UMS Concert Program, February 20, 1964: The Vienna Symphony Orchestra --

Season: Eighty-fifth
Concert: Fourth
Complete Series: 3419
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
Fourth Program Eighteenth Annual Extra Series Complete Series 3419
The Vienna Symphony Orchestra
WOLFGANG SAWALLISCH, Conductor
Under the Sponsorship of the City of Vienna
and the patronage of
His Excellency Dr. Wilfred Platzer,
Austrian Ambassador to the United States
Thursday Evening, February 20, 1964, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Concerto grosso in E-flat major, Op. 4, No. 10 . . . Locatelli
Adagio molto Allegro Minuetto con variazioni: moderato
Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6.......Webern
Langsam Bewcgt Massig Sehr massig Sehr langsam Langsam
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 8 in B minor ("Unfinished") .... Schubert
Allegro moderato Andante con moto
Tone Poem: "Macbeth." Op. 23.....Richard Strauss
Vienna Symphony Orchestra: Epic, Vox, Westminster, Deutsche Grammophon, Lyric, Philips, Period, Everest, Richmond, and Bach Guild Records
Wolfgang Sawallisch: Angel, Epic, and Philips Records
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
PROGRAM NOTES
Concerto grosso in E-flat major,
Op. 4, No. 10......Pietro Antonio Locatelli
(1695-1764)
Locatelli, who was born in Bergamo, Italy, in 1695, lived and worked principally in Amsterdam, where he died in 1764. He studied with Corelli in Rome. As violinist and composer he achieved recognition all over Europe. His numerous concerti are late examples of orchestral music by baroque composers, who combined the "concertino" or small ensemble of soloists (mostly the leaders of the individual string groups) with the rest of the orchestra, or "ripieno." The concerti included in Op. 4, edited in Amsterdam in 1735, are amazingly rich in timbre and dynamics.
Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6.....Anton von Webekn
(1883-1945)
Even in his early works, as in the Six Pieces ior Orchestra, Op. 6, composed in 1909, Anton von Webern, the youngest of the three masters of Vienna's modern school (Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Webern), executed his ideas with incredible persistence. Like Schoenberg, his teacher, he turned persistently towards atonalism and, even more than Schoenberg, he continued to use it in his later works as well. In Webern's eyes the copiously orchestrated romanticism of Wagner's followers was a tiling of the past. Webern's ideal concept rested upon an infinitely refined and extremely concentrated orchestration, a condensed expression, suggestive of a musical shorthand. The result was the extreme shortness of his individual works--the longest of the Six Pieces for Orchestra has no more than forty measures. This music is not yet expressed in terms of the twelve-tone system, and no efforts to oppose the disintegration process with a new synthesis are noticeable. The Six Pieces for Orchestra are experiments of a different type; they serve to discover new melodic lines, new tone combinations, and particularly timbre, a new dimension. Timbre had been used before, but it had meant no more than finery, ornament, and addition. Anton von Webern tried to use it as an integral element of musical structure, thus leading the way for the entire younger generation of composers.
Symphony No. 8 in B minor ("Unfinished") . . Franz Schubert
(1797-1S28)
The "Unfinished" Symphony was written in 1822 as a gift for the Musical Society of Graz, Austria, which had just elected Schubert to honorary' membership. The theories advanced for his not finishing it have been many, especially as it is known that he had sketched parts of a third movement. The manuscript was kept by the president of the society, to whom Schubert gave it, and not discovered until forty-three years later when it received its first performance in Vienna in 1S65, long after the composer's death. From then on it has enjoyed a deserved popularity, for, although incomplete as a con?ventional symphony, it is music of the greatest and most satisfying beauty.
Melody dominates the entire Symphony which opens with a melancholy phrase by the cellos and basses. Then over the murmuring of the upper strings the oboe sings a meditative song with the sturdier clarinet heard beneath. Now appears a new stronger figure which becomes of first importance later in the movement. Ushered in by the horn
and bassoon to the shimmering accompaniment of the violins is what is technically the second theme of the movement. This pensive song by the cellos, however, is the best remembered theme in the entire symphony and one of the most beautiful melodies ever written. The development of the themes is truly inspired--a succession of matchless melodies in an infinite variety of interpretations ranging from passionate to dramatic, from gentle to vehement, from sad to ecstatic. The principal song recurs constantly until the full orchestra gives forth the mighty closing chords of the movement.
In the Andanle the mood of the symphony changes. A descending passage in pizzi?cato by the bass strings portends a coming fate. This despondent strain is followed by a contemplative melody in the woodwinds to soft accompaniment by the iolins. Then the foreboding doom becomes more positive, as the plaintive message by flutes, clarinets, and violins is repeated again and again. The two themes are forcefully augmented toward the close of the movement which is music of the sheerest beautv.
Tone Poem: Macbeth, Op. 23.....Richard Stkauss
(1864-1949)
"Macbeth" was the second tone poem which Richard Strauss wrote. Begun in 1887, the first version was completed early in 1888. This version, however, was never pub?lished but was redrafted with a new ending on the basis of the experience the master had gathered from his "Don Juan" and "Death and Transfiguration." In October 1890 ''Macbeth" was first performed in Weimar. On that occasion the composer wrote to his friend Alexander Ritter: "Still there were a few people present who noticed that the horrible dissonances expressed something other than an absolute in discord, that they expressed an idea." Strauss could as well have called it a psychological idea, for it was not so much the plot of Shakespeare's tragedy, a performance of which the composer had seen on the stage in Meiningen, that was the basis of the composition, but rather the description of the characters of the two Macbeths.
For the first time Strauss uses three themes to characterize a person. The first marchlike theme, in consecutive fifths, symbolizes the dominating nature of the Scottish usurper; the second one, agitated and appearing suddenly, his inclination towards violence and restlessness; and the third theme, derived from the second one, illustrates his cruelty. The ambitious Lady Macbeth, driving her husband to ever new outrages, is described by the violins in a seductive, supple melody winding around the masculine themes like a serpent. The development of these themes symbolizes the struggle with which Lady Macbeth carries off the victory: the king's murder is planned. The first theme is now developed into a triumphant march, a march of the evil accompanying Macbeth on his way to the heights of his power, to the very moment when fate crushes the murderer in a sudden blow. Strauss deliberately omitted the witches' scene, Lady Macbeth's insanity, even the Birnam Woods scene. What he was concerned with was the drama of passion, ambition, and yielding to insinuation. This early work is the first to represent the type of single movement piece--the tone poem--which made Richard Strauss famous.
1963 UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY PRESENTATIONS 1964
All presentations arc at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Remaining Presentations in Hill Auditorium
Teresa Berganza, Coloratura-mezzo . . . Wednesday, February 26 Program: Songs and arias by
Haydn, Handel, Rossini, 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 Presentation in Rackham Auditorium
Orchestra San Pietro of Naples.....Thursday, March 19
Program: Sinfonia "Edipo A Colona"........A. Sacchlki
Concerto for Oboe and Strings.......Marcello
Sinfonia in D major..........Clmarosa
Concertino No. 1 in G major........Percolesi
"Nel cor piu non mi sento"........Bottesini
Musikalischer Spass, K. 522.........Mozart
Tickets: $3.50--$2.50--$2.00
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. Thor Johnson, Conductor. Charles Trecer, Violinist. University Choral Union, Saramae Endich, 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. Eucene Ormandy, Conductor.
Richard Strauss Program. Soloists: Mason Jones, Horn; and Anshel Brusilow, Violinist.
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: Limited number of tickets available at: $18.00--$12.00--$9.00
Single Concerts: Beginning March 2, any remaining tickets will be
placed on sale for single concerts.
For tickrts and information, address UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, Burton Tower