WOOLSEY HALL . .NEW HAVEN Tuesday Evening, February 27, at 8.25 PRSGRSttttE ^> •& mm Under the Auspices of THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC — YALE UNIVERSITY DAGGETT M. LEE, Series Manager Ifltrni UulumtfH OF THE Boston Symphony Orchestra Programme Containing Mr. Philip Hale's analytical and descriptive notes on all works performed during the season. "A Musical Education in One Volume" "Boston's Remarkable Book of Knowledge" Lawrence Gilman in the N. Y. Herald and Tribune Price $6*00 per volume Address SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON, MASS. WOOLSEY HALL .... NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY FIFTY-THIRD SEASON, 1933-1934 INC. Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27, at 8.25 WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY PHILIP HALE AND JOHN N. BURK COPYRIGHT, 1934, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, INC 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 ROGER I. LEE HENRY B. CABOT WILLIAM PHILLIPS ERNEST B. DANE EDWARD M. PICKMAN N. PENROSE HALLOWELL HENRY B. SAWYER M- A. DE WOLFE HOWE BENTLEY W. WARREN W. H. BRENNAN, Manager G. E. JUDD, Assistant Manager 1 STEINERT'S INC. OFFER THE S TEIN W AY THE INSTRUMENT OF THE IMMORTALS The STEINWAY is built to last. From the beginning, it has been the determination of the makers to manu- facture a really fine piano, regardless of cost. That the STEINWAY has been the choice of such great pianists as PADEREWSKI - RACHMANINOFF - HOFMANN and many other great pianists witnesses the adherence to those ideals. There is a STEINWAY MODEL and price for every home. STEINERT'S INC. 183 CHURCH STREET WOOLSEY HALL NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY Fifty-third Season, 1933—1934 Dr. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor SECOND CONCERT TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27 AT 8.25 PROGRAMME Stravinsky ..... Suite from the Ballet, "Petrouchka" Russian Dance—Petrouchka—Grand Carnival—Nurses' Dance—The Bear and the Peasant playing a Hand Organ—The Merchant and the Gypsies —The Dance of the Coachmen and Grooms—The Masqueraders. Sibelius . Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 47 I. Allegro moderato. II. Adagio di molto. III. Allegro ma non tanto. Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 I. Un poco sostenuto; allegro. II. Andante sostenuto. III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso. IV. Adagio; Allegro non troppo, ma con brio. SOLOIST RICHARD BURGIN STEIN WAY PIANO There will be an intermission of ten minutes before the symphony 3 — Orchestral Suite from "Petrouchka" Igor Fedoroyitch Stravinsky (Born at Oranienbaimi, near Leningrad, on June 5, 1882; now living) The ballet "Petrouchka : Scenes burlesques en 4 Tableaux,-' sce- nario by Alexandre Benois, was completed by Stravinsky at Home in May (13-26), 1911. It was produced at the Chatelet,* Paris, on June 13, 1911. The chief dancers were Mme. Tamar Karsavina, La Ballerine; Nijinsky, Petrouchka; Orloff, Le Maure; Cecchetto, the old Charlatan ; Mme. Baranowitch, First Nurse. Mr. Menteux con- ducted ; Mr. Fokine was the ballet-master. The scenery and costumes were designed by Benois ; the scenery was painted by Anisfeld ; the costumes were made by Caffi and Worobieff. The management was Gr. Astruc and Company, organized by Serge de Diaghilev. k 'The Battle at Kerjenetz," from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Kitezh," and "Scheherazade" were also on the bill. "This ballet depicts the life of the lower classes in Russia, with all its dissoluteness, barbarity, tragedy, and misery. Petrouchka is a sort of Polichinello, a poor hero always suffering from the cruelty of the police and every kind of wrong and unjust persecu- tion. This represents symbolically the whole tragedy in the ex- istence of the Russian people, a suffering from despotism and in- justice. The scene is laid in the midst of the Russian carnival, and the streets are lined with booths in one of which Petrouchka plays a kind of humorous role. He is killed, but he appears again and again as a ghost on the roof of the booth to frighten his enemy, his old employer, an illusion to the despotic rules in Russia." The following description of the ballet is taken from "Contem- porary Russian Composers'' by M. Montagu-Nathanf : "The 'plot' of 'Petrouchka' owes nothing to folk-lore, but retains the quality of the fantastic. Its chief protagonist is a lovelorn doll ; but we have still a villain in the person of the focusnik, a show- man who for his own ends prefers to consider that a puppet has no soul. The scene is the Admiralty Square, Petrograd; the time 'Butter-Week,' somewhere about the eighteen-thirties. Prior to *"The Chatelet, the home of 'Michael Strogoff,' a retail shop of cheap emotions, the paradise of concierges, was well-nigh shaken to its foundations by the tornado of what was to be the first Russian season in Paris. The stage hands, gruff as they only can be in Paris, the administration, pedantic and stagnant, regarded us all as lunatics. '' •Ces RusseS; oh, la Id, tons un peu maboulc.' —Mme. Karsavina in her "Theatre Street." "It took some years for the suppers at Larne's to come into fashion. Their best period was between 1908 and 1912. Leaving the Chatelet, all the swells of the Grande Saison de Paris met in the rue Royale. In the corner reserved for the Ballet Russe, where Diaghilev and Nijinsky devoured beefsteaks a la Chateaubriand, while Reynaldo Hahn and Jean Cocteau told amusing anecdotes, Marcel Proust, seated a little away, at an isolated table, wrote letters, mobilized the waiters, and enjoyed a chocolate barvaroise."—Gabriel Astruc in "Le Pavilion des Fantomes" (Paris, 1929). t Published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1917. the raising of the first [curtain]* the music has an expectant char- acter, and the varied rhythmic treatment of a melodic figure which has a distinct folk-tune flavor has all the air of inviting conjecture as to what is about to happen. Once the curtain goes up we are immediately aware that we are in the midst of a carnival, and are prepared for some strange sights. The music describes the nature of the crowd magnificently, and in his orchestral reproduction of a hurdy-gurdy, whose player mingles with the throng, Stravinsky has taken pains that his orchestral medium shall not lend any undue dignity to the instrument. Presently the showman begins to attract his audience, and, preparatory to opening his curtain, plays a few mildly florid passages on his flute. With his final flourish he animates his puppets. They have been endowed by the showman with human feelings and passions. Petrouchka is ugly and consequently the most sensitive. He endeavors to console himself for his master's cruelty by exciting the sympathy and winning the love of his fel- low-doll, the Ballerina, but in this he is less successful than the callous and brutal Moor, the remaining unit in the trio of puppets. Jealousy between Petrouchka and the Moor is the cause of the tragedy which ends in the pursuit and slaughter of the former. There are two curtains : one between the audience and the dancers ; the other divides the showman's Douma from the stage crowd and the people in the outer theatre. THE ANALYTIC SYMPHONY SERIES Edited and annotated by PERCY GOETSCHIUS, Mus. Doc. Published by Oliver Ditson Company, Inc. The Analytic Symphony Series comprises thirty-four volumes covering the most important symphonies of the world's greatest masters. Each volume is presented in playable two-hand piano score, and contains complete analytical notes on the structure and orchestration in addition to critical notes appraising the significance of the composition and its salient points. Copies may be had from your Music Dealer or the Publishers. OLIVER DITSON COMPANY, Inc. 359 Boylston Street Boston, Mass. The Russian Dance which the three puppets perform at the bidding of their taskmaster recalls vividly the passage of a crowd in Riinsky-Korsakov's 'Kitezh.'* "When at the end of the Dance the light fails and the inner cur- tain falls, we are reminded by the roll of the side drum which does duty as entr'acte music that we have to do with a realist, with a composer who is no more inclined than was his precursor Dar- gomijsky to make concessions ; he prefers to preserve illusions, and so long as the drum continues its slow fusillade the audience's mind is kept fixed upon the doll it has been contemplating. The unsuc- cessful courtship is now enacted and then the scene is again changed to the Moor's apartment, where, after a monotonous droning dance, the captivation of the Ballerina takes place. There are from time to time musical figures recalling the showman's flute flourishes, ap- parently referring to his dominion over the doll. The scene ends with the summary ejection of that unfortunate [Petrouchka], and the drum once more bridges the change of scene. "In the last tableau the Carnival, with its consecutive common chords, is resumed. The nurses' dance, which is of folk origin, is one of several items of decorative music, some of them, like the episode of the man with the bear, and the merchant's accordion, being fragmentary. With the combined dance of the nurses, coach- men, and grooms, we have again a wonderful counterpoint of the melodic elements. "When the fun is at its height, it is suddenly interrupted by Petrouchka's frenzied flight from the little theatre. He is pursued by the Moor, whom the cause of their jealousy tries vainly to hold in check. To the consternation of the spectators, Petrouchka is slain by a stroke of the cruel Moor's sword, and a tap on the tambour de Basque.