g>anfor£ 5%atrr, (Eambrifcgr [Harvard University] BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN 1881 BY HENRY L- HIGGINSON FIFTY-SEVENTH h SEASON c^ll 1937-1938 [31 Thursday Evening, November 25 at 8 o'clock 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. HANSEN, E. MARIOTTI, V. FEDOROVSKY, P. TAPLEY, R. LEIBOVICI, J. PINFIELD, C. LEVEEN, P. KRIPS, A. 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 LEFRANC, J. FOLFREL, G. BERNARD, A. GROVER, H. ARTIERES, L. CAUHAPE, J. VAN WYN BERGEN, C. WERNER, H. AVIERINO, N. JACOB, R. GERHARDT, S. HUMPHREY, G. Violoncellos BEDETTI, J. langendoen, j. chardon, y. stockbridge, C. FABRIZIO, E. ZIGHERA, A. tortelilr, p. droeghmans, h. warnke, j. MARJOLLET, L. ZIMBLER, J. Basses KUNZE, M. LEMAIRE,J. LUDWIG, O. GIRARD, H. JUHT, L. VONDRAK, A. MOLEUX, G. FRANKEL, I. DUFRESNE, G. Flutes Oboes Clarinets Bassoons LAURENT, G. GILLET, F. POLATSCHEK, V. ALLARD, R. BLADET, G. DEVERGIE, J. VALERIO, m. PANENKA, E. R. PAPPOUTSAKIS, J- STANISLAUS, H. MAZZEO, LAUS. A. Eb Clarinet Piccolo English Horn Bass Clarinet Contra - B assoon 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, M. HANSOTTE, L. VOISIN, R. L. SINGER, J. SHAPIRO, H. LILLEBACK, W. GEBHARDT, W. KEANEY, P. VOISIN, R. SMITH, V. Tuba Harps Timpani PERCUSSION ADAM, E. ZIGHERA, B. SZULC, R. STERNBURG, S. CAME, L. POLSTER, M. WHITE, L. ARCIERI, E. Organ Piano Celesta Librarian L. SNOW, A. SANROMA, J. FIEDLER, A. ROGERS, J. g>att&Fr0 (Htymtt? • Harvard University • (Eambrifclje FIFTY-SEVENTH SEASON, 1937-1938 Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor RICHARD BURGIN, Assistant Conductor Concert Bulletin of the Third Concert THURSDAY EVENING, November 25 with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk COPYRIGHT, 1937, 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 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 Critics* Bail the Recording of "ROMEO and JULIET" by BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY CONDUCTOR Scribner's (Sept.): — "The Boston Symphony Orchestra's recording of Tchaikov- sky's 'Romeo and Juliet' is as electrifying an achievement as other triumphs of Higher Fidelity in Symphony Hall would lead you to expect. ..." Moses Smith, Boston Transcript, Sept. 14: — "The performance of the Tchaikov- sky Overture-Fantasy, 'Romeo and Juliet' (Victor Set M-347; three twelve-inch records), prompted the record reviewer of the Manchester Guardian (a presumably unprejudiced source) to say that 'for sheer brilliance and resonance of tone the Boston players have no equals.' It is an exciting presentation, and the mechanical recording is similarly brilliant." Compton Pakenham, record editor of New York Times, Aug. 1: —"This album is particularly for those who felt the bite of Koussevitzky's recent set of Tchaikov- sky's Fourth Symphony. The passage describing the strife of the Montagues and Capulets is given a magnificent sting. One can feel the venom of the contending parties, visualize the shifting brawl, and almost see the flash of steel on steel." Jerome D. Bohm, New York Herald-Tribune, Aug. 8: — "The performance leaves little to be desired from the tonal aspect and the conductor has exercised uncommon restraint in his treatment of the music." Thomas Archer, Montreal Gazette, July 31:— "The work seems to glow and throb with youthful passion and tenderness. This may be said in particular of the wonderful cantilena theme obviously representing the lovers and which is treated as the Boston Symphony Orchestra would treat it, namely with a surpass- ing sense of lyrical romance. The climaxes are tremendous." Jay Walz, Washington (D.C.) Post, Aug. 8: — "Victor says the performance turned in by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony makes Album M-347 the peer of all 'Romeo and Juliets' in the catalogue. I would not be one to dis- pute that claim. Any who sit down and wait for a better 'Romeo and Juliet' are just wasting time." •Coincident with the surge of popularity of phonograph records, magazines and newspapers are today establishing special reviewers for recordings. Boston Music Co., 116 Boylston Street Chas. W. Homeyer Co.9 498 Boylston St. M. Steinert & Sons, 162 Boylston Street [2] §>mfilttB (Btymttt • Harvard University • (Eambriige Boston Symphony Orchestra FIFTY-SEVENTH SEASON, 1937-1938 SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor THIRD CONCERT THURSDAY EVENING, November 25 Programme Richard Burgin, Conducting Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major (Edited by Felix Mottl) Violas concertante: Jean Lefranc and Louis Artieres; Violoncellos: Jean Bedetti, Alfred Zighera, Jacobus Langendoen I. Allegro II. Adagio ma non tanto III. Allegro (First performance at these concerts) Poot Symphony I. Allegro vivo II. Andante III. Rondo, Jazz-Allegro (First performance in the United States) INTERMISSION Chausson Symphony in B-flat major, Op. 20 I. Lent; Allegro vivo II. Tres lent III. Anime STEINWAY PIANO [3] BRANDENBURG CONCERTO IN B-FLAT MAJOR, NO. 6 (Edited by Felix Mottl) By Johann Sebastian Bach Born at Eisenach on March 21, 1685; died at Leipzig, July 28, 1750 Bach wrote the last of his set of Brandenburg Concertos in six parts for two "viole da braccia," two "viole da gamba," one violoncello, and string bass, with harpsichord continue*. This would indicate a chamber piece by six string players,* since a manifold performance of the parts by an orchestra would hardly have been possible, viola da gamba players having been far from numerous in Bach's time. Felix Mottl, arranging the score for orchestral performance, has preserved the five solo parts and given them to two violas and three 'cellos. He has further reinforced these parts by alternately combining them in unison with the tonal body of the corresponding sections in the string orchestra. The bass is provided as in the original score by basses, 'cellos and harpsichord. The solo instruments thus assume the con- certino role of the old concerto grosso, a form which Bach himself used in the Second, Fourth and Fifth Concertos of the Brandenburg set. The first allegro (in B-flat, 2-2) opens with canonic imitation among the solo voices. Its lively course is relieved by a broadly melodic adagio in E-flat, 3-2. Here the two violas, which predominate through the score, are even more emphasized, for the gambas in this move- ment are silent. The single 'cello provides a sustaining legato, blend- ing with the usual bass accompaniment until it takes up the principal melody near the end. The last movement, in 12-8 time, restores the original key and vigorous interplay of voices. The Concerto, accord- ing to the observation of Sir Hubert Parry, "is a kind of mysterious counterpart to the Third Concerto; as the singular grouping of two violas, two viole da gamba and a 'cello and bass, prefigures. The colour is weird and picturesque throughout, and the subject matter such as befits the unusual group of instruments employed." The "viola da braccia" which Bach specified, was, as Charles San- ford Terry has pointed out in his invaluable book, "Bach's Orchestra," nothing more than the ordinary viola of his time. The name survived to distinguish the "arm viol" from the "leg viol," the "viola da * The Sixth Brandenburg Concerto was performed by Nicolas Avierino with five players of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (the first viola da gamba was played by Alfred Zighera, the second was replaced by a 'cello) at Steinert Hall, on March 21, 1928. Ul gamba." * The "viola da gamba/' the last survivor of the family of viols, was an obsolescent instrument in Bach's day, although good players upon it were still to be found. Prince Leopold, Bach's lordl) employer at Cothen, was a gamba player, and it was probably for him that Bach wrote sonatas for the t/iola da gamba. Christian Ferdinand Abel, a member of the Capelle there, was a well-known player of this instrument, an art which he handed down to his son Carl Friedrich. The viola da gamba was a six-string instrument to which a seventh was added by certain makers. It had a higher range than the 'cello. "Its top string was tuned a fourth higher," according to Terry, "and owing to its greater length and more delicate texture, was more extended in its upper register. It lacked the volume of the violoncello, but its tone was more delicate, its chords richer and more varied, and its fretted finger-board more assistant to the player's accuracy." Bach occasionally inserted a viola da gamba part in his scores, apparently for a special elegiac effect, as in his "Trauer-Ode/' or as an obbligato in two poignant airs in the Passion music, each directly contemplative of the crucifixion. f It was very likely the special color of the viola da o-amba which led Sir Hubert Parrv to find in the Sixth Brandenburg Concerto "mysterious" and "weird" qualities. In May of the year 1718, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, travel- ling to Carlsbad to take the waters, was attended by some of his musical retinue — five musicians and a clavicembalo, under the sur- veillance of his Kapellmeister, Bach.