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, 1939, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA , Inc. The OFFICERS and TRUSTEES of 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 [49] Complete FIDUCIARY SERVICE for INDIVIDUALS The fiduciary services of Old Colony Trust Company available to individuals are many and varied. We cite some of the fiduciary capacities in which we act. Executor and Administrator We settle estates as Executor and Administrator. Trustee We act as Trustee under wills and under voluntary or living trusts. Agent We act as Agent for those who wish to be relieved of the care of their investments. The officers of Old Colony Trust Company are always glad to discuss estate and property matters with you and point out if and where our services are applicable. Old Colony Trust Company 17 COURT STREET, BOSTON Member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [50] FIFTY-NINTH SEASON - NINETEEN HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE AND FORTY Second Programme FRIDAY AFTERNOON, October 20, at 2.30 o'clock SATURDAY EVENING, October 21, at 8:15 o'clock Bruckner Symphony No. 7, in E major I. Allegro moderato II. Adagio: Sehr feierlich und langsam III. Scherzo: Allegro; Trio: Etwas langsamer IV. Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht schnell INTERMISSION Debussy Rhapsody for Orchestra and Saxophone Ibert .Chamber Concertino for Saxophone and Orchestra Allegro con moto Larghetto; animato molto (First performances in the United States) Berlioz Excerpts from "The Damnation of Faust," Op. 24 I. Minuet of the Will-o-the-Wisps II. Dance of the Sylphs III. Hungarian March (Rakoczy) SOLOIST SIGURD RASCHER This programme will end about 4:30 on Friday Afternoon, 10:15 o'clock on Saturday Evening [51] —. JORDA CO WE'RE czTjittiyiQ tkz nail on Ins nsaa . Hitting some several hundred thousand of them, to be exact In ten new electric stairways, in a new Beauty Salon, in a com- pletely redecorated second floor for fashions, in a bridge three storeys high, across Avon Street each in its way indicative of our swat at the biggest nail of all . the building of a greater Jordan's for your greater convenience! [52] SYMPHONY NO. 7 IN E MAJOR By Anton Bruckner Born at Ansfelden, in Upper Austria, September 4, 1824; died at Vienna, October 11, 1896 The Seventh Symphony was composed in the years 1882 and 1883. It had its first performance at the Gewandhaus Concerts in Leipzig, Arthur Nikisch, conductor. December 30, 1884. The first performance in the United States was at Chicago by the orchestra of Theodore Thomas, July 29, 1886. Mr. Thomas conducted the Symphony in New York at a concert of the Philharmonic Society, November 13, 1886. The first per- formance in Boston was at a Boston Symphony concert led by Mr. Gericke, February 5, 1887. Dr. Muck conducted the Symphony December 1, 1906; Mr. Fiedler, February 12, 1910, and January 5, 1912; Dr. Muck, January 4, 1913, and November 19, 1915; Dr. Koussevitzky, October 26, 1934, and March 6, 1936. The orchestra required consists of the usual wood winds in two's, in the brass four Wagnerian tubas and one bass tuba, in addition to the customary horns and trumpets. The score bears the dedication: "To his Majesty, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, in deepest reverence." The Seventh Symphony was the direct means of Bruckner's gen- eral (and tardy) recognition. For years he had dwelt and taught at Vienna under the shadow of virtual banishment from its concert FEATURING AMERICAN COMPOSERS Choral Music Net Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, The Canticle of the Sun* (SATB) 75 Text by St. Francis of Assisi Gena Branscombe, Hail ye Tyme of Holie-dayes Christmas Carol (SSA — TTBB — SATB) each .12 Marion Bauer, Three Noels (SSA and SSAA) 25 G. W. Chadwick, Ecce jam noctis* (TTBB) 35 (Lo, now night's shadows) Mabel Daniels, Exultate Deo* (SATB) 35 Through the Dark the Dreamers Came (SSA—SATB) each .12 Arthur Foote, Recessional (SSAA — TTBB — SATB) each .15 Optional accompaniment for organ and brass Walter Howe, Magnificat* (My soul doth magnify) (SATB) .20 Margaret Ruthven Lang, The Heavenly Noel (SSAA) 25 Optional accompaniment for strings, harp and organ Edward MacDowell, Barcarole (SSAATTBB) 25 With accompaniment for pianoforte, four hands Walter R. Spalding, Blessed are they that dwell (TTBB) ... .15 Optional accompaniment for trombones and tuba *Orchestrations available THE ARTHUR P. SCHMIDT CO., 120 Boylston St. [53] halls. In this stronghold of anti-Wagnerism there could have been no greater offense than the presence of a symphonist who accepted the tenets of the "music of the future" with immense adoration. Bruckner, with his characteristic zeal to which nothing could give pause, composed symphony after symphony, each bolder and more searching than the last. On December 29, 1884, Hugo Wolf, the intrepid Wagnerian, asked the rhetorical question: "Bruckner? Bruckner? Who is he? Where does he live? What does he do? Such questions are asked by people who regularly attend the concerts in Vienna." The answer came from Leipzig, where, on the next day, a young enthusiast and ex-pupil of the sixty-year-old Bruckner gave the Seventh Symphony its first performance. The place was the Gewandhaus; the conductor, Arthur Nikisch. It was one of his flaming readings — an unmistakable act of revelation which the audience applauded for fifteen minutes. As Bruckner took his bows, obviously touched by the demonstration, one of the critics was moved to sentiment: "One could see from the trembling of his lips and the sparkling moisture in his eyes how difficult it was for the old gentleman to suppress his deep emotion. His homely but honest countenance beamed with a warm inner happiness such as can appear only on the face of one who is EDWARD K. PERRY CO. 655 BEACON STREET PAINTING AND DECORATIVE FINISHES Fine interior and exterior painting for private houses and buildings. Photograph depicts The Capitol, Williamsburg, Virginia Special Painting by Edward K. Perry Co., Boston [54] THE FRIENDS of the ORCHESTRA Tooday with a total budget of about $700,000 the Boston Symphony Orches- tra is within 15% of covering expenses, a record approached by few, if any, orches- tras in this country. A careful study of budgets of past years indicates, however, that despite vigilant control of expenses and a liberal program of over 200 concerts during 46 weeks of the year, we must ex- pect an annual operating deficit of $100,000 until additional sources of revenue can be developed. The Trustees of the Orchestra are look- ing again to the Friends of the Orchestra for help at the start of the Season in meet- ing this operating deficit. It is the Friends who make the concerts possible. The Bos- ton Symphony Orchestra is their orchestra. All those who have not yet enrolled as Members of this very essential Society, and desire to take a personal part in preserving the high standard of excellence and further- ing the great social service of our Orches- tra, are invited to enroll as Friends of the Orchestra. Cheques may be made payable to Boston Symphony Orchestra and for- warded to its Treasurer at No. 6 Beacon Street, Boston. Gifts to the Orchestra are deductible donations under the Federal In- come Tax Law. Reginald C. Foster, Chairman, Friends of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. [55] PHILHARMONIC - SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA oj ^1'lew cJJork JOHN BARBIROLLI, Conductor At SYMPHONY HALL WEDNESDAY EVE., NOV. 1st, at 8:30 Mrogramme 1. ELGAR . Introduction and Allegro for Strings (Quartet and Orchestra), Op. 47 2. RAVEL "Daphnis and Chloe" (Suites Nos. 1 and 2) INTERMISSION 3. MOZART Symphony in C major, No. 34 (K. 338) 4. WEINBERGER Variations and Fugue "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree" (First Time in Boston) Tickets Now at the Box Office: $4.00, $3.00, $2.50, $2.00, $1 50 (no tax) [56] too good-hearted to succumb to bitterness even under the pressure of most disheartening circumstances. Having heard his work and now seeing him in person, we asked ourselves in amazement, 'How is it " possible that he could remain so long unknown to us?' The symphony of the hitherto almost unknown Bruckner made a quick and triumphant progress. Hermann Levi gave it in Munich (March 10, 1885) and made the remark that this was "the most sig- nificant symphonic work since 1827." An obvious dig at Brahms, who had lately made some stir in the world with three symphonies. Karl Muck, another youthful admirer of Bruckner, was the first to carry the symphony into Austria, conducting it at Graz. Even Vienna came to it (a Philharmonic concert led by Richter, March 21, 1886). Bruckner tried to prevent the performance by an injunction, fearing further insults, but the success of the work drowned out the recalcitrant minority. Even Dr. Hanslick was compelled to admit that the composer was "called to the stage four or five times after each section of the symphony," but he held out against the music with the stubbornness of a Beckmesser, finding it "merely bombastic, sickly, and destructive." On Wagner's death, February 13, 1883, the Adagio was at once associated with his memory, although this movement had been com- pleted in October, 1882.