SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON HUNTINGTON AND MASSACHUSETTS AVENUES Telephone, Commonwealth 1492 FIFTY-NINTH SEASON, 1939-1940 CONCERT BULLETIN of the Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Richard Burgin, Assistant Conductor with historical and descriptive notes by John N. Burk COPYRIGHT, 1939, BY BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, ItlC. The OFFICERS and TRUSTEES of the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Inc. Ernest B. Dane ...... President Henry B. Sawyer .... Vice-President Ernest B. Dane ...... Treasurer Henry B. Cabot M. A. De Wolfe Howe Ernest B. Dane Roger I. Lee Alvan T. Fuller Richard C. Paine Jerome D. Greene Henry B. Sawyer N. Penrose Hallowell Edward A. Taft Bentley W. Warren G. E. Judd, Manager C. W. SPALDING, Assistant Manager [337 3 Complete FIDUCIARY SERVICE /^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. 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 ^Boston [338] FIFTY-NINTH SEASON NINETEEN HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE AND FORTY Eighth Programme FRIDAY AFTERNOON, December 8, at 2:30 o'clock SATURDAY EVENING, December 9, at 8:15 o'clock Mozart Symphony in C major, No. 34 (Koechel No. 338) I. Allegro vivace II. Andante di molto III. Finale: Allegro vivace Mahler Finale, adagio, from the Ninth Symphony intermission Schubert Symphony No. 7 in C major I. Andante; Allegro ma non troppo II. Andante con moto III. Scherzo IV. Finale This programme will end about 4:30 on Friday Afternoon, 10:15 o'clock on Saturday Evening 19 I JORDA CO ROUND TRIP... Jia±£mznt to tkz 5th fooz ariid track . in FOUR MINUTES! See our ten electric stairways that provide a round trip, magic carpet style ... an intra -mural Rapid Transit System of our own with stop-overs where you wish, with continuous service up OR down, from the opening of our doors to the closing thereof, daily! Come in and ride this speed-way to shopping in our Annex building! TEN new electric stairways for your convenience! [340] I SYMPHONY IN C MAJOR No. 34, Kolchel No. 338 By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born at Salzburg, January 27, 1756; died at Vienna, December 5, 1791 The first performance of tKis symphony by the Boston Symphony Orchestra was on April 1, 1899. Wilhelm Gericke conducting. Subsequent performances have been given in 1904, 1923, 1928 (Sir Thomas Beecham conducting), 1930, 1931, and 1936 (November 6—7). It is scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. The symphony is inscribed by its composer as having been written at Salzburg, August 29, 1780. A reference in a letter by Mozart to a performance under Joseph Bono, conductor at Vienna, is considered to apply to this score: "I have lately forgotten to write that the sym- phony conducted by old Bono went magnifique, and had great suc- cess. Forty violins played — the wind instruments were all doubled — ten violas, ten doublebasses, eight violoncellos, and six bassoons" (From Vienna, April 11, 1781). The work is characterized by Erich Blom in his life of Mozart as "the first of the symphonies to have achieved any degree of permanence, FEATURI NG AMERICAN COMPOSERS-II Selected Piano Solos Net ERNEST HARRY ADAMS, Concert Impromptu in D-iiat 60 EDWARD BALLANTINE, Variations on "Mary Had a Little Lamb." in the styles of ten composers 1.00 MARION BAUER, Op. 15. Six Preludes 75 MRS. H. H. A. BEACH, Op. 15, No. 4. Fireflies 00 1-50 Op. 60. Variations on Balkan Themes 50 Op. 130. Out of the Depths (Psalm 130) 00 G. W. CHADWTCK, Op. 7, No. 3. Scherzino JULIUS CHALOFF, Prelude in E-flat 60 CHARLES DENNeE, Op. 43. Modern Etudes in Waltz Form... 1.25 ARTHUR FOOTE, Impromptu in G minor 50 50 Op. 37, No. 1. Prelude-Etude for the right hand alone Prelude-Etude for the left hand alone 50 FELIX FOX, Fantaisie Lyrique r'° ^"> HENRY HADLEY, Op. 22, No. 3. Scherzino EDWARD MacDOWELL, Op. 51. Woodland Sketches 1.25 -'' Op. 55. Sea Pieces 1 Op. 01. Fireside Tales 1:-' } Op. 62. New England Idyls 1:2 ° LEE PATTISON, Op. 4. Told in the Hills. Sui te 100 THE ARTHUR P. SCHMIDT CO., 120 Boylston St. [341 3 as far as concert practice goes — and very justly, for it is a lovely work and, though formally on a small scale, fully matured and typically Mozartian with its capricious changes between a variety of humours. The musical ideas are mostly the current coin of the time, but their treatment is in the nature of an ironical commentary. Mozart loves the musical cliches of his century and at the same time laughs at them up his sleeve, and never more wittily than in this little but captivating and very finished symphonic work." Otto Jahn speaks of the symphony as "grander in conception and more serious in tone than the earlier one in B-flat major, composed the summer before (K. 319). This is particularly noticeable in the first movement, where a constant propensity to fall into the minor key blends strength and decision with an expression not so much of melancholy as of consola- tion. In perfect harmony of conception, the simple and fervent An- dante di molto combines exceeding tenderness with a quiet depth of feeling. The contrasting instrumentation is very effective in this work. The first movement is powerful and brilliant, but in the second, only stringed instruments (with doubled violas) are employed.* The last movement is animated throughout, and sometimes the orchestral treat- ment is rapid and impetuous." * A bassoon is added to the string orchestra in this movement. We cordially invite you to make use of the facilities afforded by our Sample Room tvith its large and unique collection of color cards and samples of decorative finishes. EDWARD K. PERRY CO., 655 Beacon St. PAINTING AND DECORATIVE FINISHES [342] I It has come to my attention that there are many patrons of our Concerts who do not realize that contributions o£ as little as $5 and $10 are welcomed by the Society of Friends of the Orchestra. We have today about 400 contributors in each of these groups. We would like to have several thousand more for it would not only be an encouraging evidence of the wide range of the Orchestra's well-wishers but also a wel- come assurance to our larger contributors that their generosity is greatly valued and appre- ciated. The release which music gives from the nervous tension of this age in which we live, is a very real social service. Last year more than 200,000 individuals sought something which the Boston Symphony Orchestra alone could apparently give them. It is our aim to continue to render this service by bringing the best in orchestral music within the reach of the greatest possible number of individuals, although it costs us on the average .f 1,000 more for each concert than is received in revenues. It is the Friends who, in the final analysis, make this service possible. Contributions sent to the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Treasurer's office, 6 Beacon Street, Boston, will constitute your enrollment as a Friend. Reginald C. Foster, Chairman, Friends of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. [343] : The Symphony is without a minuet, although the first measures of one, crossed out by the composer, were found in the manuscript score.* Symphonies in three movements are rare among the more ma- ture works of Mozart (this one and the two symphonies K. 444 and K. 504 are exceptions). His childhood and boyhood symphonies were more often than not without minuets, the form having then freshly evolved from the Italian overture, with its three sections — a first allegro, a slow movement and a lively finale. It has often been stated that Haydn was the first to introduce minuets into the symphony, and indeed he gave his symphonic minuets an importance the form had never had. But there were earlier composers who began this practice. Philip Hale has pointed out: "There is one in a symphony in D major by Georg Matthias Monn * An isolated minuet, evidently a symphony movement (K. No. 409), has been conjectured as possibly intended for this symphony. The movement was composed in May, 1782, in Vienna, two years after the symphony. The addition of two flutes to the orchestration called for in the symphony might mean only that Mozart had flutes available at the time. Andre considers that the minuet was intended for general usefulness as a mid-movement in the concerts which he gave in Vienna in 1782. But Alfred Einstein believes that this movement might well have been intended for a performance of the particular symphony in that year "If this theory is correct, there would be no need of future performances of No. 338 with- out this splendid minuet." The minuet was included in a performance in London by Stanley Chappie, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, October 2, 193 8. THE THEATER SUIT — OUR IMPORTANT PEAK-OF-SEASON COLLECTION OF GALA GOWNS FEATURES THE THEATER SUiT- DRAPED SILK JERSEY GOWNS WITH LAME JACKETS — HIGH SHADES OF VELVET OVER DARK CREPE GOWNS — BRILLIANT ALL- METALLIC SUITS — ALL- SATIN SUITS WITH RICH FUR TRIMMING— PERFECT FOR THEATER, AND EQUALLY CHIC FOR SUPPER OR DANCING — *^cnty(3^6uru,J5osiotL mm wvmwK [344] composed before 1740.