SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Branch Exchange Telephones, Ticket and Administration Offices, Commonwealth 1492 INC. Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor FIFTY-SECOND SEASON, 1932-1933 WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY PHILIP HALE COPYRIGHT, 1932, 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 HENRY B. CABOT, JR. ARTHUR LYMAN ERNEST B. DANE WILLIAM PHILLIPS N. PENROSE HALLOWELL EDWARD M. PICKMAN M. A. DE WOLFE HOWE HENRY B. SAWYER FREDERICK E. LOWELL BENTLEY W. WARREN W. H. BRENNAN, Manager G. E. JUDD, Assistant Manager 97 The Conductors build an Orchestra The respective stages through which the Boston Symphony Orchestra passed under the leadership of Henschel, Gericke, Nikisch and Paur have been described as "the primitive, the expert, and the romantic." If It was Gericke who brought the Orchestra to its first point of expertness. He put the programme on a classical basis, yet not without encountering most trying difficulties. There werepublic expressions of disapproval. As late as 1887 full appreciation was still lacking ... for as Gericke himself wrote regarding the first performance of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7. ... "during the last movement we were more people on the stage than in the audience.' ' HYet Gericke himself later called the people of Boston ''one of the most cultivated and best under- standing musical publics in the country." • • • • The volume of Trusts and Executorships which Old Colony Trust Company handles, together with the length of its experience, have enabled it to build an expert fiduciary organization that is pre-eminent in New England. Old Colony Trust Company 17 COURT STREET, BOSTON ^Affiliated with The F 1 r s t National B a n k f Boston 98 Title Page .... Page 97 Programme 101 Analytical Notes by Philip Hale: Weber . Overture to "Oberon" 102 Franck . Symphony in D minor 110 Carpenter • Biographical Sketch 117 Carpenter "Patterns," for Orchestra and Piano 118 Carpenter "Skyscrap(;rs" (A Ballet of Modern American Life) 120 Entr'acte: Singing and Singers By William J. Henderson {The Sun, New York, December 13, 1930) . 129 Advance Programme 135 Special Concert Announcements . 136-140 Teachers' Directory . 141-144 Personnel .... Opposite page 144 SYMPHONY HALL Sunday Afternoon, Oct. 30 at 3.30 FRITZ KRIESLER Tickets at Box Office 99 Ctianulcr & Co.— Famous for Style for Over a Century Half-Size D On the Third Floor For the certain size woman or miss who has t in the past, found it difficult to secure dresses to fit her correctly and smartly, we have established a new section that obviates her difficulties almost entirely! We have studied the woman who is five feet five inches or less in height* We know her arms are shorter, naturally, than her tall sister's her waist line higher her measurements from hip to hem decidedly less* We know she cannot wear a fashion designed for a tall woman and merely resized for her* So we have selected fashions that adapt the newest Paris de- tails to her figure* Vionnet closings are higher and shorter jackets are brief * sleeve fullness is restrained * . pleats are placed a bit nearer the waist line * * . everything to make her took her youngest and smartest! Almost an entire floor is devoted just to her! Formal Evening and Dinner Velvets, 39.50 Clever Wool and Satin Dresses, 25.00 Skillfully treated Rough Crepes, 19.75 100 FIFTY-SECOND SEASON, NINETEEN HUNDRED THIRTY-TWO AND THIRTY-THREE FRIDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 21, at 2.30 o'clock SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 22, at 8.15 o'clock Weber Overture to "Oberon" Franck Symphony in D minor I. Lento. Allegro non troppo. II. Allegretto. III. Allegro non troppo. Carpenter . "Patterns," for Orchestra with Piano Obbligato (First performance) Carpenter . ''Skyscrapers" (A Ballet of Modern American Life) Soprano: CLARA SHEAR Tenor: RULON Y. ROBISON SOLOIST JOHN ALDEN CARPENTER STEINWAY PIANOS There will be an intermission after the symphony City of Boston, Revised Regulation of August 5, 1 898,—Chapter 3, relating to the covering of the head in places of public amusement. Every licensee shall not, in his place of amusement, allow any person to wear upon the head a covering which obstruct* the view of the exhibition or performance in such place of any person seated in any seat therein provided for spectators, it being understood that a low head covering without projection, which does not obstruct such view, may be worn. Attest: J. M. GALV1N. City Clerk. The works to be played at these concerts may be seen in the Allen A. Brown Music Collection of the Boston Public Library one week before the concert 101 ; Maria vox Weber Overture to the Opera "Oberon" . Carl London, June 1826) (Born at Eutin, Oldenburg, December 18, 1786; died at 5, Oath/' a romantic opera in three acts, "Oberon ; or, the Elf-King's book by James Kobinson Planche, who founded it on Villeneuve's story ''Huon de Bordeaux" and Sotheby's English translation of Wieland's German poem, "Oberon," music by Carl Maria von Weber, April 1826. was first performed at Covent Garden, London, on 12, Paton Weber conducted. The cast was as follows : Rezia, Mary Anne Puck, Harriet Mermaid, Mary Anne Goward ; Fatima, Mme. Vestris ; Cawse; Huon, John Braham; Oberon, Mr. Gownell; Scherasmin, acted by Mr. Fawcett, "but a bass singer, named Isaacs, was lugged in head and shoulders to eke out the charming quatuor, 'Over the Dark Blue Waters.' " The first performance of Weber's "Oberon" in New York was at Fatima, : Austin the Park Theatre on October 9, 1928 Rezia, Mrs. ; Mrs. Sharpe; Namouna, Mrs. Wheatley; Puck, Mrs. Wallace; Sir ; Porter, Almanzor. Pro- Huon, Horn ; Scherasmin, Hibson Babekan, fessor Odell writes in his "Annals of the New York Stage": "I tremble to think how Weber's difficult music must have been sung by some of these 'vocalists.' And furthermore, I do not see how Horn, who had been the Caspar of 'Der Freischutz,' could have become the tenor Huon of the newer opera. Either Horn and Pearman must have had voices of tremendous range, or the music they sang must have been subject to 'instant transposing.' 'Oberon' made a hit." There were performances in New York at the Academy of Music, High Grade Bonds For Safety of Principal and Income Chase Harris Forbes Corporation 24 Federal Street, Boston L02 : March 29, 1870 (in English) ; Mblo's Garden, November 2, 1870 (in English) ; Metropolitan Opera House, December 28, 1918 (in Eng- lish; the music arranged (!) by Artur Bodansky). The opera was performed at Philadelphia on March 9, 1870 (in Italian), with recitatives by Julius Benedict. A burlesque on Weber's opera, "The Magic Horn,"* was per- formed (in English) at the Olympic Theatre, New York, on Feb- ruary 13, 1850. The overture was advertised as played for the "first time in America" on August 28, 1835, at Mblo's Theatre, New York. The performance of the opera in Paris at the Theatre Lyrique on February 27, 1 857 : Huon, Michot ; Scherasmin, Grillon ; Oberon, Fromant; Sadack, Leroy; Aboulifar, Girardot; Le Bey, Bellecour; part) Kezia, Mme. Rossi-Caccia (afterwards Mme. Ugalde took the ; Puck, Mile. Borghese; Fatima, Mile. Girard. A German company had performed, but only once, the opera at the Salle Favard, Paris, on May 25, 1830. Mme. Schroder-Devrient then took the part of Kezia. For the performance in 1857 see Hector Berlioz's review (March 6, 1857), reprinted in his "A Travers Chants." *The cast : Sir Bottle of Bordeaux, Duke of Claret, Conover ; Sherrywine, Nickin- ; Bleeckfier ; ; Palmer son Haroun al Raschid, Prince Barbican, Grosvenor Badmansir, ; Reisa, Mary Taylor ; Fatemma, Miss Miles ; Roshanna, Mrs. Isherwood O'Brian ; King of the Fairies, Puck, Miss Roberts. The play bill described the Extravaganza : "being, in fact, a version somewhat tranche of 'Oberon,' by Weber and PlancheV' MRS. H. H. A. BEACH Recent Compositions New Songs Dedicated to and sung by I SHALL BE BRAVE Ru*h Shaffner DARK GARDEN Ru th Shaffner ON A HILL (Negro Lullaby) Anna Hamlin SPIRIT OF MERCY (Sacred) Lillian Buxbaum For Pianoforte Choruses OUT OF THE DEPTHS SEA FEVER Men's Voices "Based on Psalm 130 this number WHEN THE LAST SEA IS SAILED follows the spirit of the verses closely Men's Voices although there is no definite reference DROWSY DREAM-TOWN to the text. ... It is less demand- Women's Voices ing of her piano technically than many - • TyT^-iT. ^ r v compositions, but is written with her JUNE Mixed Voices characteristic artistry and sincerity." THE YEAR'S AT THE SPRING —The Musician Mixed Voices Cantata for Mixed Voices THE CANTICLE OF THE SUN Poem by St. Francis of Assisi (A.D. 1225) Performed by the following choral organizations and choirs Worcester Festival, Albert Stoessel, Director Chautauqua Choir, Chautauqua, N.Y., Albert Stoessel, Director Toledo Choral Society, Mary Willing Megley, Director Choir Ensemble Society, Pittsburgh, Lyman A. Perkins, Director Riverside Church, New York, Harold V. Milligan, Director St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, David McK. Williams, Director and numerous others 103 ; The first performance in Boston was in Music Hall by the Parepa- Kosa Company, May 23, 1870.* Weber received for the opera £500. William Thomas Parke, the first oboist of Covent Garden at the time of the production, wrote in his entertaining "Musical Memoirs" : "The music of this opera is a refined, scientific and characteristic composition and the overture is an ingenious and masterly production. It was loudly encored. This opera, however, did not become as popular as that of 'Der Freischiitz.' " The story of the opera was founded by Planche on Wieland's "Oberon," t which in turn was derived from an old French romance, "Huon of Bordeaux." Oberon and Titania have vowed never to be reconciled until they find lovers faithful in adversity.