Arafomg of Mmit • Inwkhjn \\\\Ulll xV >: BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN 1881 BY HENRY L. HIGGINSON A FIFTY-SEVENTH SEASON 1937-1938 f,r [3] >" &r- Thursday Evening, February 10 Under the auspices of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn Boston Symphony Orchestra [Fifty-seventh Season, 1937-1938] SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Personnel Violins BURGIN, R. ELCUS, G. LAUGA, N. SAUVLET, H. RESNIKOFF, V Concert-master GUNDERSEN, R. KASSMAN, N. CHERKASSKY, P. EISLER, D. THEODOROWICZ, J. r HANSEN, E. MARIOTTI, \ . FEDOROVSKY, P. TAPLEY, R. KRIPS, A. LEIBOVICI, J. PIN FIELD, C. LEVEEN, P. KNUDSON, C. ZUNG, M. BEALE, M. GORODETZKY, L. MAYER, P. DIAMOND, S. DEL SORDO, R. FIEDLER, B. BRYANT, M. STONESTREET, L. MESSINA; S. MURRAY, J. ERKELENS, H. SEINIGER ,s. Violas H. LEFRANC, J, FOUREL, G. BERNARD, A. GROVER, H. ARTIERES, L. CAUHAPE, J. VAN WYNBERGEN, C. WERNER, AVIERINO, N. JACOB, R. GERHARDT, S. HUMPHREY, G. Violoncellos BEDETTI, J. LANGENDOEN, J. chardon, y. stockbridge, c. FABRIZIO, E. ZIGHERA, A. TORTELIER, P. droeghmans, h. warnke, j. MARJOLLET, L. ZIMBLER, J. Basses KUNZE, M. LEMAIRE, J. FRANKEL, I. GIRARD, H. BARWICKI, J. VONDRAK, A. MOLEUX, G. JUHT, L. DUFRESNE, G. Flutes Oboes Clarinets Bassoons LAURENT, G. GILLET, F. POi^ATSCHEK, V. ALLARD, R. BLADET, G. DEVERGIE, J. VALERIO, M. PANENKA, e. A. PAPPOUTSAKIS, J- MAZZEO, R. LAUS, Ejj Clarinet Piccolo English Horn Bass Clarinet Contra-Bassoon MADSEN, G. SPEYER, L. MIMART, P. PILLER, B. Horns Horns Trumpets Trombones VALKENIER, W. SINGER, J. MAGER, G. raichman, j. MACDONALD, w LANNOYE, M. LAFOSSE, iVi. hansotte, l. SINGER, J. SHAPIRO, H. VOISIN, R. L. lilleback, w. GEBHARDT, W. KEANEY, P. V OISIN, R. SMITH, V. Tuba Harps Timpani Percussion ADAM, E. ZIGHERA, B. SZULC, R. stern burg, s. CAME, L. POL' FER, M. WHITE, L. arcieri, e. Organ Piano Celesta Librarian SNOW, A. SANROMA, J FIEDLER, A. ROGERS, L. J. Aratomg vi Huatr • Irnoklgn FIFTY-SEVENTH SEASON, 1937-1938 Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Richard Burgin, Assistant Conductor Concert Bulletin of the Third Concert THURSDAY EVENING, February 10 with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk The OFFICERS and TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Bentley W. Warren President Henry B. Sawyer Vice-President Ernest B. Dane Treasurer Allston Burr M. A. De Wolfe Howe Henry B. Cabot Roger I. Lee Ernest B. Dane Richard C. Paine Alvan T. Fuller Henry B. Sawyer N. Penrose Hallowell Edward A. Taft Bentley W. Warren G. E. Judd, Manager C. W. Spalding, Assistant Manager [1] THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE OF GENIUS HAS PRO- duced strange eccentricities in certain composers . Not possessing money enough to buy a pistol, Schumann attempted suicide by jumping into the Rhine, but was pulled out. Two years later he died in an asylum. BERLIOZ SEEMED TO HAVE AN UNHEALTHY PEN- chant for falling off the cliffs of the Riviera. But the yarn about Tchaikovsky seems the most incredible of all. Under the spell of a mood he stood up to his neck in an icy Russian river, hoping to contract pneumonia that he might die an apparently natural death. Luckily, the only result of his im- mersion was the discomfiture of wet clothing. THE GREAT COMPOSERS LIVED ON AN AVERAGE but about 60 years. Of the long lived, Handel passed away at 74; Haydn at 77; Wagner died at 70; while Bach lived to be 65 and Verdi 87 ... Of those who died in com- parative youth were Schubert, who lived 31 years; Mozart 34; Weber 40; and Mendelssohn 30; Bizet also died comparatively young. HEN APPOINTING AN INDIVIDUAL AS EXECU- wtor or trustee, the possibility that his service may be cut short any time through incapacity or by death, should be ^ considered. By naming a corporate fiduciary you are assured of its continuous existence, a most important feature. Fulton Trust Company of New Tork Established 1890 149 Broadway, 1002 Madison Avenue MEMBER — FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Trust Committee John D. Peabody, Chairman Lewis Spencer Morris Bernon S. Prentice Edmund P. Rogers E. Townsend Irvin Arthur J. Morris O'Donnell Iselin £2] Aratomg nf Mnmt • Irnnklgn Boston Symphony Orchestra FIFTY-SEVENTH SEASON, 1937-1938 SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor THIRD CONCERT THURSDAY EVENING, February 10 IN MEMORY OF MAURICE RAVEL March 7, 1875-December 28, 1937 Programme Ravel "Le Tombeau de Couperin," Suite I. Prelude II. Forlane III. Menuet IV. Rigaudon Schumann Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120 I. Andante; Allegro II. Romanza III. Scherzo J IV. { Largo; Finale (Played without pause) INTERMISSION Ravel Rapsodie Espagnole I. Prelude a la Nuit II. Malaguena III. Habanera IV. Feria Ravel "Ma Mere l'Oye" ("Mother Goose") Five Children's Pieces Pavane de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Pavane of Sleeping Beauty) II. 1 Petit Poucet (Hop o' My Thumb) III. Laideronnette, Imperatrice des Pagodes (Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas) IV. Les Entretiens de la Belle et de la Bete (Beauty and the Beast Converse) V. Le Jardin Feerique (The Fairy Garden) Ravel "Bolero" [3] FOR MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Seek not in cool and friendless shade Long rest, or in the early dew Oblivion in the slender blade That has no thirst for you. And think not, or conspire to keep Vigil in veils of darkness — know You may not leave and may not sleep — We will not have you go. Not yours a journey beyond the hill To harbors silent and remote; We keep you here and singing still, O loved, O radiant throat! — Tristram Livingstone. [4] SUITE FOR ORCHESTRA, "LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN" ("COUPERIN'S TOMB") By Maurice Ravel Born at Ciboure, Basses-Pyrenees, on March 7, 1875; died in Paris, December 28, 1937 The suite in its orchestral form was first performed at a Pasdeloup concert in Paris under Rhene-Baton, February 28, 1920. It was introduced in this country by Pierre Monteux at these concerts November 19 of the same year. The orchestra used includes two flutes, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, one trumpet, harp and strings. T* avel, according to Mr. Edwin Evans, "is fond of looking at a -tV style or a period, as it were, with his head on one side, and specu- lating what is to be done with it." The English writer considered it particularly fortunate that the French composer was moved thus to regard his countryman of another day, Francois Couperin, in that Ravel incarnated "the very spirit of the precise and ordered classicism of the eighteenth century." His music could not be contained in any but a shapely mold, for his wit, brilliant and jeweled and delicately barbed, "reminds one of the days when such things were said with a shake of a lace handkerchief and a wave of a porcelain snuffbox." The composer was first engaged on this particular project, con- ceived as a piano suite, in the summer of 1914. The exigencies of war interrupted his thoughts of a fragile musical past, and it was not until 1917, that Ravel resumed and completed his piano pieces. There were six movements — Prelude, Fugue, Forlane, Rigaudon, Minuet, and Toccata. He published the suite in 1918, in memory of his friends killed in the war. Later, he scored four movements (omitting the fugue and the toccata) for a small orchestra. The orchestral score bears no dedication other than that implied in the title. The "Prelude" is in E minor, Vif, 12-16; the "Forlane" (an old dance said to derive from the gondoliers of Venice as the "Forlana") is an allegretto, 6-8; the "Menuet" is an allegro moderato, and the final "Rigaudon"* assez vif, 2-4. * "Rigadon (rigaudon, rigodon, rigodoun, rigaud, and in English rigadoon) is a word of doubtful origin. Rousseau says in his Dictionary of Music: 'I have heard a dancing master say that the name of this dance came from that of its inventor, who was called "Rigaud." ' Mistral states that this Rigaud was a dancing-master at Marseilles. The word 'rigadoon' came into English literature as early as 1691. There is a verb 'rigadoon.' Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes in 'Elsie Venner' uses it: 'The Doctor looked as if he should like to rigadoon and sashy across as well as the young one.' " — Philip Hale. [copyrighted] [5] 'COUPERIN LE GRAND" By Lawrence Gilman Francois Couperin ("Couperin Le Grand"), the greatest clavecin- ist of his time, preceded Bach's arrival in this world by seventeen years and his departure hence by the same length of time. Both men lived to be sixty-five. Not only Bach, but Scarlatti and Handel and others, learned a good many excellent tricks from Couperin. Bach was especially sedulous; he even copied some of Couperin's faults. Couperin the Great was a personage in the France of his time. He was clavecinist to the King, a pet of the smart ladies of Paris, the most fashionable teacher of the harpsichord. Almost any Sunday evening would have found him playing the clavecin at Court, or in some drawing-room of the haut monde — affable, a little pompous, benignly cynical, his face plump and ruddy beneath his wig, his laces and bro- cades always in perfect trim; or giving a lesson to one of his aristocratic pupils, whom he had flattered or piqued by the prettily mysterious title of some one of his descriptive pieces. "They are, in a way, portraits," he confessed, "bestowed on the charming originals whom I wish to portray." For Couperin, according to the manner of his day, turned a good many of these clavecin pieces into a naive kind of program music. Together with the pieces that bore merely the names of the various dances that he included in his suites, or ordres, were others bearing fanciful and descriptive titles.