SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Telephone, Commonwealth 1492 FIFTY-SIXTH SEASON, 1936-1937 CONCERT BULLETIN of the Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Richard Burgin, Assistant Conductor with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk COPYRIGHT, 1937, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, ltlc 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 [ 1121 ] . r Old Colony Trust Company 17 COURT STREET, BOSTON The principal business of this company is: 1 Investment of funds and management of property for living persons. 2. Carrying out the provisions of the last will and testament of deceased persons. Our officers would welcome a chance to dis- cuss with you either form of service. <iAllied with The First National Bank 0/* Boston [ 1122 ] SYMPHONIANA Nineteenth-Century Music The French Vielle Orchestra Drawings in Providence NINETEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC Music composed within the exact boundary-lines of the Nineteenth Cen- tury has comprised the concentrated fare of the Tuesday afternoon concerts this season. The final programme, to be given on Tuesday week, will round out the list with Moussorgsky's Prelude to "Khovanstchina," Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun," Sibelius' • This lighting fixture and other "Swan of Tuonela" and "Finlandia," hand-made glass; also unusual and and "Also Sprach Zarathustra" of attractive Wedding Gifts can be Richard Strauss. obtained in our Gallery at 77 New- Ranging freely throughout the great bury Street. of this century, which, scores as Mr. • Paintings by John Dix-April 14th Cecil Gray has recently pointed out, is to May 1st. the period above all others of music's supremacy over its sister arts, Dr. MRS. WM. FAVERSHAM, Jr. Koussevitzky has chosen an astonishing MR. JOSEPH HELLING number of representative masterpieces. MR. GEORGE R. SHAW, 2nd Weber's "Oberon," Berlioz' "Roman Carnival," and Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave" overtures have been given, as DESIGNERS OF INTERIORS well as the latter composer's "Italian" CONSULTANT DECORATORS symphony, Beethoven's Fifth, Schu- GALLERY GIFTS bert's "Unfinished," Schumann's Fourth, Brahm's Fourth, Tchaikovsky's Fourth, and that of Cesar Franck. Liszt has been represented by the "Gretchen" movement out of his "Faust" sym- BELL & FLETCHER, Ltd. phony, and Wagner by the "Forest 654 Madison Avenue 77 Newbury Street Murmurs" from "Siegfried," "A Sieg- NEW YORK CITY BOSTON Regent 4-5670 fried Idyl" and the Overture to Commonwealth 1425 "Tannhauser." Grieg's first suite of in- [ 1123 ] cidental music to Ibsen's "Peer Gynt," and Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite "Scheherazade" explore this facet of the WetakeTime century's interest. THE FRENCH VIELLE to take Qare Among the old instruments of the Casadesus Collection to be found in the Sometimes we lose business. Es- pecially if the owner of a lovely dress wants us to use undue haste in cleansing. For we know after one hundred years of cleansing just what can be done safely, and what cannot. We know definitely when there are no safe shortcuts ... no speedy expedients that justify the danger of damage. So we say "No" and lose some business. But out of this has come the reward of reputation — a reputa- tion for reliability. And to our- selves we have attracted thousands who respect us for taking time to take care. If you want cleansing well done ... if you want safe, dependable service always ... if you like painstaking care, individualized care, may we suggest that you call Lewandos. Lewandos, as you probably know, cleanses ANYTHING — and anything that Lewandos cleanses is well cleansed. For we take time to take care — with your things. You Can Rely on Lewanaosi Cleansers -:- Launderers room specially designated for their Dyers -:- Fur Storage preservation off the first balcony cor- For Service-At-Your-Door ridor, is an old French Vielle of the Telephone eighteenth century. The instrument is MIDdlesex 5700 equivalent to a hurdy-gurdy and is played with a crank and wheel instead [ 1124] of a bow. It was in the province of Bresse, adjacent to Savoy, that Henri Casadesus found the Vielle. Signed "Melina," it belonged to a fid- Kranich & Bach dler who for fifty years had conducted all the balls and all the marriages in the region. He had himself obtained this Vielle from his great-grandfather. Upon the death of the fiddler in ques- tion, Henri Casadesus hastened to pur- chase the beautifully preserved antique, the head of which, as may be seen in the illustration, is carved with such careful elegance. For many years be- fore it came into the possession of the $ Orchestra it formed an important and Priced from 675 envied part of M. Casadesus' private collection. Makers of the world's finest small grand, mastercraftsmen have been building the Kranich ORCHESTRA DRAWINGS IN & Bach since 1864 and it is one PROVIDENCE of the few pianos still manufac- tured by members of the origi- The Providence Friends of the Or- nal families who founded the chestra have arranged an exhibition in company. Faunce Hall Art Gallery of Brown exquisite tone quality University of the original drawings of The and unusual volume of the Kranich the Orchestra members and Dr. Kous- & Bach baby grand are an sevitzky by Gerome Brush. Shown in achievement of modern science. Symphony Hall last October, the com- reconditioned grands plete collection has also been seen in In we offer Steinways, Chickerings, Widener Library of Harvard Univer- Ivers & Pond, Knabe, C. C. sity during the Harvard Tercentenary, Harvey, Charles S. Norris, and in the Berkshire Playhouse in Stock- Hazelton. Priced from Si 50. bridge, Massachusetts, during the Berk- Small uprights and grandg shire Symphonic Festival. The Provi- rented at low rates. dence exhibition will last from April twenty-seventh until May fourteenth, .onvemen t Te and will be open to the public. There will be a private view for the Friends Norrisorris Crw Ccompany INCORPORAINCORPORATED of the Orchestra and their guests on Monday afternoon, April twenty-sixth. 41 Boylston Street, Boston (Between Arlington and Berkeley Sts.) Established 1852 Tel. COM 3033 [ 1125 ] Ctjanoler & Co: TREMONT AND WEST STREETS Spring Straws // with a new lacquered look 3 95 Sparkling bright and young as a Spring morning . it's no wonder these shiny straws go to our heads! The roller brim sketched has an upstanding bow and binding of patent leather — to match your shoes or handbag. Street Floor at Chandler 's I 1126 j FIFTY-SIXTH SEASON. NINETEEN HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX AND THIRTY-SEVEN Twenty-third Programme FRIDAY AFTERNOON, April 23, at 2:30 o'clock SATURDAY EVENING, April 24, at 8:15 o'clock d'Indy Symphonic Variations, "Istar," Op. 42 Franck "Psyche borne away by Zephyrs," from the Symphonic Poem, "Psyche" Roussel Rapsodie Flamande (First performances in the United States) IN I E R M 1 S S I O N Berlioz Fantastic Symphony, Op. 14A 1. Dreams, Passions Largo: Allegro agitato e appassionato assai II. A Ball Waltz: Allegro non troppo III. Scene in the Meadows Adagio IV. March to the Scaffold Allegretto non troppo V. A Witches' Sabbath Larghetto: Allegro This programme will end about 4:15 on Friday Afternoon, 10:00 o'clock on Saturday Evening Boaz Piller's collection of pictures and autographs of musicians is on view in the First Balcony Gallery. [ 1127 ] JORDA^MARSH coiwriB»AJwv OUR NEW DEPARTMENT for u^.<Pii a n o ± OFFERS A SCOPE THAT GOES FROM MINIPIANOS TO GRANDS! Mindful of the heritage that stems from the Jordans — father and son— since the days when they were among the sponsors of Boston's earlier Opera . the New England Conservatory of Music and Jordan Hall . our new piano depart- ment comprises the finest collection we could assemble. Over sixty examples of the new artistry and skill that has come with the revival of the piano, invite your inspection. May we show them to you? SECOND FLOOR IN THE ANNEX [ 1128] SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS, "ISTAR," Op. 42 By Vincent d'Indy Born at Paris on March 27, 1851; died there December 2, 1931 The "Istar" Variations were first performed January 10, 1897, at two concerts: one in Brussels led by Eugene Ysaye, the other in Amsterdam, led by Willem Mengelberg. There was a performance in Chicago under Theodore Thomas, April 23, 1898. Wilhelm Gericke introduced the work in Boston at a concert by this orchestra, February 18, 1899. Subsequent performances at these concerts were given April 13, 1901, December 2, 1905 (Vincent d'Indy guest conductor), November 4, 1912, April 30, 1920, December 11, 1931 (the week following the composer's death), and March 29, 1934. The Variations are scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, two harps and strings. The dedication is to the Orchestral Society of the Ysaye concerts. r-piHE "Istar" Variations are in effect a tone poem, although based JL upon the variation form in a sort of reversed order. The theme itself does not appear complete and unadorned until the last variation has been heard. The seven variations proceed from the point of com- plex ornamentation to the final stage of bare thematic simplicity. The music thus bears a formal analogy to the tale of a Babylonian poem, "Ishtar's Descent into Hades," which is believed to have been in the library of Sardanapalus.