Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 74, 1954-1955, Trip
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Hi x : '«. 'vl I BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN 1881 BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON 1 m ,3? ft*5^ itnmnml — 3^P SEVENTY-FOURTH SEASON I 954" I 955 Academy of Music, Brooklyn Under the auspices of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn 1954 - 1955 THE WOMEN'S COMMITTEE FOR The Boston Symphony 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. Frederick H. Rohlfs Mrs. Miles Kastendieck Chairman Membership Co-Chairman Membership Mrs. Irving G. Idler Mrs. Thomas K. Ware Chairman Boxes Chairman Junior Committee Mrs. Elias J. Audi Mrs. Percy R. Gray Mrs. Valentine K. Raymond Mrs. Charles L. Babcock, Jr. Mrs. Arthur C. Hallan Mrs. Donald Ross Mrs. Bernard S. Barr Mrs. J. Morton Halstead Mrs. Irving J. Sands Mrs. John R. Bartels Mrs. James M. Hills Mrs. Donald Gray Schenk Mrs. George M. Billings Mrs. Raymond V. Ingersoll Mrs. Oscar P. Schoenemann Mrs. Robert E. Blum Mrs. Henry A. Ingraham Mrs. Eliot H. Sharp Mrs. Irving L. Cabot Mrs. Charles Jaffa Mrs. Frank E. Simmons Mrs. Otis Swan Carroll Mrs. Darwin R. James, Jr. 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. Warner King Mrs. E. A. Sunde Mrs. Russell V. Cruikshank Mrs. Almet R. Latson, Jr. Mrs. David W. Swanson Mrs. Sidney W. Davidson Mrs. M. Paul Luther Mrs. Hollis K. Thayer Mrs. Berton J. Delmhorst Mrs. Eugene R. Marzullo Mrs. Theodore N. Trynin Mrs. Remick C. Eckardt Mrs. Carleton D. Mason Mrs. Franklin B. Tuttle Mrs. James F. Fairman Mrs. Edwin P. Maynard, Jr. Mrs. Adrian Van Sinderen Mrs. Merrill N. Foote Mrs. Richard Maynard Mrs. Robert F. Warren Mrs. Lewis W. Francis Miss Helen McWilliams Mrs. Carl T. Washburn Mrs. George H. Gartlan Mrs. Alfred E. Mudge Mrs. Harold E. Weeks Mrs. Edwin L. Garvin Miss Emma Jessie Ogg Mrs. Walter F. Wells Mrs. Harrison R. Glennon, Jr. Mrs. William M. Parke N. Whittlesey Mrs. Andrew L. Gomory Mrs. William B. Parker Mrs. George Mrs. R. Whitney Gosnell Mrs. Frank H. Parsons Miss Elizabeth Wright Academy of Music, Brooklyn SEVENTY-FOURTH SEASON, 1954-1955 Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor Concert Bulletin of the First Concert FRIDAY EVENING, November 19 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 ) Assistant J. J. Brosnahan, Assistant Treasurer N. S. Shirk ) Managers Rosario Mazzeo, Personnel Manager li] Boston Symphony Orchestra (Seventy-fourth Season, 1954-1955) CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL Violins Violas Bassoons Richard Burgin, Joseph de Pasquale Sherman Walt Concert-master Jean Cauhap6 Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Eugen Lehner Theodore Brewster George Zazofsky Albert Bernard Rolland Tapley George Humphrey Contra-Bassoon Norbert Lauga Jerome Lipson Richard Plaster Vladimir Resnikoff Robert Karol Harry Dickson Louis Artieres Horns Gottfried Wilfinger Reuben Green James Stagliano Einar Hansen Bernard Kadinoff Charles Yancich Joseph Leibovici Vincent Mauricci Harry Shapiro Emil Kornsand John Fiasca Harold Meek Roger Shermont Paul Keaney Violoncellos Osbourne McConathy Paul Fedorovsky Samuel Mayes Walter Macdonald Carlos Pinfield Alfred Zighera Minot Beale Trumpets Herman Silberman Jacobus Langendoen Mischa Nieland Roger Voisin Stanley Benson Marcel Karl Zeise Lafosse Leo Panasevich Armando Josef Zimbler Ghitalla Sheldon Rotenberg Gerard Goguen Fredy Ostrovsky Bernard Parronchi Leon Marjollet Trombones Clarence Knudson Martin Hoherman Jacob Raich man Pierre Mayer Louis Berger William Moyer Manuel Zung Flutes Kauko Kahila Samuel Diamond Josef Orosz Doriot Victor Manusevitch Anthony Dwyer James Nagy James Pappoutsakis Phillip Kaplan Tuba Melvin Bryant K. Vinal Smith Raphael Del Sordo Piccolo Lloyd Stonestreet George Madsen Harps Saverio Messina Bernard William Waterhouse Oboes Zighera Ralph Olivia Luetcke William Marshall Gomberg Jean Devergie Leonard Moss John Holmes Timpani Jesse Ceci English Horn Roman Szulc Basses Everett Firth Louis Speyer Georges Moleux Willis Page Clarinets Percussion Ludwig Juht Gino Cioffi Charles Smith Irving Frankel Manuel Valerio Harold Farberman Henry Freeman Pasquale Cardillo Harold Thompson Henry Portnoi E\) Clarinet Gaston Dufresne Librarians Henri Girard Bass Clarinet Leslie Rogers John Barwicki Rosario Mazzeo Victor Alpert, Ass't Academy of Music, Brooklyn Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director FIRST CONCERT FRIDAY EVENING, November 19, at 8:30 o'clock Program Gluck Overture to "Alceste" Beethoven Symphony No. 7, in A major, Op. 92 I. Poco sostenuto; Vivace II. Allegretto III. Presto; Assai meno presto; Tempo primo IV. Allegro con brio INTERMISSION Berlioz Fantastic Symphony, Op. 14A I. Reveries, Passions Largo: Allegro agitato e appassionato assai II. ABall Waltz: Allegro non troppo III. Scene in the Meadows Adagio IV. March to the Scaffold Allegretto non troppo V. Dream of a Witches' Sabbath Larghetto: Allegro Concerts by this orchestra in Boston will be broadcast on Saturdays 8:30-9:30 E.S.T. on the NBC Network. BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS [3] . Well pay you or the hospital . to substantially reduce the cost of your room and board . and certain other hospital expenses. This will help to diminish the drain on your pocketbook while you're getting well — provided you've got Employers' Group Hospital insurance. Get in touch with your Employers' Group agent, today. The EMPLOYERS' GROUP Insurance Companies THE EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ASSURANCE CORP. LTD. 110 MILK ST. AMERICAN EMPLOYERS' INSURANCE CO. THE EMPLOYERS' FIRE INSURANCE CO. BOSTON 7, MASS. For Fire, Casualty and Marine Insurance or Fidelity and Surety Bonds, see your local Employers' Group Agent, The Man With The Plan [4] OVERTURE TO "ALCESTE" By Christoph Willibald Gluck Born July 2, 1714, at Weidenwang in the Upper Palatinate; died November 25, 1787, at Vienna "Alceste, Tragedia per Musica," text by Ranieri di Calzabigi, was first per- formed in Vienna December 16, 1767. It was introduced to Paris October 23, 1776, the text translated into French by Bailli du Roullet. The Overture as here per- formed was edited by Felix Weingartner in 1898, with an ending for concert purposes. The orchestration is as follows: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, contra-bassoon, 2 horns, 3 trombones and strings. " a lceste," following Orfeo ed Eurydice (which had the same ** librettist) by five years in Vienna, was Gluck's second declara- tion of drastic reform in opera. The subject had been treated before and was treated subsequently by other composers. But the challenge in Gluck's Alceste was his complete adherence, in the drama of Euripides, to the atmosphere of sombre tragedy unrelieved. Gluck had proclaimed that an overture should be a true prepara- tion for the mood of the drama to follow, and in Alceste he was as good as his word. Alfred Einstein, in his invaluable book on Gluck, writes: "Beauty enters with the overture, called an 'intrada' by Gluck, presumably because it leads without a break into the scene. It is the first truly tragic introduction to an opera. The tutti is darkly colored by the trio of trombones, the form not in the least sonata-like and 'dramatic' but heavily charged, neutral, purely a prologue to a gloomy action and especially disconsolate where it becomes gentle and suppli- cating. But Fate is inexorable, like the suspended A in the basses. This piece in D minor is the ancestor of an illustrious line from the Overture to Don Giovanni to the Tragic Overture of Brahms." As the opera opens, King Admetos is mortally ill, and Alceste, his wife, prays in the temple of Apollo for his life. Apollo answers that her husband may be spared only if another victim is found to take his place. Alceste submits herself for this sacrifice. Alceste finds Admetos in Hades and is about to be torn from him in fulfillment of the decree of Apollo, when Heracles rushes in and persuades the implacable god to relent and spare the lives of both. The intervention of Heracles was added by du Roullet in the French version, which differs considerably from the original. The overture to Alceste is described by Ernest Newman, in his book on Gluck, as "a notable triumph of dramatic expression, and is [5] all the more remarkable by its complete contrast with the aimless futility of the overture to Orfeo. Gluck's hold upon dramatic feeling is admirable at all times, and nowhere, perhaps, has he maintained this hold with such consummate power as in the overture to Alceste. A short, sombre phrase in D minor (lento) leads into an andante of a dolent expression, which in its turn glides into what may be called the second subject in A minor, a dolorous phrase of peculiar form, giving to the ear something of the same impression as a pyramid gives to the eye; it commences broadly and smoothly on the chord of the dominant, and then strikes upward to the pointed chord of the minor ninth, producing a transition from absolute breadth of harmony to the most poignant contrast possible. This leads on into a passage of storm and stress, that finally dies down as if in exhaustion, leading again into the lento prelude, this time in A minor, and then into the andante again.