Forty-second regular season • December 18, 19, 1953 War Memorial Opera House

Guest Conductor Guest Pianist FERENC FRICSAY ARTUR RUBINSTEIN

Maintained and Presented by the Association San Francisco Symphony Association MAINTAINING THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

OFF C E R S J. 0. Zellerbach ...... President Mortimer Fleishhacker, Jr. Vice-President E. Raymond Arm'by Vice-President Mrs, Walter A Haas Vice President Charles R. Blyth Vice-President Mrs. John R. Upton Vice-President Philip S. Boone Vice-President Charles Page Treasurer Mrs. Willard H. Durham ...... Vice-President Howard K. Skinner Secretary Leonora Wood Armsby...... President Emeritus

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE J. D. Zellerbach, Chairman James B. Black James K. Lochead Brayton Wilbur Philip S. Boone Guido J. Musto Mrs. Daniel Volkmai Mrs. Selah Chamberlain Else Schilling Whitney Warren Lutie D. Goldstein Mrs. M. C. Sloss Mrs. Eli H. Wicl Mrs. E. S. Heller Mrs. Sigmund Stern Jean C. Witter

FINANCE COMMITTEE Charles R. Blyth, Chairman E. Raymond Armsby Marco F. Hellman Gene K. Walker S. D. Bechtel James K. Lochead Whitney Warren James B. F¿ack Lawrence V. Metcalf Brayton Wilbur Mortimer Fleishhacker, Jr. Charles Page Jean C. Witter Prentis Cobb Hale, Jr. T. S. Petersen J. D. Zellerbach Walter S. Heller Mrs. John R. Upton

B 0 ARD OF GOVERNORS Mrs. Alexander Albert Mortimer Fleishhacker, Jr. Mrs. Chester Nimitz E. Raymond'Armsby John F. Forbes Mrs. William H. Orrick Mrs. Edward 0. Bartlett D. Lyle Ghirardelli Charles Page S. D. Bechtel Mrs. Frank R. Girard T. S. Petersen Paul A. Bissinger Lutie D. Goldstein Mrs. Harold D. Pischel James B. Black Mrs. Henry F. Grady Mrs. Stanley Powell Mrs. Winston Churchill Black Farnham P. Griffiths Mrs. Henry P. Russell Charles R. Blyth Mrs. Walter A. Haas Mrs. Leon B. Russell Philip S. Boone Prentis Cobb Hale, Jr. Else Schilling George T. Cameron Mrs. Russell P. Hastings Mrs. M. C. Sloss Mrs. Selah Chamberlain Mrs. Edward H. Heller Mrs. Sigmund Stern Mrs. John P. Coghlan Mrs. E. S. Heller Mrs. Powers Symington Mrs. W. W. Crocker Walter S. Heller Mrs. John R. Upton Mrs. 0. K. Cushing Mrs. 1. W. Hellman Mrs. Daniel Volkmann Mrs. L. Polk Dodson Marco F. Hellman Gene K. Walker Mrs. Willard H. Durham Mrs. Edward Hohfeld Mrs. John 1. Walter Sidney M. Ehrman Mrs. Bruce Kelham Whitney Warren Albert 1. Elkus Frederick J. Koster Michel Weill Dr. Leo Eloesser James K. Lochead Mrs. Eli H. Wiel Forrest Engelhart Garret McEnerney, II Brayton Wilbur Hector Escobosa Mrs. Parker S. Maddux Mrs. Dean Witter Mrs. Harold K. Faber Lawrence V. Metcalf Jean C. Witter Mrs. Paul 1. Fagan Robert Watt Miller J. D. Zellerbach Mrs. Marshal H. Fisher Kenneth Monteagle Mrs. John G. Ziel Guido J. Musto

PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE Gene K. Walker, Chairman Philip S. Boone Hector Escobosa Mrs. Leon B. Russell Alfred Crapsey Mrs. Prentis Cobb Hale, Jr. Mrs. M. C. Sloss Mrs. D. S. Denman Mrs. Chester Nimitz Mrs. John R. Upton

SAN F R A N C 1 SCO SYMPHONY FOUNDATION Philip S. Boone, Chairman Mrs. Thomas Carr Howe, Jr., Vice-Chairman Lawrence V. Metcalf, Treasurer Charles K. Jones, Executive Secretary Mrs. William Andrews, Jr. Dr. Roberto Escamilla Mrs. Richard C. Ham Byron Arnold Joseph Friedman Mrs. Stuart Hawley Mrs. George E. Church Nino Geraldi Clarence Heller Dr. Herbert C. Clish Richard Guggenhime Charles H. Kennedy Mrs. Dewey Donnell Prentis Cobb Hale, Jr. Philip L. McClure

153 SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY FOUNDATION (Continued) Mrs. Alan McLenegan A. Downey Orrick Marie Louise Schwabacher John Mailliard, III Mrs. Harold Pischel Mrs. Marshall A. Shapiro Mrs. William Mosden Mrs. William Lister Rogers Mrs. Miles Standish Mrs. Donald Mulford Mrs. Leon B. Russell Maurice Uglow

WOMEN'S COMMITTEES Mrs. John R. Upton, Co-ordinating Chairman

FINANCE COMMITTEE Mrs. Harold K. Faber, Chairman District Chairmen Mrs. Harold K. Faber, San Francisco Mrs. Paul Reed, Upper Peninsula Mrs. L. Polk Dodson, Lower Peninsula Mrs. Chester Nimitz, East Bay Mrs. Donald S. Denman, Marin County Mrs. Alexander Albert Mrs. Marshal H. Fisher Mrs. C. R. St. Aubyn Mrs. Paul A. Bissinger Mrs. L. H. Garland Mrs. Albert E. Schlesinger Mrs. Selah Chamberlain Mrs. Marco F. Hellman Mrs. Louis Sloss Mrs. Garnett Cheney Mrs. Bruce Kelham Mrs. Sigmund Stern Mrs. Eric Cochrane Mrs. Andrew McLaughlin Mrs. Benjamin Swig Mrs. John P. Coghlan Mrs. George Mardikian Mrs. Nion Tucker Mrs. Carl Curtis Mrs. Philip C. Morse Mrs. Daniel Volkmann Mrs. Douglas Dimond Mrs. Stanley Powell Mrs. Eli H. Wiel

TICKET SALES COMMITTEE District Chairmen Mrs. Prentis Cobb Hale, Jr., San Francisco Mrs. Winston Churchill Black, Peninsula Mrs. Joseph Zook Todd, East Bay Mrs. Donald S. Denman, Marin County Mrs. William W. Ashley Mrs. Kenneth Funsten Mrs. John B. Metcalf Mrs. Ray Atwater Mrs. Richard Girvin Mrs. Harry East Miller, Jr. Mrs. Alexis Becker Mrs. Richard Goldman Mrs. Lindley Miller Mrs. Reed J. Bekins Mrs. Lester Goodman Mrs. Florian McGuire Moore Mrs. Frank G. Belcher Mrs. Robert Greenhood Mrs. Donald Mulford Mrs. John G. Belcher Mrs. Richard Ham Mrs. Richard Neves Mrs. Winston Black Mrs. Donald Hampton Mrs. Charles Noble, Jr. Mrs. Gilbert Blackmore Mrs. Henry H. Hart Mrs. George Otto Mrs. Philip S. Boone Mrs. Rodney Hartman Mrs. Harold D. Pischel Mrs. Howard Boren Mrs. George Helmer Mrs. Bruce Porter Mrs. George Brady Mrs. William Hendrickson Mrs. Harold G. Ray Mrs. John Bunting Mrs. Joseph Henske Mrs. T. J. L. Redmond Mrs. Patricia M. Butler Mrs. A. Holden Higbee, III Mrs. Emil Reinhardt Aileen Campbell Mrs. H. G. Hills Mrs. Roy Robinette Mrs. Frank Carpenter Mrs. Reuben Hills Mrs. Hall Roe Mrs. Douglas Carver Mrs. Edward Hohfeld Mrs. John Roos Mrs. James Coonan Mrs. J. H. Hume Mrs. Willard Sheldon Mrs. J. Caleb Cope Mrs. Thomas W. Jennings Mrs. Frederick Sherman Mrs. W. Salor Crimmins Mrs. Clarence Loran Johnston Mrs. Samuel Simons Mrs. George Crocker Mrs. Charles Keenan Mrs. Fred Sloat Mrs. Felix Cunha Mrs. Vernon Kimball Mrs. Claus Spreckels Mrs. Dixwell Davenport Mrs. Francis Kirkham Mrs. Ernest Stent Mrs. Donald de Carle Diane La Farge Mrs. Frank Stratford Mrs. Albert De Martini Mrs. C. F. Larson Mrs. Edward K. Strauss Mrs. Harry de Wit Mrs. Edwin Lawry Mrs. Richard L. Swig Mrs. Dudley Dexter Mrs. Sanford Lowengart Mrs. Elton Tognazzini Mrs. Paul Dibert Mrs. Harry McClelland Alice Town Mrs. Leland Doan Mrs. Ernest McCormick Mrs. Robert Dean Turner Mrs. Andre Dubbs Mrs. Howard McGurrin Mrs. F. W. L. Tydeman Mrs. Alfred Ducato Mrs. Edmund MacDonald Mrs. James Leslie Walker Mrs. Arthur Dunne Mrs. Parker S. Maddux Mrs. Frederick Weir Mrs. Hector Escobosa Mrs. Walter Main Mrs. John Wickett Mrs. Henry Evers Mrs. Cort Majors Mrs. H. Dillon Winship Mrs. Edward Eyre Mrs. Frederick Mann Mrs. R. Wesley Wright Mrs. Harris Fenn Mrs. Musto Martin Mrs. James D. Zellerbach, Jr. Mrs. Albert Frietzsche Mrs. Harold Maxson

YOUTH SYMPHONY CONCERTS COMM ITTEE Mrs. John G. Ziel, Chairman Mrs. William Ashley Charles M. Dennis Mrs. Carlos Maas Mrs. Alfred Bell Mrs. Harold K. Faber Mrs. Charles Noble, Jr. Mrs. Grace Benoist Mrs. Edmond S. Gillette, Jr. Mrs. Jerome Powell Mrs. George Brady Mrs. Walter A. Haas, Jr. Father Joseph T. Pritchard Mrs. George Brady, Jr. Mrs. Edward Hohfeld Mrs. Benson Roe Father James N. Brown Mrs. J. H. Hume Mrs. Hall Roe Barbara Burke Mrs. Robert Metcalf Jones Mrs. John G. Rogers Mrs. Dorothy Cameron Mrs. Glenn Lane Lorraine Walsh Dr. Herbert Clish Mrs. Alan McLenegan Mrs. Wendell W. Witter Mrs. Leon Collett 155 SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY FORUM Judson E. Vandevere, Chairman Enna Aguirre Mary Anne Kalanoski Eleanor Pruitt Barbara Anthony Sam Kamilos Arlene Rosales John H. Baker Harry Kelly Ann D. Rosenthal Mary Ann Bareilles Lynn Kelly John A. T. Ross Werner Baumgart Ray Kilduff Earl W. Saunders Anne Beardsley Ken Kiley Dr. Ernest E. Schnoor Betty Berryhill Bruce Konigsmark Elaine Sherwood Melvin Bethke Rene Lachman Janet Silva Mary Helen Briscoe Beth Lewis Harriett Simpson Raberto Carrasco Mary Lodi Pat Smith Frank A. Cassou Gwen LoGiudice Wallace Sprague Loran Chandler Stephen McCabe John R. Stahr Perlina Channing Loretta McCauliffe Rodney Stave Loretta A. Chirichella Marilyn McKenna Burt Steel Raymond Conlan Nancy Macomber Ruth Stephens Barbara Coon Judy Mahon Manoly Stilianupolos Richard Estes Thelma Main Don Stull Jim Flannigan William Manson Bob Swain Lorraine Friedrichsen Harriet Merwin Carol Veit Mary Gemsch Dee-Dee Moore Barbara Warner Dolores Graham Toshiko G. Nakashima Archie Webb, Jr. Robert Harvey David Olsan Clarice Weber William Hewitt Janaleen Perondi William Whitson Robert H. Johnson Betsy Peterson Hal Wilcoxson Virgil Johnson Marlene Pfleger

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157 SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION J. D. ZELLERBACH HOWARD K. SKINNER President Manager presents the SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

FIFTH PROGRAM Friday, December 18, at 2:15 Saturday, December 19, at 8:30

FERENC FRICSAY, Guest Conductor ARTUR RUBINSTEIN, Soloist

MASONIC FUNERAL MUSIC...... Mozart

CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA. NO. 2. IN B FLAT MAJOR______.....Brahms Allegro non troppo Allegro appassionato Andante Allegretto grazioso Mr. Rubinstein

INTERMISSION

DIVERTIMENTO, FOR STRING ORCHESTRA ...... Bartók Allegro non troppo Molto adagio Allegro assai

TILL EULENSPIEGEL’S MERRY PRANKS...... Strauss

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159 PROGRAM NOTES By Alfred Frankenstein

MASONIC FUNERAL MUSIC...... W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) “But now I hear that you are really ill. T need hardly tell you how greatly 1 long to receive some reassuring news from yourself. And 1 still expect it; although I have now made a habit of being prepared in all affairs of life for the worst. As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence. I have formed during the last few years such close relations with this best and truest friend of mankind that his image is no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling! And I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity (you know what I mean) of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness. . . So Mozart wrote to his father when the older man lay dying in Salzburg in the spring of 1787. The composer’s biographers all agree that this passage, with its curious parenthetic observation, “you know what I mean,” refers to the teachings of Masonry. Wolfgang Mozart was an enthusiastic Mason—so enthusiastic that at one time he planned to found a lodge of his own and is said to have drawn up elaborate rules for its conduct—and he had recruited his father into the order. There was exceptionally widespread interest in Mksonry in Vienna in the 1780’s, and new lodges were springing up on every side, although Mozart belonged to the oldest lodge in the city, one which was called Zur gekrönten Hoffnung im Orient von Wien. (Hope Attained, in the Eastern Quarter of Vienna.) It is therefore not surprising that Mozart com­ posed several works for Masonic use, and the last major composition of his life, the opera, , is actually a sermon in defense of Masonry against those who desired to suppress it. The Masonic Funeral Music was written for a memorial service held on November 17, 1785, for Duke Georg August von Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Franz Count Esterhazy and Galanta, both of whom had died ten days before; Esterhazy had been Grand Master of Zur gekrönten Hoffnung. It is in a single movement and in the key of C minor. Its principal theme, stated by the wood­ wind, is derived from old Gregorian psalm tones, a circumstance which points up the fact that in Mozart’s Vienna Catholicism and Masonry were by no means mutually exclusive, and many, including Mozart himself, belonged both to the church and the fraternity. Hence there was no inconsistency in Mozart’s com­ posing The Magic Flute and the Requiem at the same time.

CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, NO. 2, IN B FLAT MAJOR, OPUS 83...... Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Brahms, as these notes have doubtless observed before, is the program com­ mentator’s despair. He was born. He wrote great music. He died. Period. To be sure, imaginative biographers have expounded marvelous things to be read into his music. The most imaginative of these was Max Kalbeck, who would have us believe that Brahms’ Haydn variations are a tone-picture of the Temptation of St. Anthony, that the Tragic Overture is a tone poem about Hamlet, and so on and so on. But Kalbeck had his comeuppance in these immortal words of Philip Hale: “Was not Kalbeck like the man ‘of meager

161 aspect, with sooty hands and face’ seen by Captain Lemuel Gulliver at the Academy of Lagado engaged lor eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams from cucumbers?" Brahms composed the B flat concerto between 1878 and 1881, and gave it its first performance in the fall of the latter year. When it was finished he wrote his dear friends, the Herzogenbergs, in a characteristically inelegant vein: “I don’t mind telling you that I have written a tiny, tiny piano concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo. It is in B flat, and 1 have reason to fear that I have worked this udder, which has always yielded good milk before, too often and too vigorously." When he sent the score to another friend, Theodor Billroth, Brahms remarked simply "1 am sending you some little piano pieces.”

I Allegro non troppo, B flat major, 4/4 lime. The classic tradition for the first movement of a concerto involves two expositions of the thematic material, the first for the orchestra alone and the second for the solo instrument with the orchestra. Brahms had followed this tradition in his first piano concerto and his violin concerto, but in this work he modifies the plan in a unique way. There are two expositions, to be sure, but the solo instrument appears in both, and the second is a kind of development of the first. The movement opens with its principal theme, begun by the horn, echoed by the piano, and continued by the woodwind and violins:

GUEST ARTISTS THIS WEEK Ferenc Fricsay is conductor of the symphony orchestra of RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) of Berlin. He was born in in 1914 and was trained at the Academy of Music there under Bartok, Kodâly, and Dohnânyi. He began his career as conductor of the Szeged Philharmonie in his native city and was later active at the . He founded the RIAS orchestra in 1918 and has directed it ever since; in addition he has taken a prominent part in the affairs of the Berlin Municipal Opera and has been heard in many countries of Europe and South America. He recently made his American debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Artur Rubinstein was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1886. He made his first public appearance as a concert artist at the age of four. The major part of his instruction was gained in Berlin, where Rubinstein became a protégé of Joseph Joachim, and where he studied the piano with Heinrich Barth. His formal debut was made in Berlin at the age of 11, when he played a Mozart concerto under Joachim’s baton. Later Rubinstein studied for a time with Paderewski. He has been before the American public since 1906, and has appeared in concert through­ out the entire world. This will be Mr. Rubinstein’s ninth appearance with the San Francisco Symphony. He was last heard with the orchestra on Decem­ ber 1 and 2, 1950, playing the Mozart Concerto in A Major, K488, and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra on a Theme by Paganini.

163 The piano replies with a vigorous, cadenza-like solo. Example 1 returns in the full orchestra, without the solo, and this restatement leads shortly to the second theme, in the violins, in D minor:

SIXTH PROGRAM Thursday, January 7, at 8:30 Friday, January 8, at 2:15 Saturday, January 9, at 8:30 , Guest Conductor Symphony No. 103, in E Flat Major (Drum Roll)...... Haydn Don Juan...... Strauss Symphony No. 5, in C Minor...... Beethoven

SEVENTH PROGRAM Thursday, January 14, at 8:30 Friday, January 15, at 2:15 Saturday, January 16, at 8:30

GEORG SOLTI, Guest Conductor Symphony No. 41, in C Major (Jupiter)...... Mozart ...... Bartók Symphony No. 4, in E Minor...... Brahms

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165 A vigorous, c lioppily rhythmical idea follows, and the first exposition ends with a return to Example 1. The solo instrument re-enters to begin the second exposition. The first theme is extensively discussed, and during the course of the transition to the second theme a new and important melody is presented:

Eventually the second theme (Example 2) appears in the solo in F minor, and its choppy sequel is divided between the piano and the orchestra. The orches­ tra combines Examples 1 and 2 (fortissimo') for the closing theme with which the second exposition ends. There is a sudden decrescendo, and the development begins with Example 1 softly in the horn, in F minor, echoed by the piano as at the opening of the movement. The cadenza-like passage heard in the piano alone immediately after Example 1 in the first exposition is now divided between the piano and the orchestra, and is followed by a new, march-like episode in dotted eights and sixteenths, accompanied by a rhythmic figure from the first bar of Example 3. At length the first three notes of Example 1 reassert themselves in the orchestra, and the remainder of the development is largely given over to them, and to a motif derived from the seventh bar of Example 1, heard in various keys, with much ornamentation in the solo instrument. The horn returns to Example 1 in B flat under liquid figuration of the solo to start the recapitulation. The solo again echoes the horn, and the woodwinds and violin continue the theme, as in our first quotation. Example 3 follows very shortly, and leads to Example 2, in B flat minor, in the solo, again followed by the choppy rhythmical ideas that had come after it in the first exposition. There is a brief reference to the closing theme before the extensive coda. This final section of the movement is based very largely on Example 1, and begins with that theme in the horn under cascading trills of the piano. II Allegro appassionato, D minor, 3/4 time. This is the “tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo.” It begins with its principal theme in the piano:

This is briefly developed and is followed by a second theme in the violins:

u violins basses^'celli Example 5 passes to the solo, and is worked over in conjunction with the open­ ing motif of Example 4. The first section of the movement ends with that motif alone, and the entire section is then repeated from the beginning.

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168 I he second section of the movement is a development of the first. It reaches a climax, which ushers in the trio, in D major:

Another motif of importance in the trio follows eight measures later:

The piano contributes scurrying- material in octaves, and then assists the or­ chestra in discussing Examples 6 and 7.

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169 The key returns to D minor and the first section of the movement (Examples 4 and 5) is restated in a greatly varied and highly dramatic form.

Ill Andante, B flat major, 6/8 time. A solo violoncello states the theme: &

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171 This is partially repeated by the violins, but the solo ’cello reasserts itself before the theme has run its course the second time. The piano enters with a kind of variation of the theme. A second variation follows, with fragments of the theme in the orchestra and much dramatic fip-ur- ation in the solo. At the close of this there is an episode of new material (piu Adagio, F sharp major) which Prof. Tovey describes as follows: “The piano­ forte is accompanied by two clarinets. The melody consists of a few notes spaced out like the first stars that penetrate the sky at sunset. When the strings join in, the calm is as deep as the ocean that we have witnessed in the storms of this gigantic piece of music.’’ Eventually the solo ’cello returns to Example 8, still in F sharp, and leads the movement back into its home key for the close.

IV Allegro grazioso, B fiat major, 2/4 time. This rondo is an example of the Brahms who, in Robert Haven Schauffler’s phrase, “emitted music at a rate that reminds one of Caesar crossing the Alps while dictating letters to a dozen secretaries at once.’’ The movement begins with its principal theme in the solo:

This is repeated by the violins, and the solo then has a continuing phrase:

AN UNUSUAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The New Pacific Grand Opera Association, which during the last six years has presented an annual season of opera under the name of Pacific Opera Company, has been dissolved. A new non-profit civic organization—the COSMOPOLITAN OPERA COMPANY — Campbell McGregor, president, Dario Shindell, general director, has been incorporated under the laws of California. The COSMOPOLITAN OPERA COMPANY will present its first annual season, March 2 through March 19, at the War Memorial Opera House. No contributions will be solicited. OUR POLICY: A popular civic opera company, pledged to high artistic standards, presenting the best in opera at popular prices within the reach of all—thus laying the foundation for a new musical tradition in San Francisco.

173 10

Example 10 also passes to the orchestra. Example 9 returns and is worked over. The first contrasting episode, in A minor, begins in the woodwind as follows:

to which the solo shortly adds:

and a moment later:

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175 Examples 11, 12 and 13 are worked over through the remainder of the episode. The key goes back to B flat, and the oboe restates the first theme {Example 9), with ornamentation in the solo. This is the beginning of a developmental episode based mainly on Example 9. At its end Example 10 comes back, then 9 again. The whole contrasting episode (Examples 11,12 and 13) is treated once more, beginning in the violins in D minor, and there is a long coda in B flat based principally on Example 9. DIVERTIMENTO, FOR STRING ORCHESTRA. .Bela Bartók (1881-1945) The Divertimento was composed between August 2 and 17, 1939, in a Swiss chalet that belonged to Paul Sacher, conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of , to which organization the score is dedicated. Bartók was then, to all intents and purposes, a political refugee. Hitler’s Anschluss of , where most of his music had been published, put his life work under the Nazi ban, and the situation in his native was not much better. Bartók was placing his manuscripts in safekeeping with friends in that summer,

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177 and he was shortly to leave Europe for good. All this casts light on the open­ ing sentence of the following quotation from Halsey Stevens’ recent book, The Life and Music of Bela Bartók: “The Divertimento . . . bears out the contention that external events have little effect upon the character of a composer’s music. Almost Mozartian in its buoyancy, it is the most spontaneous and carefree work of Bartók since the Dance Suite* and without question the least problematical. The idiom is straightforward, the harmonies are simple and preponderantly triadic, the contrapuntal outlines clear, the structural patterns free from complexity. Only the central movement has introspective overtones; surrounded as it is by move­ ments of childlike gaiety, and with the whole work written in fifteen days, its dark melancholy can hardly be credited to Bartok’s concern for European civilization, which was at the brink of destruction in his last European summer. “For the medium of the Divertimento, a ‘diversion’ in a very real sense, Bartók looked back to the concerted works of the eighteenth century, the con­ certo grosso in particular, with its concertino of solo instruments and its ripieno consisting usually of an orchestra of strings. But he did not attempt to adapt to his use the characteristic forms of the concerto grosso. Instead, he found it more appropriate for the style of the work to employ the structural ideas developed in his own preceding scores. Thus the first movement falls into the sonata-form category, the finale is rondo-like . . . while the Adagio is in four sections of which the first and last correspond.” Professor Stevens’ analyses of the first and second movements are too long for quotation and involve some comparisons with other works of Bartók which are irrelevant here. We quote, however, his paragraph on the last movement, which can be easily followed in the music:

* Scheduled to be played at these concerts on January 14-15-16, under the direction of Georg Solti.

THE SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC ALBERT ELKUS — Director Evening classes for adults, sight reading for singers, rudiments of music, beginning harmony, group piano, orchestra Spring classes begin February 1, 1954 3435 SACRAMENTO STREET WAInut 1-3496

179 “The most interesting feature of the finale, which is as joyous as anything Bartók ever wrote, is the double fugato which forms its central section. The subject is stated in unison by all the strings, then answered in the cellos, with a second subject in the violas. Second and first violins follow, the second sub­ ject appearing with each statement. The exposition completed (except for the double basses), there is a momentary pause, then a unison inversion of the subject, which is thereupon treated as before through two more statements. At this point the solo cello enters, but decides that he will not join the fun: he improvises a few rhapsodic bars on the subject as the tempo becomes pro­ gressively slower. In the same spirit the solo violin, abandoning the fugue sub­ ject entirely, takes the center of the stage with gypsy melismas and a cadenza, thus showing his kinship with that earlier fugue-despising fiddler in the Second. Suite. With the resumption of activity by the orchestra, the themes of the first half of the movement are inverted, and there is a long reworking at the close, in the course of which a part of the first theme becomes a mawkish polka in the best café tradition—the violas, like the strings in Der Rosenkavalier, playing stets in dem siisslichen Wiener glissando, while the cellos and double- basses provide a pizzicato foundation. This is one more example of Bartók’s violent humor, rather more appropriate in a ‘diversion’ than in a more pro-

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181 found work. As in those other scores in which he indulged that propensity, he brings tlie listener out with a shock—thirteen bars of rolling triplets which pile up into clusters and a vivacissimo coda.”

TILL EULENS1TEGELS MERRY PRANKS. . . . (1864-1949) Much theoretically useful ink has gone down the drain to prove or disprove the historicity of Till Eulenspiegel, ihe principal evidence adduced by those who believe in an historic Till is the presumed existence in an old graveyard in Lübeck of a headstone whereon are carved an owl (Eule) and a mirror (Spiegel), an argument which reminds one a little of the conversation about the ancestors at the opening of the second act of The Pirates of Penzance. At all events Fill Eulenspiegel is the hero of countless German folk tales, first published in 1515, dealing with his outrageous jests and practical jokes. He represents the revenge of the peasantry upon the townsfolk in the social battle between town and country. The Eulenspiegel stories quickly spread throughout Europe, and, under the name of Howleglas, Till became naturalized in English literature. 'Ehe full title' of Strauss’ work is Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, After the Old Rogue’s Tales, in Rondo Form. When the work was first produced in 1895 the composer was asked to indicate just what ‘‘old rogue’s tales” he had in mind. His answer was: “It is impossible for me to furnish a program for Eulenspiegel; were I to put into words the thoughts which its several incidents suggested to me, they would seldom suffice, and might even give rise to offense. Let me leave it, therefore, to my hearers to crack the hard nut which the rogue has prepared for them. By way of helping them to a better understanding, it is sufficient to point out the two Eulenspiegel motives:

and

which in the most manifold disguises, moods and situations, pervade the whole up to the catastrophe, when, after he has been condemned to death, Till is strung up on the gibbet. For the rest, let them guess at the musical joke which a rogue has offered them.” Several detailed descriptive analyses of the work have appeared since Strauss made these remarks, but the composer has sanctioned none of them. Therefore, one may add only that the piece begins with five bars of introduction, derived from the second Eulenspiegel theme, in a peaceful, genial mood, as if to say “Once upon a time . . .” The atmosphere becomes electrical with the introduc­ tion of the first Eulenspiegel theme, and Till’s adventures begin. Strauss has mentioned Till on the gibbet, and it is easy to perceive in the music toward the end of the rondo the thunderous accusations of a prosecutor, the cocky quips with which Till answers, and Till’s final scream on the scaffold. The composi­ tion closes with the introductory music with which it had begun.

182 PERSONNEL SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

VIOLINS: 'CELLOS BASS CLARINET: Fragale, Frank Blinder, Naoum Blinder, Boris CONCERTMASTER principal bassoons: Houser, Frank S. Reinberg, Herman Kubitschek, Ernst ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER ANDERS, DETLEV Djeda, Raymond Khuner, Felix Hesse, Karl Hibschle, Frank argiewicz, Artur Kraus, Johann Hughson, Mary Guaraldi, Mafalda CONTRA-BASSOON: Winkler, Eugene Shweid, Henry Hibschle, Frank Claudio, Ferdinand Mezirka, Catherine grant, Robert Y. Schneider, David HORNS: Kadzielawa, Tadeusz Kdvats, Rose Sabatini, William Vadetsky, Cdnstantin Mautner, EIrvin Merrill, Jeremy Sheinfeld, David Saxton, Earl Meacham, Charles basses: Trutner, Herman C. Michaelian, Ernest Lucchesi, Dino Karp, Philip Claudio, Silvio principal trutner, Herman, Jr. McArdell, Mariam Siani, Charles Spaulding, Myron Schipilliti, John TRUMPETS: Mazzi, Buenger, August Bubb, Charles, Jr. Rubin, Nathan □ rsini, Joseph Murray, Earl B. ress ictor Wegman, WiLlem Schmidt, Robert E. K , V PRINCIPAL, SECOND VIOLINS Storch, Arthur E. Haug, Edward

Haug, Julius Lewis, Jerome TROMBONES: Gough, Walter Giosi, Drlando Pasmore, Mary flutes: Shdemaker, Rogers Laraia, Attilio F. Graitzer, Murray Kldck, John Baret, Berthe principal Shaprd, David Jordan, Merrill TUBA: Rourke, Robert BENKMAN, HERBERT Murray, Ralph Paterson, John A. Sellin, Verne HARP: Bauer, Ben PICCOLO: Adams, Anne DiBianca, Vincent Benkman, Herbert Connolly, Winifred TYMPANl: Wright, Harold OBOES: Larew, Walter Schivo, Reina Remington, Merrill Shanis, Julien PERCUSSION: violas : Schivo, Leslie J. Vendt, Albert Molnar, Ferenc Steffen, I. PRINCIPAL Slivka, Meyer ENGLISH HORN: Verney, Romain Schivd, Leslie J. White, Albert LIBRARIAN: Haug, Alma C. Mitchell, Lucian Leplin, Emanuel CLARINETS: PIANO AND CELESTE: □lshausen, Detlev Schmitt, Rudolph Schjvo, Reina Finess, A. Bibbins, F. N. Karasik, Manfred Fragale, Frank DRGAN: Sargeant, Suzanne Altman, Ludwig Katsards, Stephan Gottlieb, Robert E FLAT CLARINET: PROPERTY MASTER: Prevdst, Germain Bibbins, F. N. Colangelo, T. L., Jr.

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