Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 74, 1954
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN 1881 BY HENRY LEE HI SEVENTY-FOURTH SEASON I 954-^955 Carnegie Hall, New York 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 Cauhape 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 Paul Fedorovsky Violoncellos Osbourne McConathv Carlos Pinfield Samuel Mayes Walter Macdonald Minot Beale Alfred Zighera Herman Silberman Jacobus Langendoen Trumpets Stanley Benson Mischa Nieland Roger Voisin Leo Panasevich Karl Zeise Marcel Lafosse Armando Ghitalla Sheldon Rotenberg Josef Zimbler Gerard Goguen Fredy Ostrovsky Bernard Parronchi Leon Marjollet Clarence Knudson Martin Hoherman Trombones Pierre Mayer Louis Berger Jacob Raichman Manuel Zung William Moyer Samuel Diamond Flutes Kauko Kahila Victor Manusevitch Doriot Anthony Dwyer Josef Orosz James Nagy James Pappoutsakis Melvin Bryant Phillip Kaplan Tuba Raphael Del Sordo K. Vinal Smith Piccolo Lloyd Stonestreet Saverio Messina George Madsen Harps William Waterhouse Oboes Bernard Zighera William Marshall Ralph Gomberg Olivia Luetcke Leonard Moss Jean Devergie Jesse Ceci John Holmes Timpani Roman Szulc English Horn Everett Firth Basses Louis Speyer Georges Moleux Percussion Gaston Dufresne Clarinets Charles Smith Gino Cioffi Ludwig Juht Harold Farberman Manuel Valerio Irving Frankel Harold Pasquale Thompson Henry Freeman Cardillo E\) Clarinet Henry Portnoi Librarians Henri Girard Bass Clarinet Leslie Rogers John Barwicki Rosario Mazzeo Victor Alpert, Ass't 1 Carnegie Hall, New York Sixty-ninth Season in New York SEVENTY-FOURTH SEASON, 1954-1955 Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor Concert Bulletin of the Third Concert WEDNESDAY EVENING, January 12 AND THE Third Matinee SATURDAY AFTERNOON, January 15 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. Rector Assistant Brosnahan, Assistant Treasurer W. J. J. N. S. Shirk Managers Rosario Mazzeo, Personnel Manager r 1 . We'll make your mortgage payments . while you're sick, or disabled by accident — even for as long as two years — if you've got one of our Home Owner's Disability policies. Mighty nice to have, and a good way to "keep" a home if anything hap- pens. Get in touch with your Em- ployers' 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 [*] Carnegie Hall, New York Sixty-ninth Season in New York Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director THIRD EVENING CONCERT WEDNESDAY, January 12 Program Pfitzner Overture to "Das Christelflein," Op. 20 Schumann Symphony No. 4, in D minor, Op. 120 I. Ziemlich langsam; Lebhaft II. Romanze: Ziemlich langsam III. Scherzo: Lebhaft IV. Langsam; Lebhaft (Played without pause) Martinu Fantaisies Symphoniques (Symphony No. 6) I. Lento; Allegro; Lento II. Allegro III. Lento; Allegro (First performance in New York) intermission Brahms. Symphony No. 2, in D major, Op. 73 I. Allegro non troppo II. Adagio non troppo III. Adagietto grazioso, quasi andantino IV. Allegro con spirito Concerts by this orchestra in Boston will be broadcast on Saturdays 8:30-9:30 E.S.T. on the NBC Network. Music of these programs is available at the Music Library, 58th Street Branch, the New York Public Library. BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS [3] OVERTURE TO "DAS CHRISTELFLE1N" ("The Little Christ Elf") — A Christmas Fairy Tale, Op. 20 By Hans Pfitzner Born in Moscow,* May 5, 1869; died in Salzburg, May 22, 1949 Das Christelflein, Weihnachlsmarchen, set to a play by Use von Stach, was com- posed as incidental music in 1906 and first produced in Munich December 11 of that year. (The Overture alone was introduced by E. N. Reznicek in Berlin on No- vember 23.) In 1917 the composer rewrote his score as an opera in two acts. The Overture was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, November 15, 1907 and repeated October 18-19, 1912, when Karl Muck was conductor. The Overture is scored for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, harp, timpani and triangle. The story of Das Christelflein is described as "a miracle-tale of medi- eval days, in which an elf takes pity on a poor family, pleads their case in Paradise, so that they sit down to a roast and wine through the intervention of the Child Jesus." It could be said that when Hans Pfitzner died at 81 the last exponent of the Romantic era in German opera had gone. More than thirty years had passed since his opera Palestrina (the Overture to which Mr. Munch introduced at these concerts January 27-28, 1950) had made its mark in Central Europe, and Palestrina, like its predecessors, had long ceased to hold the stage. Yet Palestrina was received with admira- tion in its day. It may have been the composer's preoccupation with a high-minded subject, the absence of any "love interest," an important female part, or other popular elements, which have prevented this opera from finding its way into many opera houses, or assuring its composer a continuing livelihood in his old age. Pfitzner was one of those composers whose music perpetually invited controversy. In his day he had ardent supporters in Central Europe and sharp attackers. There were frequent performances of his operas and occasional ones of his smaller works in Berlin, Frankfort or Mu- nich — few in other parts of the world. Those performances became the topic of disputation. "Der Fall Pfitzner" was spurred by the com- poser, who seldom denied himself the privilege of statements in the press. In the early years of this century he was considered by many a "modern," because of his individual assertiveness based upon an ad- vanced Wagnerian chromaticism. Yet he was no Schonbergian — his ways were based more firmly on Romantic German tradition. A * The place of Pfitzner's birth was due to the fact that many Germans were engaged for the Imperial Theatre orchestras in the Czarist regime and Pfitzner's father played at the Moscow Imperial Opera. The family returned to Frankfurt, where Pfitzner's father conducted at the opera. There Hans obtained his first musical education. [4] champion in 1904 was P. N. Cossmann, who wrote in a pamphlet: "Von Pfitzner's Personlichkeit muss gesagt werden dass sie unmodern ist; denn er ist kein Schweinehund." Philip Hale quoted this line with " relish, remarking that 'Schweinehund' is a word for Squire Western, for a theologian of Milton's time rather than a calm, dispassionate discusser of esthetics." Which "moderns" at that time Herr Cossmann considered "pig-dogs," it would be interesting to know. It is true that of operas, even Die Rose vom Leibesgarten (1901) , the most Romantic was found by some disturbingly modern. Philip Greeley Clapp in the Boston Transcript, October 16, 1912 wrote of Pfitzner that "his real personality and achievements are hidden behind a bodyguard of per- sonal friends and pupils who stoutly maintain that he is the greatest living exponent of some esthetic principle or other," while he is "the pet aversion of one or two powerful critics." Clapp thus names him a candidate for a "martyr's crown." Palestrina, set to a libretto by the composer and first performed under the direction of Bruno Walter in Munich, June 12, 1917, en- joyed a considerable success during the first World War and revealed a fresh and impressive aspect of the composer's abilities. Pfitzner obtained his first musical education at Frankfort, studying counterpoint and composition with Yvonne Knorr and piano with James Kwast. The young Pfitzner composed while teaching and con- ducting for a living. He not only combined these activities at Frank- fort, but continued to do so through the best years of his life. He moved to Coblenz and later to Mainz. From 1896 until 1907 he lived in Berlin, busy in both capacities. He conducted the Kaim Orchestra in Munich, 1907-08. He became Director of the Conservatory at Strasbourg in 1908, and in 1910 Director of the Municipal Opera there. Later he conducted in Munich and in Coburg; from 1920, he long held master classes in the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. Pfitzner NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY 290 HUNTINGTON AVENUE, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS A COLLEGE OF MUSIC. Member, New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. — Since 1867 dedicated to training musicians to CREATE music, to PROJECT music, to TEACH music. The Conservatory grants the degrees of BACHELOR OF MUSIC and MASTER OF MUSIC in all fields of music— PERFORMANCE GROUPS include N.E.C. SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 125 VOICE CHORUS, CHAMBER ENSEMBLES, OPERA CLASSES. Send to Registrar for free illustrated catalogue [5] thus became a Kapellmeister from necessity rather than by choice. Financial success never came to him, nor could he have subsisted on his efforts as composer.