METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE, NEW YORK. Boston Symphony Orchestra Mr. EMIL PAUR, Conductor, Tenth Season in New York. PROGRAMME OF THE FIFTH and LAST CONCERT Thursday Evening, March 26, At 8.15 precisely. With Historical and Descriptive Notes by William F. Apthorp. .*». -. PUBLISHED BY C. A. ELLIS, MANAGER MANUFACTURERS OF GRAND, SQUARE/ AND UPRIGHT PIANOS EUGEN D'ALBERT: From fullest conviction, I declare them to be the best Instru- ments of America. ........ DR. HANS VON BULOW : Their sound and touch are more sympathetic to my ears and hands than all others of the country. I declare them the absolutely best in America. ...... ALFRED GRUNFELD: I consider them the best instruments of our times. P. TSCHAIKOWSKY: Combines with great volume of tone rare sympathetic and noble tone color and perfect action. WAREROOMS BALTIMORE, WASHINGTON, 22 and 24 E. Baltimore Street. 1422 Pennsylvania Avenue. NEW YORK, 148 Fifth Avenue. (2) Metropolitan Boston , £ Opera House, Symphony S New York. ^. ^ A Fifteenth Season, 1895-96. ff^/^Vl^^i" f*Cl 1388th Performance Tenth Season in New York. 47th Performance in New York. Mr. EMIL PAUR, Conductor. Fifth and Last Concert, Thursday Evening, March 26, At 8.15 precisely. WAGNER PROGRAMME. "Rienzi." Overture. " Lohengrin." Preludes to Acts I. and III. " Siegfried." Idyll, in E major. A Faust Overture, in D minor. "Siegfried." " Waldweben." " Die Meistersinger." " Walther's Prize-Song." " Die Meistersinger." Prelude. " Die Walkiire." Spring-Song. " Die Walkiire." " Ride of the Valkyries." Soloist, Mr. BEN DAVIES. For List of Works performed this Season, see page 21, (3) ; Overture to " Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes," in D major. Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen, grand tragic opera in five acts, was written for the Acade'mie de Musique in Paris. Wagner was inspired to i write it by reading Bulwer's novel of the same title in Dresden in 1837, and began his sketch at Riga in the autumn of that year. He finished the libretto in the summer of 1838, and began to write the music in the autumn of the same year, finishing the first two acts by the spring of 1839 at Riga and Mittau. The rest of the work was written in Paris. The finished opera was offered to the Acade'mie de Musique, and then to the Theatre de la Renaissance,* but was refused by both ; in 1841 Wagner sent the score to Dresden, where it was accepted and brought out at the Court Opera on October 20, 1842. The opera was written in emulation of the style of Spontini, Meyerbeer, and Halevy, and contains little or nothing that can be called characteristically Wagnerian. All the themes in the overture are taken from the body of the opera * Not the present Theatre de la Renaissance, on the corner of the boulevard Saint-Martin and the rue de Bondy, but the older and far more famous house (now changed into a bank), better known as the Th6atre- Italien, or " Salle- Ventadour." L P. Hollander & Co., 290 FIFTH AVENUE. I OUR NEW MODELS Of Ladies' Dresses, | Shoulder Capes, and Jackets I Are now ready, together with a very extensive assortment of ALL THE NEWEST FABRICS, for taking orders. OPENING Of Misses' and Children's Dresses, Street Garments, and Trimmed Hats, also Boys' Clothing. (4) the overture itself is in the traditional form, with just enough working-out to raise it above the class of French " potpourri " overtures. It begins with a slow introduction, Molto sostenuto e maestoso in D major (4-4 time), which opens with a long-sustained, swelled and diminished A on the trum- pet. This trumpet-note is, in the opera, the agreed signal for the uprising of the people to throw off the tyrannical yoke of the nobles. It is twice repeated, after a slow passage in the basses and some solemn, church-like harmonies in the high wood-wind ; then a chromatic passage in the basses leads to the entrance of a majestic theme, played by the violins and 'celli in unison to a simple accompaniment in the other strings and some of the wind instruments : this theme is the melody of Rienzi's prayer in the fifth act of the opera. Its development is soon cut short by some stormy passage-work, which leads crescendo e sempre piu crescendo to a resounding return of the theme in full harmony in all the brass, the first violins coming in between the phrases with a series of ascending turns which may be re- garded as the first symptom in Wagner of those famous violin effects in the overture to Tannhauser* The development of the melody is again interrupted by a strong diminished-7th chord and a furious rolling of the snare-drums, over which latter some violent, recitative-like phrases lead to three more repetitions of the trumpet-signal, interspersed with tremulous * Wagner himself said that the famous whirling violin accompaniment to the Pilgrims' Chant in Tann- hauser was suggested to him by a certain violin passage in Bellini's Norma, which first struck his fancy while he was conducting a performance cf that opera in Magdeburg in 1836. It is somewhat curious, however, that a very similar violin effect is to be found in the choral Finale of Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette symphony, which was written in 1838-39. The violin passages in this Finale of Berlioz's are decidedly more like those in Tannhauser than like those in Rienzi, being descending instead of ascending; still it is undeniable that all three belong to the same class of effects. ATonic FOR BRAIN-WORKERS, THE WEAK AND DEBILITATED. Horsford's Acid Phosphate Is, without exception, the Best Remedy for relieving Mental and Nervous it Exhaustion ; and, where the system has become debilitated by disease, acts as a general tonic and vitalizer, affording sustenance to both brain and body. Dr. E. Cornell Easten, Philadelphia, Pa., says, "I have met with the greatest and most satisfactory results in dyspepsia and general derangement of the cerebral and nervous systems, causing debility and exhaustion." Descriptive pamphlet free. Rumford Chemical Works Providence, R.I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. (f.) harmonies in the strings, the last long-held A leading directly to the main body of the overture. This whole introduction is exceedingly dramatic and impressive. The main body of the overture, Allegro energico in D major (2-2 time), begins at once with a fortissimo outburst of the whole orchestra on the first theme, that of the chorus "Gegrusst sei, hoher Tag I Die Stufide na/it, vorbei die Schmach ! (All hail, exalted day ! The hour draws nigh, our shame is o'er !)" with which the Finale of the first act of the opera begins. This theme is developed precisely as it is in the above-mentioned chorus, and leads soon to the first subsidiary, the theme of the Battle-Hymn, " Sa?ito spirito cavalicre" of the popular Rienzi faction in the third act of the opera ; it is now given out fortissimo by the trumpets and trombones in octaves, each phrase ending on a resounding chord of the full orchestra. A transitional passage in the 'celli leads to the second theme, which is none other than that of Rienzi's Prayer, already heard in the introduc- tion, and now played in allegro in the key of the dominant, A major. It is followed by a fortissimo return of the " Santo spirito cavaliere " theme, which is now heard for the first time in its entirety, the first phrase being given out by the brass in octaves, the second phrase in full harmony. This leads to the conclusion-theme, that of the Stretto of the Finale to the second act of the opera, the song of rejoicing, "Rienzi, dir sei Preis (Rienzi, praise to thee)," after Rienzi's treaty of peace with the nobles and his pardoning Paolo Orsini's attempt at his assassination. This joyous, New England Conservatory of music FOUNDED IN 1853 BY DR. EBEN TOURJEE. RICHARD H. DANA, President. CARL FAELTEN, Director. The Leading Conservatory of America. The Most Perfect in its The Most Complete in all EQUIPMENTS. DEPARTMENTS. In addition to its unequalled musical advantages, the Conservatory contains excellent schools of Elocution and Modern Languages. Send or call for Prospectus. F. W. HALE, General Manager, . Franklin Square, BOSTON, MASS. J) if somewhat trivial, theme is developed by fuller and fuller orchestra, and ends the first part of the overture. The rather short free fantasia is almost entirely devoted to working out the " Santo spirito cavaliere " theme, and ends, as the introduction did, with a twice repeated return of the trumpet-signal. The third part is somewhat abbreviated from the first, the Battle-Hymn and second theme being omitted, and the first theme debouching immediately into the conclusion- theme, against the repetition of the first phrase of which the trumpets and trombones now pit a resounding counter-theme (not unlike that of the dis- appointed nobles — " Ha, dieser Gnade Schmach erdrilckt das stolze Herz I Ha, the shame of this grace oppresses the proud heart ! " — in the second Finale of the opera). A furious Coda Motto piU stretto follows, in which the " Santo spirito cavaliere " theme is again made the subject of some tu- multuous developments, and brings the overture to a resounding close. This overture is scored for i piccolo-flute, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 valve-horns, 2 plain horns, 2 bassoons, 1 serpent,* 2 valve-trumpets, 2 plain trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 ophicleide (now replaced by a bass-tuba), 1 pair of kettledrums, 1 snare-drum, 1 military drum,t triangle, bass-drum and cymbals, and the usual strings.