UMS Concert Program, March 23, 1953: Seventh Annual Extra Concert Series -- Arthur Fiedler

Season: 1952-1953
Concert: Fifth
Complete Series: 3103
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Charles A. Sink, President Thor Johnson, Guest Conductor
Lester McCoy, Associate Conductor
Fifth Concert 1952-1953 Complete Series 3103
Seventh Annual
Extra Concert Series
ARTHUR FIEDLER
and THE BOSTON POPS TOUR ORCHESTRA
By arrangement with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Soloist: Hilde Somer, Pianist
Monday Evening, March 23, 1953, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Rakoczy March from Damnation oj Faust . Overture to Mignon....... Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier .... "Espana" Rhapsody....... Berlioz Thomas Richard Strauss Chabrier
INTERMISSION
Italian Caprice........ Tchaikovsky
Hungarian Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra Hilde Somer Liszt
Bolero.......... Ravel
INTERMISSION
"Many Happy Returns"........Arr. by Mason
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered; Singin' in the Rain; Chairmaine; Alexander's Ragtime Band
Fiddle-Faddle..........Leroy Anderson
Bahn Frei Galop, Op. 45 ("Fast Track" Polka) . . Eduard Strauss Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure.....Wagner
RCA Victor Records
Baldwin piano through the courtesy of Liberty Music Shops, Inc.
A R S L O N G A VITA B R E V I S
PROGRAM NOTES
Rakoczy March.........Hector Berlioz
Those making acquaintance with the plot of The Damnation of Faust can scarcely help being puzzled when it places Faust on the plains of Hungary in the opening scene of the work. The explanation is in this march. Berlioz was so stirred when he found it in Vienna, printed in a book as an old Hungarian patriotic tune, that he was fired with ambition to make an arrangement. The ultimate result was that he placed Faust and his sinister companion in Hungary as a plausible excuse for introducing the march.
Overture to Mignon........Ambroise Thomas
A dancer in a group of gypsy entertainers wandering through Germany, Mignon remembers no associates but these, no family of her own. Actually, she is of noble birth, but was kidnapped as a baby. Her tragic situation as a gypsy captive is reflected in the opening strains of the overture.
Next is heard a harp-like motif. This symbolizes the aged and temporarily deranged harper, Lotario, who befriends her.
In the lovely slow melody, Mignon speaks of the beautiful warm southern country where she vagely remembers once living: "Knowest thou the land"
Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier.....Richard Strauss
In the opera, "The Rose Cavalier," of Richard Strauss (no relation to the family of Johann) these tuneful, amorous, measures are hummed by the obnoxious Baron Ochs. In this way he betokens his high spirits as he contemplates his intended marriage with the pretty young Sophie (who actually falls in love at first sight with Octavion, the Rose Cavalier.)
"Espana" Rhapsody.......Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier, unlike his fellow-Frenchman, Bizet, really traveled in Spain to absorb the peculiarities of its music. Chabrier listened to the players and the tapping of the dancers' feet in Seville, Malaga, Cadiz, Granada, Valencia. He devoted himself tirelessly to noting down melodies and intricate rhythmic patterns.
Gilbert Chase, in The Music of Spain, says:--"Chabrier's 'Espana' was the most thoroughly Spanish orchestral work written up to that time, inside or outside of Spain," and that "within its special genre it has never been surpassed."
Italian Caprice.........Peter Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky's opinions about his own music are fascinating. He considered this Caprice, "apart from its musical worth, one of my most effective orchestral works." At the first performances, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, respectively, the public liked it immensely. The critics dissented with vehemence.
It was begun during the composer's stay in Rome in the winter of 1880, and the orchestration was finished back in Russia. There are snatches of Italian folk-tunes, with a brilliant tarantella for conclusion. In the opening bars are trumpet notes taken from a cavalry signal which the composer heard issuing from barracks in Rome.
Hungarian Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra . . . Franz Liszt
Schubert's use of Hungarian themes in his piano duet, "Divertissement a la Hon-groise," seems to have given Liszt the idea which resulted in his "Hungarian Rhap?sodies." He began to bring them out in the 185O's. In the 1860's, he produced his "Hungarian Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra," which reflects the thematic material and spirit of the Rhapsodies.
Bolero............Maurice Ravel
Written first as a ballet to a choreograph of Fokine, the Bolero was presented in 1928 by Ida Rubinstein, noted Parisian dancer, but since then has been heard most often as a virtuoso orchestral piece. This last orchestral score of Ravel ( except for his two piano concertos) brought him far wider fame, and richer financial return, than any of his preceding and artistically superior works.
Why this music should enjoy its persistent popularity is no mystery to the Pops fan, who wrote: " 'Bolero' follows the formula of successful propaganda: 'Keep it simple, say it often, make it burn.' "
"Many Happy Returns"........arr. by Mason
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered--Singin' in the Rain--Charmaine--Alexander's Ragtime Band.
Fiddle-Faddle..........Leroy Anderson
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduate of Harvard, where he took up musical studies with Piston and Enesco, Leroy Anderson is noted as an arranger, though he prefers to be known as a composer in his own right. As such he has won his place with such delightful works as Jazz Legato, Jazz Pizzicato, Serenata, Fiddle-Faddle, and Sleigh Ride. On May 10, 19S2, his "Blue Tango" became the first purely instrumental number to be broadcast as No. 1 on "Your Hit Parade."
Bahn Frei Galop, Op. 45 ("Fast Track" Polka) . . Eduard Strauss
The Polka, "Bahn Frei," is one of more than two hundred compositions of this brother of Johann, the Younger. Eduard toured Europe often with his own orchestra; and America in 1901-2, advertised, to the confusion of many, under his more famous brother's title of the "The Waltz King."
Ride of the Valkyries, from Die Walkiire . . . Richard Wagner
Act 3 of Die Walkiire ("The Valkyrie") opens with this music. It betokens the assembling, mounted on winged horses, of Briinnhilde and her eight sister-Valkyries-the War God Wotan's warrior daughters, whose mission is to gather up heroes slain in battle, and ride up through the skies with them to Valhalla, heaven of heroes in the old Teutonic myths.
Motifs in the music actually symbolize the neighing and pawing of the winged steeds, amid the re-echoed cries of the Valkyries to each other while a storm rages.
CONCERT
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Pierre Monteux, Guest Conduc?tor, Tuesday, May 19, in the Choral Union Series.
Program:
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 . . . . Beethoven
Symphony No. 2..........Creston
Suite from "The Fire-Bird"......Stravinsky
Suite from "Der Rosenkavalier"......Strauss
Tickets: $1.50, $2.00, $2.50, $3.00--at the offices of the University Musi?cal Society in Burton Tower.
MAY FESTIVAL
APRIL 30, MAY 1, 2, 3, 1953
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA AT ALL CONCERTS
ZINKA MILANOV, Soprano DOROTHY WARENSKJOLD, Soprano JANICE MOUDRY, Contralto HAROLD HAUGH, Tenor KENNETH SMITH, Baritone CESARE SIEPI, Bass ZINO FRANCESCATTI, Violinist
MYRA HESS, Pianist RUDOLF FIRKUSNY, Pianist EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor THOR JOHNSON, Conductor ALEXANDER HILSBERG, Conductor MARGUERITE HOOD, Conductor UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS
PROGRAMS
THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 8:30
Eugene Ormandy, Conductor Soloist: Myra Hess, Pianist
"Academic Festival" Overture . . Brahms Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, for Piano and Orchestra
Myra Hess
Symphony No. 7 . . Prokohepf
(First performance in the Midwest)
Schumann
FRIDAY, MAY I, 8:30
The Philadelphia Orchestra
. University Choral Union Thor Johnson, Guru Conductor
Soloists:
Dorothy Worcnskjold, Soprano
Janice Moudry, Contralto
Harold Hough, Tenor
Kenneth Smith, Bass
Mass in B minor .....
Bach
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2:30
Alexander Hilsberg and Marguerite Hood,
Conductors
Festival Youth Chorus
Soloist: Zino Francescatti, Violinist
Overture, "Italians in Algeri" . . Rossini
Suite of Songs . . Benjamin Britten
(Orchestrated by Mabion McAitor)
Festival Youth Chorus
Overture-Fantasia, "Romeo and Juliet".....Tchaikovsky
Concerto in D major for Violin
and Orchestra.....Beethoven
Zino Francescatti
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 8:30
Eugene Ormandy, Conductor
Soloist: Cesare Siepi, Bass
Tone Poem, "Don Juan" . Richard Stsaubs
"Mentre ti lascio, o figlia" (K. 513) . Mozaht
Cesare Stepi Symphony, "Mathis der Maler" . Hindemith
"Ella gi ammai m'amo" from Don Carlo "Di sposo di padre" from Salvator Rosa
Mb. Siepi Polka and Fugue from "Schwanda" Weinberoex
Verdi Gomez
SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2:30
The University Choral Union
Thor Johnson, Conductor Soloist: Rudolf Firkusny, Pianist
Overture in the Italian Style . . Schubert
"Prairie" .... Normand Lockwood
"TTiumphlied"......Brahms
University Choral Union Concerto No. 2 for Piano and
Orchestra.......Martinu
Rudolf Firkusny
SUNDAY, MAY 3, 8:30
Eugene Ormandy, Conductor
Soloist: Zinka Milanov, Soprano
Symphony No. 7 in C major . . . Haydn
"Ah, perfido," Op. 65 ... Beethoven
Zinka Milanov Second Essay for Orchestra
"Pace, pace" from Forza del Destino "Ritorna vincitor" from Aida
Mme Milanov "La Valse".......Ravel
Barber
Verdi Verdi
SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS: $2.50, $2.00 and $1.50. On sale at University Musical Society, Burton Tower.