Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 67, 1947-1948

SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Telephone, Commonwealth 1492 SIXTY-SEVENTH SEASON, i947- 1 948 CONCERT BULLETIN of the Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk COPYRIGHT, 1947, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, ItlC. The TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Henry B. Cabot . President Henry B. Sawyer . Vice-President Richard C. Paine . Treasurer Philip R. Allen Francis W. Hatch John Nicholas Brown M. A. De Wolfe Howe Alvan T. Fuller Jacob J. Kaplan Jerome D. Greene Roger I. Lee N. Penrose Hallowell Raymond S. Wilkins Oliver Wolcott George E. Judd, Manager @@®##©@@##@©@©#©©@©@©©@#^@<o>^ Only you can decide Whether your property is large or small, it rep- resents the security for your family's future. Its ulti- mate disposition is a matter of vital concern to those you love. To assist you in considering that future, the Shaw- mut Bank has a booklet: "Should I Make a Will?" It outlines facts that everyone with property should know, and explains the many services provided by this Bank as Executor and Trustee. Call at any of our 2 7 convenient offices, write or telephone for our booklet: ''Should I Make a Will?" The V^Cgtional Shawmut Bank 40 Water Street^ Boston Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Capital $10,000,000 Surplus $20,000,000 "Outstanding Strength" for 111 Tears 114] ^T7> T^AtM^T) (PVS^S (T^faTT) (T^ SYMPHONIANA European Posters "Romeo and Juliet" Recording EUROPEAN POSTERS The Boston Symphony is starting this season's series of exhibitions by show- ing a group of European posters. Since the later nineteenth century there has been a steady development in the quality of posters, the result in large measure of the participation in this movement of such artists as Cheret, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Val- lotton, Walter Crane, Millais, Beardsley, Brangwyn, and many others. Increas- ingly, serious artists and designers, both in France and England, entered this field, and since the poster is essentially a popular art and very much in the public eye, it has had and should con- tinue to have a considerable construc- tive influence on popular taste. Today many gifted painters and designers, both in Europe and America, are working as commercial artists, though in this country perhaps less in ^Hlak r/ote the production of posters than in other forms of advertising. Nevertheless, es- pecially in the advertisements of many The vamp rising towards of the larger American firms, there has more recently been a distinct decline in the lower hemline . the direction of the sensational, the cheap, and the banal. It may be of the new wrap-around de- interest, therefore, to present such an J exhibition at this time to show some tail . the so comfort- of the European achievements in this form of advertising art, both as mile- able open toe . the stones in its development and as ex- heel amples of its quality during the period much favored sling represented. all in dove-soft suede It is not easy to produce a really good poster. A design for this purpose must plusyour choice of black, be so clear and striking that it not only will attract attention but also will be brown, wine or green. understood at a glance. Though many posters fulfill these minimum require- 17.95. ments, often in a distressingly strident fashion, few stand up under closer ex- amination. We have tried in this group to show those which not only can bear but also deserve a second look. We hope that they may show that a strong and imaginative design, carried out with good drawing and thoughtful organiza- • Boston tion of color, is both more persuasive and more satisfying than that all too • Wellesley £J usual vulgarity of subject and crudeness of presentation to which we are today so ["5 3 constantly subjected in so many ways. In selecting the material for this exhibition, the emphasis has been placed rather on interest of subject and treat- ment, with a certain amount of variety, than on historical completeness. War posters were deliberately excluded, and the group was limited to European productions as being perhaps less generally known than American. Cheret, a contemporary of Toulouse- Lautrec, was the leading French poster artist toward the end of the last century, while Fouqueray attained his great- est prominence at the time of the First World War. The great German nineteenth century romantic classicist, Arnold Boecklin, is represented by an original painting for the poster announc- ing an exhibition of his work. Stelletski, in a poster advertising an exhibition for the benefit of Russian artists in Paris, draws on the Byzantine artistic heritage of his country for a most interesting design, while the other Russian poster with St. George and the Dragon shows an excellent use of a handsome inscrip- tion with results reminiscent of a page from an illuminated manuscript. The poster publicizing an exhibition for the benefit of wounded Belgian sol- diers shows something of the violence of expressiveness achieved in the best of the war posters, though its use of a symbolic figure instead of an actual scene makes it more classic in appeal and less dated in content. Fred Taylor is one of the many competent designers of English travel posters; Sennett, Brown, Angrave, and Shoesmith are others of this group. Their posters are generally representative of the good work done in England in this field during the more recent years before the last war. Richard B. K. McLanathan Corduroy a king's choice, tailored to a queen's taste in our wonderful breakfast-to-dinner house "ROMEO AND JULIET" coat. RECORDING Red . Toast . Blue . Chartreuse Under the heading "Concert Records*' $25 the "New Yorker" has this to say: Four excerpts from the second suite of Prokofieff's lengthy "Romeo and Juliet" ballet score have been recorded The Trousseau House Boston of by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 416 BDYLSTDN STREET under the direction of Serge Kousse- 1129. The re- WELLESLEY ~ HYANNIS ~ PALM, REACH vitzky, in Victor album [116] suit is magnificent. This music, which '//////% was composed in 1935, has, for some v reason, never been put on records before * *y in this country, and it is fortunate that it has been given such an exquisite performance the first time out. Prob- ably none of our other important or- chestras could have played it so well. the way I haven't heard the score all ^ through, but it's a reasonable guess that these parts reflect the character of the whole. They are almost completely im- personal, but fascinatingly theatrical in their interpretation of episodes from the great romantic tragedy. I was interested in comparing Prokofieff's approach to the theme with that of Tschaikowsky, whose fantasy overture on the same subject is one of his most gratifying works. Prokofieff's music is, as you might ex- pect, more intellectual, and it is satisfy- f ing because of the way it contrasts the dramatic forces involved. It is also less moving and less noble, though ex- tremely persuasive on its own terms. The first of the four excerpts, "Mon- 4' tagues and Capulets," is, I think, the best. A fragile dance theme, which evokes a vision of a pitiable Juliet, is threaded through heavier music pictur- ing a relentless, lumbering promenade t< by the heads of the two families. "Juliet * VYl -JO 1 the Maiden," "Dance," and "Romeo and Juliet's Grave" are the other move- A**£ ments. In the first, a light and im- petuous theme is now and then reined ,o I in by more sober and romantic music. & The second is a graceful, fleet, but not e c.0 entirely festive piece ; and the last, and longest, movement is grave, tragic music that eventually becomes an apotheosis of o^5tf* the whole story. "Romeo and Juliet" represented II Prokofieff's first attempt to harness his creative instincts, after sixteen years away from Russia, to the stern artistic evs doctrines of the Soviet Union. The compromise apparently was no trouble t at all. zio [ii73 How long since . you've seen your lawyer? When you made your Will, you Trustee under Wills, Old Colony saw your lawyer. Nearly everyone Trust Company invites you and today realizes the desirability of your lawyer to make use of our making future provisions for loved services. We are prepared to carry ones through a Will, drawn by a out your wishes in the closest co- competent attorney. Only through operation with your attorney. such professional advice can you be sure that the instrument exactly carries out your wishes. But how long ago did you draw your Will? In these days of rapid WORTHY OF YOUR TRUST change, have your circumstances and those of your beneficiaries Old Colony altered? Are you certain of the Trust Company effect of new and different tax laws ? ONE FEDERAL STREET, BOSTON Does your old Will really do what T. Jefferson Coolidge you want? You cannot be sure un- Chairman, Trust Committee less you review it periodically with Robert Cutler, President your lawyer. Why not make an • appointment with him now? Allied with As an experienced Executor and The First National Bank of Boston [118] SIXTY-SEVENTH SEASON • NINETEEN HUNDRED FORTY-SEVEN AND FORTY-EIGHT Third Program FRIDAY AFTERNOON October 24, 1947 at 2:30 o'clock SATURDAY EVENING October 25, 1947 at 8:30 o'clock RICHARD BURGIN Conducting Cowell . •. Short Symphony (No. 4) I. Hymn: Allegro II. Ballad: Andante III. Dance: Vivace IV. Fuguing Tune: Moderato con moto (First Performance) Brahms Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, in D major, Op.

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