Brooklyn Atatlemy of Musit 1969-70 Season

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FEBRUARY 5, 1970 ABRAHAM. ..."' ,.:Ia c: CJ3e a "' beautiful .·. < f bride 'i }- . \ -.-,., As soon as he pops the question . .. head straight to A&S Bridal Salon! There you'll find traditional and classic looks and even some new ways to do your own thing. And bring a long your entire bridal party.

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THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 5, 1970

Subscription Performance

The Brooklyn Academy of Music

presents the

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

EIGHTY-NINTH SEASON 1969-1970

WILLIAM STEINBERG, Music Director

Michael Tilson Thomas, Assistant Conductor

CLAUDIO ABBADO, Conductor

Alexis Weissenberg, Pianist

Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Flutist

The use of cameras and t ape record ers is strictly prohibited at Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts. Baldwin is the officia l piano of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. 4 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I FEBRUARY 1970 The Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music is a department of tne Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.

The Governing Committee Ticket Reservation Systems - TICKETRON Seth S. Faison, Chairman Edward S. Reid, Vice Chairman Computerized ticket selling system which Monroe D. Stein, Vice Chairman permits purchase of tickets to Academy Hon. Alexander Aldrich events at the following locations: Bernard S. Barr Mrs. H. Haughton Bell MANHATIAN: Dr. William M. Birenbaum Gimbels 33rd St.; Chase Manhattan Bank, Donald M. Blinken 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza and 52nd St. John R. H. Blum & 6th Ave.; Grand Central Station, Infor­ Pat Carter mation and Balcony Areas; Hunter College Thomas A Donnel:y Concert Bureau, 695 Park Avenue; TRS, William B. Hewson 77 Third Avenue. Rev. W. G. Henson Jacobs Howa•d H. Jones BROOKLYN: Gi bert Kaplan Chase Manhattan Bank, Court and Mon­ Max L. Koeppel tague Sts.; Four Season Ticket Informa­ Msgr. Raymond S. Leonard tion Association, 1625 Jerome Ave.; Free­ Mrs. George Liberman dom National Bank, 493 Nostrand Ave. Harvey Lichtenstein Mrs. Constance J. McQueen QUEENS: Alan J. Patricof Gertz, 136-50 Roosevelt Ave., and 162-10 James Q. R1ordan Jamaica Ave. Ric .•ard C. Sacr.s William Tobey LONG ISLAND: Gimbels, Roosevelt Field and Valley Administrative Staff Harvey Lichtenstein, Stream; Gertz, Hicksville; Austin Travel, Director Hempstead; Sears, Huntington. Lewis L. Lloyd, General Manager WESTCHESTER: Charles Hammock, Gimbels, Cross County Shopping Center; Asst General Manager B. Altman and Co., White Plains; Sears, Walter Price, White Plains. Asst Director, Press & Public Relations fhomas Kerngan, NEW JERSEY: Assistant to ti1e Director Ron Chnstopher, Gimbels, Paramus and Moorestown; Public Affairs Coordinator Broadway Bank and Trust, Paterson; Jud1th Blmken, Grand Union, Morristown; Acme Super­ Mus1c Program Coordinator market, Somerville; B. Altman and Co., Betty Rosendorn, Administrator, School Time Program Short Hills; Customer Made Shirts, 31 E. Sarah Walder, Broad St., Westfield; DinersjFugazy Administrator, Membership Program Travel, Broad and Monmouth, Red Bank; Jane Yockel, Food Circus, 835 Highway St., Middle­ Administrative Assistant town; Levy Bros., Clifton and Elizabeth; Mildred Levinson, Linden Travel, Linden; Liptons Stores, Administrative Secretary Bloomfield; Mercury Travel, 4 Lafayette, Adele Allen, Administrative Secretary Trenton; Paramus Bowling, Rte. 17, Pa­ Sylvia Rodin, ramus; Princeton University Store, Administrative Assistant Princeton; Ridgewood Newspapers, Frances M. Seidenberg, Ridgewood; Steinbach Goerke, Asbury Aom n •strauvt:: Assistant Park, Bricktown, Elizabeth, Plainfield, Evely August, Red Bank; Stern Brothers, Paramus; Staff Assistant Valley Fa ir, Irvington; Woodbridge Travel, House Staff Woodbridge; Charles Grotsky, Inc., Bay­ A fred Salmaggi, Jr., House Manager onne; Bambergers, Monmouth Shopping Alan Schnurmacher, Asst. House Manager Center, Eatontown, and Morristown; Sears, Harry Pearl, Box Off1ce Treasurer Hackensack, 168 Elizabeth Blvd., Newark, • Ronald Argenzio, Assistant 212 Madison Ave., Passaic, Perth Amboy, Donald Giebler, Assistant Watchung, Wayne and Union City; Moffat I Richard Beck, Stage Crew Chief Companies, 511 Milburn Ave., Short Hills. John Van Buskirk, Master Carpenter Edward Cooney, Assistant CONNECTICUT: Do1ald Beck, Chief Electrician Gimbels, Stamford; Grand Union, Green- Louis Beck, Assistant wich; Lafayette Radio, Danbury; Stoler's, John Cooney, Property Managar Darien; Yale Cooperative Corp., 77 Broad- Charles Brette, Custodian way, New Haven. IN CASE OF FIRE, WALK, DO NOT RUN, TO THE NEAREST EXIT. FEBRUARY 1970 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I 5

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Mr. Alexander Aldrich Mrs. Edward M. Fuller Mr. Warren H. Phillips Miss Marian Anderson Mr. Andrew L. Gomory Mr. Rutherford Platt Hon. Emil N. Saar Mr. Covington Hardee M r. Eben W. Pyne Mr. Edward K. Bachman Mr. F. Warren Hellman Mr. Edward S. Reid Mr. Bernard S. Barr Mr. J. Victor Herd Mr. Frederick W. Richmond Mrs. H. Haughton Bell Dr. James MeN. Hester Mr. James Q. Riordan Mr. Donald F. Benjamin Mr. William B. Hewson Mrs. Thomas H. Roulston Dr. William Birenbaum Mr. John E. Heyke, Jr. Robert S. Rubin Mr. John R. H. Blum Mr. Wi n ston E. Himsworth Mrs. Frank K. Sanders, Jr. Mr. Robert E. Blum Dr. R. Gordon Hoxie Mr. J. Folwell Scull, Jr. Mr. Gordon S. Braislln Mrs. Darwin R. James Ill Mr. Dona ld G. C. Sinclair Mr. Robert M. Burke Mr. Howard Jones Mr. Monroe D. St ein Mr. Patrick Carter Dr. John B. King Mr. Gerard Swope, Jr. Mr. Francis T. Christy Mr. Preston L. Lambert Mr. Harold J. Szold Mrs. Robert T. H. Davidson Mr. Wilbur A. Levin Mrs. Hollis K. Thayer Mr. Sidney W. Davidson Mrs. Abbott A. Lippman Mrs. John F. Thompson, Jr. Mrs. Berton J. Delmhorst Mr. Alastair B. Martin Mr. William Tobey Mrs. Carroll J. Dickson Mrs. Emmet J. McCormack Mr. George R. Tollefsen Mr. Milton T. VanderVeer Mr. Thomas A. Donnelly The Very Rev. Eugene J. Molloy Mrs. Tracy S. Voorhees Dr. James B. Donovan Hon. Leonard P. Moore M r. Francis B. Wadelton, Jr. Mrs. Mary Childs Draper Mr. Justin J. Murphy Hon. George C. Wildermuth Mr. Paul F. Ely Mrs. Louis Natnanson Mr. Robert Wilson Mr. Seth S. Faison M r. Michael C. O'Brien, Jr. Mrs. Earle Kress Williams Mr. Lewis W. Francis, Jr. Mr. Donald M. Oenslager Judge Joseph B. Williams

FOUNDATION AND CORPORATE CONTRIBUTORS

A & S Foundation Marine Electric Corporation Albert and Greenbaum Foundation, Inc. Marine M idland Grace Trust Company American Airlines Foundation of New York Bache Corporation Foundation Martin's Department Store Bankers Trust Company Mays (J.W.) Department Store Bay Ridge Savings Bank (now Anchor) Matz Foundation Bristol-Myers Fund Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, Inc. Brooklyn Savings Bank Henry and Lucy Moses Fund B·ooklyn Union Gas Company Nathan's Famous, Inc. Burlington Industries Foundation National Lead Foundation Chase Manhattan Bank Foundation New York Community Trust Chemical Bank New York Trust Company - Brooklyn Heights Cities Service Foundation - Cultural Fund Corning Glass Works Foundation - Prospect Park Cranshaw Corporation New York Foundation CT Foundation New York Post Foundation Dell Publishing Company Foundation New York State Council on the Arts Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn New York Telephone Company Dow Jones Foundation New York Times Foundation, Inc. Duplan Corporation Ogilvy & Mather, Inc. Ea st New York Savings Bank Pack-Kahn Foundation Eighty Maiden Lane Foundation Pfizer Foundation Fawcett Enterprises, Inc. Jerome Robbins Foundation First National City Bank Foundation Rockefeller Brothers Fund Ford Foundation Rockefeller Foundation Grea ter New York Savings Bank F. & M. Shaefer Brewing Company Green Point Savings Bank Scherman Foundation Hudson Pulp and Paper Company Sears, Roebuck and Company IBM Corporation Shell Companies Foundation, Inc. Kaplan Fund South Brooklyn Savings Bank Kidder Pea body Foundation Spartans Industries Kings County Lafayette Trust Co. Trans World Airlines, Inc. Kirsch Beverages, Inc. Trump Foundation (Fred C.) Klein, Stephen and Regina, Foundation United Airlines Kraftco Corporation (National Dairy) United States Trust Company Lincoln Savings Bank vanAmeringen Foundation, Inc. Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company William C. Whitney Foundation Foundation Williamsburgh Savings Bank

FIRST LUNCHEON-LECTURE SERIES "THE PERFORMING ARTS"

FEBRUARY 13 - WILLIAM WOODRUFF - OPERA

FRIENDS OF THE BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC 30 Lafayette Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11217 Tel.: 783-6700 - Ext. 18 ' BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I FEBRUARY 1970

PROGRAM NOTES

CLAUD IO ABBADO his debut with the New York Phil­ harmonic and to sta rt a concert tour Con du ctor throughout the country. He was also CLAUDIO ABBADO was born in invited to appear with the Philadel­ M1lan, Italy, in 1933. He studied phia Orchestra. During the following piano and composition at the Verdi yea rs he made annual tours of North Conservatory of his native city, and and South America, Europe and the conducting at the Vienna Academy. Near Ea st. He won the Koussevitzky Award for Recently Al exis Weissenberg has conducting at the Berkshire Mus1c appea red with the Philadelphia Or­ Center in 1958 and five years later chestra conducted by , won a first prize in the Mitropoulos the Philharmonic conducted Competition, wh1ch gave him a year by , as wel l as w1th the as the Chicago, Montrea I and Detroit one of the assistant conductors. In Symphonies and the Philharmonics 1964 Herbert von KaraJan heard him of Vienna and New York. La st season at the RIAS Festival in Berl1n and he toured to Japan, the Soviet Union invited him to appear at the Salzburg and Europe. He records for the Angel Fest1val the following year, and to and RCA labels. conduct the . Successes followed quickly: Claudio Abbado was named permanent con­ DORIOT ANTHONY DWYER ductor of La Scala in Milan, the first Flutist man to be so honored smce Gu1do CantPIII nine years earlier. Engage­ Principal flute of the Boston Sym­ ments followed with other leading phony Orchestra, DOR IOT ANTHONY opera compan1es and orchestras, the DWYER, came to Boston in 1952, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera f1rst woma n to be engaged as a prin­ House, Covent Garden, the V1 enna cipal by the Orchestra. Her early Philharmonic, the New Phllharmonia teachers included her mother an d of London, the Los Angeles Phi I har­ Ernest Liegl, who was then first flute monic, the of the Chicago Symphony. Later she and the Cleveland Orchestra among studied with Georges Barrere, Wil­ them. Claudio Abbado has made liam Kincaid, and Jose ph Mariano at many recordmgs on the London and the Eastman School of Music, of DGG labels. which she is a graduate. Before her appomtment to the Boston Sym­ phony, Doriot Anthony Dwyer wa s a ALEXIS WEISSENBERG member of the Lo s Angeles Philhar­ Pianist monic, and was chosen by as first flute of the Hollywood ALEXIS WEISSENBERG was born in Bowl Symphony the year he was Sof1a, . He studied 1n his music director there. Mrs. Dwyer has native country and in Israel, where served on the facu Ities of the Berk­ he made h1s professional debut at sh ire Music Center at , the age of fourteen. After a tour t o the New England Conservatory and South Afnca he came to the United since joining the States to attend the . Boston Symphony. A member ot the He toured Israel, Egypt, and Boston Symphony Chamber Players, South America, then returned to win she has a I so appeared as soloist with the Leventritt Competition, to make the Orchestra on many occasions. (continued on page 10) FEBRUARY 1970 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I 7

PROGRAM

DONA TONI Puppenspiel (Puppet Show) no. 2 for flute, piccolo and orchestra

Doriot Anthony Dwyer, flute and piccolo

BARTOK Piano concerto no. 2 (1931)

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro molto

Alexis Weissenberg

INTERMISSION

SCHUMANN Symphony no. 4 in D minor, op. 120*

Ziemlich Iangsam - Lebhaft

Romanze: Ziemlich Iangsam

Scherzo: Lebhaft

Langsam - Lebhaft

Alexis Weissenberg plays the Steinway piano. Baldwin is the official piano of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

*RCA RECORDS 8 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I FEBRUARY 1970

The Brooklyn Academy of Music DIRECTORY OF FACILITIES AND SERVICES

Academy Dance Center Express Buses - Manhattan to BAM Classes for ages 6-15 in ballet/modern dance. Contact Jane Yackel at 783-6700. Direct buses for most evening events leave S.W. corners unless otherwise noted. No Bar reservations necessary. Return: 15 minutes A new bar serving liquor and soft drrnks after perform a nee. is now functioning in the Academy's Main Lobby. Service is available one hour prior Fare: $1.25 round trip, 75¢ return (if avail· to curtain and durrng intermisstons. able) Box Office Schedule for 0:30 curtain. Buses leave Ticl

AUTOMOBILE ROUTES TO BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC

UPPER AND LOWER MANHATTAN, for Downtown Brooklyn. After Expressway NORTHERN BRONX: becomes elevated again take "Manhattan Bridge Civic Center" exit, follow exit Henry Hudson Parkway and West Side around to Flatbush Avenue. Turn left on Highway to Canal Street. Canal Street to Flatbush Avenue, go 8 traffic lights to the Manhattan Bridge, over Bridge to Flatbush island opposite the Fox Theatre, turn left Avenue. Go 8 traffic lights to island in at island, then turn right at Fulton Street front of Fox Theatre, turn left at island, for two blocks, turn right on Ashland Place then turn right for two blocks, turn right for one block to the Academy. at Ashland Place to the Academy of Music. b) VIA THROGGS NECK BRIDGE: Take New England Thruway (or get on Thruway WEST BRONX from the Hutchinson River Parkway) over (NEW YORK UNIVERSITY AREA): Throggs Neck Bridge. Continue on Clear­ Major Deegan Expressway to Triborough view Expressway to the Long lsla~d Ex­ Bridge. Triborough Bridge to East River pressway (Manhattan bound) to the Brook­ Drive. East River Drive to 25th Street Exit. lyn exit. (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway). (Just after Bellevue Hospital). 25th Street Follow i nsrtuctions (a) to Brooklyn. to 2nd Avenue, left on 2nd Avenue to 21st Street. Right on 21st Street to 3rd Avenue. NORTHERN QUEENS AND NASSAU: Left on 3rd Avenue to Manhattan Bridge Take Long Island Expressway to Brooklyn (Canal Street). Go 8 traffic lights to Fox exit in Queens. (Brooklyn-Queens Express­ Theatre, turn left at island, turn right for way). Take Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to two blocks to Ashland Place, to the Aca­ Downtown Brooklyn (kee ping always to the demy of Music. right). After Expressway becomes elevated again take Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn EAST BRONX (BRONX PARK AREA): Civic Center exit. Follow exit around to Flatbush Avenue, turn left on Flatbush Bronx River Parkway and Parkway Exten­ Avenue, (follow instructions as to the sion to Bruckner Blvd. Bruckner Blvd. to island and traffic lights.) Triborough Bridge. Triborough Bridge to East River Drive. East River Drive to 25th Street exit. (Just after Bellevue Hospital). SOUTHERN QUEENS AND NASSAU: 25th Street to 2nd Avenue, left on 2nd Southern State Parkway to Belt Parkway. Avenue to 21st Street. Right on 21st Street After passing Kennedy take exit No. 22 to 3rd Avenue. Left on 3rd Avenue to Man­ (No. Conduit Avenue) to Conduit Blvd. Con­ hattan Bridge (Canal StreeU. Left over duit Blvd. to Atlantic Avenue. Atlantic Bridge to Flatbush Avenue. Go 8 traffic Avenue all the way to Flatbush Avenue. lights to Fox Theatre, turn left at island, Right on Flatbush Avenue for 1 block, bear turn right for two blocks on Fulton Street, right on to Ashland Place, 1 block to Lafay­ turn right for one block on Ashland Place ette Avenue and the Brooklyn Academy of at Fulton Street to the Academy. Music.

EAST BRONX (EASTCHESTER SOUTHERN BROOKLYN: AND PELHAM PARK AREAS): Take Flatbush Aven ue (or Ocean Avenue a) VIA WHITESTONE BRIDGE: Hutchin­ or Ocea n Parkway to Flatbush Avenue, or son River Parkway to Grand Central Park­ in Bay Ridge take 4th Avenue to Flatbush way. Left on Grand Central to Long Island Avenue) to Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue. Expressway. Right on Long Island Express­ Turn on Ashland Place - on left of the way to Brooklyn exit. (Brooklyn-Queens Williamsburgh Bank and go one block to Expressway). Keep to right following signs the Academy. 10 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I FEBRUARY 1970

FRANCO DONATONI

Puppenspiel (P u~p et Show) no. 2 for flute, picco lo and orchestra

Donatoni was born at Verona, Italy, on June Donatoni's two pieces with the title 9, 1927. He composed Puppenspiel no. 2 'Puppenspiel' have been inspired by Hein­ 1n 1965. It was dedicated to the flut1st nch von Kleist's Ue ber das Marionetten­ Sevenno Gazzelloni. The f1rst performance t heater (On the marionette theatre), which was given at Valdagno, Italy, on September f1rst appeared 1n the Berlin Abendblaetter

17 I 1966·I the conductor was E. Grac1s. in December 1810. There are three princi­ pal arguments in Kleist's essay: f irst, he The instrumentation: flute and piccolo believes that man's gracefulness 1s beau­ solo; 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bas­ tiful when it is instinctive; when any ac­ soons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tion or movement becomes self-conscious, percussion, 12 violins, 6 violas, 4 cellos and the gracefulness is lost. Second, puppets 2 double basses. (The players in the string rllustrate the gracefulness of man and sections have solo parts.) There are 3 per­ they are therefore beautiful; the puppet cussion players: the first plays 4 b_ongos, master controls the puppet on its center 1 suspended small cymbal, 1 small tnangle, thread, i.e. its center of balance, but all maraca (a shaken gourd), guiro (a notched 1ts other movements, though dependent gourd scraped with a stick) and bells; the on the center thread, are nevertheless second plays 4 temple blocks, 1 suspended '1nsti nctive' and therefore graceful and medium cymbal, 1 medium tnangle, sus­ beautiful. Th1rd, Man fell f rom Grace pended bamboo sticks, guiro and 4 bells; (Paradise) at the moment at which he the th1rd plays 4 cow bells, 1 suspended became self-conscious. large cymbal, 1 large triangle, frusta (a whip played by slapstick) and bells. How far Kleist is reflected in the music of Puppenspiel no. 2 is hard to say. One Donatoni who is a violinist as well as takes the solo flute and piccolo to repre­ composer, 'studied first in Milan, then 1n sent the gracefulness of the puppet and Bologna, whre he was awarded h1s diploma the Grace of Man, pitted against the or­ 1n 1951. Later he attended lldebral')do chestra, which one believes to represent P1zzetti's masterclasses at the Santa Cec1l1a the loss of i nsti nct1veness or the fa II from Academy in Rome. In 1955 he became in­ Grace. But one had better not carry t he structor at the Giuseppe Verdi Conserva­ parallels much further. How, for instance, tory n Milan, a post he still holds. His does one explain the first tentat1ve entry early works have been described by his of the solo flute after a long diminuendo compatnot Luig1 Nono (whose opera lntoll­ in the orchestra, which Ma rtin Cooper '3 ra nza was given in Boston thr~e years described as a cruel joke more at his ago) as 'nothing more than d1sarm1ng (the soloist's) expense than the list ene r's'? p1eces a Ia Bartok'. Nevertheless the Con­ Are the 'eruptions' of the Dies irae mea nt certlno for strings, w1nd and percussiOn, literally to portray the misfortune of t he written 1n 1952, won a pnze from Radio loss of 'instinct'? The listener must f irst Luxemburg, and Donatoni has won several decide whether these thoughts are rele­ international awards since, another from vant to the mus1c. and if they are, whether Luxemburg 1n 1953. from the I.S.C.M. RomP they have any validity. 1n 1961, a Marzotto pnze 1n 1966 for Pup­ penspiel no. 2, and a Koussevitzky award Writing in The Daily Telegraph last 1n 1968. Other early works included a September 1 after a performance which Concerto for bassoon and strings. a biblical had been g1ven two even1ngs earlier at cantata Th e book with t he seven seals, a the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, by Severino Violin concerto written for Joseph Sziget1, Gazzellon1 and the London Symphony and a ballet The lantern which was pro­ Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado, duced 1n 1957 at La Sea Ia, M i Ian. He fV'r. Cooper observed: 'The work is in effect absorbed contemporary techniques, 'and a flute concerto and explo1ts every feature finally', 1n Nono's words, 'in the Second of the instrument's character. Not only in quartet for strings they were adopted fast staccato passagework and the extreme wholeheartedly.' He came under the in­ difference of quality in the upper and fluence of Stockhausen. 'For the Fourth lower ranges, but the disembodied, un­ quartet', writes Nono, 'there is no score, human melodic potential ity which made only ind1v1dual parts. In these are notated earlier composers choose the f lute as three C1 rcu1ts, or series of instrumental natural riva l-partner t o the soprano voice modalities: upon these, chance techniques 1n decorative passages . . . (After the operate by means of the silent read1ng of orchestral introduction) each of t he suc­ a newspaper ... Th1s IS certainly "dizzy ceeding sect1ons showed brilliant inven­ music" in the broad sense of Emily tion of figuration and an unfailing light Dickinson.' hand in designing orchestral t extures FEBRUARY 1970 I BROOKLYN ACAOEMY OF MUSIC I 11 which, though by no means flimsy, always of the orchestra - it proved a captivating allowed the solo instrument to dominate piece of musical pop art, in which the the picture. The exchange of flute for tones of Mr. Gazzelloni's flute and piccolo piccolo in the third section ensured a gleamed and twitched amid a deliberately moment of contrast not easy to obtain blurred, muted orchestral accompaniment otherwise.' Commenting on the same per­ which every so often came suddenly and forma nee, Conrad Wi I son wrote in The sharply into focus.' Scotsman: 'Though the exact implication Program note by Andrew Raeburn. of the title of Donatoni's score was not The translat ion of the quotations f rom Luigi Nono i s by William C. Holmes; of Franco Donatoni's made plain - nor could one more than note by William Routch. guess why the theme of the Dies irae Copyright © by the erupted from time to time from the depths Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc.

BELA BARTOK Piano concerto no. 2

Bartok was born at Nagyszentmiklos, Hun­ Most of Gilman's peers felt otherwise. gary, on March 25, 1881; he died in New In the months that followed, Bartok was York City on September 26, 1945. He com­ to collect a rather incredible treasury of posed the Second concerto in 1931 (the intemperate reviews from dozens of va ri­ last page of the score is inscribed 'Buda­ ously eminent critics. Ignoring many out­ pest, October 9, 1931 '). At the first per­ rageous examples, it is fair enough to cite formance, which was given at Frankfurt­ this notice in Musical America (February am-Main by the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra 18, 1928) as an understatement of the trans­ on January 23, 1933, Bartok himself played continental consensus: 'We read Dr. the solo part; Hans Rosbaud conducted. Gilman's [program note] with respect, The first performances by the Boston listened to a f ew of the masterminds after­ Symphony Orchestra were given in Novem­ wards, and in our own unimportant opinion, ber 1962; Geza Anda was the soloist and this work (the Piano concerto no. 1, which conducted. Bartok performed that week with the Boston Symphony Orchestra) from first to The instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 last was one of the most dreadful deluges oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets, bass of piffle, bombast and nonsense ever clarinet, 2 bassoons, contra bassoon, 4 perpetrated on an audience . . .' What is horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, tim­ significant about this particular appraisal pani, bass drum, triangle, military drum, is that Musical America in those years was cymbals, tam tam, strings and solo piano. written by and for professional musicians! A day after Bartok's death the New York Aesthetic contusions and abrasions tend Herald Tribune noted that he had been to heal, though slowly; and so with our 'accepted as a man of unquestioned aud itory perceptions of Bartok. In the genius' from 1918 forward. Accepted by meantime his music was heard, with whom? One suspects that the world got gradually increasing frequency. After t wo this undeserved credit because the anony­ decades of the twentieth century his sur­ mous obituarist not unnaturally had gone name hardly had become a household through a fileful of columns by Lawrence word , but by then it was clear that he Gilman, for fifteen years (1923-39) the dis­ could not be ignored. (He could be, and tinguished music critic of the Herald would be, endlessly frustrated by the Tribune. In retrospect, Gilman's lonely machinations of enemies more skilled in eloquence in behalf of Bartok bears wit­ musical politics; but that is another mat­ ness to an order of acuity always more ter.) As it happens it was in 1930 and 1931, uncommon than it should be among men when he composed the Pi ano concerto and women paid to use their ears. no. 2, that Bartok won his first unequivocal, unqualified honors. Ironically, they came When the composer-pianist arrived here from quite outside the tonal domain. In in December of 1927 to begin his first 1930 the composer suddenly found himself concert tour of the United Stat es, Gilman elected a Chevalier de Ia Legion d'Honneur wrote an extremely long and thoughtful - a remarkable distinction for a man not article that concluded with these words: yet fifty. And by 1931, when his ce lebrated 'His advent is consequentia l. There is study of Hungarian folk music was pub­ reason to suspect that the music of this lished in England, he found himself in retiring little man, who looks like a scholarly demand all over the Continent. struggling poet with a bad case of in­ Intellectual bodies of every persuasion, feriority complex, is one of the major even scientific societies, were inviting him products of modern art.' to lecture on his musico-ethnic researches. 12 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I FEBRUARY 197~

After attending the Congress of Human what deep on g1 nality 1n the shaping of istic Sciences at Geneva that summer (1t the presto middle section, what abundance seems to have been a committee-crazy of fantasy 1n the demonic finale.' This multi l1ngual fiasco) Bartok went to Mend­ p1ano concerto numbers among the most see, near Salzburg, ostensibly to teach at 1mportant, the strongest works of new the Austro-American Conservatory. Upon music.' his amval the composer discovered that, thanks to some unexplained registration Because the composer was himself a virtuoso pian1st, the solo instrument in­ m1x-up, he had a grand tota I of one r?UPi I! A week later this class load was tnpled, stantly assumes command of the Second but that sti II left Bartok with plenty of concerto. It ho lds the rei ns for all ~ut twenty-some measures of the open1ng free hours. And so it was at Mondsee, movement. The strings, odd ly enough, are presumably, that he wrote the bulk of the silent throughout. Thematically. there is Piano concerto no. 2; the score was com­ ingenuity, if not abund.ance: a f1rst-theme pleted that October. We know very I ittle complex of three mot1ves that are .frag­ about Bartok's life in the several years mented in descending fifths, a pa1r of after his working vacation at Mondsee. brief transitional motives, and a second (Only two published letters are available theme that enters tranquillo wi th the hands for the period 1931-35.) But we do know arpegg1ating in contrary mot1on. Th e sec­ that he introduced the Piano concerto no. ond movement, 1n ternary form, is ha lf an 2 at Frankfurt in January of 1933, Hans Adagio and half a Scher~o . The piano ag~i n Rosbaud conducting- and that the work predominates, busily 1n the reflect1ve caught on at once. Within the season it pages and breathlessly 1n the faster sec­ was performed at Amsterdam, . London, tions. The finale is an elaborate rondo, Vienna, Stockholm, Strassburg, Wmterthur, slyly constructed on rhythmic t rans f orm~­ Budapest, and Zurich. In the Swiss metrop­ tions of the f1 rst-movement themat1c oliS the Neue Zuercher Zeitung was rhap­ material. sodiC. Because society tends to feel rn"lre co n­ 'Ong1nal forces, ha~dly ex1stent _up to science about dead composers than res­ now in European mus1c, break out 1n ~he ponsibility toward living ones, Ba rtok's earnest first movement - accompanied path wa> to become Increasingly d1ff1cult exclusively by wind instruments -:--- !nto an ~s his personal style matured. But that elemental Allegro barbaro; but 1t IS con­ prospect was still distant when he wrote trolled force. A world of higher spiritual lH.; Piano concerto no. 2; the story of this order, wonderful plasticity and clarity of music has, for once, a happy ending. form, is built in the slow movement from strict alternation of piano-recitative (with Program note copynght 1970 kettledrum) and muted string sound. And by JamEs Lyons

ROBERT SCHUMANN Symphony no. 4 in 0 minor, op. 120

Schumann was born at Zwickau, Saxony, qu1res not only the absence of creature on June 8, 1810; he died at Endenich, near comforts but also the presence of Insur­ Bonn, on July 29, 1855. He composed tne mountable adversities. In the latter cate original vers1on of this symphcny at Leip­ gory termmal 1llness is favored, but the zig in 1841, and the first performance to~k general 1dea is that all manner of depnva­ place at a Gewandhaus concert on Decem­ tion fer art's sake is somehow ennobl1ng ber 6 of that year. In December 1851, at Duesseldorf, Schumann made a new orches­ Really extreme patho logy, however, 1s tration and this second vers1on was per­ something else again. We may spea k of formed there on March 3, 1853, at the it loose ly as a concomitant of ge n1us - Spring Festival of the lower Rhine. It wa; as 1f the one 1s turned off when the published in December 1853 as hie; Sv"n other 1s turned on - but to accept the phony no. 4. The first performance by the actual coex1stence of insan1 ty and creativ­ Boston Symphony Orchestra was ccn ity is discomforting 1n the extreme. And ducted on November 10, 1882 by Georg so it is simply ignored or else hedged Henschel. about with euphem1sms, mos t especially when ne1ther starvation nor any other The instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, soc1ally acceptable 1gnominy IS in plain 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, Sight. 3 trombones, t1mpani and strings. On ly 1n the l1ght of th1 s perspective, I The mythology of 'music appr~ciation' submit, ca n one beg 1n to decipher the seems to lean heavily upon a not1on that surfei t of mushy biographical crytograms optimal functioning of creative genius re- wh1ch have so long thwarted a proper un- FEBRUARY 1970 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I 13 derstanding of . Here nominally the second, having been com­ was an affluent, well-married, determinedly pleted immediately after the Spring (no. 1 bourgeois, much-loved, widely-recognized, by general assent). On the other hand professionally-respected man of mus1c who Schumann withdrew his D minor symphony was altogether quite successful as a com­ following its premiere, at which point it poser, critic, husband, and father. But was no. 2; it would become no. 4 ten he was also psychotic. Moreover, it is years later (1851), only slightly revised but clear enough that he was psychotic long extensively reorchestrated. Of course it is years before he had to be institutionalized. defensible to perceive the overhauled D One wonders: was it Schumann's middle­ minor symphony as sufficiently different class-ness or his madness that prevented from the original version to warrant its his becoming a folk hero of romanticism being classified as a 'new' work - in (as was surely his due)? But one cannot which case the familiar numbers would be so faci I ely avoid the issue; far too many the right ones anyhow. figures in the pantheon of tonal art have been solidly-conformist, variously-conserva­ With due deference to my betters I can­ tive nonbohemians. The question is rather: not get exc ited about the changes from edition to edition except to the extent fer all of our post-Freudian sophistication that the single most important thing about are we ready to accept the fact that a the D minor symphony seems to be madman could compose sublime mus1c? clearest of all in Schumann's final version. Artists themselves have been aware of I refer to the unification of its movements. the manic-depressive syndrome since earli­ This may not sound like an earth-shaking est antiquity. Those who know their class­ matter, but historically it was an achieve­ ical literature will recall that Sophocles ment of enormous consequence in the (1n 409 B.C.) wrote a play about the warrior evolution of symphonic form. For what Philoctetes, whose invincible bow could Schumann did in this work was to pick not prevail against his unpredictable par­ up where Beethoven left off, ~o. to speak, oxysms of pain - nor again5t h1s exile 1n his great Fifth symphony. And in turn after a serpent's bite left nim with an in­ what Schumann accomplished can be curable wound. Less allegorically, the viewed as the link from Beethoven to same crippling ambivalence has been dis­ 'modern' music. cerned in certain creative types ever since. So much emphasis on formal unfold­ With that prescience reserved for the psy­ ment obviously calls for some structural chotic genius, Schumann knew that h1s precis of the op. 120. The following is psyche comprised a peculiarly unstable Intended to meet this obligation, however amalgam of euphoria and morbidity: how inadequately: The theme of the introduc­ else can we explain those imaginary per­ tion, Ziemlich Iangsam (between Adagio sonages to whom he ascribed so many of and Andante, literally 'rather slow'), is his articles depending upon his mood of heard at once and worked over with mount­ the moment, namely the buoyant Florestan ing sonority, the violins foreshadowing the and the brooding Eusebius? To borrow a main Lebhaft (Vivace) section. Strictly phrase from Goethe, the composer was speaking there is no second theme, unless constantly Himmelhoch jauchzend, zum one so construes a passage in F major Tode betruebt- 'thrilled to the sky, ready sung by the violins over a descending to die'. The end was inevitable. He died rhythmic figure. The Romanze, again in an asylum. marked Ziemlich Iangsam, is in A minor. As early as October of 1841, the very The solo oboe and solo cello, in octaves, year in which he wrote the first vers1on chant the mournful melody; and the solo of the D minor symphony, Schumann re­ v1olm emtrJiders an ornamentatio:1 in the marked in a letter to his friend Carl Koss­ central division (D major). An A major maly: 'Time presses and night begins to chord takes us to the .Scherzo, the pri n­ fall.' Thus began Schumann's so-called Cipal theme of which is, in effect, a rising symphonic decade. Fortunately the dark­ and falling scale. The Trio, in B flat, be­ ness he kept expecting would not descend longs to the woodwinds; and it is re­ for another dozen years, however threaten­ peated as a kind of coda-transition to ingly low it hovered every now and again. the fmale. The latter is cased on a march­ It is, then, possible to say that this like variant of first-movement material. glorious music was born of mostly happy We hear what seems to be a cantabile times, while paterfamilies pleasures al­ second theme, but then comes the true ternated with flights of creative fancy and second theme (in A). A unison sforzando the demons waited. in G natural signals the development, and after the infus1on of yet another melody In approaching the Schumann sympho­ this expands into a coda. Five pages from nies it is usual to clarify their chronology the end everything turns Presto 'without vis-a-vis the accepted numerical order. The the slightest loss of dignity or balance', last of the four in conception was the as Tovey observes admiringly. Rhenish called no. 3; it was composed in Program note copyright © 1970 1850. The work known as the Fourth is by James Lyons 14 I BROOKLYN ACADEMY 0, MUSIC I FEBRUARY 1970 DINE BY GASLIGHT Monday and Tuesday even ings. 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