[Monday and Tuesday] THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES of the 'Berkshire Symphonic Festival Invite you to become a member, and thereby benefit by first choice of reserved seats at lower rates for the 1939 Festival. Membership must be accepted before November 1, 1938. Membership blanks may be secured at the Symphony Hall Box Office, or by writing to the Berkshire Symphonic Festival, Inc., Stock- bridge, Massachusetts. SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Telephone, Commonwealth 1492 FIFTY-EIGHTH SEASON, 1938-1939 CONCERT BULLETIN of the Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Richard Burgin, Assistant Conductor with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk The OFFICERS and TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Ernest B. Dane 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 Jerome D. Greene Edward A. Taft N. Penrose Hallowell Bentley W. Warren G. E. Judd, Manager C. W. Spalding, Assistant Manager [1] Complete FIDUCIARY SERVICE for INDIVIDUALS The fiduciary services of Old Colony Trust Company available to individuals are many and varied. We cite some of the fiduciary capacities in which we act. Executor and Administrator We settle estates as Executor and Administrator. Trustee We act as Trustee under wills and under voluntary or living trusts. Agent We act as Agent for those who wish to be relieved of the care of their investments. mm The officers of Old Colony Trust Company are always glad to discuss estate and property matters with you and point out if and where our services are applicable. Old Colony Trust Company 17 COURT STREET, BOSTON Member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ^Allied withTuE First National Bank of Boston L 2 J JL o those interested in becoming Friends of the Orchestra it may be announced that Membership in our Society carries the privilege of attend- ing the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Orchestra, which this year will be held on November 2. Our members may also have the program books for either Boston Series mailed to them, upon request, in advance of concerts. Edward A. Taft Chairman, Friends of the Boston Symphony Orchestra [3] Tremont and West Streets Le Gronx'§ Romantic Heart-Shaped Felt There's magic in this enchanting Paris reproduction — magic in the new high crown— in the flattering heart- shaped lines — in the fascinating black veil! Fashioned of superb French felt, bound with shining satin! Millinery Salon Second Floor _B-^JF1 fiSO 14] FIFTY-EIGHTH SEASON, NINETEEN HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT AND THIRTY-NINE First Programme MONDAY EVENING, October 24, at 8:15 o'clock TUESDAY AFTERNOON, October 25, at 3 o'clock Bizet Suite No. 1 from "L'Arlesienne" I. Prelude II. Minuet III. Adagietto IV. Carillon Mozart. .Concerto for Two Pianofortes, in E-flat (Koechel No. 365) I. Allegro II. Andante III. Allegro INTERMISSION Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 I. Allegro non troppo II. Andante moderato III. Allegro giocoso IV. Allegro energico e passionato SOLOISTS PIERRE LUBOSHUTZ and GENIA NEMENOFF STEINWAY PIANOFORTES This programme will end about 10:10 on Monday Evening, 4:55 o'clock on Tuesday Afternoon An exhibition in honor of Serge Koussevitzky's Fifteenth Anniversary Season may be seen in the First Balcony Gallery [5] Mm^^r" VICTOR VALUEl 1. Console Grand Radio New RCA Victor model 97 KG Electric Tuning Console Grand Radio. Usually $85.00 2. Victor Records Your choice of $9 worth of Victor records, plus $2 subscription (1 year) to Victor Record Review, and membership in Victor Record Society. Usually $11.00 3. Record Player RCA Victrola Attachment for playing records through the radio. Usually ..... $14.95 Total Value *||0 NOW ONLY $OQ95 Investigate our Budget Payment Plan MUSIC CENTER • SECOND FLOOR • MAIN STORE [6] GEORGES BIZET One hundred years ago this October 25, Georges (Alexandre Cesar Leopold) Bizet was born in Paris. His death at the age of thirty- seven, therefore, happened sixty-three years ago. It was three months before his death that he saw "Carmen," his last musical work, pro- duced. Bizet's brief life offers no outstanding event — is no more than the record of a moderately successful writer of operas and operas- comiques. The spectacular fact about Bizet was, of course, that his last opera, which many disliked or waved aside at its first perform- ance, was at his death already on its way to becoming firmly en- trenched in Parisian favor; that spreading across the world, it quickly became and has since remained the most enduringly popular of French operas. "Carmen," with the "L'Arlesienne" music composed three years earlier, have given the name of Bizet a place of which a century may be only the beginning. The romantic imagination, which is sure to be set aflame when the death of a composer in his prime shortly follows a masterpiece, has often recounted how Bizet was thrown into despair at the initial failure of "Carmen," and died presently of a broken heart. Later historians have demonstrated at length (but largely in vain, for ! it> ueen <^>ueJLe *tul (^J^ The soft, rich texture you love reigns again in some of the smartest Fall crea- ations you've ever seen. We've sketched three to show what exciting shopping is in store for you. a. Black suede, smartfaille decoration $12.75 b. In black suede, clever patent inlay $8. 75 c. Black or rust suede, patent at cents $14.75 THAYER McNEIL 47 TEMPLE PL 414 BOYLSTON COOLIDGECOR. WELLESLEY ! [7] romance is not easily discouraged) that this was not so. A number of Bizet's colleagues who were with him during or after the "Carmen" premiere have furnished abundant testimony that he by no means lost his equanimity. The initial "Carmen" at the Opera-Comique was carefully and well produced. It had reached thirty-seven performances when Bizet died; was already under negotiation for Vienna. The com- poser and his librettists for "Carmen," Meilhac and Halevy, were sought by the producer for another collaboration — a material assur- ance of "Carmen's" soundness which must have been particularly convincing to Bizet. The composer of "Carmen" died of a heart trouble which had earlier and purely physiological causes. As a matter of fact, it would have been decidedly surprising if Bizet, however conscious of having turned forth his masterpiece, had allowed himself to be bowed down and broken by contretemps of a sort to which he had been long inured. He had always encountered public fickleness, the captious reproaches of critics, the intractabilities of the entrepreneurs. This was the expected lot of every musician who purveyed to the operatic stage of Paris in that variable period. If the active career of Bizet be measured from the expiration of his Prix de Rome scholarship in 1863, he experienced no more than twelve years as an operatic composer in Paris. Commissions came to AllegroAiiegro . «, w^&M^jfc [8 REMODELED IN REGENCY DECOR vJur new fourth floor is unlike anything of its kind in New England. New circular areas for spaciousness . mirror-enclosed pillars . authentic Regency chairs, tables and lamps . marbleized niches holding modern mannequins at eye-level . warm gray walls highlighted by peach toned alcoves and fitting rooms . wood rose divans . Empire green satin draperies and Venetian blinds . these are only some of the new features that make this floor a dramatic setting for our Fall fashions. Steams [9] him readily enough, for though he had not quite found the way to set theatre-going Paris on fire, he well understood his medium and worked at it with a highly expert hand, a fact which was generally recognized. If many of the libretti which were handed to him were distasteful or obviously barren, it did not occur to him to refuse. The impermanence of the whole profession must have steeled him soon enough against taking any reversal as at all decisive. Bizet's popularity would surely have come earlier if like some of his rivals he had been more ready to trim his sails to the shifting winds of applause. His efforts were instead of this subjected to arduous self-criticism. It is believed that he destroyed at least two manuscripts because they did not meet his own exactions. One of them was a five- act opera, "Ivan le Terrible," which had already been accepted for production by the Theatre Lyrique in 1865. Bizet's first real opportunity had come from Carvalho, the manager of that theatre — an order for a three-act opera, "Les Pecheurs de perles," an idyll of life in Ceylon, with appropriate exotic possibilities. "Les Pecheurs de perles" was duly produced in 1863. It had no more than a partial success, but won its composer some new friends, among them Berlioz, who praised it in "Les Debats" for its "fire" and "rich color." Vance INCORPORATED FABRICS CARPETS FURNITURE Interior Designers WALLPAPERS BEDDING COM. 4580 William H. Vance Jane Hildreth 400 Boylston Street, Boston Ask your Interior Designer for Hand-made for "America's Royalty" WELLS 6- CO., Inc., 393 Boylston St., Boston [10] Your Estate Deserves Special Care Starting more than 60 years ago with a rel- atively small amount of Trust business, this Company today is managing Trust funds of more than a quarter of a billion dollars. Acting as Executor and Trustee is our prin- cipal business. If you desire any informa- tion about our services, we cordially invite you to call and con- OSST fer with us. Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company lOO Franklin Street Q/7t Arch and Devonshire Streets [ II 1 The field into which Bizet threw his gauntlet with "Les Pecheurs de perles" was an extraordinary one — a difficult and probably an appalling one for so young and modest a man.