VETERANS MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM, PROVIDENCE EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969 "A greatest symphony orchestra does now e;u and it is headquartered in Boston, Massachusefe Hi Fiol Beetfuwett: Sywptawj Hot. 2 RED SEAL RC/l STEREO TH E FOUR BRAHMS SYMPHONIES BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ERICH LEINSDORF Red Seal Recordings itc/i BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director CHARLES Wl LSON Assistant Conductor EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969 THE TRUSTEES OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC TALCOTT M. BANKS President HAROLD D. HODGKINSON PHILIP K. ALLEN Vice-President E. MORTON JENNINGS JR ROBERT H. GARDINER Vice-President EDWARD M. KENNEDY JOHN L THORNDIKE Treasurer HENRY A. LAUGHLIN ABRAM BERKOWITZ EDWARD G. MURRAY ABRAM T. COLLIER JOHN T. NOONAN THEODORE P. FERRIS MRS JAMES H. PERKINS FRANCIS W. HATCH SIDNEY R. RABB ANDREW HEISKELL RAYMOND S. WILKINS TRUSTEES EMERITUS HENRY B. CABOT LEWIS PERRY PALFREY PERKINS EDWARD A. TAFT ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA THOMAS D. PERRY JR Manager HARRY J. KRAUT JAMES J. BROSNAHAN Associate Manager, Associate Manager, Business Affairs Public Affairs MARY H. SMITH MARVIN SCHOFER Concert Manager Press and Public Information program copyright © 1969 by Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc. SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director CHARLES WILSON Assistant Conductor EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969 THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC. ABRAM T. COLLIER Chairman ALLEN G. BARRY Vice-Chairman LEONARD KAPLAN Secretary MRS FRANK ALLEN MRS ALBERT GOODHUE OLIVER F. AMES MRS JOHN L. GRANDIN JR LEO L. BERANEK STEPHEN W. GRANT GARDNER L. BROWN FRANCIS W. HATCH JR MRS LOUIS W. CABOT MRS C. D. JACKSON MRS NORMAN CAHNERS HOWARD JOHNSON ERWIN D. CANHAM SEAVEY JOYCE RICHARD P. CHAPMAN LAWRENCE K. MILLER JOHN L COOPER LOUVILLE NILES ROBERT CUTLER HERBERT W. PRATT BYRON K. ELLIOTT NATHAN M. PUSEY MRS HARRIS FAHNESTOCK PAUL REARDON CARLTON P. FULLER JOHN HOYT STOOKEY SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ERICH LEINSDORF Music Director CHARLES WILSON Assistant Conductor first violins cellos bassoons Joseph Silverstein Jules Eskin Sherman Walt concertmaster Martin Hoherman Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Mischa Nieland Matthew Ruggiero George Zazofskyt Karl Zeise Rolland Tapley Robert Ripley contra bassoon Roger Shermont Luis Leguia Richard Plaster Max Winder Stephen Geber Harry Dickson Carol Procter horns Gottfried Wilfinger Jerome Patterson James Stagliano Fredy Ostrovsky Ronald Feldman Charles Yancich Leo Panasevich William Stokking Noah Bielski Harry Shapiro Herman Silberman Thomas Newell basses Stanley Benson Paul Keaney Henry Portnoi Eiichi Tanaka* Ralph Pottle William Rhein Alfred Schneider Joseph Hearne trumpets Julius Schulman Beta Wurtzler Gerald Gelbloom Armando Ghitalla Leslie Martin Roger Voisin Raymond Sird John Salkowski Andre Come second violins John Barwicki Gerard Goguen Clarence Knudson Buell Neidlinger Robert William Marshall Olson trombones Michel Sasson William Gibson Ronald Knudsen flutes Josef Orosz Leonard Moss Doriot Anthony Dwyer Kauko Kahila William Waterhouse James Pappoutsakis Ayrton Pinto Phillip Kaplan tuba Amnon Levy Chester Schmitz Laszlo Nagy piccolo Michael Vitale timpani Lois Schaefer Victor Manusevitch Everett Firth Max Hobart oboes John Korman percussion Ralph Gomberg Christopher Kimber Charles Smith Spencer Larrison John Holmes Arthur Press Hugh Matheny assistant timpanist violas Thomas Gauger Burton Fine english horn Frank Epstein Reuben Green Laurence Thorstenberg Eugen Lehner harps George Humphrey Bernard Zighera clarinets Jerome Lipson Olivia Luetcke Gino Cioffi Robert Karol Pasquale Cardillo Bernard Kadinoff librarians Peter Hadcock Vincent Mauricci Victor Alpert Eb clarinet Earl Hedberg William Shisler Joseph Pietropaolo stage manager Robert Barnes bass clarinet Yizhak Schotten Felix Viscuglia Alfred Robison personnel manager William Moyer of absence for the re- member of the Japan Philharmonic Symphony t George Zazofsky is on leave 1968-1969 season. Orchestra participating in a one season ex- mainder of the change with Sheldon Rotenberg. STEINWAY The artist's choice... the piano for your home Most of the world's great artists choose the Steinway to enhance their performance. The Steinway's superior tone and long life also make it the ideal piano for the home. We invite you to select your piano as the artists do, from our large selection of beautiful Steinway Consoles and Grands. /4v&ty 'Piano @a. Exclusive Steinway Piano, Hammond Organ and Fisher Stereo for All This Territory 256 Weybosset Street Open Thursday Evenings CONTENTS Program for January 23 1969 9 Future programs 31 Program notes Lalo — Overture to 'Le roi d'Ys' 10 by John N. Burk Sibelius — Symphony no. 5 in E flat op. 82 12 by James Lyons Messiaen — Chronochromie (1960) 19 by Klaus C. Roy Ravel — La Valse 25 by John N. Burk Berkshire Festival 1969 27 Funeral and memorial services for Charles Munch 28 The conductor 30 Program Editor ANDREW RAEBURN RECORDINGS by the BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS and CLAUDE FRANK guest artist with notes and commentary by PETER USTINOV BEETHOVEN Serenade in D op. 25 BRAHMS Piano quartet in C minor op. 60 CARTER Woodwind quintet COPLAND Vitebsk FINE Fantasia for string trio MOZART Flute quartet in D K. 285 Oboe quartet in F K. 370 PISTON Divertimento for nine instruments LM/LSC-6167 BRAHMS Horn trio in E flat op. 40 COLGRASS Variations for four drums and viola HAIEFF Three bagatelles for oboe and bassoon MOZART Piano quartet in G minor K. 478 Quintet for piano and winds in E flat K. 452 POULENC Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano (1926) SCHUBERT String trio no. 1 in B flat VILLA-LOBOS Bachianas Brasileiras no. 6 for flute and bassoon LM/LSC-6184 The Boston Symphony Chamber Players record exclusively for [AKEZJD EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1968-1969 Three hundred and ninety-eighth concert in Providence THIRD PROGRAM Thursday January 23 1969 at 8.30 pm GEORGES PRETRE conductor LALO Overture to 'Le roi d'Ys' SIBELIUS Symphony no. 5 in E flat op. 82 Tempo molto moderato - allegro moderate, ma poco a poco stretto Andante mosso, quasi allegretto Allegro molto intermission MESSIAEN 'Chronochromie' for large orchestra (1960) Introduction - strophe 1 - antistrophe 1 - strophe 2 - antistrophe 2 - epode - coda first performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra RAVE4. 'La Valse' - choreographic poem' By order of the Chief of the Providence Fire Department, smoking is allowed only in the ticket lobby and the lower lobby of the auditorium. BALDWIN PIANO RCA RECORDS* EDOUARD LALO Overture to 'Le roi d'Ys' Program note by John N. Burk Lalo was born in Lille on January 27 1823; he died in Paris on April 22 1892. He composed the Overture to his opera Le roi d'Ys in 1876, and the first performance was given at a Concert populaire in Paris, conducted by Jules Pasdeloup, on November 12 of that year. A revised version was played at a Lamoureux Concert in Paris on January 24 1886. Lalo did not complete the opera itself until 1887; the libretto was by Edouard Blau. The premiere took place at the Opera comique in Paris on May 7 1888. Arthur Nikisch conducted the first performance of the Overture by the Boston Symphony on November 21 1891. The instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 trumpets, 4 horns, 3 trombones and tuba, bass drum, side drum, timpani and strings. Lalo composed his only successful opera, and the work which con- tributed most to his fame in his own country, when he was 65 years old. Eleven years had elapsed between the composition of the overture in 1876 and the composition of the opera itself in 1887. And yet the overture is constructed almost entirely on themes used in the course of the opera. Le roi d'Ys was from the first well received in Paris. It reached its two hundredth performance at the Opera Comique by the year 1906. It has been given in various European cities, reaching this country when it was produced at New Orleans on January 23 1890. It was produced at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Jan- uary 5 1922, but there it was quickly shelved. Blau derived his text from an old legend about the submersion of the city of Ys (or Is) in Armorica, in the Breton region of ancient Gaul. In the story which Blau tells, the King of Ys had two daughters, Margared and Rozenn, both of whom were in love with Mylio, a knight of the court. Margared was jealous of her sister whom Mylio favored, and her jealousy flamed into rebellion when her father promised her for rea- sons of state to the hostile neighboring prince, Karnac, who was waging war upon his kingdom. Margared, turning against her own people, opened a dike and allowed the sea to inundate the city of Ys. Desperate at the sight of what she had done, as the water rose, she threw herself into the flood. By the miraculous intervention of St Corentin, the water receded. The Overture has for an introductory theme a clarinet melody, sung by the knight Mylio in the First Act: 'Si le del est plein de flammes'. A trumpet fanfare introduces the main body of the Overture with a fiery theme which has been connected with the jealous passion of Margared, a strain from her song in Act two: 'Lorsque je t'ai vu'. The air of Rozenn, 'En silence pourquoi souffrix', is heard from the cello. The Overture ends with a return to the opening allegro theme, and a reference to the introduction and Mylio's war song. Edouard Lalo was one of those French composers who cultivated the popular media of opera and ballet without disdaining frank tunefulness, and yet with scrupulous maintenance of musical good taste. When a choreographer advised him to emulate Adolph Adam, he made a pointed retort that he did not produce confections of the Giselle 10 variety.