UMS Concert Program, February 14,1963: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra --

Season: Eighty-fourth
Concert: Eighth
Complete Series: 3376
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1962 Eighty-fourth Season 1963
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Eighth Program Eighty-fourth Annual Choral Union Series Complete Series 3376
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
WILLIAM STEINBERG, Conductor
Thursday Evening, February 14, 1963, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Symphony No. 97 in C major........Haydn
Adagio; vivace Adagio ma non troppo Minuetto
Finale: presto assai
Big Ben (A Variation Fantasy on the
Westminster Chimes)........Ernst Toch
INTERMISSION
Symphony, Op. 21...........Webern
Ruhig schreitend Variationen
Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93.....Beethoven
Allegro vivace e con brio Allegretto scherzando Menuetto c trio Finale: allegro vivace
Kaisermarsch............Wagner
Recordings by Command Classics
NOTE--This is the eleventh appearance of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the auspices of the University Musical Society.
The Steinway is the official piano of the University Musical Society ARS LONG A VITA BREVIS
1962 UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY PRESENTATIONS 1963
All presentations are at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. HILL AUDITORIUM
Toronto Symphony Orchestra......Tuesday, March 12
Walter Susskind, Conductor; Annie Fischer, Pianist
Program: Overture to "Leonore," No. 3......Beethoven
Triptych ............Mercure
Piano Concerto No. 3.........Bartok
Symphony No. 4 in G major, Op. 88......Dvorak
Birgit Nilsson, Soprano........Monday, March 18
San Francisco Ballet........Friday, March 22
Program: Variations...........Glazounow
Caprice............von Suppe
Divertissement............Auber
Tickets: $4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50
Ann Arbor May Festival
Philadelphia Orchestra in six concerts .... May 9, 10, 11, 12
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 8:30. EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor; E. POWER BIGGS, Organist. "Music for the Royal Fireworks" (Handel-Harty); Poulenc's Organ Concerto in G minor; Excerpts from "Lulu" (Berg); and "Organ" Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Saint-Saens).
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 8:30. THOR JOHNSON, Conductor; GRANT JOHANNESEN, Pianist. UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION, "Te Deum" (Verdi); Variations for Piano and Orchestra (Riegger); "Still Are New Worlds" (Ross Lee Finney) EDWIN G. BURROWS, narrator; "Wanderer" Fantasia (Schubert-Liszt).
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2:30. WILLIAM SMITH, Conductor. Duet-Concertante for Clarinet and Bassoon (Strauss) Gigliotti and Garfield, soloists; Haydn Variations (Brahms); Fantastic Symphony (Berlioz).
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 8:30. EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor; ISAAC STERN, Violinist. Mendelssohn and Prokofieff {No. 1) Concertos; Trumpet Voluntary (Purcell), Gilbert Johnson, soloist; and Brahms' Symphony No. 2.
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2:30. THOR JOHNSON, Conductor. UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION, Haydn's "Creation." Soloists: ADELE ADDISON, Soprano; JOHN McCOLLUM, Tenor; DONALD BELL, Bass.
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 8:30. EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor; RUDOLF AND PETER SERKIN, Pianists. Mozart Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos; Beethoven Concerto No. 4; Mozart "HafTner" Symphony; Buxtehude's Passocoglia.
Series Tickets: $20.00--$16.00--$13.00--$10.00--$8.00
Beginning March 15 any remaining tickets will be placed on sale for single concerts at $4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50.
RACKHAM AUDITORIUM
Julian Bream, Guitarist and Lutenist . . . (2:30) Sunday, March 31
Program: Works for Lute by Francis Cutting, John Dowland, and William Byrd. Works for Guitar by Henry Purcell, Cimarosa, Bach, Villa-Lobos and Albeniz.
Tickets: $2.50 and $2.00
For tickets and information, address: University Musical Society, Burton Memorial Tower
The treatment of this small orchestra is pointillistic: dots of pure tone color are applied to the texture with utmost subtlety. Tone color is in perpetual flux throughout the two transparent movements of the symphony. The initial movement is based on a modern free interpretation of the concept of sonata form. Variations are at the root of the second movement.
The total duration of the symphony is approximately ten minutes.
Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 . . . Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven's humor emerges as the counterpart of his tragic spirit. His symphonies often abound in idyllic feeling and expression. The Eighth surpasses them all in con?tinuous joyousness and musical wit.
A symphonic curve unfolds that is unobscured by stormy clouds or hazy mists. There is no slow movement in the Eighth. The merry steps of a minuet replace the customary scherzo. The bright key of F major, which is also that of the Pastoral, appears as the main tonality of three movements. Only the witty second movement is in B-flat major, the key of the subdominant.
The brightness which radiates from this music makes us wonder what happened in the Iile of its creator, then forty-two years of age, in poor health and entirely deaf, to inspire music of such a delightful and optimistic nature.
The answer can only be speculative. We do know, however, that Beethoven's love of fun had reached a new high around the time of the composition of this symphony. The Austrian pastime of punning (which the native from Bonn acquired during his long residence in Vienna) assumes truly dangerous proportions. No friend is safe from his jokes. All acquaintances receive forbidding nicknames. If Beethoven is fond of them, they may be addressed in small games, wherein he proves himself a better composer than poet. The second movement of the Eighth stylizes this brand of drollery.
Beethoven had his own term to describe his happy mood: he called himself aujgeknoepjt, by which he implied that he was "unbuttoned," i.e., relaxed and com?fortable. Such was his frame of mind when he composed the Eighth. To be sure, the integration of humor into his symphonic score is of the most subtle kind. The expression of beauty and grace is accorded large space, delicately balancing the tonal comedy.
The orchestration of the symphony is truly remarkable. Certain features which Beethoven introduced into the Eighth, simultaneously mark their first employment any?where in the history of music. The use of the timpani may serve as an illustration. Prior to Beethoven, these kettledrums were mostly used for dynamic purposes: they might join forces with the brass for effects of loudness, and often participate in the lutti of the full orchestra.
Beethoven discovered new expressive possibilities in the timpani. And instead of two drums tuned to the tonic and its lower dominant (as preceding symphonists used them) Beethoven's score called for the dominant above. The octave tuning from F to F in the Eighth indicated an ingenious new device. In the key of F, Beethoven scores for the C below, as well as the C above the root tone F.
In spite of the light weight of numerous pages in this score, Beethoven had a large orchestra in mind as its appropriate medium. Thus when he conducted the premiere in Vienna's Redoutensaal (of the Imperial Castle) on February 27, 1814, he employed the following string sections: eighteen first and eighteen second violins, fourteen violas, twelve 'cellos, seven double basses. The wind instruments played in pairs.
Kaisermarsch.........Richard Wagner
The war of 1870-71 ended with the victory of Prussia over France. The war and swift victory made Wagner more German-conscious than he had ever been. In his new patriotic fervor, he had written the poem "To the German Army before Paris." Finally, the one-time revolutionary, whose political affiliations forced his flight from the father?land in 1849, embarked 20 years later on a nationalistic composition: the Kaisermarsch, with an optional choral finale, singing the praise of the Prussian King who was now the German Kaiser.
Wagner decided to offer the Kaisermarsch to Herr Wieprecht, the director of the imperial military music in Berlin. But the conductor declined politely. Wagner, resource?ful as ever, reinstrumentatcd the march for symphony orchestra. Moreover, he decided at that time to furnish the march with the previously mentioned patriotic text to be sung in unison (and octaves) by the audience. Consequently, they received a flyleaf with their program on which was printed both music and text.
The march is broadly set for full orchestra as a festive allegro maestoso (B-flat major, 44). The structure is typical for a national anthem. It contains a contrasting middle part and a rousing coda.
1962 UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY PRESENTATIONS 1963
All presentations are at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. HILL AUDITORIUM
Toronto Symphony Orchestra (C. U. Series) . . Tuesday, March 12 Walter Susskind, Conductor; Annie Fischer, Pianist
Program: Overture to "Leonore," No. 3 (Beethoven) ; Triptych (Mercure) ; Piano Concerto No. 3 (Bartok) ; Symphony No. 4 in G major, Op. 88 (Dvorak).
Birgit Nilsson, Soprano (Extra Series) .... Monday, March 18
San Francisco Ballet........Friday, March 22
Program: Variations (Glazounow) ; Caprice (von Suppe) ; Divertissement (Auber).
Tickets: $4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50
RACKHAM AUDITORIUM
Budapest String Quartet . . February 20, 21, 22, 23, & (2:30) 24
Complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets Series Tickets: $10.00 and $7.00; Single Concerts: $3.00 and $2.00
Julian Bream, Guitarist and Lutcnist . . . (2:30) Sunday, March 31
Tickets: $2.50 and $2.00
Ann Arbor May Festival
Philadelphia Orchestra in six concerts .... May 9, 10, 11, 12
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 8:30. EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor; E. POWER BIGGS, Organist. "Music for the Royal Fireworks" (Handel-Harty); Poulenc's Organ Concerto in G minor; Excerpts from "Lulu" (Berg); and "Organ" Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Saint-Saens).
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 8:30. THOR JOHNSON, Conductor; GRANT JOHANNESEN, Pianist. UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION, "Te Deum" (Verdi); Variations for Piano and Orchestra (Riegger); "Still Are New Worlds" (Ross Lee Finney) EDWIN G. BURROWS, narrator; "Wanderer" Fontasia (Schubert-Liszt).
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2:30. WILLIAM SMITH, Conductor. DuetConcertanle for Clarinet and Bassoon (Strauss) Gigliotti and Garfield, soloists; Haydn Variations (Brahms); Fantastic Symphony (Berlioz).
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 8:30. EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor; ISAAC STERN, Violinist. Mendelssohn and Prokofieff (No. 1) Concertos; Trumpet Voluntary (Purcell), Gilbert Johnson, soloist; and Brahms' Symphony No. 2.
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2:30. THOR JOHNSON, Conductor. UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION, Haydn's "Creation." Soloists: ADELE ADDISON, Soprano; JOHN McCOLLUM, Tenor; DONALD BELL, Bass.
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 8:30. EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor; RUDOLF AND PETER SERKIN, Pianists. Mozart Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos; Beethoven Concerto No. 4; Mozart "Haffner" Symphony; Buxtehude's Passacaglio.
Series Tickets: $20.00--$16.00--$13.00--$10.00--$8.00 Orders now accepted and filed.
Beginning March 15 any remaining tickets will be placed on sale for single concerts at $4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50.
For tickets and information, address: University Musical Society, Burton Memorial Tower