^ , IN^ //': BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN 1881 BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON SIXTY-SIXTH SEASON 1946-1947 Constitution Hall, Washington ) ;; VICTOR RED SEAL RECORDS Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director Bach, C. P. E Concerto for Orchestra in D major Bach, J. S Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 2 and 8 ; Missa Solemnis Berlioz Symphony, "Harold in Italy" (Primrose) Three Pieces, "Damnation of Faust", Overture, "The Roman Carnival" '. Brahms . Symphonies Nos. 3, 4 Violin Concerto (Heifetz) Copland "El Sal6n Mexico," "Appalachian Spring" Debussy "La Mer," Sarabande Faur6 "Pelleas et Melisande," Suite Foote Suite for Strings Grieg "The Last Spring" Handel Larghetto (Concerto No. 12), Air from "Semele" (Dorothy Maynor) Harris Symphony No. 3 Haydn Symphonies Nos. 94 ("Surprise") ; 102 (B-flat) Liadov "The Enchanted Lake" Liszt Mephisto Waltz Mendelssohn . Symphony No. 4 ("Italian") Moussorgsky '. "Pictures at an Exhibition" Prelude to "Khovanstchina" Mozart Symphonies in A major (201) ; C major (338), Air of Pamina, from "The Magic Flute" (Dorothy Maynor) Prokofleff .Classical Symphony ; Violin Concerto No. 2 (Heifetz) "Lieutenant Kij6," Suite ; "Love for Three Oranges," Scherzo and March ; "Peter and the Wolf" Rachmaninoff » «- Isle of the Dead" ; "Vocalise" Ravel "Daphnls and Chloe\" Suite No. 2 (new recording Rimsky-KorsakoT "The Battle of Kerjenetz" ; Dubinushka Schubert "Unfinished" Symphony (new recording) ; "Rosa- munde," Ballet Music Schumann Symphony No. 1 ("Spring") Sibelius Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 ; "Pohjola's Daughter" "Tapiola" ; "Maiden with Roses" Strauss, J Waltzes : "Voices of Spring," "Vienna Blood" Strauss, R J "Also Sprach Zarathustra" "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" Stravinsky Capriccio (Sanroma) ; Song of the Volga Bargemen (arrangement) Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 6: Waltz (from String Serenade) ; Overture "Romeo and Juliet" Thompson "The Testament of Freedom" Vivaldi Concerto Grosso in D minor Constitution Hall, Washington SIXTY-SIXTH SEASON, 1946-1947 Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director Richard Burgin, Associate Conductor Concert Bulletin THURSDAY EVENING, January 9 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 M. A. De Wolfe Howe John Nicholas Brown Jacob J. Kaplan Alvan T. Fuller Roger I. Lee Jerome D. Greene Bentley W. Warren N. Penrose Hallowell Raymond S. Wilkins Francis W. Hatch Oliver Wolcott George E. Judd, Manager CO /Mg£5- 3£ it -5 11 si? -J *e S pa* 3 1* il *8 II [»] Constitution Hall, Washington Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director THURSDAY EVENING, January 9, at 8:30 o'clock Programme Mendelssohn Symphony in A major, No. 4, "Italian," Op. 90 I. Allegro vivace II. Andante con moto III. Con moto moderate IV. Saltarello: presto Debussy "La Mer," Trois Esquisses Symphoniques I. De l'aube a midi sur la mer II. Jeux de vagues III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer I NT ERMISSION Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 I. Andante sostenuto. Moderato con anima in movimento di Valse II. Andantino in modo di canzona III. Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato; Allegro TV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco BALDWIN PIANO VICTOR RECORDS The concerts of this orchestra on Tuesday evenings are broadcast on the network of the American Broadcasting Company [3] SYMPHONY IN A MAJOR, NO. 4, "ITALIAN/' Op. 90 By Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809; died at Leipzig, November 4, 1847 Completed in 1833, Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony was first performed by the Philharmonic Society in London on May 13, 1833. The composer made a revision which was completed in 1837, but not performed on the European Continent until two years after his death — November 1, 1849 — when Julius Rietz conducted it at the Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig. The orchestration calls for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. would to It be hard come across the opinion that the "Italian" Symphony is in any way a national document, or a piece of descrip- tive music. There are those who have discerned Naples in the slow movement, and others who, not unreasonably, have looked in vain to justify such a reading. Those who are bound to find a true reflec- tion of Italy in the Symphony can at least point to the Saltarello finale. If a saltarello rhythm can make an Italian symphony, they are right. It is true that this rhythm impressed itself on Mendelssohn at glamorous moments. On a certain occasion in the midst of his winter at Rome (1830-1831), Louisa Vernet, daughter of his host, Horace Vernet, delighted him by doing the saltarello steps with her father, and by acquitting herself more than creditably upon the tambourine. At Amalfi, when the nights had grown warm and the moon intoxicat- ing, there was general dancing before the inn at Santa Lucia, in which the young Mendelssohn and his bosom friend of the moment, Theodor Hildebrandt, took part. Elise Polko, writing her romantic reminiscences of Mendelssohn, had from Hildebrandt intimations of a direct connection between Amalfi and the "Italian" Symphony. "In the midst of the dancing," writes Miss Polko, in what might be taken as a bit of not unplausible biographical reconstruction, "Men- delssohn called out to his friend, 'Ohl that melody! mark it well, you shall find it again, in some shape or other, in a work of mine; that I am resolved upon/ And Hildebrandt did find it again in a movement of the Fourth Symphony. 'Now listen, that is a fragment of Italy. Don't you see the moon shining and the pretty girls danc- ing?' said Mendelssohn, when subsequently playing portions of this great work to his former travelling companion." He wrote to Fanny from Rome on February 22, 1831: "I have once more begun to compose with fresh vigor, and the Italian Symphony makes rapid progress; it will be the most sportive piece I have yet composed, especially the last movement. I have not yet decided on the adagio, and think I shall reserve it for Naples." The "Reformation" Symphony was in an unfinished state at this time; also the A minor — the "Scotch" Symphony, which had its inception at Holyrood Palace, [4] LIST OF BOXHOLDERS Boston Symphony Orchestra Constitution Hall January 9, 1947 Mrs. Harry S. Truman Mrs. Robert Lowe Bacon The Ambassador of New Zealand and Lady Berendson Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss The Ambassador of France and Mme. Bonnet Mrs. John Nicholas Brown Mr. and Mrs. Earl Campbell Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Cappel Mrs. W. R. Castle Mrs. Henry P. Caulfield, Jr. Daughters of the American Revolution Mrs. Joseph E. Davies Mme. Tamara Dmitrieff Mr. and Mrs. Stephen P. Dorsey Mr. George W. Edman Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Eliot The Ambassador of Sweden and Mme. Eriksson Mr. H. F. Eschauzier, First Sec'y Netherlands Embassy Hon. and Mrs. Joseph C. Grew Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Harry Mrs. F. A. Keep Dr. Serge Koussevitzky The Ambassador of the Netherlands and Mme. Loudon Lt. and Senora Cesar Marquez Mrs. Adolph Casper Miller Mrs. George Hewitt Myers Judge and Mrs. George D. Neilson Mrs. Warren Delano Robbins Hon. and Mrs. Jouett Shouse Mr. and Mrs. John T. Smith, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Milton Starr Mr. and Mrs. L. Corrin Strong Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bell Sweeney Mr. and Mrs. Andre Visson Mrs. Eliot Wadsworth Mrs. Edwin M. Watson Mrs. John Matthew Whittall Field Marshal, Lord Wilson Mrs. Stanley Woodward [5] Edinburgh, in 1829. But tn*s ne set aside, writing as the sunshine poured in his window: "Who can wonder that I find it impossible to return to my misty Scotch mood?" It thus appears that when Mendelssohn was scarcely of age, all of his symphonies had taken definite shape in his head. The "Italian" was numbered "four" because, never quite satisfied, he held the manu- script with the constant intention of revision, so that it was published after his death. The official "First" was the symphony in C minor. It was written in 1824, and tne fifteen-year-old Mendelssohn had at that time carefully recorded and dated twelve complete symphonies in his voluminous notebooks — efforts which the adult Mendelssohn did not see fit to acknowledge. The three symphonies which subsequently occu- pied him were a matter for long delay and careful repolishing for years to come. Mendelssohn was loath to commit his manuscripts to the finality of publication. The "Italian" Symphony was finished, and performed in London in 1833, while the completion of the "Scotch" Symphony, more ambitious in design, still eluded him. It was not until 1842 that Mendelssohn was ready to perform this work, at a Gewandhaus concert in Leipzig — and then from the manuscript. With the "Reformation" Symphony, performed at the Singakademie, Berlin, in 1832, he was never satisfied, and he never allowed it to be pub- lished. As for the "Italian" Symphony, it was far from finished during Mendelssohn's Italian winter (1831). And to his sister's inquiry about the progress of the work, he wrote from Paris in January, 1832, that it was awaiting the completion of the "Walpurgisnacht" music, which then took a prolonged share of his time and pains. The score of the Symphony was completed in Berlin, March, 1833, and brought out in London in the following May. [copyrighted] TRAINING IN ALL FIELDS OF MUSIC ORCHESTRA CHORUS OPERA POPULAR MUSIC ORGAN COMPOSITION SPECIAL STUDENTS NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC 290 Huntington Avenue Boston 15, Mass. [6] C. C. CAPPEL presents BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA REGINALD STEWART, Conductor HEIFETZ, Violin Soloist THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20 SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PIERRE MONTEUX, Conductor MONDAY, APRIL 7 Also the following attractions: ALEC TEMPLETON, Pianist-Composer January 23 MARTHA GRAHAM and her Modern Dance Group February 18 ZINO FRANGESGATTI, Brilliant Violin Virtuoso March 20 TRUDI SGHOOP and her Comic Ballet March 24 PLATOFF DON COSSACK Chorus and Dancers March 30 All concerts in Constitution Hall at 8:30 P.M.