UMS Concert Program, August 8, 1946: Sixty-seventh Annual Choral Union Concert Series -- Vitya Vronsky And Victor Babin

Season: 1946-1947
Complete Series: 2930
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Special Concert
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
CHARLES A. SINK, PRESIDENT THOR JOHNSON, CONDUCTOR
HARDIN VAN DEURSEN, ACTING CONDUCTOR
Special Concert 1946-1947 Complete Series 2930
Sixty-Seventh Annual
Choral Union Concert Series
VITYA VRONSKY and VICTOR BABIN, Pianists
Thursday Evening, August 8, 1946, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Andante and Variations, Op. 46.......Schumann
"Strains from Far-Off Lands".......Victor Babin
The Piper of Polmood Hebrew Slumber Song Russian Village
Duettino Concertante, after Mozart.......Busoni
INTERMISSION
Le Bal Martiniquais..........Milhaud
Chanson Creole Biquine
Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56B.....Brahms
Note.--Vronsky and Babin have been heard in the Choral Union Series on one previous occasion: March 3, 1942.
(over)
The Steinway is the official concert piano of the University Musical Society
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
PROGRAM NOTES
Andante and Variations, Opus 46.....Robert Schumann
This, Schumann's only work for two pianos, was much played by Clara Schumann and Brahms. It was composed at a time when Schumann was enjoying a creative period of rich fullness, producing his greatest works for chamber music. The original subject is one of great beauty, the variations, an arabesque of changing harmonies; particularly lovely is the quiet conclusion, with passages that have been described as "the interweaving of garlands of flowers."
"Strains from Far-off Lands".......Victor Babin
The Piper of Polmood Hebrew Slumber Song Russian Village
Mr. Babin has done and is doing much toward enriching the literature for two piano music. As a student, he studied composition under that rugged individualist, Franz Schreker, the German composer. Mr. Babin has already to his credit numerous compositions for voice, violin, solo, and duo piano. His concerto for two pianos and orchestra had its first American performance with the Chicago Orchestra in 1939 and the following season with the New York Philharmonic Society, Leopold Stokowski conducting; Mr. Babin and Miss Vronsky at the two pianos, at both performances.
Duettino Concertante, after Mozart .... Ferrucio Busoni
The monumental possibilities of the piano that Liszt discovered to the world, found a later exponent in the great Italian pianist, Busoni. His interpretations of Beethoven and Bach, magnificent in their power and grandiose conception, gave him outstanding eminence throughout the concert world. It is, therefore, all the more surprising that he should have been drawn in later life to the delicate, rippling music of Mozart. He wrote only four works for two pianos--the Fantasia Contrapuntictica, a daring modern version on an unfinished Bach fugue, an improvisation on a Bach chorale, a transcription of Mozart's Fantasy for Orgelwalze (or barrel-organ), and the present little work. In this, Busoni has given the tender and intimate character of one of Mozart's sparkling operatic duets.
INTERMISSION
Le Bal Martiniquais........Darius Milhaud
Chanson Creole Biquine
Milhaud, brought up in the academic atmosphere of the Paris Conservatory, was not long in breaking away. He was one of the famous "Six" to sign the manifesto of revolt against the servile acceptance of age-worn formulas in art. His compositions cover a wide field. A serious musician, he can also condescend to such flippant gaieties as his setting of a florist's catalog for voice and chamber-music.
After the liberation of the French West Indies in 1943, the Governor of Martinique sent to Milhaud a collection of verses and tunes expressing the joy of the people over their freedom. These tunes of the island were used by Milhaud as a basis for the present composition and are reflected in its gaiety and insistent rhythmic patterns.
Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Opus S6B . . Johannes Brahms
This set of variations is here played in its original form--a composition for two pianos, although it is now more often heard in Brahms's own later orchestral version. The theme is taken from Haydn's "St. Anthony Chorale," a serenade for woodwinds. The eight variations do not follow the theme faithfully, but are very free treatments of different ideas suggested by the theme. Each variation shows a mood and style of its own, and the whole displays an impressive harmonic and contrapuntal skill.
Sixty-eighth Rnnual Choral Union Series
James Melton, Tenor......Thursday, October 10
Egon Petri, Pianist......Wednesday, October 30
Cleveland Orchestra......Sunday, November 10
George Szell, Conductor
Yehudi Menuhin, Violinist.....Tuesday, November 19
Icelandic Singers.......Monday, November 25
Siguedur Thordarson, Conductor
Boston Symphony Orchestra .... Monday, December 9 Serge Koussevitzky, Conductor
Vladimir Horowitz, Pianist......Friday, January 17
Detroit Symphony Orchestra . . . . Monday, February 17 Karl Krueger, Conductor
Lotte Lehmann, Soprano.....Wednesday, February 26
Chicago Symphony Orchestra.....Sunday, March 16
Desire Defauw, Conductor
Season Tickets (with tax): Block A: $15.60 (supply exhausted)--Block B: $13.20--Block C: $10.80--Block D: $8.40.
messiah
Sunday Afternoon, December IS, 3 o'clock
Lura Stover, Soprano Frieda Vogan, Organist
Ellen Repp, Contralto Special Messiah Orchestra
Ralph Lear, Tenor University Choral Union
Alden Edkins, Bass Hardin Van Deursen, Conductor
Tickets (with tax): Main floor, 70--first balcony, 60{S-top balcony, 40.
Seventh Rnnual Chamber music Festival
Friday Evening; Saturday Afternoon and Evening, January 24 and 25
THE BUDAPEST STRING QUARTET
Lecture Hall--Rackham Building Season Tickets (with tax): $3.60--$3.00--$1.80
Fifty-fourth Rnnual IDay Festival
May 8, 9, 10, 11, 1947--6 Concerts
PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA, EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor, and ALEXANDER HILSBERG, Associate Conductor; UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION, HARDIN VAN DEURSEN, Conductor; FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS, MARGUERITE HOOD, Conductor; and distinguished soloists, both vocal and instrumental.
For tickets or for further information, please address: Charles A. Sink, President, University Musical Society, Burton Memorial Tower.