Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 59,1939-1940
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SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Telephone, Commonwealth 1492 FIFTY-NINTH SEASON, 1939-1940 CONCERT BULLETIN of the Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Richard Burgin, Assistant Conductor with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk COPYRIGHT, 194O, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Int. The OFFICERS and TRUSTEES or the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Ernest B. Dane President Henry B. Sawyer .... Vice-President ERNEST B. Dane ...... Treasurer Henry B. Cabot M. A. De Wolfe Howe Ernest B. Dane Roger I. Lee Alvan T. Fuller Richard C. Paine Jerome D. Greene Henry B. Sawyer N. Penrose Hallowell Edward A. Taft Bentley W. Warren G. E. Judd, Manager C. W. Spalding, Assistant Manager [8.7] Old Colony Trust Company 17 COURT STREET, BOSTON Member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Investment and Management of Property Income Collection Tax Accounting Do you realize the small cost of having us shoulder these burdens for you ? Conferences with our officers entail no obligation. AGENT * TRUSTEE * GUARDIAN * EXECUTOR Allied with The First National Bank ^Boston [818 j FIFTY-NINTH SEASON • NINETEEN HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE AND FORTY Eighteenth Programme FRIDAY AFTERNOON, March 8, at 2:30 o'clock SATURDAY EVENING, March 9, at 8:15 o'clock Beethoven. ."Allegretto" from Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 IN MEMORY OF KARL MUCK (OCTOBER 22, 1859—MARCH 3. 1940) CONDUCTOR OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 1906 —1908 AND 1912—1918 Prokofieff Concerto for Violoncello in E minor, Op. 58 I. Andante assai II. Allegro giusto III. Allegro (Theme and Variations) (Played without pause) (First performances in the United States) INTERMISSION Strauss "Don Quixote," Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character, Op. 35 (Introduction, Theme .with Variations, and Finale) Violoncello solo: Gregor Piatigorsky Viola solo: Jean Lefranc SOLOIST GREGOR PIATIGORSKY This programme will end about 4:30 on Friday Afternoon, 10:15 o'clock on Saturday Evening [819] Treasures from rare old volumes! ENGLISH SPORTING PRINTS Golfing, fishing, coaching scenes . hunting, steeplechasing — a dramatic collection out of the last century, gathered in small, choice -groups abroad, uncovered in fine old books broken up for this event! Included are rare plates^— early 1800 publish- ings — Aiken, Rowlandson, Barenger — loot of a vanished era for you at SAVINGS! Single plates $2.50 to $6.00 Sets of two to six $7.00 to $18.00 Views of Old London $4.25 Bartlett's American scenes in color .59 Hundreds of bird, flower or sporting prints from rare old books 15c to $3.00 BOOK SHOP — STREET FLOOR — ANNEX [ 820] CONCERTO FOR VIOLONCELLO IN E MINOR, Op. 58 By Serge Prokofieff Born at Sontsovka, Russia, April 23, 1891 The score of this concerto (the copy used is in proof form) is marked by the composer 1934-38. The Concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, tuba, timpani, bass drum, military drum, cymbals, tam- bourine, castanets, and strings. The Concerto begins Andante 2-4 in the designated key, with a melodic solo accompanied by strings and set against characteristic emphatic eighth notes from the clarinets and bassoons in unison. There are episodes and a descending theme pianissimo first heard from the high register of the violins and then the flute solo. The com- poser has avoided the usual procedure of concertos by beginning with a slow movement in simple song form. Indeed, the Russian critic Konstantin Kuznetzov (in Soviet Art, February 14, 1939) tends to look upon it, with its independent material, as a sort of introduction. The second movement, a lively Allegro ginsto, in sonata form, is directly announced by the 'cello solo. The solo accords with the composer's previous concerto style by weaving its voice within the texture and color of the orchestra, avoiding antiphonal contrast. Thus, even while the soloist is busily engaged, the orchestra remains in the foreground. FEATURING AMERICAN COMPOSERS-IV Selections for Two Pianos, Four Hands Net ERNEST HARRY ADAMS: Arab Dance 75 Rondo Mignon 75 CHARLES DENNEE: Op. 9, No. 1. Danse Moderne 60 Op. 16, No. 1. Russian Dance 75 Mrs. M. H. GULESIAN: In a Hong Kong Garden 75 EDWARD MacDOWELL: Op. 17, No. 2. Witches' Dance 1.00 Op. 21, Moon Pictures 1.00 Op. 42, No. 4. Forest Elves ("Waldgeister") 1.50 Op. 49, No. 2. Rigaudon 75 Op. 51, No. 2. Will-o'-the-Wisp 60 Op. 59, Finale from Keltic Sonata 1.50 Arrangements by American Composers F. CHOPIN: Op. 73, Rondo (Ed. by Lee Pattison) 1.25 C. M. von WEBER: Finale from Concerto, Op. 11 (Arr. by George Pratt Maxim) .75 THE ARTHUR P. SCHMIDT CO., 120 Boylston St. J l«*' J An ascending passage for the 'cello directly introduces the third move- ment, which at once discloses its theme in triple-beat Allegro for the solo instrument with other voices interwoven. The usual procedure of variations is broken by an interlude in double time between the state- ment of the theme and the first variation. The first variation is in the initial tempo, with elaborate passages for the clarinet and for the soloist. The second variation is vivace, a sort of moto perpetuo with thirty bars for the 'cello unaccompanied. The third variation, andan- tino tranquilloj is in triplets, calmer, but equally continuous. A long and elaborate cadenza leads into a second interlude, in duple time like the first. Several bars of chromatic scales bv the 'cello, together with o-Jissandi in the 'cello section, usher in the fourth variation in the same tempo, light in character despite the constant beat of the bass drum. Before proceeding to his coda, the composer pauses to in- terrupt the usual sequence once more. There is a section marked Reminiscenza, meno mosso (piu mosso del mezzo movimento). The high descending theme of the violins from the first movement is again heard pianissimo, the first theme of the soloist, and other episodic matters. The coda, remarks Mr. Kuznetzov, "is not onlv a conclusion to the third movement, but is also an independent though brief finale of the entire Concerto. Here are also some new themes, at times ex- tremely short. From this tissue emerges the solo violoncello, which [822 1 BERKSHIRE SYMPHONIC FESTIVAL OF 1940 at "Tanglewood" (Between Stockbridge and Lenox, Mass.) Boston^ Symphony Orchestra^ SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Nine Concerts on Thursday and Saturday Eves., and Sunday Afts. Series A: August 1, 3, 4 The First Symphonies of Beethoven, Schumann and Sibelius. The C major Symphony of Schubert, the Second Sym- phony of Brahms, and the Third of Roy Harris. Other works include Bach's Passacaglia (orchestrated by Respighi), Faure's Suite "Pelleas et Melisande," Stravinsky's "Capriccio" (Soloist J. M. Sanroma, Piano), Prokofieff's "Classical" Symphony, and Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe" (Second Suite). Series B: Ausust 8, 10, 11 A TCHAIKOVSKY FESTIVAL (Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth) The Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Symphonies. The Violin Concerto (Albert Spalding, Soloist). The Overture "Romeo and Juliet," Serenade for Strings, Second Suite and other works to be announced. Artur Rodzinski will conduct one of the three programmes. Series C: August 15, 17, 18 The Third ("Eroica") Symphony of Beethoven, the First of Brahms, and a Symphony of Haydn. Other works include Wagner excerpts, Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler," arias by Dorothy Maynor and BACH'S MASS IN B MINOR with the Festival Chorus of the Berkshire Music Center and Soloists to be announced Subscription blanks may be secured at the Symphony Hall Box Office or by applying to the Berkshire Symphonic Festival, Inc., Stockbridge, Mass. T823] totalizes the work in long figurations, as though striving to re-assert a major mode against the gloomy background of the coda.'" The same critic explains the inscription "1934-1938" on the score: "Prokofieff began composition on his 'Cello Concerto as early as 1934, but failed to complete it. The 1938 version utilizes not more than fifty per cent of the original material." The writer finds significance in this fact, and deduces from it "a great deal of struggle and labor." He is pleased to note in it the absence of "modernistic elements," which he finds "unfortunately present" in the Suite "Egyptian Nights," or the "salon spirit" of such works as "Peter and the Wolf," or the "artificial simplification" to be found in "Songs of Our Day." Anything less than "earnestness and fidelity to himself" is to be deplored in a composer of such stature, and his Soviet critic feels competent to set him upon that true path. "The Concerto thus re-creates successively the main stages of Prokofieff's inner evolution. This is not a panorama, but a synthe- sized, integrated picture. The present Prokofieff is not yet as clearly discernible as the 'early Prokofieff,' or the 'middle-of-the-road' Proko- fieff. The Violoncello Concerto bears testimony of this. Its strongest points are in retrospection, totalizing the stages passed bv the com- poser, rather than in its forward perspective. Prokofieff's creative crisis has not been solved, and it cannot be solved without protracted and concentrated effort." MILADY CHOOSES LACE —AN IMPORTANT PEAK-OF-SEASON COLLECTION OF FESTIVE GOWNS— STRESSING DEL'CATE LACES : IN UNUSUAL COMBINATIONS OF COLORS—TO BE WORN BY BOSTON'S MOST CHARMING WOMEN AT THE OPERA, AT THEATER PARTIES, AND IN THE DRAWING ROOMS OF STATELY HOMES— Hururttch Broa iMmmsBSHiiai : ml C824] ITS BEST IDEAS ARE STILL UICOPIED! T^HE style of Lincoln-Zephyr has put ger and luggage space this year, are its stamp on a nation's cars. But to truss-built with body and frame a think of Lincoln-Zephyr just as style single unit ..