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SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

FOUNDED IN 1881 BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON

VETERANS MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM, PROVIDENCE

EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969 3

The first recording of this symphony by a major orches- tra and conductor. Both works are spectacular. Dyna- groove. LSC-2934

Leinsdorf's genius with the German Romantic repertoire is immediately seen in this superb performance. Dyna- groove. LSC-2936 RC/I BUY YOUR RECORDS BY MAIL To benefit the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Beethoven No. Artur Rubinstein Boston Symphony Orchestra Erich Leinsdorf

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»« Vino* RED SEAL Rubinstein's third great album in his Boston Symphony- Leinsdorf recordings of the Beethoven concertos. Dyna- groove. LSC-2947 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director

CHARLES WILSON Assistant Conductor

EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969

THE TRUSTEES OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC

TALCOTT M. BANKS President HAROLD D. HODGKINSON

PHILIP K. ALLEN Vice-President E. MORTON JENNINGS JR

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JOHN L THORNDIKE Treasurer HENRY A. LAUGHLIN

ABRAM BERKOWITZ EDWARD G. MURRAY

ABRAM T. COLLIER JOHN T. NOONAN

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TRUSTEES EMERITUS

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ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

THOMAS D. PERRY JR Manager

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program copyright © 1969 by Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc.

SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS

3 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director

CHARLES WILSON Assistant Conductor

EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969

THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC.

ABRAM T. COLLIER Chairman

ALLEN G. BARRY Vice-Chairman

LEONARD KAPLAN Secretary

MRS FRANK ALLEN MRS ALBERT GOODHUE

OLIVER F. AMES MRS JOHN L GRANDIN JR

LEO L. BERANEK STEPHEN W. GRANT

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SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS

4 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director

CHARLES WILSON Assistant Conductor

first violins cellos bassoons Joseph Silverstein Jules Eskin Sherman Walt concertmaster Martin Hoherman Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Mischa Nieland Matthew Ruggiero George Zazofskyt Karl Zeise

Rolland Tapley Robert Ripley contra bassoon Roger Shermont Luis Leguia Richard Plaster Max Winder Stephen Geber Harry Dickson Carol Procter horns Gottfried Wilfinger Jerome Patterson James Stagliano Fredy Ostrovsky Ronald Feldman Charles Yancich Leo Panasevich William Stokking Harry Shapiro Noah Bielski Herman Silberman Thomas Newell basses Stanley Benson Paul Keaney Henry Portnoi Ralph Pottle Eiichi Tanaka* William Rhein Alfred Schneider Joseph Hearne trumpets Julius Schulman Bela Wurtzler Armando Ghitalla Gerald Gelbloom Leslie Martin Roger Voisin Raymond Sird John Salkowski Andre Come second violins John Barwicki Gerard Goguen Clarence Knudson Buell Neidlinger William Marshall Robert Olson trombones Michel Sasson William Gibson Ronald Knudsen flutes Josef Orosz Moss Leonard Kauko Kahila William Waterhouse James Pappoutsakis Ayrton Pinto Phillip Kaplan tuba Amnon Levy Chester Schmitz Laszlo Nagy piccolo Michael Vitale timpani Lois Schaefer Victor Manusevitch Everett Firth Max Hobart oboes John Korman percussion Ralph Christopher Kimber Gomberg Charles Smith Spencer Larrison John Holmes Arthur Press Hugh Matheny assistant timpanist violas Thomas Gauger Burton Fine english horn Frank Epstein Reuben Green Laurence Thorstenberg Eugen Lehner harps George Humphrey Bernard Zighera clarinets Jerome Lipson Olivia Luetcke Gino Cioffi Robert Karol Bernard Kadinoff Pasquale Cardillo librarians Vincent Peter Hadcock Mauricci Victor Alpert clarinet Earl Eb Hedberg William Shisler Joseph Pietropaolo

Robert Barnes bass clarinet stage manager Yizhak Schotten Felix Viscuglia Alfred Robison

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256 Weybosset Street Open Thursday Evenings EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969

Four hundredth concert in Providence

FIFTH PROGRAM Thursday April 10 1969 at 8.30 pm

CHARLES WILSON conductor

BEETHOVEN Overture to 'Egmont'

PROKOFIEV Piano concerto no. 5 in F op. 55*

Allegro con brio Moderato ben accentuato Toccata: allegro con fuoco Larghetto Vivo JOHN BROWNING

intermission

SIBELIUS Symphony no. 2 in D major op. 43

Allegretto Tempo andante ma rubato Vivacissimo - lento e suave Finale: allegro moderato

John Browning plays the Steinway piano

By order of the Chief of the Providence Fire Department, smoking is allowed only in the ticket lobby and lower lobby of the auditorium

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is a member of Arts Rhode Island BALDWIN PIANO RCA RECORDS* Overture to 'Egmont' op. 84 Program note by John N. Burk

Beethoven was born at Bonn in December 1770 (probably the 16th); he died in on March 26 1827. He composed the incidental music to Goethe's

play in 1810, and it was first performed at a production by Hartl in the Hof- burg Theater, Vienna, on May 24 of that year. The Boston Symphony Orchestra's first performance of the Overture was conducted by Georg Henschel on Decem- ber 16 1881, the one hundred and eleventh anniversary of the composer's birth.

The instrumentation: 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.

It is said that Beethoven hoped to get a commission for music to

Schiller's William Tell, and would have preferred it. Certainly there are no signs of half-heartedness in the Egmont music.

The heroic Count of the Netherlands, champion of liberty and inde- pendence for his people, meeting death on the scaffold under an unscrupulous dictator, was an ideal subject for the republican Beetho-

ven. His deep admiration for Goethe is well known.

Without going into music particularization, it is easy to sense in the overture the main currents of the play: the harsh tyranny of the Duke of Alva, who lays a trap to seize Egmont in his palace, and terrorizes the burghers of Brussels, as his soldiery patrol the streets, under the decree that 'two or three, found conversing together in the streets, are, without trial, declared guilty of high treason'; the dumb anger of the citizens, who will not be permanently cowed; the noble defiance and

idealism of Egmont which, even after his death, is finally to prevail and throw off the invader.

Goethe in the autumn of 1775 happened upon a history of the Nether- lands, written in Latin by Strada, a Jesuit. He was at once struck with the alleged conversation between Egmont and Orange, in which Orange urges his friend to flee with him, and save his life. 'For Goethe,' writes Georg Brandes, 'this becomes the contrast between the serious, sober, thoughtful man of reason, and the genial, carefree soul replete with life and power, believing in the stars and rejecting

judicial circumspection. Egmont's spirit is akin to his; he is indeed blood of his blood.' The poet wrote his play scene by scene in the

ensuing years, completing it in Rome in 1787.

It has been objected that the Egmont of history was not the romantic martyr of Goethe; that he was a family man who was compelled to remain in Brussels as the danger increased, because he could not have fled with all of his children. Yet Goethe stated, not unplausibly, in 1827,

that no poet had known the historical characters he depicted; if he had

known them, he would have had hard work in utilizing them. 'Had I been willing to make Egmont, as history informs us, the father of a dozen children, his flippant actions would have seemed too absurd; and so it was necessary for me to have another Egmont, one that would harmonize better with the scenes in which he took part and my poetical

purposes; and he, as Clarchen says, is my Egmont. And for what then are poets, if they wish only to repeat the account of a historian?'

8 SERGEY PROKOFIEV

Piano concerto no. 5 In F op. 55 Program note by John N. Burk

Prokofiev was born in Sontsovka, Russia, on April 23 1891; he died near Moscow on March 5 1953. He composed the Fifth concerto in 1932, and him- self played the solo part at the premiere which took place at a Philharmonic concert in Berlin on October 31 of that year. He was also soloist at the first performance in the United States which was given by the Boston Symphony the following December 30.

The instrumentation: 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone and bass trombone, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum and strings.

In 1933 Prokofiev had returned to Soviet Russia after having lived in the West with only occasional visits to his native country since his departure in 1918. The Fifth Piano concerto, together with the Fourth concerto for left hand (a commissioned work, published in 1956) were his last works in this form and among the last he composed before his return. The Fifth concerto he played frequently on tour in Europe and America, including Boston on December 30 1932. The composer remarks in his autobiography that 'more than ten years had passed since I had written a piano concerto. Since then my conception of the treatment of this form had changed somewhat. Some new ideas had occurred to me (a passage running across the entire keyboard with the left hand overtaking the right; chords in the piano and orchestra interrupting one another, etc.), and finally, I had accumulated a good number of vigorous major themes in my notebook. I had not intended the concerto to be difficult and at first had even contemplated calling it 'Music for piano with orchestra' partly to avoid confusing the concerto numberings. But in the end it turned out to be complicated, as indeed was the case with a good many other compositions of this period. What was the explanation? In my desire for simplicity I was hampered by the fear of repeating old formulas, of reverting to the "old simplicity", which is something all modern composers seek to avoid. I searched for a "new simplicity" only to discover that the new simplicity with its novel forms and, chiefly, the new tonal structure was not understood. The fact that here and there my efforts to write simply were not successful is beside the the bulk of my music would in point. I did not give up hoping that time prove to be quite simple when the ear grew accustomed to the new melodies, that is when these melodies would become the accepted idiom/

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Wayland Square • Garden City Newport • Midland Mall It is evident that Prokofiev was then undergoing a period of self- questioning. In Russia the newly formed Union of Soviet Composers was bringing up for new consideration the proper aesthetic approach. Prokofiev had obviously been influenced by the reaction of western audiences while composing this concerto for concert use, and yet his independent spirit disapproved of catering to the public taste. He said as much in an interview given in Moscow at the time when he stated that 'the usual idea of a composer is a madman who composes things that are incomprehensible to his own generation. He discovers a cer- tain logic as yet unknown to others and therefore these others cannot follow him. Only after some time has passed will the courses he has charted, if correct, become understandable to everyone else.' Nestyev, Prokofiev's biographer, quotes this remark as 'obviously incorrect' which

is not surprising from a writer pledged to the Soviet point of view. Then and later Prokofiev was not in accord with the attitude that music should be directly understood by the masses. He still maintained 'As I see it, music and politics are mutually antagonistic,' a stand which he was later forced flatly to retract.

The Fifth concerto was not well accepted in Russia, and here again Nestyev echoes the general expectations when he accuses parts of this concerto of 'sheer virtuosity'. This he applies especially to the toccata which he dismisses as 'precipitate' and to other parts which betray 'piano acrobatics'. Nevertheless 'there are a few episodes of bright lyricism' such as 'the gavotte-like theme of the second movement, the lullaby theme of the fourth movement and the beginning of the finale'.

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Sibelius was born in Tavastehus, Finland on December 8 1865; he died in Jarvenpaa on September 20 1957. He began composition of the Symphony no. 2 in Italy during the spring of 1901 and completed it in Finland before the end of the year. He conducted the premiere himself, at Helsinki on March 8 1902. The first performance in the United States was given by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Theodore Thomas on January 2 1904. On March 11 of the same year, conducted the first performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trum- pets, 3 trombones and tuba, timpani and strings.

In music as in more mundane matters, the notion that 'quality will out'

is an article of faith; for anyone to believe otherwise would not be consonant with the artistic canon. This hardly belies the maxim that

music does not even exist until it is heard, but on the other hand it is improbable in the extreme that any score of consequence has lacked for a hearing sooner or later. The assumption, simply enough, is that

those deserving to survive will survive. This is not to say that master-

works always are recognized at their true worth, and it is true that some have waited long years for appreciation. But so have others suffered from a surfeit of exposure, which can distort auditory perceptions and bring about unwarranted consignment to obscurity. In the latter instance there are belated remedies by way of those occasions ordained for revival and reappraisal, such as centenaries. In any case, musical archae-

ology is by now so highly developed that we need nevermore fear the irretrievable loss of any compositions, however unworthy.

Presumably this 'long view' of music history invites little argument. Few among us would not be able to demonstrate 20/20 hindsight. With respect to the sounds of our own epoch, however, there are any number of factors conspiring to cloud so lofty a perspective. Not least of these

— and its effects can be devastating, if not ultimately controlling — is

the reality that our cultural market place is particularly, pervasively susceptible to chic.

In this light, consider the dizzying datum that Gustav Mahler's sym- phonies literally dominated the recording industry's best-seller charts during much of the 1960s. 'Meine Zeit wird noch kommen', Mahler used to say: 'My time will come.' And suddenly he did become one of the 'In' composers, more than a half-century after his death. So did the American iconoclast Charles Ives, though fame overtook him almost vulgarly soon after his passing. Similar examples could be adduced in quantity.

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12 Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, who called himself 'Jean' in honor of an admired uncle, was no exception to the rules of the fame game. But his early success, followed by an eclipse even as he lived out his twilight years, tended to accelerate the predictable cycle. So that for him the pendulum of popularity already has come more or less to rest, having swung from idolatrous adulation to ignominious neglect and then back to halfway between where it belonged in the first place.

Not many composers have enjoyed such illustrious advocacy nor — no doubt as a consequence — such fleeting ubiquity. The most powerful music critic in the world, Olin Downes (1886-1955), had been an unre- mitting Sibelian from the beginning of his career and he held the banner high throughout his three decades on The New York Times. Such schol- arly sycophants as Cecil Gray unhesitatingly placed Sibelius among the Great Men of music. The most powerful of latter-day Establishment maestri, (1874-1951), was equally unwavering in his fervent espousal. One result of this activity was that, as early as 1935, a national poll of the broadcast audience showed Sibelius in first place among favorite symphonists!

A reaction began to set in during the autumn of 1940, when the ever readable and refractory Virgil Thomson made the Second symphony of Sibelius a butt of his debut appearance as music critic of the tenderly- remembered New York Herald Tribune. Thomson spoke of this work as 'self-indulgent and provincial beyond all description'. From that day forward, the music of Sibelius became officially unfashionable; and within a very few seasons his name was infrequently encountered on concert programs. With the passing of Koussevitzky, and then Downes, the Sibelian vogue reached its nadir.

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13 When the composer himself fulfilled the formal requirement for immor- tality, two years later, there was no place for his popularity to go except up. And it would have to be without special pleading. Save for Leonard Bernstein, who had been Koussevitzky's protege, the younger conduc- tors were not predisposed to the granitic Sibelian style. Neither they nor the new generation of listeners had been engulfed in panegyrics identi- fying Sibelius as the successor to Beethoven, so that healthy skepticism was their attitude.

Yesterday's chic, yesterday's encomiums could not count for much in this climate of opinion, which has been nothing if not objective. Now that a decent interval has elapsed, and at least some of the returns are in, it seems to be clear enough that the music of Sibelius has won a measure of acceptance all over again. This time around the success had to be on merit. Quality will out.

Downes once observed of this composer: In one sense he is a singular anachronism; in another, he is as modern as tomorrow.' The Second symphony confirms the cliche. It dates from 1901, and the fin-de-siecle is discernible throughout. But also there are passages that could have been written last week. Winthrop P. Tryon wrote of the piece in The

Christian Science Monitor that 'it is too old a work to be called modern, and it is too individual a work to be classed among creations of its period.' That is as straightforward a description of its distinctive ambiva- lence as one may expect to encounter. Some listeners probably will be startled to learn that it was composed long years before they were born, for its motional loading seems to be urgent and personal and immediate in the most contemporary manner. Other listeners will be surprised to hear that Sibelius lived into our own time, for the expres- sive syntax he employed was essentially classical and for the most part severely so. Stylistically, then, Sibelius rolled his own. (If that be self- indulgence, so be it.) The anatomy of his appeal could be as uncom- plicated as that.

As to the allegation of provinciality, it might be useful to discuss its specifically geographic connotations. Friend and foe alike have heard the whistle of Arctic winds and envisioned the majesty of snow-capped ranges in this music. Such notions quite disregard the facts. In the first place there is the word of the composer himself, who was quoted by the reliable Walter Legge in The Daily Telegraph of London as follows: 'My symphonies are music conceived and worked out in terms of music, and with no literary basis/ In the second place Finland is not, as some writers apparently believe, a wilderness; nor was it so even in the late

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14 nineteenth century. The composer's mother and also his father, a locally eminent physician, were musically literate people; and the town of Tavastehus was host to all of the famous concertizers. The cultural atmosphere seems to have been like that of any comparable European community. In the third place Sibelius was a professional musician with all that implies, much more at home in the conservatory or the concert hall than in the solitude of the forests with which he is almost invariably associated. In the fourth place, and expressly as to this music, most of this symphony was composed not in Finland but in sunny Rapallo, Italy.

Those who prefer to dwell on the composer's statement that 'I love the mysterious sounds of the fields and forests', et cetera, are reminded that Sibelius said this a good many years after the Second symphony, and indeed long after he had withdrawn to his retreat at Jarvenpaa (and, as it turned out, to his retirement).

No more admissible are the political-patriotic implications detected by some of the composer's countrymen. Georg Schneevoigt, for example, described the Second symphony as an expression of the Finnish revolt against oppressors. For him the first movement set forth the glories of pastoral Finland, the next one trembled with nationalist fervor, the third depicted an angry citizenry ready to defend their rights, and the finale prophesied eventual deliverance. Incredibly, the astute Philip Hale lent credence to this fanciful analysis. He asked rhetorically: 'Is it not at all probable that the composer had war or rumors of war in mind when he composed this music?'

Unconsciously, perhaps; but that is another matter and it begs the ques- tion posed. We really do not know that the Second symphony is about anything at all.

Surely the work is sensational enough for its strictly musical properties.

Chief among these is its elucidation of a concept which could be defined as reverse synthesis: instead of introducing a theme and then disman- tling it developmentally, Sibelius lets out a fragment now and then and integrates the whole as he goes along, ultimately dovetailing the scraps in a grand peroration. This procedure was not unprecedented; Borodin, in his First symphony, had tried it thirty years earlier. What was revolu- tionary about its employment by Sibelius was that he succeeded where Borodin had not. But after all this time the academicians have not yet reached agreement as to the way in which Sibelius managed to accom- plish this: the aforementioned Cecil Gray and Gerald Abraham disagree altogether in their analyses of the first movement, while Bengt de Torne and D. Miller Craig are similarly at odds over the construction of the finale.

The imbroglio continues among those critics who care enough to ana-

lyze the score. Until it is untangled, listeners will have to struggle along with the music itself. On one point, surely, every expert can concur: this work could have been composed only by Jean Sibelius. Your ears will tell you that much. Could words tell more? program note copyright © by James Lyons

15 :

THE CONDUCTOR

CHARLES WILSON, Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, came to Boston from New York City, where for six years he was a conductor and on the musi- cal staff of the Com- pany. He returns regularly to the New York City Opera as a guest conductor; last sea- son he directed performances of Mozart's The marriage of Figaro, and this season he has conducted the Company's production Buck Hoeffier of Madam Butterfly.

Charles Wilson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Music in 1960 from the Mannes College of Music.

During the summer he conducted concerts by both the Boston Sym- phony and the Berkshire Music Center Orchestras, and as head of vocal music activities prepared the Choir and the Berkshire Chorus for performances with the Boston Symphony of Haydn's Nelson Mass and choral works of Brahms, including the German Requiem. As head of the Berkshire Music Center's vocal music department, he has already done much for solo vocal music at Tanglewood; he or- ganized four lieder recitals by fellowship students during the 1968 session. He was also accompanist for Hanne-Lore Kuhse in her Prelude concert. During June of this year he will conduct performances of Menotti's The consul for the Spring Opera of San Francisco.

It was recently announced that Charles Wilson has been appointed principal resident conductor of the New York City Opera Company beginning in the fall of 1969.

Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts 1968 * 1969 Tuesday, 22 October Brazilian String Quartet Tuesday, 19 November New Boston Percussion Ensemble Monday, 24 February Borodin String Quartet Tuesday, 11 March Danzi Woodwind Quintet Tuesday, 15 April Guarneri String Quartet

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16 THE SOLOIST

JOHN BROWNING, who gave the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Piano concerto with Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Sym- phony Orchestra in 1962, has appeared with the Orchestra several times since in Boston, Tanglewood and New York. He was born in Denver, Colorado, where he made his orchestral debut with Mozart's Coronation Concerto at the age of 10. When his family moved to Los Angeles he studied with Lee Lotte Meitner-Grat Pattison, and later he went to New York after winning a scholarship to the , where he studied with Rosina Lhevinne.

In 1954 he won the Steinway Centennial Award and two years later the Leventritt Award, which led to his debut with the New York Philhar- monic. In 1956 he also won the Gold Medal at the competition in Brussels, founded by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. From that time his career was assured. His tours have taken him all over Europe, the Soviet Union, the Near East, Mexico, and throughout the United States, where he has played with every major orchestra. During the summer of 1967 he was on the faculty of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood where he gave a series of master classes.

John Browning will soon complete the recording for RCA of all five concertos of Prokofiev with Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The first four are already available.

Program Editor ANDREW RAEBURN

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17 A MESSAGE FROM ERICH LEINSDORF

From time to time during the past seven seasons I have reported to you my ideas about the role of the symphony orchestra in our society, my reasons for programming the music you hear and my plans for the future. By your loyalty and support you, the subscribers, provide the artistic freedom which we need to make programs along liberal lines. It is therefore fitting and right that you should be kept fully informed of the policies of the Boston Symphony and its musical direction. This

message is, of course, my ave atque vale as a 'regular'; but since I shall

return in practically no time as guest conductor, I cannot find the tears for a sad farewell. This, then, is an affectionate au revoir and a profound thank you for your staunch and invaluable support.

As for my future — I shall travel a good deal more than I could during my tenure here. The Northeast corridor of the United States, that great megalopolis stretching from Washington DC to Boston, has been the

Orchestra's principal playground in recent years. It is indubitably one of the world's most important regions, but not the only one.

Between now and my return to Boston next season I shall conduct one of my favorite works, Schumann's 'Scenes from Goethe's Faust' in Frank-

furt. From Germany I go to Switzerland where I shall direct the French Orchestre Nationale at the Lausanne Festival and over French television in a concert which includes the Fourth symphony of Mahler. With the

Tonhalle in Zurich I shall play Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps. Then comes Tanglewood, where we have an exciting series of programs planned, including complete performances of Mozart's Die Entfuhrung and Verdi's OteUo, lots of Bach and Mozart, and the Ninth symphony

of Beethoven. From the Berkshires to Buenos Aires where I shall conduct three works, Der Rosenkavalier of Strauss, Berg's Wozzeck and Wagner's

Parsifal at the Teatro Colon. Then I have been invited to appear with the new French Orchestre de Paris and later to make a film of sym- phonic work with the .

My seven years with the Boston Symphony have been enormously en-

joyable and rewarding for me personally. I look forward with pleasure

to my return as guest conductor, and thank all of you again for your

warm support, which I have felt and appreciated immeasureably.

18 A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE TRUSTEES

The Trustees wish to express their gratitude to Erich Leinsdorf for his seven years of devoted service to the Orchestra. Mr Leins- dorf has asked that a sum of money be given to Biafran relief in place of the formal presentation which had been planned, and in accord with his wishes the Trustees are arranging such a donation in his honor.

Mr Leinsdorfs years as our Music Director have been distin- guished not only for the comprehensive range of orchestral music he has presented but also for the breadth and depth of his schol- arship and that musical integrity which is the finest attribute of an artist. Subscribers to the concerts in Boston have heard an ex- ceptionally varied repertoire, ranging through the classical sym- phonic masterworks and including the world premieres of Barber's Piano concerto, Carter's Piano concerto, the Violin and Second Piano concertos of Lees, Piston's Eighth symphony and Psalm 140 of Sessions. Among the American premieres he has given us are those of Britten's and Cello symphony, the original 1805 version of Beethoven's Fidelio, Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust, and the original version of ' Ariadne auf Naxos when the triumph in Boston in January was repeated in Carnegie Hall.

Boston and our tour cities have been the beneficiaries of Mr Leinsdorfs extraordinary knowledge and mastery of symphonic literature which has brought to us many works, both old and new, which have broadened our experience and given rare musical pleasure. Under his direction there have been striking innovations in the Festival concerts at Tanglewood. His exceptional gifts as a teacher have brought about reorganization of the Berkshire Music Center which has furthered the careers of many students of music and future members of the symphony orchestras of this and other nations.

The Trustees extend their warmest wishes to Mr Leinsdorf for his future, and we look forward with pleasure to welcoming him as guest conductor through many coming seasons.

Talcott M. Banks President

19 EIGHTY-FOURTH SEASON OPENING TUESDAY NIGHT APRIL 29

'S%&^

APRIL 29-JUNE 28

There will be concerts each week Monday through Saturday, except the first, when concerts will be Tuesday April 29 through Sunday May 4.

Tickets are on sale at the Box Office

two weeks in advance of each concert

SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON 266-1492

20 JOINT BENEFIT CONCERT

EDWARD M. KENNEDY Honorary Chairman

FOR

BIAFRAN FAMINE RELIEF

sponsored by

Interfaith Effort for Biafran Famine Aid

Monday April 28 at 8.30

in Symphony Hall

BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director

AND

BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA ARTHUR FIEDLER Conductor

FEATURING

PETER, PAUL AND MARY

PAT PAULSEN MASON WILLIAMS

Ticket prices: $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $10

Tickets are available at the Box Office, Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 (telephone 266-1492). SUMMARY OF THE SEASON 1968-1969

CONCERTS GIVEN IN THE PROVIDENCE SERIES DURING THE SEASON 1968-1969 Program Date Conductor

1 September 26 ERICH LEINSDORF 2 October 31 ERICH LEINSDORF 3 January 23 GEORGES PRETRE 4 February 27 ERICH LEINSDORF 5 April 10 CHARLES WILSON

WORKS PLAYED IN THE PROVIDENCE SERIES Program BEETHOVEN Piano concerto no. 4 in G op. 58 4 Overture to 'Egmont' 5 DVORAK Symphony no. 8 in G op. 88 2 HANDEL Suite from The water music' 1 HAYDN Symphony no. 90 in C 2 JANACEK Sinfonietta for orchestra op. 60 2 LALO Overture to 'Le roi d'Ys' 3 MESSIAEN 'Chronochromie' for large orchestra (1960) 3 first performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra MOZART Symphony no. 39 in E flat K. 543 1 PROKOFIEV Piano concerto no. 5 in F op. 55 5 RAVEL 'La valse' choreographic poem 3 SIBELIUS Symphony no. 2 in D op. 43 5 Symphony no. 5 in E flat op. 82 3 TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony no. 5 in E minor op. 64 4 WAGNER Die Gotterdammerung 1 Dawn -Siegfried's Rhine journey- Interlude from Act one -Prelude to Act two - Siegfried's death music -Conclusion of Act three

SOLOISTS — PROVIDENCE SERIES JOHN BROWNING piano EUGENE ISTOMIN piano

22 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

EIGHTY-NINTH SEASON 1969-1970

WILLIAM STEINBERG Music Director

FIVE THURSDAY CONCERTS at 8.30

in the

VETERANS MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM

beginning on

October 16 1969

Renewal cards will soon be mailed to all subscribers. To insure your present location, please be sure to return your card by May

1st. If you have any queries, please consult the

SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE

SYMPHONY HALL

BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS 02115 Magnificent Possession

Baldwin Baldwin Piano & Organ Company 160 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Telephone 426-0775

Baldwin is the official piano of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Erich Leinsdorf, Music Director.