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SANDERS THEATRE . CAMBRIDGE HARVARD UNIVERSITY Thirty-fifth Season, 1915-1916 Dr. KARL MUCK, Conductor WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY PHILIP HALE THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 21 AT 8.00 COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY C. A. ELLIS PUBLISHED BY C. A. ELLIS, MANAGER ii Yes, It's a Steinway" ISN'T there supreme satisfaction in being able to say that of the piano in your home? Would you have the same feeling about any other piano? " It's a Steinway." ' Nothing more need be said. Everybody knows you have chosen wisely; you have given to your home the very best that money can buy. You will never even think of changing this piano for any other. As the years go by the words "It's a Steinway" will mean more and more to you, and thousands of times, as you continue to enjoy through life the com- panionship of that noble instrument, absolutely without a peer, you will say to yourself: "How glad I am I paid the few extra dollars and got a Steinway." STEINWAY HALL 107-109 East 14th Street, New York Subway Express Station at the Door Represented by the Foremost Dealers Everywhere Thirty-fifth Season, 1915-1916 Dr. KARL MUCK, Conductor Violins. Witek, A. Roth, O. Hoffmann, J. Rissland, K. Concert-master. Koessler, M. Schmidt, E. Theodorowicz, J. Noack, S. Mahn, F. Bak, A. Traupe, W. Goldstein, H. Tak, E. Ribarsch, A. Baraniecki, A. Sauvlet, H. Habenicht, W. Fiedler, B. Berger, H. Goldstein, S. Fiumara, P. Spoor, S. Siilzen, H. Fiedler, A. Griinberg, M. Pinfield, C. Gerardi, A. Kurth, R. Gunderson, R. Gewirtz, J. Violas. Ferir, E. Werner, H. Gietzen, A. v.Veen, H. Wittmann, F. Schwerley, P. Berlin, W. Kautzenbach, W. Van Wynbergen, C. Blumenau, W. Violoncellos. Warnke, H. Keller, J. Barth, C. Belinski, M. Steinke, B. Malkin, J. Nagel, R. Nast, L. Folgmann, E. Warnke, J. Basses. Kunze, M. Agnesy, K. Seydel, T. Ludwig, 0. Gerhardt, G. Jaeger, A. Huber, E. Schurig, R. Flutes. Oboes. Clarinets. Bassoons. Maquarre, A. Longy, G. Sand, A. Sadony, P. Brooke, A. Lenom, C. Mimart, P. Mueller, E. de Mailly, C. Stanislaus, H. Vannini, A. Fuhrmann, M. Battles, A. English Horn. Bass Clarinet. Contra-Bassoon. Mueller, F. Stumpf, K. Mosbach, J. Horns. Horns. Trumpets. Trombones. Wendler, G. Jaenicke, B. Heim, G. Alloo, M. Lorbeer, H. Miersch, E. Mann, J. Belgiorno, S. Hain, F. Hess, M. Nappi, G. Mausebach, A. Resch, A. Hubner, E. Kloepfel, L. Kenfield, L. Tuba. Harps. Tympani. Percussion. Mattersteig, P. Holy, A. Neumann, S. Zahn, F. Gardner, C Cella, T. Kandler, F. Burkhardt, H. Organ. Librarian. Assistant Librarian. Marshall, J. P. Sauerquell, J. Rogers, L. J. 3 , 1 sB«gg*+Kg J majjiuitnt: MSB nearfia centiffy CHICREMNi PIANOFO ve presented tfie most p^ctmostsensitive, mostn responsive means :pression /Sown tfin (overs ofany countr] WAREROOMS 169 TREMONT BOSTON 12 , } SANDERS THEATRE .... CAMBRIDGE HARVARD UNIVERSITY Of »iri 5jiMpmmjU Thirty-fifth Season, 1915-1916 Dr. KARL Mu6k, Conductor FIRST CONCERT THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 21 AT 8.00 PROGRAMME Beethoven Symphony in C minor, No. 5, Op. 67 I. Allegro con brio. II. Andante con mo to. in. Allegro: Trio. IV. Allegro. Brahms "Tragic" Overture, Op. 81 Chopin . Concerto in E minor, for Pianoforte and Orchestra, Op. 11 Wagner . Prelude to "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg' SOLOIST OSSIP GABRILOWITSCH MASON & HAMLIN PIANO There will be an intermission of ten minutes after the symphony 5 wmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm— — Symphony No. 5, in C minor, Op. 67 . Ltjdwig van Beethoven (Born at Bonn, December 16 (?) 1770; died at Vienna, March 26, 1827.) Beethoven sketched motives of the allegro, andante, and scherzo of this symphony as early as 1800 and 1801. We know from sketches that while he was at work on "Fidelio" and the pianoforte concerto in G major,— 1804-06,—he was also busied with this symphony, which he put aside to compose the fourth symphony, in B-flat. The symphony in C minor was finished in the neighborhood of Hei- ligenstadt in 1807. Dedicated to the Prince von Lobkowitz and the Count Rasumoffsky, it was published in April, 1809. It was first performed at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, Decem- ber 22, 1808. All the pieces were by Beethoven; the symphony de- scribed on the programme as "A symphony entitled 'Recollections of Life in the Country,' in F major, No. 5" (sic); an Aria, "Ah, perfido," sung by Josephine Kilitzky; Hymn with Latin text written in church style, with chorus and solos; Piano Concerto in G major, played by Beethoven; Grand Symphony in C minor, No. 6 (sic); Sanctus, with Latin text written in church style (from the Mass in C major), with chorus and solos; Fantasia for pianoforte solo; Fantasia for piano- forte "into which the full orchestra enters little by little, and at the end the chorus joins in the Finale." Beethoven played the pianoforte part. The concert began at half-past six. We know nothing about the pecuniary result. The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, kettledrums, strings; and in the last movement piccolo, double-bassoon, and three trombones are added. Instead of inquiring curiously into the legend invented by Schindler, —"and for this reason a statement to be doubted," as Biilow said, that Beethoven remarked of the first theme, "So knocks Fate on the door!"* instead of investigating the statement that the rhythm of this theme was suggested by the note of a bird,—oriole or goldfinch,—heard during a walk; instead of a long analysis, which is vexation and con- fusion without the themes and their variants in notation,—let us read and ponder what Hector Berlioz wrote: "The most celebrated of them all, beyond doubt and peradventure, is also the first, I think, in which Beethoven gave the reins to his vast imagination, without taking for guide or aid a foreign thought. In the first, second, and fourth, he more or less enlarged forms already known, and poetized them with all the brilliant and passionate inspirations of his vigorous youth. In the third, the 'Eroica,' there is a tendency, it is true, to enlarge the form, and the thought is raised to a mighty height; but it is impossible to ignore the influence of one of the divine *It is said that Ferdinand Ries was the author of this explanation, and that Beethoven was grimly sarcastic when Ries, his pupil, made it known to him. poets to whom for a long time the great artist had raised a temple in his heart. Beethoven, faithful to the Horatian precept, ' Nocturna vers ate manu, versate diuma,' read Homer constantly, and in his mag- nificent musical epopee, which, they say, I know not whether it be true or false, was inspired by a modern hero, the recollections of the ancient Iliad play a part that is as evident as admirably beautiful. "The symphony in C minor, on the other hand, seems to us to come directly and solely from the genius of Beethoven; he develops in it his own intimate thought ; his secret sorrows, his concentrated rage, his reveries charged with a dejection, oh, so sad, his visions at night, his bursts of enthusiasm—these furnish him the subject; and the forms of melody, harmony, rhythm, and orchestration are displayed as essen- tially individual and new as they are powerful and noble. "The first movement is devoted to the painting of disordered senti- ments which overthrow a great soul, a prey to despair : not the concen- trated, calm despair that borrows the shape of resignation: not the dark and voiceless sorrow of Romeo who learns the death of Juliet; but the terrible rage of Othello when he receives from Iago's mouth the poisonous slanders which persuade him of Desdemona's guilt. Now it is a frenetic delirium which explodes in frightful cries; and now it is the prostration that has only accents of regret and profound self-pity. Hear these hiccups of the orchestra, these dialogues in chords between wind instruments and strings, which come and go, always weaker and fainter, like unto the painful breathing of a dying man, and then give way to a phrase full of violence, in which the orchestra seems to rise to its feet, revived by a flash of fury : see this shuddering mass hesitate a moment and then rush headlong, divided in two burning unisons as two streams of lava; and then say if this passionate style is not beyond and above everything that had been produced hitherto in instrumental music. — "The adagio"*—andante con moto "has characteristics in common with the allegretto in A minor of the seventh symphony and the slow movement of the fourth. It partakes alike of the melancholy soberness of the former and the touching grace of the latter. The theme, at first announced by the united 'cellos and violas, with a simple accom- paniment of the double-basses pizzicato, is followed by a phrase for wind instruments, which returns constantly, and in the same tonality throughout the movement, whatever be the successive changes of the first theme. This persistence of the same phrase, represented always in a profoundly sad simplicity, produces little by little on the hearer's soul an indescribable impression. "The Scherzo is a strange composition. Its first measures, which are not terrible in themselves, provoke that inexplicable emotion which * Such indifference of Berlioz to exact terminology is not infrequent in his essays. you feel when the magnetic gaze of certain persons is fastened on you. Here everything is sombre, mysterious: the orchestration, more or less sinister, springs apparently from the state of mind that created the famous scene of the Blocksberg in Goethe's 'Faust.' Nuances of piano and mezzoforte dominate.