SIXTY-SEVENTH SEASON 1947-1948 Orchestra Hall, Chicago Friday Evening, December 5 Under the Auspices of the ALLIED ARTS CORPORATION Edgar L. Goldsmith Warren E. Thompson Boston Symphony Orchestra [Sixty-seventh Season, 1947-1948] SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL Violins Violas Bassoons Richard Burgin, Joseph de Pasquale Raymond Allard Concert-master Jean Cauhap6 Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Georges Fourel Ralph Masters Gaston Elcus Eugen Lehner Contra-Bassoon Rolland Tapley Albert Bernard Norbert Lauga Emil Kornsand Boaz Piller George Zazofsky George Humphrey Horns Paul Cherkassky Louis Artieres Willem Valkenier Harry Dubbs Charles Van Wynbergen James Stagliano Vladimir Resnikoff Hans Werner Principals Joseph Leibovici Lipson Jerome Walter Macdonald Einar Hansen Siegfried Gerhardt Harold Meek Daniel Eisler Paul Keaney Norman Carol Violoncellos Osbourne McConathy Carlos Pinfield Jean Bedetti Harry Shapiro Paul Federovsky Alfred Zighera William Gebhardt Harry Dickson Jacobus Langendoen Trumpets Minot Beale Mischa Nieland Frank Zecchino Hippolyte Droeghmans Georges Mager Roger Voisin Karl Zeise Principals Clarence Knudson Josef Zimbler Pierre Mayer Bernard Parronchi Marcel Lafosse Manuel Zung Enrico Fabrizio Harry Herforth Samuel Diamond Leon Marjollet Rene Voisin Victor Manusevitch Trombones James Nagy Flutes Jacob Raichman Leon Gorodetzky Lucien Hansotte Georges Laurent Raphael Del Sordo John Coffey James Pappoutsakis Melvin Bryant Josef Orosz Phillip Kaplan John Murray Tuba Lloyd Stonestrect Piccolo Vinal Smith Henri Erkelens George Madsen Saverio Messina Harps Bernard Zighera Herman Silberman Oboes Elford Caughey Stanley Benson John Holmes Hubert Sauvlet Jean Devergie Timpani Joseph Lukatsky Roman Szulc Basses Max Polster Georges Moleux English Horn Willis Page Louis Speyer Percussion Ludwig Juht Simon Sternburg Irving Frankel Clarinets Charles Smith Emil Arcieri Henry Greenberg Victor Polatschek Henry Portnoi Manuel Valeric Piano Gaston Dufresne Pasquale Cardillo Lukas Foss Henri Girard Henry Freeman Bass Clarinet Librarian John Barwicki Rosario Mazzeo Leslie Rogers Orchestra Hall, Chicago SIXTY-SEVENTH SEASON, 1947-1948 Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor Concert Bulletin of the First Concert FRIDAY EVENING, December 5 with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk The TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Henry B. Cabot President Henry B. Sawyer Vice-President Richard C. Paine Treasurer Philip R. Allen Francis W. Hatch John Nicholas Brown M. A. De Wolfe Howe Alvan T. Fuller Jacob J. Kaplan Jerome D. Greene Roger 1. Lee N. Penrose Hallowell Raymond S. Wilkins Oliver Wolcott George E. Judd, Manager [1] COMING EVENTS ORCHESTRA HALL MARYLA JONAS Pianist FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, AT 8:15 P.M. Tickets Now: $3.00, $2.40, $1.80, $1.20 NATHAN MILSTEIN Violinist SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, AT 3:30 P.M. Tickets Now: $3.60, $3.00, $1.20 LOTTE LEHMANN in a Song Cycle of Three Recitals FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 23; FRIDAY EVE., FEBRUARY 6; SATURDAY EVE., MARCH 13 These will be Mme. Lehtnann's only Chicago appearances this season. Prices for the entire cycle: Main Floor, $7.80; First 9 rows of balcony, $6.30; Remainder of balcony, $4.80; Gallery, $2.75 (Tax included) 'PHONE INFORMATION: RANDOLPH 6933 [»] Orchestra Hall, Chicago Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director FIRST CONCERT FRIDAY EVENING, December 5 at 8:15 o'clock Program Prokofieff "Classical" Symphony, Op. 25 I. Allegro II. Larghetto III. Gavotta: non troppo allegro IV. Finale: molto vivace Hindemith Symphony, "Mathis der Maler" ("Matthias the Painter") Angelic Concert Entombment Temptation of St. Anthony INTERMISSION Berlioz "Harold in Italy"; Symphony in Four Movements, with Viola Solo, Op. 16 I. Harold in the Mountains, Scenes of Melancholy, Happiness and Joy (Adagio; Allegro) II. March of Pilgrims Singing Their Evening Hymn (Allegretto) III. Serenade of a Mountaineer of the Abruzzi to his Mistress (Allegro assai; Allegretto) IV. Orgy of Brigands; Recollections of the Preceding Scenes (Allegro frenetico) SOLOIST JOSEPH de PASQUALE BALDWIN PIANO VICTOR RECORDS The concerts on Tuesday Evenings will be broadcast (9:30 — 10:30) on the network of the American Broadcasting Company. [3] "CLASSICAL" SYMPHONY, Op. 25 By Serge Prokofieff Born at Sontsovka, Russia, April 23, 1891 The first performance of the "Symphonic Classique" was in Petrograd, April 21, 1918, the composer conducting. Prokofieff arrived in New York in September, and in December the Russian Symphony Orchestra in New York played this symphony for the first time in America. It was introduced at the Boston Symphony concerts January 26, 1927, and last performed in this series March 13, 1942. The work is dedicated to Boris Assafieff, a writer on musical subjects whose pen name is "Igor Gleboff'.' The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. Written in 1916-17, considerably before "neo-classicism" set in, this symphony in miniature surely cannot be looked upon as a pledge to past ways. It might rather be considered a momentary dalliance with the eighteenth-century formula! It would probably be as mistaken to look for reverence in the "Symphonie Classique" as to look for irreverence in it. Let us say that the composer had a single and passing impulse to weave his own bright threads into an old pattern. Prokofieff gives himself precisely the orchestra of Mozart or Haydn; he is punctilious in his formal procedure. He is also concise — so much so that the four movements occupy no more than eleven minutes — about half the usual duration of the symphonies which he took as model. D major is the prevailing key. The first movement, with clipped phrases, staccato and to the point, sets forth its themes, its develop- ment, its recapitulation and coda, all complete. The Larghetto is in simple rondo form, beginning and ending with a charming pizzicato in the strings, pianissimo, a mere accompanying figure which never- theless lingers in the memory. The theme and its development has a suggestion of eighteenth-century ornamentation, but is in less serious vein. Prokofieff departs from the letter rather than the spirit of his models in choosing a gavotte instead of the rigidly customary minuet. The Finale gives, naturally, a far greater freedom to his fancy, al- though he sets himself a first theme upon the common chord which his forbears might have found quite in order and to their own pur- poses. The working out, recapitulation, and coda are virtuously ob- served. The episodic byplay turns up a sauce of "modern" wit which the periwigged masters could scarcely have approved. [copyrighted] [4] It's Worth Ten Dollars . • even if you never use it It's our Family Liability Insurance Policy. Costs only $10.00 a year . but covers your financial responsibility for practically every type of accident, other than automobile, caused by any member of your family, even including your pets. Suppose you are never faced with damage suits resulting from such accidents, isn't it worth $10.00 a year to have such a policy and be free from worry over financial losses? Ask your Employers' Group agent to give you this protec- tion today. THE EMPLOYERS' GROUP One Liberty Square, Boston 7, Mass. The Employers' Group Man is The Man with the Plan [5] SYMPHONY, "MATHIS DER MALER" ("MATTHIAS THE PAINTER") By Paul Hindemith Born at Hanau, Germany, November 16, 1895 Hindemith's "Symphony," three orchestral excerpts from his then unperformed opera "Mathis der Maler," was first played by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin under Wilhelm Furtwangler, March 12, 1934. Otto Klemperer introduced it to this country at the concerts of the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York, October 4, 1934. The first performance in Boston was by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on December 7 of the same season, Richard Burgin conducting. The orchestration follows: two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, percus- sion, and strings. The opera "Mathis der Maler," after lying unplayed for years, was at last brought to the stage of the Stadttheater in Zurich, under the direction of Robert Denzler, May 28, 1938. There was a concert performance of the opera by the B. B. C. Or- chestra in Queen's Hall, London, Clarence Raybould, conductor, March 15, 1939. Before Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler" was made known as a stage piece, those who examined and described the "Symphony" which the composer drew from it were content to compare the three move- ments with three famous paintings of the Isenheim Altar piece to be seen in the Museum at Colmar, Alsace, the eloquent handiwork of Matthias Griinewald, the sixteenth-century German painter who is the central figure of the opera. Indeed, the composer identifies the three movements specifically enough with the three fine panel groups of Griinewald. The identification still holds when the opera is con- sidered, for although the orchestral excerpts figure importantly in the opera, and are lifted bodily from it, the Isenheim Altar pieces too, with their devotional spirit, pervade the opera and there take on a special symbolism connected with the dramatic action. For example, the third movement, "The Temptation of Saint Anthony," becomes, in the sixth scene, the temptation of the painter himself, drawn into the bitter birth struggles of the Reformation, dis- tracted for the moment from his entire devotion to his art. "The Angelic Concert" is the overture to the opera. Its principal melody, "Es sungen drei Engel" appears frequently in the opera itself, and is sometimes varied. "The Temptation of Saint Anthony," to be found intact in the sixth scene, is there given an added effect by choral treatment.* "The Entombment" becomes the intermezzo in the final scene, and also accompanies the final withdrawal of the central figure from the world of strife. * The omission of the chorus in "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" does not alter the in- strumental score, in which the parts are doubled.