r BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN 1881 BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON SEVENTY-SEVENTH SEASON !957-!958 Sanders Theatre, Cambridge [harvard University] Boston Symphony Orchestra (Seventy-seventh Season, 1957-1958) CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL Violins Violas Bassoons Richard Burgin Joseph de Pasquale Sherman Walt Concert-master Jean Cauhape Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Eugen Lehner Theodore Brewster Albert Bernard George Zazofsky Roll and Tapley George Humphrey Contra-Bassoon Norbert Lauga Jerome Lipson Richard Plaster Vladimir Resnikoff Robert Karol Horns Harry Dickson Reuben Green Gottfried Wilfinger Bernard Kadinoff James Stagliano Vincent Charles Yancich Einar Hansen Mauricci Joseph Leibovici John Fiasca Harry Shapiro Harold Meek Emil Kornsand Earl Hedberg Paul Keaney Roger Shermont Violoncellos Osbourne McConathy Minot Beale Samuel Mayes Herman Silberman Alfred Zighera Trumpets Stanley Benson Jacobus Langendoen Leo Panasevich Roger Voisin Mischa Nieland Andre Come Sheldon Rotenberg Karl Zeise Armando Ghitalla Fredy Ostrovsky Josef Zimbler Gerard Goguen Clarence Knudson Bernard Parronchi Trombones Pierre Mayer Martin Hoherman Manuel Zung Louis Berger William Gibson Samuel Diamond Richard Kapuscinski William Moyer Kauko Kabila Victor Manusevitch Robert Ripley Josef Orosz James Nagy Winifred Winograd Melvin Bryant Flutes Tuba Lloyd Stonestreet Doriot Anthony Dwyer K. Vinal Smith Saverio Messina James Pappoutsakis William Waterhouse Phillip Kaplan Harps William Marshall Bernard Zighera Leonard Moss Piccolo George Madsen Olivia Luetcke Jesse Ceci Noah Bielski Oboes Timpani Alfred Schneider Ralph Gomberg Everett Firth Joseph Silverstein Jean Devergie Harold Farberman John Holmes Basses English Horn Percussion Smith Georges Moleux Louis Speyer Charles Harold Thompson Henry Freeman Clarinets Arthur Press Irving Frankel Gino Cioffi Henry Portnoi Manuel Valerio Piano Pasquale Cardillo Henri Girard Bernard Zighera John Barwicki E\) Clarinet Library Leslie Martin Bass Clarinet Rosario Mazzeo Victor Alpert SEVENTY-SEVENTH SEASON, 1957-1958 Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor CONCERT BULLETIN with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk The TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Henry B. Cabot President Jacob J. Kaplan Vice-President Richard C. Paine Treasurer Talcott M. Banks Michael T. Kelleher Theodore P. Ferris Henry A. Laughlin Alvan T. Fuller John T. Noonan Francis W. Hatch Palfrey Perkins Harold D. Hodgkinson Charles H. Stockton C. D. Jackson Raymond S. Wilkins E. Morton Jennings, Jr. Oliver Wolcott TRUSTEES EMERITUS Philip R. Allen M. A. DeWolfe Howe N. Penrose Hallowell Lewis Perry Edward A. Taft Thomas D. Perry, Jr., Manager Norman S. Shirk James J. Brosnahan Assistant Manager Business Administrator Leonard Burkat Rosario Mazzeo Music Administrator Personnel Manager SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON 15 [1] TANGLEWOOD LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Music Director BERKSHIRE FESTIVAL There will be six week-ends of concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons—each week principally devoted to one composer. Only portions of the programs are here listed. July 4, 5, 6 Series X (Theatre) BACH CHARLES MUNCH Programs include: Suites, 1, 2, 3, 4; Art of Fugue; Piano Concerto in D minor (Lukas Foss) ; B Minor Mass—conducted by G. Wallace Woodworth. {Sunday in the Music Shed) July 11, 12, 13 Series Y (Theatre) MOZART CHARLES MUNCH Programs include: Piano Concerto (Seymour Lipkin) ; Two Piano Concerto in E-flat, K. 365 (Lukas Foss and Seymour Lipkin) ; a choral work conducted by Hugh Ross. (Saturday evening concert in the Music Shed) July 18, 19, 20 Series A (Shed) BRAHMS CHARLES MUNCH and PIERRE MONTEUX Programs include: Symphony No. 4; Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor (Leon Fleisher) ; Requiem. July 25, 26, 27 Series B (Shed) DEBUSSY and RAVEL CHARLES MUNCH and PIERRE MONTEUX Programs include: Debussy, "La Mer"; Ravel, "La Valse"; Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3 (Byron Janis) ; Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto (Zino Francescatti). August 1, 2, 3 Series C (Shed) WAGNER CHARLES MUNCH and PIERRE MONTEUX Soloist: MARGARET HARSHAW, Soprano Programs include: Siegfried Idyll; Prelude and Love Death; Siegfried's Rhine Journey; Immolation Scene; Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1 (Leonard Pennario). August 8, 9, 10 Series D (Shed) BEETHOVEN CHARLES MUNCH and PIERRE MONTEUX Programs include: Piano Concerto No. 5 (Eugene Istomin) ; Ninth Symphony. (Programs subject to change) Address: FESTIVAL OFFICE, Symphony Hall Boston 15, Massachusetts [»] SEVENTY-SEVENTH SEASON • NINETEEN HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN -FIFTY-EIGHT ffifth Program TUESDAY EVENING, March 25, at 8:30 o'clock Roussel Suite in F major, Op. 33 I. Prelude II. Sarabande III. Gigue Piston Concerto for Viola and Orchestra I. Con mo to moderato e flessibile II. Adagio con fantasia III. Allegro vivo INTERMISSION Beethoven Symphony No. 7, in A major, Op. 92 I. Poco sostenuto; Vivace II. Allegretto III. Presto; Assai meno presto; Tempo primo IV. Allegro con brio SOLOIST JOSEPH de PASQUALE BALDWIN PIANO RCA VICTOR RECORDS [3] SUITE IN F MAJOR, Op. 33 By Albert Charles Paul Roussel Born in Turcoing (Nord), France, on April 5, 1869; died in Royan (near Bordeaux), France, August 23, 1937 Roussel composed this Suite in 1926 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and dedicated his score to Serge Koussevitzky. The first sketches were made in March, and the score was completed August 26. The first performance took place at these concerts, January 21, 1927. There were further performances March 17, 1933, when Vladimir Golschmann conducted it as guest, January 21, 1944, March 11, 1949, and April 7 and 9, 1955. The orchestration is as follows: 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, side-drum, bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, xylophone, tam-tam, celesta and strings. npHis Suite followed the composer's tendency in the early twenties to -* relinquish his pursuit of pictorial subjects and to devote himself to the absolute style — what the French call "de la musique pure." His fondness for the classical form was also evident in his symphonies dating from the same period. The First Symphony, Le Poeme de la Foretj Op. 7 (1904-06), had been a descriptive piece in symphonic contour. The Second Symphony in B-flat minor, Op. 23 (1919-20) marked, in the words of the composer, a new departure for him. "What I want to realize," he explained later in the Guide de Concert, "is a music satisfying in itself, a music which seeks to eliminate all pic- turesque and descriptive elements. ... I force myself always to put out of my mind the memory of objects and forms susceptible to inter- pretation in musical sounds. I wish to make only music." The Third Symphony in G minor, Op. 42 (1922), the Sinfonietta for Strings, Op. 52 (1903-04), and the Fourth Symphony in A major, Op. 53 (1930) all align Roussel with the then prevailing revival of eighteenth century form, while showing him more than ever an individual artist speaking in his own voice. These symphonies (except the first) have all been played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The "terrific drive and force" of the prelude to the suite is pointed out by Norman Demuth in his Study of Roussel. "The whole move- ment," he remarks, "scores remarkably well for military band (or 'Harmonie' — as the French call the medium), and the writer has vivid memories of it in this form played by the band of the Garde Republicaine at the 1937 Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music." "The Sarabande," says this writer, "is a different matter altogether; there is considerable chromaticism and contrapuntal weaving which is obscure on the piano. There is nothing archaic about this music. It [4] Boston Symphony Orchestra CHARLES MUNCH, Musk Director AN EXTRA OPEN REHEARSAL WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 2, at 7:30 o'clock BACH'S ST. JOHN PASSION Soloists MATTIWILDA DOBBS, Soprano BLAKE STERN, Tenor FLORENCE KOPLEFF, Contralto DONALD GRAMM, Bass JAMES JOYCE, Bass CHORUS PRO MUSICA Alfred Nash Patterson, Conductor Tickets are now on sale at the box office, $2 SYMPHONY HALL • BOSTON 15 [5] does not 'breathe the spirit of Spain' or do anything which one might fear." The writer discerns, "a firmness and a solidity of harmony; no counterpoint, merely a succession of logical chords, logical that is to say according to the principles of chordal progression of a traditional type and in the mood of the ancient dance. The final gigue is like most of its kind — exuberant, lively and rhythmical with all the go and drive in the world. This one is basically harmonic, intensely tight, but always moving forward and forward to its climaxes. The ghost of 'The Dargason' looms faintly in the distance; probably Roussel never heard this tune." The final Roussel is characterized with intimate understanding by Arthur Hoeree in a book on his late friend: "The Suite in F inaugurates the composer's fourth manner. He there resolves the classical problem of equilibrium between form and style, a point of wisdom in which the great masters have before reached their apex. His constant evolution, a sign of vitality, does not preclude a fundamental unity which is in itself aesthetic. Its characteristics are closely bound to the life, the formation, the dominant racial traits of the musician. "Is his approach to his creative problem objective or subjective? Classic or romantic? To tell the truth, any original artist expressing himself forcefully in his work is in some degree romantic. 'Some of our contemporary composers,' this one has written, 'are romantics in the best sense of the word. Has not our Debussy expressed in a language indifferent to eloquence or expostulation the shapes belonging to his interior being? That species of romanticism is healthy.' On the other hand he finds morbid 'any sentiment resulting in an italicism of self.' The composer of Evocations, who harbored a deep love of nature, had the exceptional gift of transposing into music the pictures in his mind's eye.