Romans, and made compact with them to lead a campaign against his own people. The fall of Rome seemed imminent, and emissaries were sent from the capital to the Volscian encampment outside the city walls. Coriolanus met every entreaty with absolute re jection. In desperation, a delegation of women went out from the city, led by his mother and his wife. They went to his tent and beseeched him on their knees to spare his own people. The pride and determina tion of the soldier were at last subdued by the moving words of his mother, who pictured the eternal disgrace which he would certainly inflict upon his own family. Coriolanus yielded and withdrew the forces under his command, thus bringing the anger of the Volscian leaders upon his own head. He was slain by them, according to the version of Shakespeare; according to Collin, he was driven to suicide. Collin's treatment differs from Shakespeare's principally in that the action is concentrated into a shorter and more continuous period. Collin begins at the point where Coriolanus, banished from Rome, takes stormy leave of his family and marches furiously from the city. After this first scene, the entire action takes place within the Volscian lines. Shakespeare depicts Coriolanus as a lone and striking figure in the midst of constant crowd movement, spurring his legions to the capture of Corioli, the Volscian capital, or flinging his taunts against the Roman rabble as they threaten to throw him to his death from the Tarpeian rock. The character of Coriolanus is indelibly drawn by Shakespeare in the scornful and succulent oaths which he hurls at his enemies. The mother and wife become immediately human and en dearing figures as Shakespeare presents them, and at the end, the nobil ity and pathos of Volumnia * dominates the scene. Collin, on the other hand, holds Coriolanus as the central and dominating figure through aut. His characters in action are more idealized and formalized, as if in the manner of the Greek tragedians. Fate and avenging furies threaten and at last destroy him. There is a persistence of intense dramatic conflict within the soul of the all-conquering leader.

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