Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

CYRUS NORTHROP MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM NOTICE: Season Ticket patrons who are compelled to miss a Friday night subscription concert are urged to return their tickets (or locations) for resale for the benefit of the Orchestral Association.

Announcing

NEXT SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT

Friday, December 16, at 8:30 p.m.

Northrop Auditorium

STANISLAW SKROWACZEWSKI

Soloists: IRENE JORDAN,

FRANCES BIBLE,

DAVID LLOYD,

YI-KWEI SZE,

Assisting Organization: University of Minnesota Chorus DAVID ZINMAN, Director

BEETHOVEN...... “MISSA SOLEMNIS,” in D Major, Opus 23, for Orchestra, Organ, Chorus and Four Solo V oices

Tickets on sale Monday, December 12, at Downtown Ticket Office, Northwestern Bank Building, Minneapolis; Field-Schlick’s Ticket Office, Field-Schlick’s, St. Paul; the Sym­ phony Ticket Office, Room 106 Northrop Auditorium, FE. 2-8158, Ext. 6225. Prices (Tax Exempt): Main Floor: $3.00, $3.50, $4.00, $4.50 Balcony: $3.00, $3.50

3 special concert

tuesday, december 13, 1960, at 8:30 p. m.

STANISLAW SKROWACZEWSKI Conducting Soloist: ARTUR RUBINSTEIN, Pianist

*MONIUSZKO...... , “Fable”

SZYMANOWSKI...... Symphonie Concertante for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 60 I. Allegro moderato II. Andante molto sostenuto III. Allegro non troppo

Intermission

CHOPIN ...... Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in F minor, Opus 21 I. Maestoso II. Larghetto III. Allegro vivace

* First performance at these concerts.

Next subscription concert, Friday, December 16

The Baldwin is the official piano of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra records exclusively for Mercury Records.

Smoking: As a courtesy to those attending functions, and out of respect for the character of the building, be it resolved by the Board of Regents, that there be printed in the programs of all functions held in the Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium a request that smoking be confined to the outer lobbj' on the main floor, in the gallery lobbies, and to the lounge rooms and that members of the audience not be allowed to use cameras in the auditorium. 5 PROGRAM NOTES "Fable” Overture STANISLAW MONIUSZKO Born Ubiel, Lithuania, May 5, 1819; died , , June 4, 1872 Moniuszko, an organist who became Musical Director at the Warsaw and professor at the Conservatory, is generally considered after Chopin the most im­ portant Polish composer of the 19th Century. Perhaps his best-known work is his opera, “,” which, at its premiere in Warsaw in 1858, marked the beginning of Polish national opera, and has been performed in recent years in Berlin, Ham­ burg, Helsinki, and Bern. He composed fifteen ; five of them belong to the permanent repertory of Polish opera houses. The composer is also thought of as the Father of Polish Art-Song, his place in the development of Polish song being similar to the place which Schubert occupies in the history of German Lied. He composed about three hundred songs, a great many of them still very popular in Poland. In addition, among his compositions were several remarkable choral works. The one orchestral work written by Moniuszko is a symphonic poem, Bajka (Fable or Winter’s Tale), which is on today’s program. It reflects a Romantic influence, particularly that of Weber.

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7 Symphonie Concertante for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 60

KAROL SZYMANOWSKI Born Fymoszowkfi in Ukraine, September 21, 1883; died Lausanne, March 28, 1.937 Szymanowski completed his only work for piano and orchestra in 1932 and dedi­ cated it to Artur Rubinstein. It was first played with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra in May, 1933, with the composer himself as soloist, and was premiered in the United States in Cleveland under Artur Rodzinski in November of that year. Describing the work for the program book of the Cleveland performance, Herbert Elwell wrote: “It should not be mistaken for a piano concerto in the ordinary sense, for the solo instrument, in spite of numerous difficulties requiring a virtuoso technique, does not predominate. Rather, the orchestra and piano alternate in taking the principal role, the piano being at times subordinated to a mere obbligato. Some of Szymanowski’s earlier works may have taken on certain cosmopolitan features from the composer’s more universal contacts, but this brilliant composition owes its inspiration to the folk spirit of his native land, and it vibrates with the robust vivacious temper of the Polish mountaineers. Though the rhythms are often terse and the dissonances biting, they seem to emanate from and resolve into genial and peaceful moods, producing an impression, not of conflict and distortion, but of organic growth and healthy liberation of energy.”

Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Opus 21

FRÉDÉRIC FRANÇOIS CHOPiN Born Zelazow-Wola, Poland, February 22, 1810; died Paris, October 17, 1849 The F minor concerto, written in 1829, was the first composed but the second published of Chopin’s two works in this form. On October 3, 1829, Chopin wrote to his friend Tytus Woyciechowski: “I have— perhaps to my misfortune—already found my ideal, which I worship faithfully and sincerely. Six months have elapsed and I have not yet exchanged a syllable with her of whom I dream every night. Whilst my thoughts were with her I composed the Adagio (sic!) of my concerto and early this morning she inspired the waltz which I send you along with this letter.” This “ideal” was Konstancja Gladkowska, a young vocal student at the Warsaw Conservatory. The concerto was first publicly played in Warsaw by Chopin himself on March 17, 1830. Of the effect made by the concerto, he testified: “The first Allegro of the F minor concerto (not intelligible to all), received indeed the reward of a ‘Bravo,’ but I believe this was given because the public wished to show that it understands and knows how to appreciate serious music. There are people enough in all coun­ tries who like to assume the air of connoisseurs! The Adagio and Rondo produced a very great effect. After these the applause and the ‘Bravos’ came from the heart.” 9