MASSIMO FRECCIA • Music Director and Conductor

The BALTIMORE 1 SL<-'- — /■ ■ SYMPHONY £a , “

"a ORCHESTRA 1| M’T'

December IO, 1955 THE LYRIC December 14, 1955 THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION, INC.

OFFICERS AND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Eugene S. Williams, President

Nelson T. Offutt Mrs. H. Morris Whitehurst Victor Frenkil Vice-President Secretary Treasurer Mrs. H. Nelson Busick Mr. Thomas S. Nichols Mrs. Charles Wood Collier Senator George L. Radcliffe Mrs. Henry R. Granger Mrs. Henry A. Rosenberg Mr. Jerold C. Hoffberger Mr. Herbert A. Wagner, Jr. Mr. Martin B. Kohn Mr. Francis S. Whitman, Jr.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mr. Oscar Apple Mr. Francis Ramo Cusumano Dr. Lubov Keefer Miss Rosa Ponselle Mr. Joseph Bernstein Dr. James A. Dash Mr. Sidney Lansburgh Mr. John D. Schapiro Mr. Jacob Blaustein Mr. Ernest R. Fink Mr. Robert H. Levi Mrs. Daniel E. Shehan Mr. H. Warren Buckler, Jr. Mr. Earl F. Forman Mr. Albert Lion Mr. Paul P. Swett, Jr. Mrs. H. Guy Campbell Mrs. Martin W. Garrett Mr. William L. Marbury Jr. Mrs. Paul M. Taylor Mr. Harper R. Clark Dr. Earle T. Hawkins Dr. Frank C. Marino Mr. Richard H. Turk, Sr. Mr. Raymond S. Clark Dr. Kenneth Hjelmervik Mrs. John E. Motz Mrs. Howard Van Natta Mr. George Clarke Mr. J. Edward Johnston, Jr. Mrs. Harold H. Nesbitt Mr. R. Gerard Willse, Jr. Mrs. Harry R. Christopher Mrs. Sol Kann Mrs. W. Maclean Patterson

Ex-Officio Hon. Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr. Mayor of Baltimore Mr. Leon Abramson Dr. R. Walter Graham President City Council Comptroller Mr. George G. Shriver Mr. James C. Anderson Mr. Gerald S. Wise Representing the Department of Recreation and Parks

ADVISORY COMMITTEE Mr. Robert 0. Bonnell Mr. Howard W. Jackson Mr. Phillip B. Perlman Mrs. Charles S. Garland Mrs. Richard N. Jackson Mrs. John L. Whitehurst Mr. Alan P. Hoblitzell Mr. Francis S. Whitman

THE BOARD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS James C. Anderson, President S. Lawrence Hammerman, Vice President R. Brooke Maxwell, Director Mrs. William J. Rysanek, Sr. James H. Gorges Rev. Wilbur H. Waters George G. Shriver Gerald S. Wise Earl F. Forman, Superintendent of Bureau of Music

BOX HOLDERS—WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY SERIES—1955-56 Dr. & Mrs. Charles R. Austrian Mayor & Mrs. Thos. Mr. Fred Huber Mrs. Winthrop Phelps Mr. Leo C. Badart D’Alesandro, Jr. Mrs. Josephine Hughes Mr. & Mrs. Clarence M. Plitt Mrs. Leo H. Badart Miss Jennie T. DeLuca Mrs. Garnet Hulings Mr. & Mrs. E. Wilbur Plitt Miss Elizabeth Baer Mrs. Francis X. Dippel Mr. & Mrs. Albert D. Hutzler Miss Rosa Ponselle Baltimore Music Club Mr. & Mrs. Alexander E. Mr. & Mrs. Henry P. Irr Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas G. Mr. F. John Barclay Duncan Dr. Lubov B. Keefer Penniman, III "The Bachelor Box” Mr. Edward K. Dunn Mrs. H. Irvine Keyser, II Mrs. Thomas M. Ramseur Edward M. Hanrahan, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Frederick W. Ecker Mrs. W. Irvine Keyser Mrs. McElroy Ray William T. Harper, Jr. Dr. Bernard A. Eskow Mr. & Mrs. Trafford P. Klots Mr. W. C. Reynolds Everett E. Jackson IV Mr. Julio Esteban Mr. Otto H. Korican Mrs. Stanley Rosoff J. Harlan Williams, Jr. Mrs. Massimo Freccia Mr. Leonard Lazoff Mr. James W. Rouse Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Berney Mr. & Mrs. Charles S. Garland Mr. & Mrs. Ernest D. Lessner Mrs. Lewis Rumford, II Mr. Fred M. Boyce, Jr. Rear Adm. & Mrs. Robert B. Mr. F. Jordan McCarthy Dr. Bernard Smith Bureau of Music Dept, of Goldman Miss Charlotte Main Mrs. Lurman Stewart Recreation and Parks Mr. & Mrs. Douglas H. Gordon Mr. & Mrs. Charles L. Marburg Mr. & Mrs. Z. M. Sykes Dr.

1955-1956 SEASON

FOURTH SATURDAY EVENING CONCERT

DECEMBER 10, 1955—8:30 P.M. Sponsored by the Bureau of Music, Department of Recreation and Parks

This program sponsored by the Women's Auxiliary of Doctors Hospital

VIENNESE NIGHT

OVERTURE to POET AND PEASANT - Suppé

SYMPHONY No 8, in B Minor ("Unfinished") - Schubert I. Allegro moderato II. Andante con moto

INTERMISSION

EMPEROR WALTZ, Op. 437 ...... J. Strauss, Jr.

OVERTURE to DIE FLEDERMAUS, Op. 56 - - - - J. Strauss,Jr.

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING POLKA, Op. 324 - - - J. Strauss,Jr.

GOLD AND SILVER WALTZ, Op. 79 -...... Lehar

SKATER'S WALTZ - -...... Waldteufel

TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS, Op. 325 - - - J. Strauss,Jr.

THE STEINWAY IS THE OFFICIAL PIANO OF THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ROBERT E. MacINTYRE, Manager

NOTICE: For your own safety, LOOK for your nearest EXIT. In case of emergency WALK, do not RUN, to that EXIT. By order of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore

125 PROGRAM NOTES By GEORGE KENT BELLOWS

Overture to Poet and Peasant ----- Franz von Suppe (Born in Spalato, Dalmatia, April 18, 1819; died in Vienna, May 21, 1895} SUPPfi conducted several theatre orchestras in Vienna during the years that light opera was at its height. Many have considered him the Vien­ nese counterpart of the French composer, Offenbach. Supp€ wrote a great quantity of stage works, and his light-operas were the typical Viennese Waltz-Opera of the day, a combination of Viennese Waltz and French Opera Buffe.

Symphony No. 8 in B Minor ("Unfinished") - - - Franz Schubert (Born in Vienna, January 31, 1797; died in Vienna, November 19, 1828} The Symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings. The first performance was in Vienna, December 17, 1865, Johann Herbeck con­ ducting from the manuscript. IN THE little Austrian town of Graz, the Styrian Musical Society re­ ceived a letter in the fall of 1823 from a newly-elected member: “Worthy Musical Society! I thank you most heartily for the certificate of honorary

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127 membership which you so kindly have sent me, and which, because of long absence from Vienna, I only received a few days ago. May my ardor for music be so successful that some day I shall be completely worthy of this distinction. That I may also express my lively thanks in tones, I will take the liberty to send to your society as soon as possible one of my symphonies in score. With exceptional regard for the worthy member­ ship of the society, your most thankful and obedient servant, Franz Schubert”

Later in the year, Schubert sent to his close friend in Graz, Anslem Huttenbrenner (a real champion of his music), two completed move­ ments of a symphony and a few measures of a third movement, uncom­ pleted. For some reason the music was never delivered, but put in a drawer where it remained hidden for over thirty years, so Schubert was never driven to finish this work. Thirty-two years after Schubert’s death,. Johann Herbeck, the Viennese conductor, had a letter from Anslem Huttenbrenner’s brother, Joseph, urging him to perform a work by his brother, and saying that he had discovered some Schubert manuscripts, and had found a treasure in the B minor Symphony. Herbeck did not get to Graz until 1865, where he visited the Hutten­ brenner brothers, ostensibly to get one of Anselm’s compositions for a Vienna concert, but in reality to bring back the Schubert score. His trip

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DIRECTORS

Mrs. Rose Friedler Mrs. Mildred Gaertner Mrs. Bessie Friedman Mrs. Hilda Highstein Mrs. Edith Lichtenstein

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129 was successful, and on December 17, of the same year, Vienna heard a concert conducted by Herbeck, which opened with an Overture by Hut- tenbrenner, followed by the Schubert Symphony in B minor, from manu­ script and — unfinished.

JOHANN STRAUSS, JR. (Born in Vienna, October 25, 1825; died there on June 3, 1899) Emperor Waltz, Opus 437 Overture to Die Fledermaus, Opus 56 Thunder and Lightning Polka, Opus 324 Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods THE STRAUSS FAMILY, all brilliant composers, wrote music which set Vienna (and the whole world) dancing for all of the nineteenth century. The scources of the waltz go back to the round dances of the Middle Ages, and later to the song-dance, the carmagnole, of the French Revolu­ tion (1792). The waltz became the dance of the people in France, when the older aristocratic dances were in disfavor. Also the German landler, a peasant dance, had its share in the evolution of the waltz. One of the strongest links was Carl Maria von Weber’s lilting Invita­ tion to the Waltz, which led to the final flowering of the Viennese waltz as we know it today. The first dance in which the partners embraced, the waltz was at first frowned on by many persons, especially the Church. Josef banner, around 1820, inspired by Weber’s Invitation to the Waltz, wrote many waltzes of his own, expanding the form quite elab­ orately, and composing impressive introductions and elaborate codas. They were mostly a series of waltzes, calling for a large orchestra, and it was not long before one of the members of Lanner’s band — Johann Strauss, Sr. — organized his own orchestra, and toured all of Europe and America. He played his own waltzes, which he naturally patterned after those of Lanner. By 1844 his son Johann, Jr. became his chief rival, and even the younger Josef, much against his will, took over the baton, when sickness prevented Johann Jr. from conducting. The polka, which became the rage of Europe along with the waltz, originated around 1830 in Bohemia. It has a quick duple meter, and characteristic rhythms. Smetana used it in his opera, The Bartered Bride. Strauss first turned to the theatre as early as 1871, but it was in 1874 that he composed Die Fledermaus. The libretto was an adaptation from

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130 the French farce Le Reveillon by Meilhac, and the work was premiered under Hal6vy at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on Easter Sunday, 1874. A young bass in the cast who later rose to great prominence was De Wolf Hopper. Strauss won fresh laurels for himself with the excellent libretto, and lilting score. Johann, Jr. borrowed from his father the tune of Tales from the Vienna Woods, and in making his arrangement, paid homage to Johann, Sr. The younger Strauss was only six when he wrote his first waltz, and he wrote over four hundred.

Gold and Silver Waltz, Opus 79 ..... Franz Lehar (Born in Komarom, April 30, 1870; died in Bad Ischl, October 24, 1948} SINCE THE GREAT success of The Merry Widow (1905), which made Lehar world-famous, he has carried on the era of waltzes, which the Strausses had inaugurated in nineteenth-century Vienna.

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131 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra MASSIMO FRECCIA, Conductor

1955-1956 SEASON

SIXTH WEDNESDAY EVENING CONCERT

DECEMBER 14, 1955—8:30 P.M.

ARTUR RUBINSTEIN, Pianist

PROGRAM

SYMPHONY No. 101, in D Major (THE CLOCK) Haydn I. Adagio; Presto II. Andante III. Menuetto IV. Finale: Vivace

TILL EULENSPIEGEL'S MERRY PRANKS Strauss

INTERMISSION

CONCERTO No. 2, in B flat Major, Opus 83, for Piano and Orchestra Brahms I. Allegro non troppo II. Allegro appassionato III. Andante IV. Allegretto grazioso ARTUR RUBINSTEIN

THE STEINWAY IS THE OFFICIAL PIANO OF THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ROBERT E. MacINTYRE, Manager

NOTICE: For your own safety, LOOK for your nearest EXIT. In case of emergency WALK, do not RUN, to that EXIT. By order of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore

133 PROGRAM NOTES By GEORGE KENT BELLOWS

Symphony No. 101, in D Major ("The Clock") - - - Joseph Haydn (Born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, March 31, 1732; died in Vienna, May 31, 1809) Haydn, on his two trips to London, wrote twelve symphonies for Salomon, the London publisher — six for each visit. There are one hundred and four authenticated Haydn symphonies. “The Clock” Symphony is third of the second set, composed in 1794. The Symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. JOSEPH HAYDN, as a composer, had to learn slowly, and he served a long apprenticeship. He had always had an irresistible urge to compose, and he nourished this urge on the merest bits of theory study, picked up here and there for himself. He possessed a great gift of melody, an amaz­ ing sense of counterpoint, and through these he quickly won his way into one of the great houses of the Austrian aristocracy, a household devoted to music — that of Prince Esterhazy. Haydn said of his years under the Prince: “My Prince was always satisfied with my works, 1 not only had the encouragement of constant approval, but as conductor of an orchestra I could make experiments, observe what produced an effect and what weakened it, and was thus in

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135 136 a position to improve, alter, make additions or omissions, and be as bold as I pleased. 1 was cut off from the world, there was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original.” Haydn’s first actual known symphony dates from his 27th year. F'rom then on, he composed about four a year. When he was nearing his sixties, and a celebrated composer in Paris, Haydn discovered some things that were to revolutionize his last works for orchestra. One of these was the importance of the development, or working-out, section of the sym­ phony. Already in his Russian quartets, he had declared that these were “written in a new and special way.’’ In the earlier works of both Haydn and his contemporaries, the development section had been little more than an episode, short, and not venturing very far. Now he began to make of this section the core and focus of the sonata movement, and through this, the return of the themes in the recapitulation had new meaning. Also he invented his themes with a view to their ultimate breaking up into many motives, that might be used in every conceivable way. Much of this growth on Haydn’s part was due to Mozart’s last works, which were of inestimable value to the older composer. Mozart, now dead, had refined the sonata form, and with Haydn this influence must have been tremendous. Now his four symphonic movements be­ come a unified whole. The first movement reached its perfected form, the second deepened emotionally, and the minuets, no longer mere dances, might be said to anticipate the scherzos of Beethoven. The finales were the best, for in these Haydn’s high spirits and good humor, his simplicity and great faith make these last dozen symphonies his greatest. No wonder he wrote no more, but turned to other mediums. This is the great Haydn, at the summit of his art, where he stands alone. This Symphony gets its name from the accompanying figure — in the Andante — of the bassoons and plucked strings, suggesting the tick­ ing of a large clock. Haydn composed the Minuet a year earlier for a musical clock which he presented to Prince Esterhazy. In Germany the Symphony is known as the “Bell’’ Symphony. The first movement opens with a slow introduction. The principal theme of the Allegro — five bars long — is based on an ascending scale figure, heard in the strings. It is more like the last movements of Haydn’s previous symphonies, and so seems unconventional — but he often was! The Andante, with its ticking bass, is a mixture of variation form and rondo. There is a section in the minor, and when the “ticking’’ is resumed once again in the major, the flutes give the impression of a small clock.

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137 The Minuet is jovial, no doubt from the English ale and adulation which Haydn enjoyed while in London. The Trio does not contrast with the Minuet, as it usually does, but rather supplements it, is in the same key, and there is a drone bass. The Finale starts as a rondo — in D major — goes into D minor, and suddenly becomes a double fuge (based on two themes at the same time).

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks ..... Richard Strauss (Born in Munich, June 11, 1864; died in Garmisch, September 8, 1949) The full title of the score is Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, after the old-fash­ ioned Roguish Manner — in Rondo Form — For Full Orchestra, Opus 28. The first performance was at a Gürzenich Concert in Cologne, November 5, 1895. It had been completed the previous May, and published in September of the same year. The first American performance was on February 21, 1896. The Rondo is dedicated to Dr. Arthur Seidl. The Rondo is scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, 3 oboes, English horn, small clarinet in E flat, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contra-bassoon, 4 horns (with the addition of 4 horns ad libitum), 3 trumpets (3 added ad lib.), 3 trombones, bass tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, a watchman’s rattle, and strings. RICHARD STRAUSS, a virtuoso in the field of orchestration, picked up the threads of the symphonic poem left by Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt, and through his clever handling of motives and his dramatic sense of climax, carried the tone poem to new heights of brilliance. The sym­

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139 phonic poem, or tone poem, is the name given to a type of 19th century symphonic music. The music is based upon an extramusical idea, either poetic or descriptive, and thus it comes within the category known as program music. Strauss first startled the world, in 1890, with his Death and Trans­ figuration, and so began a new period in the life of the symphonic poem. Five years later, Till Eulenspiegel, Strauss’ best and most spontaneous work, saw the light of day. Till, as he is most endearingly called for his impudent ways, was originally a real person, a shoemaker. He tramped all over Europe, and finally died of the Black Plague in Lübeck, around 1350. Stories of his deeds, and misdeeds, were passed on from one generation to another, until Till finally became a folk hero, very much like the English Robin Hood. Till’s merry pranks were written down by Thomas Murner, a Franciscan of Strasbourg, some hundred years later. Strauss portrays Till with a broad sense of humor, at times lovingly, but more often rather grimly, and gives him much more of a dramatic death than he actually had. At first content to allow the title to stand as an explanation, Strauss was finally persuaded by Wilhelm Mauke to jot down the indications on his score: and the following program is based on what he wrote:

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140 “Once upon a time there was a folk hero named Till Eulenspiegel. He was full of impish pranks, and no sooner have we met him than he is off for new adventures. Hop! On horseback he rides through the country­ side, and at last into the midst of the market-women, upsetting their carts and spilling their produce. To escape from the townspeople’s wrath, he puts on his seven-league boots, and again lights out; he hides in a mouse-hole — for a moment there is silence, and then he peeps out to see if the coast is clear. Next he is discovered in the robes of a priest, dripping unction and morals, yet out of his big toe peeps the rogue. Be­ fore he can leave, his conscience bothers him because he mocked religion. Off again, this time he pays court to all the pretty girls. One makes an impression on him, and he asks her to marry him, but she refuses. Till departs furious and swears vengeance on all mankind. The Philistine motive is heard; after propounding to the Philistines (or pedants) a few amazing theses, he leaves them in astonishment to their fate. From afar off he makes faces at everything and everybody, all the while whistling a vulgar little street tune. His past catches up with him, and he is taken to the Court of Justice. He still whistles to himself indifferently, but, the sentence is finally given — he is to be hanged by the neck until dead! Up the ladder, on goes the noose; he gasps for air, gives one last convul­ sion and the mortal part of Till is no more.” The opening theme, the “once upon a time,” is really Till’s own theme in augmentation. In about the 45th measure, the clarinets play it in its own rhythm, as it will be most often heard throughout the work. KNABE

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Concerto No. 2 in B flat Major, Opus 83, for Piano and Orchestra ..... Johannes Brahms (Born in Hamburg, May 7, 1833; died, in Vienna, April 3, 1897} The Concerto was completed on July 7, 1881. The first performance was in Redouten Saal, Budapest, on November 9, 1881, with Brahms as the soloist, and Alexander Erkel conducting. The dedication is: “To my dear friend and teacher, Edward Marxen.” BRAHMS began to get the idea for his Second Concerto while on a visit to Italy in 1878. With his usual attempt at humor, when telling his friends of a new work, he wrote that he had a “tiny, tiny piano concerto, with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo.” Brahms was a mature man when he started his symphonies, and, although no innovator, as Beethoven had been, because of the greatness of his creative gifts, his music has an originality, a beauty and power that is entirely in keeping with the man. This concerto is not a display piece like those of the classical com­ posers. With Brahms the piano is actually an added instrument, which gave rise to the remark that both concertos were actually symphonies with a piano obligato. This concerto, like the symphonies, is large in scope, and in listening to it, the layman will find that Brahms writes in large sections, even de­ veloping ^.motives as he goes along.

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142 The French horn sounds the opening theme, followed by the wood­ winds. There is a long piano introduction, almost improvisational in style. An orchestral interlude presents the main theme, followed by a restless section which assumes importance later on. A dialogue between the solo piano and the orchestra leads to the second theme. All themes and motives are developed and returned, with a final coda based on the horn motive from the opening. It is very unusual to have a fourth movement in a concerto, but Brahms told Billroth that he added his scherzo because he felt the first movement was too simple. It is in a three-part form with a Trio. The slow movement opens with a cello solo, which later was to ap­ pear in the song “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer.” Other instru­ ments take up the theme, and then the piano enters, beautifully blended with the orchestra. The last movement is a free rondo, its gay themes have a gypsy flavor and its rhythms are infectious. The late Lawrence Gilman, whose pen was ever expressive of the finest things in music, wrote about this Concerto: “Those who love this music, who have fallen captive to its blend of power and love­ liness, gusto and poetry, find it difficult to speak quite calmly of the work. They would share their delight in page after page of it. They cherish the superb first movement, with its opening horn-call that is like the awakening voice of ‘that free and vernal glad­ ness which has been man’s clarion since Time began’; they rejoice in the sweep and prodigality and fervor of the Scherzo, which seems to have been steeped in the plentitude of some magnetic Southern noontide. Above all they treasure the inestimable slow move­ ment, upon which a meditative poetry seems to brood like the quiet-colored end of evening upon some loveliness of the fading hills. That long, sweet, gravely amorous song of the solo cello; how persuasive it is from the very start! And when, toward the end, this song of the cello is heard again through the magical and haunted quiet of the music, you will tell yourself, perhaps, that this is surely the Brahms with whom one can live longest and closest — the Brahms of profoundly tender contemplation, of nobly romantic beauty, liquid-toned, large in spirit, lucid and candid.”

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143