UMS Concert Program, January 20, 1964: Philharmonia Hungarica -- Miltiades Caridis

Season: Eighty-fifth
Concert: Seventh
Complete Series: 3412
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1963 Eighty-fifth Season 1964
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Seventh Concert Eighty-fifth Annual Choral Union Series Complete Scries 3412
PHILHARMONIA HUNGARICA
MILTIADES CARIDIS, Conductor
Soloist: TOSSY SPIVAKOVSKY, Violinist
Monday Evening, January 20, 1964, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM Marosszek Dances...........Kodaly
Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra.....Bartok
Allegro non troppo Andante tranquillo Allegro molto
Soloist: Tossy Spivakovsky
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 .... Tchaikovsky
Andante; allegro con anima
Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza Valse: allegro moderato Finale: andante maestoso; allegro vivace
Mercury Records
Second North American tour of the Philharmonia Hungarica, with the assistance of the Government of the German Federal Republic.
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
PROGRAM NOTES
Marosszek Dances.........Zoltan Kodaly
The "Marosszek Dances" might be described as a companion piece to the "Dances from Galanta." Each work comprises a brief introduction followed by a set of dances. For both compositions Kodaly used authentic Hungarian folk songs and dances as the basis for development, and his orchestral palette was virtually the same in each case, the "Marosszek Dances" being scored for double woodwinds (including contrabassoon), four horns, two trumpets, timpani, cym?bals, snare and bass drum and strings. Composed originally for piano solo in 1927, Kodaly orchestrated the "Marosszek Dances" especially for Arturo Toscanini, who gave the work its world premiere performance on December 11, 1930, conducting the New York Philharmonic. Marosszek is a Szekely province located between the Maros and Szamos rivers. The thematic material is taken from traditional melodies which Kodaly collected in the Marosszek district.
Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra .... Bela Bartok
This Concerto was composed in Budapest between August, 1937, and Decem?ber 31, 1938, and first performed in Amsterdam in 1939 with the Hungarian violinist Zoltan Szekely, for whom it was written, as soloist. The first American performance was in Cleveland in January 1943 with Tossy Spivakovsky as soloist. The analysis which follows was made by George H. L. Smith for that occasion:
I. Allegro non troppo, 44. The solo violin announces the main theme after six introductory measures for harp and plucked strings, and continues with rhapsodical passage-work introducing a canonic statement of the theme by strings and woodwinds. A tranquil version of the theme in the violin introduces the transitional theme which enters in the manner of a fugato. The legato second subject is, according to the composer, 'a kind of twelve-tone theme, yet with pronounced tonality.' In the development section of an extremely economical sonata form, these themes are put to various uses, the devices of augmentation and inversion being particularly exploited. A varied recapitulation leads to a solo cadenza of great difficulty. The brief coda contains further development of the principal subject, which has been consistently in the forefront in the musical unfolding of the movement.
II. Theme and Variations. Andante tranquillo, 98. The theme is stated by the solo violin over a light accompaniment in the lower strings, punctuated by harp harmonics and strokes of the kettledrums. Strings and woodwinds repeat the last two measures of the theme. There are six variations, after which the solo instrument restates the theme in its original form over an accompaniment of woodwinds, harp, celesta, and three solo violas. Again two final measures are echoed--this time by divided first and second violins, the solo violin returning to conclude the repetition.
III. Rondo. Allegro molto, 34. The entire rondo is conceived as a free varia?tion on the opening movement. The principal episode is based on the main theme of the first movement in a new guise. Subsequent episodes, constructed from the transitional and second subject of the first movement, are joined by a rapid connecting theme in triplets which finally brings the movement to a close.
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 . Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
That Tchaikovsky had a program in his mind when he composed his later symphonies is reasonably certain. He never even suggested one for the Fifth Symphony, however, which he completed in 1888. Yet it is impossible to suppose that this work is without an underlying sense of tragedy and hopeless fate.
Based on the recurrence of themes throughout the work and especially the opening one, Ernest Newman has expressed persuasive reasons for thinking that the Fifth Symphony was written to a program. He has pointed out that the fourth movement contains two themes from the first and one from the second; the second and third movements each contain one theme from the first. It does not seem possible that so elaborate a system of thematic repetition could have been due to mere caprice. To quote directly from Newman:
"The gloomy, mysterious opening theme (the 'motto-theme' in the clarinets) suggests the leaden, deliberate tread of fate. The allegro, after experimenting in many moods, ends mournfully and almost wearily. The beauty of the andante is twice broken in upon by the first sombre theme. The third movement--the waltz--is never really gay; there is always the suggestion of impending fate in it; while at times the scale passages for the strings give it an eerie, ghostly character. At the end of this also there comes the heavy, muffled tread of the veiled figure that is suggested by the opening theme. Finally, the last movement shows us, as it were, the emotional transformation of this theme, evidently in harmony with a change in the part it now plays in the curious drama. It is in the major instead of in the minor; it is no longer a symbol of weariness and fore?boding, but bold, vigorous, emphatic, self-confident. What may be the precise significance of the beautiful theme from the second movement that reappears in the finale it is impossible to say; but it is quite clear that the transmutation which the first subject of the allegro undergoes, just before the close of the symphony, is of the same psychological order as that of the 'fate' motive--a change from clouds to sunshine, from defeat to triumph."
1963 UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY PRESENTATIONS 1964
All presentations are at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Remaining Presentations in Hill Auditorium
Mazowsze Dance Company......Thursday, January 30
Vienna Symphony Orchestra.....Thursday, February 20
Program: Concerto Grosso, Op. 4, No. 10 .... LoCATEUJ
Six Pieces for Orchestra.......VVebern
Symphony No. 8 in B minor.....Schubert
Macbeth.........Richard Strauss
Teresa Berganza, Coloratura-mezzo . . . Wednesday, February 26 Program of songs and arias by
Haydn, Handel, Mozart, Donizetti, Toldra, Obradors, and Turina
Chicago Opera Ballet........Friday, March 13
Anna Moffo, Soprano.........Friday, April 3
Tickets: $4.50--$4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50
Remaining Presentations in Rackham Auditorium
Zurich Chamber Orchestra......Saturday, January 25
Program: Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 3, No. 2 . . Geminiani Sinfonia in E for String Orchestra and
Flute, Op. S3.......Muller-Zurich
Divertimento in F major, Op. 3, No. 5 .... Haydn Suite for String Orchestra: "The Married Beau" . Purceix
Sahm-Chun-Li Dancers of Seoul, Korea . . . Sunday, February 9 New York Pro Musica (Chamber Music Festival
of three concerts)........Friday, February 14
Saturday, February IS 2:30, Sunday, February 16
Orchestra San Pietro of Naples.....Thursday, March 19
Tickets: $3.50--$2.50--$2.00 (Series tickets for Chamber Music Festival: $6.00--$5.00--$4.00)
ANN ARBOR MAY FESTIVAL April 30, May 1, 2, 3
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA AT ALL SIX CONCERTS THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 8:30 P.M. Eugene Ormandy, Conductor.
Soloist: Joan Sutherland, Soprano.
FRIDAY, MAY 1, 8:30 P.M. Tiior Johnson, Conductor. Charles Treger, Violinist. University Choral Union, Saramae Endicii, John McCollum, and Ralph Herbert. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2:30 P.M. William Smith, Conductor.
Soloist: Philippe Entremont, Pianist. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 8:30 P.M. Eugene Ormandy, Conductor.
Richard Strauss Program.
SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2:30 P.M. Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Guest Conductors. University Choral Union; John McCollum, Tenor; and Vera Zorina, Narrator. SUNDAY, MAY 3, 8:30 P.M. Eugene Ormandy, Conductor. Soloist: Van Cliburn, Pianist. All-Rachmaninoff Program.
Season Tickets: $22.00--$18.00--$15.00--$12.00--$9.00
Single Concerts: Beginning March 2, any remaining tickets will be
placed on sale for single concerts.
For tickets and information, address UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, Burton Tower