UMS Concert Program, April 22, 23, 24, 25, 1967: The Seventy-fourth Annual Ann Arbor May Festival -- The Philadelphia Orchestra

Season: Eighty-Eighth
Concert: FIFTH
Hill Auditorium

ANN ARBOR
1967
QQQDD
an
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
of The University of Michigan
The Seventy-Fourth Annual
ANN ARBOR
MAY FESTIVAL
Five Concerts
April 22, 23, 24, 25, 1967 Hill Auditorium
Published by the University Musical Society, Ann Arbor, Michigan
CONTENTS
Page
University Musical Society, Board of Directors ............ 5
Harlan Hatcher (photograph) .............................. 6
Performing Artists ....................................... 7
Concert Programs ........................................ 9
Annotations
First Concert ............................................ 17
Second Concert .......................................... 26
Third Concert ........................................... 34
Fourth Concert .......................................... 43
Fifth Concert............................................ 51
Notes on the Philadelphia Orchestra and May Festival
Artists ................................................ 58
Organizations -Personnel
The University Choral Union .............................. 63
The Philadelphia Orchestra ................................ 65
History, Repertoire, and Resume
The University Musical Society ............................ 66
The Ann Arbor May Festival............................... 68
Choral Union Repertoire .................................. 69
Resume of 1966-67 Season................................. 72
International Presentations for the 1967-68 Season ...... 79
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Board of Directors
Charles A. Sink, A.B., M.Ed., LL.D., HH.D. . . President Alexander G. Ruthven, Ph.D., LL.D., Sc.D. . Vice-President
Erich A. Walter, A.M...........Secretary
Oscar A. Eberbach, A.B...........Treasurer
Roscoe 0. Bonisteel, LL.B., LL.D., Sc.D.
Assistant Secretary-Treasurer
James R. Breakey, Jr., A.M., LL.B., LL.D. Harlan Hatcher, Ph.D., Litt.D., LL.D. Thor Johnson, M.Mus., Mus.D. Wilbur K. Pierpont, M.B.A., Ph.D. E. Blythe Stason, A.B., B.S., J.D. E. Thurston Thieme, M.S., M.D. Henry F. Vaughan, M.S., Dr.P.H.
Gail W. Rector, B.Mus., Executive Director
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY is a nonprofit organiza?tion devoted to educational purposes. For eighty-eight years its concerts have been maintained through the sale of tickets. Gifts, credited to the Endowment Fund, will commensurately ensure continuance of the quality of concert presentation and make possible advances in scope and activity as new opportunities arise.
HARLAN HATCHER
President, The University of Michigan
Member oj the Board oj Directors,
The University Musical Society
THE SEVENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL
ANN ARBOR MAY FESTIVAL
Conductors
Eugene Ormandy, Orchestral Conductor
Thor Johnson, Guest Conductor
Lester McCoy, Chorusmaster
Organizations
The Philadelphia Orchestra The University Choral Union
Soloists
Galina Vishnevskaya.............................Soprano
Veronica Tyler ..................................Soprano
Mildred Miller.................................Contralto
Waldie Anderson ..................................Tenor
Giuseppe Campora..................................Tenor
Ezio Flagello.......................................Bass
Van Cliburn......................................Pianist
Mstislav Rostropovich ............................Cellist
(For biographical sketches of all performers, see page SS to 62)
The Steinway is the official piano of the University Musical Society.
The Baldwin Piano is the official piano of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
The Philadelphia Orchestra records exclusively for Columbia Records.
FIRST MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT
Saturday Evening, April 22, at 8:30
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor
SOLOIST
GALINA VISHNEVSKAYA, Soprano
PROGRAM
?Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor ........................Bach
Transcribed for orchestra by Eugene Ormandy
Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin ...................Tchaikovsky
Galina Vishnevskaya
intermission
"Ritorna vincitor" from A'ida ..............................Verdi
"Sola, perduta, abbandonata" from Manon Lescaut..........Puccini
Mme Vishnevskaya
Concerto for Orchestra..................................Bartok
Introduzione (andante non troppo; allegro vivace) Giuoco delle coppie (allegretto scherzando) Elegia (andante, non troppo)
Intermezzo interrotto (allegretto) Finale (presto)
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SECOND MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT
Sunday Afternoon, April 23, at 2:30
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor
SOLOISTS
VERONICA TYLER, Soprano
MILDRED MILLER, Contralto
WALDIE ANDERSON, Tenor
MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH, Cellist
PROGRAM
Magnificat in G minor, for Solo Voices,
Mixed Chorus, and Orchestra ........................Vivaldi
chorus: Magnificat chorus: Deposuit polentes
soprano: El exultavit contralto: Esurientes implevit
soprano: Quia respexit chorus: Suscepit Israel
contralto: Quia fecit chorus: Sicut locutus
chorus: El misericordia chorus: Gloria chorus: Fecit potentiam
University Choral Union, Veronica Tyler
and Mildred Miller
Mary McCall Stubbins, Organist
Marilyn Mason Brown, Harpsichordist
"The Martyr's Elegy," for Tenor, Mixed Chorus,
and Orchestra..............................Ross Lee Finney
Commissioned for The University of Michigan Sesquicentennial Celebration
chorus: Trampled and Mocked the Slave tenor: The Pure Spirit Shall Flow tenor: On the Silken Fringe chorus: The One Remains
chorus: Peace! Peace!
University Choral Union and Waldie Anderson
INTERMISSION
Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, for
Violoncello and Orchestra............................Dvorak
Allegro
Adagio ma non troppo
Finale: allegro maestoso
MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH 10
THIRD MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT
Sunday Evening, April 23, at 8:30
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor
SOLOIST
VAN CLIBURN, Pianist
PROGRAM
Symphony No. 35 in D major ("Haffner"), K. 385 ..........Mozart
Allegro con spirito Andante
Menuetto Presto
"New England Triptych" (Three Pieces for
Orchestra, after William Billings) ........William Schuman
Be Glad Then, America When Jesus Wept Chester
Suite No. 2 from the Ballet Daphnis and Chloe...............Ravel
Daybreak Pantomime General Dance
INTERMISSION
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83,
for Piano and Orchestra ............................Brahms
Allegro non troppo
Allegro appassionato Andante
Allegretto grazioso
Van Cliburn
11
FOURTH MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT
Monday Evening, April 24, at 8:30
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor
SOLOISTS
GALINA VISHNEVSKAYA, Soprano
MILDRED MILLER, Contralto
GIUSEPPE CAMPORA, Tenor
EZIO FLAGELLO, Bass
PROGRAM
Requiem Mass ...........................................Verdi
Composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni For Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra
Requiem et Kyrie .... ..............Chorus and Quartet
Dies irae
Dies irae, dies ilia ......... Chorus
Tuba mirum........Bass and Chorus
Liber scriptus projeretur ..... Contralto and Chorus
Quid sum, miser I.......Trio and Chorus
Rex tremendae majestatis.....Quartet and Chorus
Recordare, Jesu pie ...... Soprano and Contralto
Ingemisco, tamquam reus ....... Tenor Solo
Conjutatis maledictis........Bass Solo
Lacrymosa dies ilia......Quartet and Chorus
INTERMISSION
Domine Jesu ...................................Quartet
Sanctus .................................Double Chorus
Agnus Dei ...............Soprano, Contralto, and Chorus
Lux aeterna....................Contralto, Tenor, and Bass
Libera me .........................Soprano and Chorus
12
FIFTH MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT
Tuesday Evening, April 25, at 8:30
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor
PROGRAM
Compositions of Johannes Brahms Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
Allegro con brio
Andante con moto Poco allegretto Allegro
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Un poco sostenuto; allegro Andante sostenuto
Un poco allegretto e grazioso
Adagio; allegro non troppo ma con brio
13
ANNOTATIONS
by GLENN D. McGEOCH
The Author of the annotations expresses his appreciation to Ferol Brinkman for her editorial services.
FIRST CONCERT
Saturday Evening, April 22
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor......J. S. Bach
Transcribed for orchestra by Eugene Ormandy
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, March 21, 1685; died in Leipzig, July 28, 17S0.
Disregarding the dialectial discussions of the doctors as to the derivations of, and what constitutes the difference between, a passacaglia and a chaconne, the passacaglia was a baroque form of music employing a continuous set of varia?tions upon a clearly distinguishable bass theme, which, however, was often trans?ferred to an upper voice.
Bach derived part of his theme for this work from a Trio en passecaille by Andre Raison, a French organist of the late seventeenth century. From it, he created an eight-measure melody in moderately slow triple rhythm, which, after repeating twenty times, he brought to a tremendous culmination in a double fugue. In adding constantly to the interest of his subject throughout the vari?ations, Bach employed all of the polyphonic devices known to his time, creat?ing a magnifkant Gothic structure in tone.
Originally composed for the harpsichord with two keyboards, this mighty work soon found its way to the organ. "Its polyphonic structure fits so thor?oughly for the organ," wrote Albert Schweitzer, "that we can hardly under?stand nowadays how anyone could have ventured to play it on a stringed instrument." Today it has passed from the medium of the organ to the great and complex modern orchestra, where its huge chordal masses are projected with titanic and overpowering effect.
In the words of Stokowski, "This Tassacaglia' is one of those works whose content is so full and significant that its medium of expression is of relative unimportance; whether played on the organ, or on the greatest of all instru?ments, the orchestra, it is one of the most divinely inspired contrapuntal works ever conceived."
Letter Aria from Eugene Onegin......Tchaikovsky
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky was born at Wotkinsk, Russia, May 7, 1840; died at Petrograd, November 6, 1893.
No composer of the nineteenth century could have been more sensitive to the yearnings of Eugene Onegin than Tchaikovsky. The libretto for his opera,
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based upon the story by Pushkin, dwells upon the indefinable torture of spirit and frustration of its hero. There is little else in the plot.
Eugene Onegin, in love with another, refuses the proffered love of the beautiful Tatiana. Upon meeting her years later, he falls desperately in love with her. Tatiana, now happily married, remains true to her husband, and Onegin is left alone tortured by bitter memories.
In this aria, Tatiana, troubled by doubts as to Eugene's feeling for her, hesi?tating at first, and then with growing confidence, declares her love for him:
Tatiana (with elevated force and pas?sion).--Tho' I should die for it, I've sworn now,
I first shall live each heart-felt longing,
Dumb hopes that many a year I've borne now.
Which yet unstilled, to life are throng?ing.
I quaff the poison draft of passion!
Now let desire his shackles fashion,
I see him here,--in ev'ry place
I hear his voice and see his face!
I hear the tempter's voice and see his
face.
(Goes to the writing table; writes, then pauses.)
No, 'twill not do ! Quick, something different.
How strange it is! It frightens me!
How am I to begin it! (Writes. Pauses, and reads what she has written.)
I write to you without reflection!
Is that not all I need to say
What led you here to this our lonely home
Was all my joy a mere illusion
No, come what may to stand or fall,
My dream-face be my revelation!
Thou art my passion, thou my all!
In thee alone, in thee alone lies my sal?vation !
But think, ah ! think, I've none but thee!
With none to understand or cherish,
With time would soon have passed away,
I'd for another ta'en a notion,
And loved him with supreme devotion,
And learnt a mother's part to play-(Rising suddenly)
Another! No, never any other,
For any other I had loathed!
Thou art by Fate for me appointed,
I am by Heav'n to thee betrothed!
No empty dream by fate was given
18
Or what inducement seem'd to offer
Unknown by me, had not come,
The hopes, the fears, for which I suffer!
My unexperienc'd emotion
And to thy words how did I lend me!
And once--No, no, it was no dream,
I saw thee come, thou stood'st before me.
My heart stopped beating; then 'twas
blazing, and then with rapture cried: Tis he!-Tis he!
'Twas thou, in slumber, o'er me bending; 'Twas thou I met my way a-wending, Whom I, the poor and sick attending, Have always seen. Thy voice it was forever ringing, That in my heart was ever singing, Thy face that lulled to sleep at night. And many pretty names you'd make me, And then to new-born life awake me, And bring me hope so pure and bright.
(Pauses as if to reflect.) Art thou an angel watching by me Art thou a tempter sent to try me Give answer, drive these doubts away! The face I dreamt, was that delusion Art thou a freak of fancy Say! When blessed hope to me it gave. Oft in my dreams did'st thou attend me; And tho' I knew thee not, I loved; How by thy glance was I moved, Alone and helpless, I must perish, Unless my saviour thou wilt be. I trust in thee, I trust in thee; be not
offended;
But speak one word to comfort me, But not reproach, as well might be, For at a single word my dreams were
ended!
(She stands up and seals the letter.) 'Tis finished! Ah ! this trust of mine Thou ne'er must punish, ne'er must chide
me.
To thee, my vision-face divine, To thee, thine honor, I confide me!
FIRST CONCERT "Ritorna vincitor" from "Aida".........Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi was born in La Roncole, Octo?ber 9, 1813; died in Milan, January 17, 1901.
Aida was written for the Khedive of Egypt and was first performed in Cairo, December 24, 1871, and since that time has exerted its perennial appeal wherever in the world opera is performed. For Aid a has no rivals in the field for the dramatic power of its music and the living intensity of its plot.
Stirring choruses and magnificent orchestration, myriads of vibrant colors, abundance of pure Italian melody against richly-moving harmonies sound throughout a story of intrigue, love, hate, jealousy, and sacrifice. All this is acted, with attending pomp and spectacular pageantry, against the background of an Egyptian and Ethiopian war in the time of the Pharaoh.
Aida, daughter of Amonasro, King of Ethiopia, has been captured by the Egyptians and is a slave at the Court of Memphis. She and the young soldier Rhadames have fallen in love. The Ethiopians, under the command of Amonasro, have invaded Egypt to rescue Aida, and Rhadames is named to lead the Egyptian army against them. Aida, forgetting temporarily her native land, and under the spell of her love for Rhadames, joins the frenzied crowd in their cry, "Return victorious." Left alone, after their departure, Aida expresses the conflict in her heart between her duty to her father and her love for Rhadames:
Return victorious! From my lips went forth these blasphemous words for the enemy of my father who now takes arms to save me. Recall them, O gods, return me to my father; destroy the armies of our oppressors. But shall I call death upon Rhadames Love, break thou my heart and let me die! Hear me, you gods on high.
"Sola, perduta, abbandonata" from
Manon Lescaut.............Puccini
Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy, December 22, 18S8; died in Brussels, November 29, 1924.
Called by Verdi the most promising of his successors, Puccini justified his master's faith with a career of uninterrupted success from his first venture, Le Villi (1884) to his last unfinished work, Turandot (1924). Manon Lescaut (1893) was his third opera, and in it he revealed that unique talent for the lyric theater that was to come to full fruition three years later in La Boheme (1896) and ultimately win for him the rank of foremost composer of Italian opera in the first half of the twentieth century.
Manon Lescaut was originally a novel by the Abbe Prevost, published in 1731. In 176S it was turned into a play by one J. Charles Brandes. Scribe made it the basis of a ballet by Halevy (1830); Auber converted it into an opera (1866); and the English composer, Balfe, drew upon the story for his Maid of Artois (1836). But it was Jules Massenet, who in 1884, produced his phenomenally successful Manon at the Opera Comique in Paris, and with it conquered the opera houses of the world. In writing another opera on the
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MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
same story only nine years later, while he was still a young and relatively unknown composer, Puccini displayed not only a bold and reckless spirit, but an unquestioned confidence in his own talents. "Massenet feels it as a Frenchman, with the powder and minuets. I shall feel it as an Italian, with desperate passion," he once remarked.
Massenet's Manon is a masterpiece. Puccini's Manon Lescaut is not. Mas?senet was Puccini's senior by sixteen years and had reached the very zenith of his career when he wrote his opera in 1884, while Puccini was just getting into his stride. Unlike Massenet, he did not succeed in recapturing the peculiar French atmosphere of Prevost's novel, which took place in the corrupt Paris of the Regency during the second half of the eighteenth century. This demanded a composer born arid bred in the author's own country and instinctively at one with his mentality. Puccini's opera fails to radiate the true Gallic spirit of the subject. His work, however, is superior by virtue of the inexhaustible fund of Italian melody which it contains; by the sensuous warmth and tender?ness that characterizes his music in general; and by the comparative modernity of his harmonic and orchestral idiom. In Manon Lescaut Puccini first found himself as a musician, and while some of the mature characteristics of his style, found in La Bohetne, Madama Butterfly and Tosca, are in full bloom, others are still inchoate. Puccini, always at odds with his librettist, took three years to compose the work, and engaged the services of five writers before he was satisfied. His publisher, Ricordi, first commissioned the playwright, Giuseppi Giacosa, whose efforts he rejected. Ruggiero Leoncavallo, the future composer of Pagliacci, and Maro Praya, a playwright of some repute, with the aid of the poet, Domenico Oliva, met the same fate. The final product was the result of the combined efforts of Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi lllica, and Puccini, himself. To list the names of its five authors on the score would have appeared ridiculous. The opera therefore, was published merely as "Manon Lescaut, Lyric Drama in Four Acts; music by Giacomo Puccini." The original creator of the fascinating Manon, the Abbe Prevost, was mentioned only once--in an anonymous preface to the published libretto. The opera was performed for the first time at the Teatro Regio, Turin, February 1, 1893, eight days before the premiere at La Scala of Verdi's swan song, Falstaff. Its success was sensational. At its con?clusion, Puccini and the cast received over thirty curtain calls. With Manon Lescaut Puccini's international fame was assured.
The story in brief is as follows: Manon, a beautiful young girl from Amiens, on her way to a convent, elopes with the handsome Chevalier des Grieux, whom she later deserts to become the mistress of the elderly, but wealthy, Geronte de Ravoir. Soon tiring of a life of luxury and boredom with her aging lover, she returns to the arms of des Grieux. Geronte, in a rage of jealousy, denounces her to the police as a prostitute, and she is banished to the French province of Louisiana. Des Grieux is smuggled aboard the ship that is to take her to America. On a desolate plain which borders the territory of New Orleans, she and des Grieux, in desperate need of food and shelter, wander aimlessly until Manon, exhausted from thirst, can go no further. Des Grieux leaves her to
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FIRST CONCERT
seek water. In his absence, Manon, now delirious, sings in her desperation the dramatic scene, "Sola, perduta, abbondonata." When des Grieux returns, her strength is spent and she dies in his arms:
Lonely, forsaken and abandoned, all hope is dead. I am distracted with grief and terror. They have taken my lover from me. In this desert I am left to die, wretched and helpless. My fatal beauty has brought nothing but torments. The memory of my past haunts me, and now new dangers come to threaten me. Only the grave can bring relief, but do not let me die, my dearest--help me!
Concerto for Orchestra............Bartok
Bela Bart6k was born in Nagyszentmiklos in Hungary, March 25, 1881; died in New York, September 26, 1945.
Bela Bartok was distinguished in every sphere of the music he served so conscientiously and selflessly; no creative artist in any field was ever so com?pletely dedicated to his art, or lived such a life of self-denial in its interest. The extent of his musical activity as composer and scholar is staggering to contemplate; even to begin to recount his manifold achievements would quickly consume the space allotted to this whole program.
More than two decades after his death, his music retains a powerful indi?viduality and refreshing originality seldom encountered in our day. It offers perhaps the greatest challenge known to contemporary musical thought and will no doubt do so for some time to come. His appearance in the world of music was marked by nothing sensational or spectacular--no fierce debates, no manifestos called public attention to his work. Yet in the 1920's his idiom had become the standard of "modern music" everywhere in the world; he was the inventor of one of the most experimental and widely practiced styles of the period between the two wars. From this era of spiritual atrophy and prevailing sterility he emerged not only a continuing experimentalist to the end of his life but an artist of the most exacting standards. From a relentless harshness and baffling complexity, his art matured and mellowed into something warmly human and communicatively direct, without sacrificing any of its originality, certainty, or technical inventiveness. He seems to have realized, as Oscar Wilde once observed, that "nothing is so dangerous as being too modern; one is apt to grow old-fashioned quite suddenly."
Bartok was equally distinguished as a musical scholar; with his encyclopedic knowledge of folk music, he became one of the leading authorities of our time. The profundity of his scholarship was unique among creative artists. He not only investigated the music of his native Hungary, of Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugo?slavia, and French North Africa, with the authority and thoroughness of the most meticulous scientist, but as a composer he subjected it to a complete
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MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
artistic transformation and distillation. It was never used as an exotic element for spicing up his own musical language in the manner of Franz Liszt and Brahms, who, with their so-called "Hungarian" rhapsodies and dances, misled generations of musicians as to the true nature of real Hungarian folk music. A nationalistic or racial artist like Bartok has to do more than merely transcribe literally the music of his people. It is not the task or the aim of a composer merely to make arrangements of a few folk songs. He has to be so permeated with the spirit of his people that its characteristic features are woven into the texture of his score almost unconsciously. Thus, a personal style becomes so blended with the racial or national ideas that to distinguish between the two is impossible. With Bartok, it became the very substance of his musical thought and substratum of every score written by one of the greatest creative musicians of the twentieth century.
Bartok's popularity with the public was slow in coming, for he made no concession whatever to popular taste and was in fact disdainful of immediate success. He was fearless and obdurate to his own disadvantage while he lived, and the world consequently treated him unjustly. It is a tribute to his sincerity, profundity, and the richness of his art that he is emerging slowly but surely from the oblivion and neglect he experienced during his life, to be received affection?ately by sincere audiences eager for new and exciting musical experiences. All honor to an artist of Bartok's uncompromising integrity and modesty, who could survive the conscientious paranoia of our time and emerge from the unhealthy morass of our day with such dedication and sustaining strength of purpose.
Shortly after Bartok's death a memorial concert of some of his chamber music, given at the New York Public Library, was attended by a company of his friends and colleagues. On that occasion the musicologist Curt Sachs discussed some aspects of his work and his personality:
Bela Bartok was one of the greatest composers and one of the greatest teachers of our time. But this does not tell all. He was one of our greatest scholars too. He spent his life collecting, transcribing, and evaluating thousands of melodies of the people of Hungary, of Romania, of Yugoslavia, and the Arabian countries. We would be wronging him were we to stress only these multifarious activities--composition, teaching, research--and brand them virtuosity. In a universal genius such as he, these things go to make up the whole. Bela Bartok's creative, intellectual and educational powers were merely the multiple expres?sion of an all-embracing personality.
Again we would be wronging him were we to stress only his superlative musicianship. This he achieved because as a human being he was so honest, so pure and so affectionate. No one who has not looked into his bright and knowing eyes, who has not plumbed the depths of his loving heart, who has not felt the warmth that permeated his whole being can do full justice to the man and the artist.
It is this very universal quality of the man that does not permit us to call Bela Bartok a Hungarian nationalist as critics have been prone to do until now. True, he was profoundly rooted in his native country and he had great affection for its folk melodies. Although his roots were deep sunk in the fertile soil of Hungary and although he drank richly of her sap he grew to such stature and sent his business so far beyond her horizons that we can right?fully say he belongs to the world. In his struggle to free himself from degenerate romanticism and to attain a new classicism, a struggle in which all the masters of his generation partici?pated, he, like his friend and brother-in-arms, Zoltan Kodaly, found his best inspiration
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FIRST CONCERT
in the vigorous melodic lines and rhythms of folk music. For him this music was not a foreign folk lore and a stimulating exoticism as it was to Liszt and Brahms; it was a language which he spoke without affectation and which he was able to oppose to the accepted idiom of his time. Therefore, we say once again, Bartok is not to us an honored guest from Puszta, but a beloved citizen of the world and of our own country as a part of that world. It is in the spirit of such kinship that we are gathered here ... in celebrating Bela Bartok this evening we do not mourn the dead, but we honor, lovingly and gratefully, the ever-living.
Bartok wrote four major works during the last four years of his life which he spent in America. The first of these was the Concerto jor Orchestra on this eve?ning's program; the second, a violin solo sonata dedicated to Yehudi Menuhin; the third and fourth, a piano concerto (No. 3), and a viola concerto which re?mained unfinished at his death. The Concerto for Orchestra was composed for the Koussevitzky Musical Foundation as a memorial tribute to Natalie Koussevitzky and was first performed by the Boston Symphony in Boston, December 1, 1944. It was written during his convalescence from a serious illness to which he finally succumbed a little over a year later. As time passes, it emerges as perhaps the most successful of Bartok's scores. It is astonishingly fresh and spontaneous and unburdened by any of the exotic expression or pedantic intellectuality that marred his earlier work and that tended to isolate him from his audience and fellow artists. Its wide rhythmic variety and potency, bold and striking counter?point, and daring color effects are directly impressive without sacrificing its essen?tial lyricism and complete eloquence. Although it was created under conditions of mental depression and physical pain, only occasionally do its pages reflect nostalgic or melancholy brooding. Its total effect is one of strength, exuberance, and certitude.
Intimate glimpses into the conditions surrounding its composition are provided by H. W. Heinsheimer:
In the spring of 1943, the sickness that had gripped Bartok for some time seemed noticeably worse. He was running a temperature. He became weaker, more irritable, even more difficult to approach. He had to cancel lectures and instructed us not to book him for any recitals any more; he was sure he would be unable to appear in public again. He turned down a scientific assignment in spite of the fact that the university that made the offer explained that he was welcome to the honorarium and could begin work at any time, no matter how indefinite, in the future. But so deeply was he filled with his sense of responsibility that he was unwilling to accept as long as he was not absolutely sure that he would be able to deliver his part of the bargain. Sometimes it was very difficult to have to deal with such a stubborn display of principles, which to him were inviolable.
Serious as his physical condition already was, it seemed to be aggravated by the growing feeling of solitude and bitterness that had taken hold of him. He saw himself as a neglected stranger, away from the main flow of musical activity in America. Once in a while he remem?bered with bitter nostalgia the days of his European past. The artists and conductors who played his music in America were, to a large extent, old acquaintances, many of them former Hungarians. Only a few of the great stars showed interest in his music, and when Yehudi Menuhin played his "Violin Concerto," Bartok was so deeply moved by the unexpected attention of a great artist that he wrote a new sonata for Menuhin.
But now all this was forgotten as the composer was brooding, sick, poor, in the enforced
Philadelphia Orchestra Programs, Season 1947-48, pp. 513-15.
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MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
inactivity of a hospital room. We had little to cheer him up. Small things didn't matter. There were no big ones to report.
It was then, in the summer of 1943, that something happened in the room in Doctors Hospital in New York that strangely and mysteriously resembles an event in another sick?room, 152 years earlier; the sudden appearance of the "mysterious stranger," who had come to commission the dying Mozart to write the "Requiem." This time, in streamlined New York, the messenger was no mystery man. He was a well-clad, elegant gentleman of very aristocratic bearing. His name was Serge Koussevitzky.
The visit came as an unexpected surprise to the sick man. Koussevitzky was one of the conductors who had never played any of Bartok's important scores. I don't think that the two men had ever met before. The conductor was alone. He took a chair, moved it close to the bed, and began to explain his mission. He had come of offer Bela Bartok a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation--a commission carrying $1,000 and the assurance of a first performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The composer was free to choose any form of music he cared to write. There was just one condition: the score was to be dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Natalie Koussevitzky, the conductor's wife, who had died a few years earlier and in whose memory the foundation had been established. It was to be a requiem, after all.
Koussevitzky himself later told me the details of the conversation and as he recalled it he seemed genuinely moved. Bart6k, touched without doubt by the personal appearance of the conductor, who could have sent a letter or have had the message delivered by one of his countless disciples, declined. He was much too sick. He could not commit himself. He could not accept money for a work he might never be able to write.
The conductor had been prepared for just this situation. Before the foundation had de?cided to give the commission to Bartok, friends of the composer (Fritz Reiner and Joseph Szigeti, among others) had approached Koussevitzky and the members of his board of trus?tees, urging that Bartok be chosen. They had explained his precarious circumstances and the difficulty of helping the proud man with anything he might consider as charity. It had to be a real commission, even if, due to Bartok's delicate health, nothing whatever came of it.
Koussevitsky explained that he was bound by the trustees' decision. A commission, once decided upon, could not be taken back. The money was given to the composer, no matter whether he was willing or able to deliver the piece. These were the terms of the covenant. He had, in fact, under the rules of the foundation, already brought with him a check for $500 which he was obliged to leave with Bartok, together with an official letter stating the terms of the commission.
Bartok made no reply. He suddenly began talking of other matters. He asked the conduc?tor, almost urgently, to stay on. The two men had a long talk. Bartok did most of the talk?ing, unburdening his troubled mind. He covered many subjects and became flushed with a new and very touching confidence in life. It was almost an hour later that the nurse came in and the conductor took his leave.
Undoubtedly the learned specialists, who attended Bela Bartok in his sickness that two years later consumed what was left of him, will have more logical explanations for the in?credible recovery that set in almost immediately after Koussevitzky's visit. All we know is that soon they found him to be so much better that they released him from the hospital. He left New York for Asheville, North Carolina. He found a quiet room in the outskirts where neither traffic lights nor radios interfered with the absolute concentration that he craved. At last he smelled fresh air again, saw the sky, felt the soil. The Hearst Building, the Fisk Building, the entrance to the Independent Subway station, the newsstand, the as?sortment of sweat and dirt he had viewed from his window on 57th Street were replaced by flowers and trees. And the constantly tormenting screams of auto horns and police sirens were drowned in memory by the concert of birds. Their cries and calls can be heard in the second movement of Bartok's "Third Piano Concerto," which he sketched in Asheville and completed, with the exception of seventeen bars, in a grim race with death in the sum?mer of 1945. Here he had returned to the sources of nature. In the last pages he ever wrote,
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the Hungarian, the European, the great citizen of the world set a small lovely monument to the birds of North Carolina. . . .
He was happy again. "Don't send me special delivery letters or telegrams," he wrote us, a few days after he had arrived in Asheville. "I get all my mail only once a day. Everything is delivered at the same time--mail, papers, special deliveries, wires. Here, time makes no differ?ence." He had no piano. Once in a while his room was very cold. He went for walks, always alone. There was nobody to talk to, only one family where he occasionally took a meal and where he would practice the piano from time to time. He asked us to send them a selection of his music as a token of his gratitude.
His letters, deviating strangely from the austerity we had come to expect, sounded almost elated. He included short health bulletins, giving us a graph of his morning and night tem?peratures with slightly ironic but not all pessimistic comments. Most important of all, he asked for music paper--lots of it. Then, suddenly, he wrote that he had completed a major part of a new work he was writing for Serge Koussevitzky. He was sending us the score to be copied. Soon a second and a final third batch arrived. It was the "Concerto for Orchestra."
He did not return from Asheville in time to be present at its tumultuous premiere in Bos?ton in December, 1944. But he observed its immediate success, its acceptance as one of the great masterpieces of our generation. He knew that this time he had touched the hearts of his audiences, and he was present to hear it and take many of his gentle, very touching, terribly serious bows when the work was played in New York. A few months later he was dead.
At the premiere of the work in Boston the program book contained the follow?ing matter concerning the Concerto, contributed by the composer:
The general mood of the work represents, apart from the jesting second movement and lugubrious death-song of the third, the life assertion of the last one.
The title of this symphony-like orchestral work is explained by its tendency to treat the single instruments or instrument groups in a "concertant" or soloistic manner. The "virtuoso" treatment appears, for instance, in the fugato sections of the development of the first move?ment (brass instruments), or in the "perpetuum mobile"-like passage of the principal theme in the last movement (strings), and especially, in the second movement, in which pairs of instruments consecutively appear with brilliant passages.
As for the structure of the work, the first and fifth movements are written in a more or less regular sonata form. The development of the first contains fugato sections for brass; the exposition in the finale is somewhat extended, and its development consists of a fugue built on the last theme of the exposition. Less traditional forms are found in the second and third movements. The main part of the second consists of a chain of independent short sections, by wind instruments consecutively introduced in five pairs (bassoons, oboes, clarinets, flutes, and muted trumpets). Thematically, the five sections have nothing in common. A kind of "trio"-a short chorale for brass instruments and side drum--follows, after which the five sections are recapitulated in a more elaborate instrumentation. The structure of the fourth movement like?wise is chain-like; three themes appear successively. These constitute the core of the move?ment, which is enframed by a misty texture of rudimentary motifs. Most of the thematic material of this movement derives from the "Introduction" to the first movement. The form of the fourth movement--"Intermezzo interrotto" ("Interrupted Intermezzo")--could be rendered by the latter symbols "ABA--interruption--BA."t
H. W. Heinsheimer, Boston Symphony Programs, Season 1949-50, pp. 1954-61. Woslon Symphony Programs, Season 1944-45, pp.606-8.
SECOND CONCERT
Sunday Afternoon, April 23
Magnificat in G minor...........Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice be?tween 1675-78; died in Vienna in 1741.
Very little is known of the details of Vivaldi's life; even the exact dates of his birth and death are still in question. He was a cleric we know, although his position in the church has never been satisfactorily revealed. He was born in Venice, the son of a violinist of the Ducal Chapel of St. Mark's and was ordained as a priest, according to the records, on March 23, 1703. Appointed Maestro di violino at the Seminario MusicaJe del Ospadale della Pieta di Venezia, the most famous of the four Venetian conservatories, he was later designated as its Maestro del concerti. He toured Europe after 1725 as a virtuoso performer on the violin and as an opera composer and impressario, for a time officiated in Mantua as the Maestro di capelle di camera of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, resumed his position at the Seminario in 1736, and died in poverty in Vienna toward the end of July, 1741. Of these facts there is more or less certainty.
Although Vivaldi's name has long been known to musicians and historians of music, his reputation has been that of a virtuoso performer, rather than that of a first-rate creator. While he lived, however, he was more famous and re?spected as a composer than his great German contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach. By the end of his life his reputation had begun to wane, and shortly before his death he was totally forgotten. The bulk of his manuscripts, scat?tered throughout Europe, remained unknown to the world for almost two centuries; so did his position as a creative artist. In an article on Vivaldi in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians we read, "Vivaldi mistook the facility of an expert performer (and as such he had few rivals among contemporaries) for the creative faculty which he possessed but in a limited degree . . ."
Within the past twenty-five years in Italy, a vigorous campaign has been under way to restore Vivaldi to his rightful place as one of the truly great names and as one of the most prolific composers in the history of the world's music. In the thirties, the National Library of Turin acquired the enormous Mauro Foa and Renzo Giordano Collection of Vivaldi's music, three fourths of which was unpublished. Shortly after, in September, 1939, Alfredo Casella, who has edited a number of his works organized a memorable Vivaldi Festival at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. At the time he wrote: "The prodigious wealth of Vivaldi's musical invention, the dramatic force which recalls im?peratively the brilliance and fire of the great Venetian painters, the mastery
The others were the Mendicanti, the Incurabile, and the Ospodaletto di San Giovanni. These were originally homes or "hospitals" for orphans and foundlings, supported by the rich and aristocratic families of the city. The Pieta was famed for the instruction it provided in instrumental music.
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of choral polyphony, the marvelous dynamism of the instrumental parts . . . the high quality of the emotion which animates his work---all put Vivaldi in a wholly new light."
The discovery and reconstruction of Vivaldi's music has been continuous. Barely twenty-five years ago the world really became aware of his tremendous productivity. In 1948 Marc Pincherle listed 541 known instrumental works, seventy-three of which were sonatas in two or three parts, 445 concertos, twenty-three symphonies, in addition to forty-nine operas and an immense quantity of miscellaneous dramatic and vocal music, uncatalogued but known to exist in libraries throughout Europe and America. Each year since has brought to light more authenticated compositions. Not since the recovery of the music of Bach in the middle of the nineteenth century has there been such a dramatic discovery of hitherto unknown musical treasure, and from it we can now do more than surmise the major role Vivaldi played in the evolu?tion of instrumental music in general and of the classical symphony, the concerto grosso, and the solo concerto in particular.
The fact that Bach greatly admired Vivaldi's music, learned from it, and transcribed it should have alerted scholars long since to its real significance. The first arrangements or transcriptions which have any real artistic value are those of Bach. At a time when his attention was first strongly attracted to the instrumental music of Italy by the principles of form which Italian composers had originated and developed with such skill, he arranged some of Vivaldi's violin concertos for the clavier and orchestra, and thereby estab?lished the keyboard concerto.f Not only did Bach pay Vivaldi the respect of transcribing his works, but from them he learned early in his creative life the principles of logical construction, continuity of musical thought, and the plas?tic handling of themes. Bach always remained a faithful follower of Vivaldi in his concertos, staying within the limits of the form established by him. But Vivaldi's influence was not confined to the pages of Bach. According to Charles Burney, the eighteenth-century musical historian, Bach was not alone in his admiration for the Italian master, whose violin concertos were immensely popular and constantly studied in Germany.
From a careful examination of the music of Vivaldi, now so copiously available, the incalculable influence of his art upon the music of generations after him becomes more apparent. A daring experimenter in structural form, he not only established the concerto form and style, but he anticipated the methods and divisions of the classical symphony and hinted at the ideas of thematic contrast and elaboration that later characterized the symphonic form. His instincts led him to employ techniques in composition long before they were accepted by other composers. From Italy in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and from Vivaldi in particular, came the vocal and in-
Notes to Certa-Soria Records, Collegium Musicum Italicum di Roma (Virtuosi di Roma), Vivaldi concerti.
tOf the sixteen "Concertos after Vivaldi for clavier," published in Vol. 42 of the complete edition of Bach's works {Bach Gesellschajt), only six are actually by Vivaldi. A complete edition of Vivaldi's works is now being prepared under the direction of Francesco Malipiero (Instituto Italiano per la pubblicazione e diffusionc delle opere di Antonio Vivaldi, published by Ricordi).
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strumental music upon which Bach and Handel, and later Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, ultimately built their enduring art.
Vivaldi served as composer and conductor at concerts that took place at the Seminario dell Ospedale della Pietd from 1711 to 1740, and the major part of his sacred works was performed there. Among them is the Magnificat in G minor. It exists in two versions. This afternoon we are to hear the second, in which Vivaldi substituted a series of solo arias for corresponding items in the first version. Each of them was written for a particularly talented student of the Ospedale, and was dedicated to her; Et exultavit for Apollonia, Quia respexit for La Bolognesa, Quia (ecit for Chiaretta, Esurientes implevit for Ambrosina, and Sicut locutus for Albetta (to be sung in this performance by chorus as originally written). The elaborate vocal style of some of these arias would indi?cate the superior technical prowess of the young ladies honored by Vivaldi.
The text of the Magnificat is taken from Luke I: 46-53. It is the song uttered by the Virgin Mary in the house of Zacharius, after she has heard the inspired prophecy of Elizabeth, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."
Chorus (Adagio)--Magnificat
Magnificat anitna mea Dominum.
Soprano (Allegro)--Et exultavit
Et exultavit spiritus metis in Deo salutari
meo.
Soprano (Andante molto)--Quia respexit Quia respexit, humilitatem, ancillae suae,
ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent. Omnes
generationes.
Contralto (Andante)--Quia fecit Quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens, est, et
sanctum nomen ejus.
Chorus (Andante molto)--Et misericordia Et misericordia in progenies, timentibus eum. Chorus (Presto)--Fecit potentiam Fecit potentiam in brachio suo, dispersit
superbos mente cordis sui. Ch6rus (Allegro) Deposuit potentes Deposuit potentes de sede et exahavit humiles. Contralto (Allegro) Esurientes implevit Esurientes, implevit bonis, et divites dimisit
inanes.
Chorus (Largo)--Suscepit Israel Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus
misericordiae suae.
Chorus (Allegro ma poco)--Sicut locutus Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham,
et semini ejus in secula. Chorus (Largo)--Gloria Gloria Patri, gloria Filio, gloria et Spiritui
Sanclol Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et
semper et in secula seculorum. Amen.
28
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior.
For He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. All gen?erations.
For He that is Mighty hath magnified me, and Holy is His name.
And His mercy is on them that fear Him throughout all generations.
The Lord has shown strength with His arm and scattered the proud in the imagi?nation of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones and hath exalted the lowly.
He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich hath sent empty away.
He hath helped Israel, His servant, in re?membrance of His mercy.
Even as He promised to our forefathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.
Glory to the Father, glory to the Son, Glory to the Holy Ghost! As it was in the be?ginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
SECOND CONCERT
"The Martyr's Elegy" (from Shelley's Adonais) . . . Finney
Ross Lee Finney was born in Wells, Minnesota, December 23, 1906.
The composer of today without some trace of Romanticism in his heart must be lacking in something fundamentally human.
--Arnold Schoenberg
Since 1948, Mr. Finney has been chairman of the composition department at The University of Michigan, to which he has brought distinction both as a composer and teacher. He studied in this country with E. B. Hill, Donald Ferguson, and Roger Sessions, and in Europe with Nadia Boulanger and Alban Berg. He has received two Guggenheim fellowships (1937, 1947) and a Pulitzer scholarship. In 19SS he was granted the Boston Symphony Award and one from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He was elected a member of that institution in 1962. This year he was awarded the Brandeis Gold Medal in recognition of his career as a composer.
Among his most important compositions are: orchestral works: Symphonies No. 1 (1942), No. 2, commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation in 19S9, and No. 3, which is dedicated to Eugene Ormandy, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1933-47), Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1948); piano works: five piano sonatas and incidental pieces; chamber music with piano: three sonatas for violin and piano, two sonatas for cello and piano, a piano quartet, two piano quintets; chamber music without piano: eight string quartets, a Fantasy in two movements for violin alone, commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin and first performed at the International Exposition in Brussels (1958), a Fantasy for cello alone; a string quintet, commissioned by the Coolidge Foundation; and several song cycles: five songs, poems by Archibald MacLeish; "Poor Richard," seven songs to words by Benjamin Franklin; Three Love Songs to poems by John Donne; Chamber Music, thirty-six songs to poems by James Joyce. His Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, commissioned by Carleton College, was given its premiere by the Minneapolis Symphony in November 1966. His only theater work is "The Nun's Priest's Tale," which was commissioned by the Hopkin's Center in Hanover, New Hampshire, and first performed there in the summer of 1965. On a grant from the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies he founded the Electronic Music Laboratory of The University of Michigan and has used electronic tape in various of his compositions. He has been the teacher of many of America's most distinguished young composers.
Mr. Finney has successfully amalgamated a variety of contemporary musical influences into an extremely effective and highly individual style. In his last string quartets, in the second symphony (performed at the 1960 May Festival), and in the work on today's program, he has achieved a remarkable synthesis of conscious technical device and spontaneous expression, combining the basic serial principle of Schonberg's twelve-tone system with rhythmic elasticity and
All three symphonies are recorded by the Louisville Orchestra.
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structural inventiveness. With each new work he makes increasingly clear the difference between adaptation of and adherence to the Schonberg method. Like his teacher Alban Berg before him, he possesses a strong romantic impulse that compels subjective and imaginative forces not only to shape the form of his work and make it subservient to his expressive purpose, but to humanize a rigidly abstract system and convert it into a powerful medium of communication.
The following notes by Mr. Finney were published with the piano-vocal score: The Martyr's Elegy is a setting of fragments from Shelley's Adonais for chorus, high solo voice, and orchestra. Roughly speaking it is divided into five sections. The first. ''The slave trampled and mocked" is violent and concerned with the torture of martyrdom. The second, "On the silken fringe of his faint eyes" is a lament for the martyred one. The third, "Peace, Peace" is for chorus and an orchestra of percussion that in the end engulfs the chorus. The fourth, "The pure spirit shall flow back to the burning fountain" is a section of lament, with the word "Peace" sung by the chorus. The final section, "The one remains, the many change and pass" starts with the orchestra, and after rising to a climax that reminds one of the violence of the beginning, ends with the foreboding "I am born darkly; fearfully; afar, like a star, from the abode where the eternal are."
In Still Are New Worlds, which had its premiere performance at the 1963 May Festival, Mr. Finney used a great variety of texts. They were selected, in frag?mentary form, from philosophers, scientists, and poets, ranging from Pindar and Galileo through Kepler, Donne, Milton, and others, to the twentieth century poet Albert Camus. The theme that unified this miscellaneous series of quotations was concerned with man's attempt through his evolution to under?stand the world about him.
"In my own mind," writes Mr. Finney, "The Martyr's Elegy is a continuation of Still Are New Worlds. It, too, is concerned with human guilt and human responsibility, not from the vista of history but from inside the human heart. The aloofness of the speaking voice (in Still Are New Worlds) gives way (in The Martyr's Elegy) to the tenderness of the singing voice. Both works end with the question, "Is there an answer in human evolution"
The process of composition in both works is similar. Developing patterns of feeling rather than arguments, Mr. Finney found in Shelley's elegy on the death of the poet Keats, lines that expressed to him the dilemma of modern man. He had no intention of underlining with his music Shelley's feeling of exaltation for the sacred victims of immortal idealism as represented by Adonais, or of pro?tracting the liquid and undulating flow of Shelley's Spenserian stanzas. Thus the flowing ease with which the poet's words verge into one another, the flow of his verbal melody, the cadences of the syllables, the variety of his verbal rhythms are intentionally ignored. It was necessary for the composer to wrench quotations completely out of context and to use the deliberately chosen lines in a highly individual and personal manner, to provide him rather with a progres?sion of moods that would transform themselves into musical creation. Although the form of the work is dictated in a way by the textual fragments, the music
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creates its own unity. This is achieved by the uses of a tone row, in this case a continuously ascending scale organization that, to quote Mr. Finney, "gives as ascension to the climax. I wanted the work to lift toward the end with no theo?logical ideas in mind whatever."
I. Chorus (Allegro impetuoso)
the slave
Trampled and mocked with many a loathed rite Of lust and blood; . . . went, unterrified, Into the gulf of death
through the night of time In which suns perished; others Struck by the envious wrath of man Have sunk, extinct in their . . . prime; And some yet live, treading the thorny road, Which leads, through toil and hate.
II. Tenor (Adagio teneramente)
on the silken fringe of his faint eyes, Like dew upon a sleeping flower, there lies A tear
like a cloud which had outwept its rain. Splendors, and Glooms, and glimmering Incarnations Of hopes and fears, and twilight Fantasies; And sorrow,
blind with tears the aerial eyes that kindle day; Afar the melancholy thunder moaned. Pale Ocean in unquiet slumber lay, And the wild winds flew round, sobbing in their dismay.
III. Chorus. (Piu mosso) Peace! Peace!
He has awakened from the dream of life hate . . . pain Can touch him not
from the world's bitter wind. Seek shelter.
IV. Tenor. (Adagio teneramente)
the pure spirit shall flow Back to the burning fountain whence it came, A portion of the Eternal, which must glow Through time and change.
V. Chorus. (Meno mosso)
The One remains, the many change and pass; Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly' Life, like a dome of many-color'd glass Stains the white radiance of Eternity, Until Death tramples it to fragments, driven
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng The mossy earth and sphered skies are riven! I am born darkly, fearfully, afar
like a star, from the abode where the Eternal are.
Concerto in B minor for Violoncello and Orchestra . . Dvorak
Anton Dvorak was born in Nelahozeves on Vltava near Prague, September 8, 1841; died in Prague, May 1, 1904.
Do you guess I have some intricate purpose Well, I have--for the Fourth-month showers have, and the mica on the side of a rock has. Do you take it I would astonish Does the red tail, twittering through the woods
--Walt Whitman
It is as little known among performing musicians as it is among the general listening public that Anton Dvorak was one of the most prolific composers of the late nineteenth century. If we judge him only by the extent of his work, he is incontestably a phenomenon in the world of music. Without a doubt Dvorak was one of the most distinguished musical personalities of his period and should take his rightful place beside Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Franck. He ranks today among the great masters in the copiousness and extraordinary variety of his expression.
As the nineteenth century drew to a close, other European countries besides Germany, Austria, Italy, and France became articulate in music. The period saw the emergence of such nationalistic composers as Grieg in Norway, Mous-sorgsky and the "Five" in Russia, Albeniz in Spain, and Smetana and Dvorak in Bohemia. The freshness and originality of their musical styles stemmed from their conscious use of folk music sources. The result was an agreeable and popular art, essentially melodic, rhythmic, and colorful. Folk music, consciously cultivated by such artists as Dvorak and Smetana, sheds its provincialisms but retains its essential characteristics--simplicity, directness, and honesty.
As a traditionalist Dvorak accepted the forms of his art without question, but he regenerated them by injecting a strong racial feeling, which gave brilliant vitality, depth, and warmth to everything he wrote. Dvorak possessed genuinely Slavonic qualities that gave an imperishable color and lyrical character to his art. With a preponderance of temperament and emotion over reason and intellect, he seemed to be always intuitively guided to effect a proper relation?ship between what he wished to express and the manner in which he did so. In this connection he had more in common with Mozart and Schubert than he had with Beethoven. His expression is fresh and irresistably frank, and, although it is moody at times and strangely sensitive, it is never deeply philosophical or brooding; gloom and depression are never allowed to predominate. He could turn readily from one strong emotion to another without any premeditation; he could pour out his soul without reserve or affectation, and in the next moment reveal an almost complete lack of substance in his predilection for sheer color combinations or rhythmic effects for their own sake. But everything he felt
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and said in his music was natural and clear. There was no defiance, no mystical ecstacy in his makeup. He had the simple faith, the natural gaiety, the sane and robust qualities of Haydn. His music, therefore lacks the breadth and the epic quality of Beethoven's; it possesses none of the transcendent emotional sweep of Tchaikovsky's; but for radiantly cheerful and comforting music, for good-hearted, peasant-like humor, for unburdened lyricism, Dvorak has no peer.
The violoncello concerto was one of the last works written by Dvorak while visiting America. It was begun in November, 1894, and was finished in New York, February 9, 1895. It belongs to a period in Dvorak's creative life when his ideas were co-ordinated rather than developed, but even here his style is lucid and his workmanship skillful.
No arbitrary analysis of the forms of each of the movements would reveal more beauty than is apparent in its attractive rhythms, its noble and quasi-im-provisational melodies, in the inexhaustible flow of their developments, or in the broad, richly colored symphonic scoring. The concerto ranks as one of the finest and most attractive works in the whole literature of the violoncello.
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Sunday Evening, April 23
Symphony No. 35 in D major
("Haffner"), K. 385...........Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, January 27, 1756; died in Vienna, December 5, 1791.
In its diversity and scope the music of Mozart is one of the most astonish?ing achievements in the history of European art. Wherever he directed his pen, to the creation of opera, serious or comic, to cantata, Mass, chamber music, sonata, or symphony, he left imperishable masterpieces. In more than six hundred works, created at a breathless speed during less than thirty years, Mozart revealed a universality unknown to any other composer, for his art was founded upon a thorough assimilation and sublimation of the pre?vailing Italian, French, and German styles of his period; he carried to per?fection all instrumental and vocal forms of his day. No composer ever re?vealed simultaneously such creative affluence and such unerring instinct for beauty. Few artists in any age have been so copious and yet so controlled, or have so consistently sustained throughout their creative lives such a high level of artistic excellence.
In the early months of 1782, while working on the instrumental parts of Die Entjiihrung aus dem Serail and composing the Serenade in C minor for Wind Octet (K. 388), Mozart was also attempting to gain the consent of his adamant father to his marriage with Constance Weber. As usual he was in dire need of money and was beset by worry over the sudden general confu?sion of his life. While in this troubled state of mind he received a letter from his father telling him that "a well-to-do and excellent and patriotic man," Sigmund Haffner, who "deserved well of Salzburg by reason of his large bequests," desired some "more festal strains."
"I have certainly enough to do," he answered his father (July 20, 1782), "for by Sunday a week my opera must be arranged for wind instruments or else some one will get the start of me, and reap the profits! And now I have to write a new work! I hardly see how it will be possible. . . . You shall certainly receive something every post-day, and I will work as rapidly as I can, and as well as I can, compatibly with such speed." He hurriedly arranged a sere?nade and sent off the first movement.
The next week he wrote again, "You will make a wry face when you receive only the first allegro; but it could not be helped, for I was called on in such great haste. ... On Wednesday, the 31st, I will send you the two minuets, the
Mozart had previously written (in 1776) the Haffner Serenade in G major, K. 250, and a march for the wedding of Haffner's daughter, Elizabeth. Her father, however, was dead at the time. It was his son by the same name who commissioned, on the occasion of his elevation to the nobility, the symphony on tonight's program.
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andante, and the last movements. If I can, I will send a march also." The march followed a week later on August 7 when he was a bridegroom of only three days.
As originally planned, the music was to take the form of a suite, including two minuets, an andante, a march, and a finale. Unable to complete the work as designed, Mozart, two years later, revised it for performance in Vienna on March 23, 1783, by omitting the march and one minuet. He further enriched the orchestration by adding flutes and clarinets.
Mozart had so forgotten the contents that when his father, at his son's re?quest, sent the manuscript back to him in February, 1783, he wrote casually, "The new 'Haffner' Symphony has quite astonished me, for I did not remem?ber a note of it. It must be very effective." It was, indeed, for it charmed the Vienna audience who demanded its repetition. In spite of the fact that some consider it to be an amphibious work that bears too many marks of its origin as merely party music to justify its inclusion among Mozart's major sym?phonies, it has justly won and retained a position of unrivalled popularity.
The first movement is all brilliance and gaiety, with a vigorous and buoy?ant principal theme announced in the full orchestra and later ingeniously developed. The recapitulation section is contrapuntally treated, with trills and rushing passages and with emphatic chords sustaining the energetic mood to the end of the movement. He remarked to his father that the move?ment should "strike real fire."
The first theme of the second movement is announced in the violin. It is a warm, vibrant melody. Mounting into the upper regions the theme takes on an airy grace and loveliness. After a repetition a solemn but not gloomy interlude provides a deviation, and the opening section returns with enough modification of the thematic line and form to gain interest.
The third movement is in the traditional minuet style with a stately and dignified melody that possesses a soft, lustrous brilliance. There is a restate?ment of this section after an intimate and tender trio section.
The fourth movement is a glittering and exquisitely designed web of sound, elaborate and delicate in its ornamentation. The section is built upon two themes--the first, beginning softly in the strings, is repeated with slight alteration. The second subject, at first restrained, grows in vigor as it pro?ceeds. In a letter to his father, Mozart designated that this movement must be played as fast as possible, but without loss of clarity or detail.
"New England Triptych" (Three Pieces for
Orchestra after William Billings) . . . William Schuman
William Schuman was born in New York City, August 4, 1910.
In 1935, at the age of twenty-five, William Schuman was a musical nonen?tity. By 1938 he was recognized by leading critics and fellow musicians as one of America's most promising composers. Aaron Copland, writing in Mod-
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em Music, May, 1938. stated that "Schuman is, as far as I am concerned, the musical find of the year. There is nothing puny or miniature about this young man's talent . . . Schuman is a composer who is going places." By 1941 he had established himself as one of the outstanding American composers of our time. This meteoric rise is the more remarkable when it is realized that as a youth Schuman had shown no particular bent toward music. He played the violin indifferently at the age of eleven, formed a jazz band after gradua?tion from high school, and in the ensuing years wrote many popular songs, collaborating at times with his friend, Frank Loesser, who later attained fame with "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "On a Slow Boat to China," "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." and Guys and Dolls. At the age of twenty, Schuman was not only unschooled in the grammar and technique of his art, he had in fact shown no interest whatever in serious music. It was on April 4, 1930, to be exact, that he decided upon music as a profession. On that date he heard the New York Philharmonic for the first time, left the concert determined to study music seriously, and abruptly withdrew from the New York School of Commerce, where he had been a student. His initial study was with Max Persin, at the Malkin Conservatory, and with Charles Haubiel. In 1935 he won a scholarship to study at the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the next year, upon his return to America, he became a dedicated student of Roy Harris, whose influence upon his musical and artistic growth continued for several years. By 1937 his second symphony (he had written his first while at Salzburg) was introduced to the public by Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as was his third, for which he won the Music Critics' Circle award as the outstanding American composer of the year 1941-42. With this work he reached full creative maturity, and since that time his name has been constantly before the public as a winner of awards and honors. Among them was the first Pulitzer Prize ever offered in music, which was conferred upon him for his cantata A Free Song (1942).
William Schuman, in addition to these notable achievements, was commis?sioned by Billy Rose to write music for his Broadway show The Seven Lively Arts. He has taught with distinction at Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College, and in 1945 became President of the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He is now President of New York's Lincoln Center. All these activities demonstrate his unusual talent for administration and his amazing versatility, and the catholicity of his tastes.
As a composer he has been extremely prolific. Among his outstanding works are Four Canonic Choruses (1932); six symphonies (between 1935 and 1948); Pioneers, for eight-part chorus (1937); Choral Etude (1937); Prelude, for chorus of women's voices (1939); American Festival Overture (1939); This is Our Time, a secular cantata (1940); A Free Song, a secular cantata
Performed at the 1945 May Festival.
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No. II (1942); Requiescat, for women's chorus (1942); Holiday Song, for chorus of mixed voices and piano (1942); Concerto for Piano and Small Orchestra (1942); Prayer in Time of War, for orchestra (1943); Te Deum, for the Coronation Scene of Shakespeare's Henry VII, for mixed chorus (1947); Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1947, revised 1954); three bal?lets, Undertow (1945), Night Journey (Martha Graham, 1947), and Judith, a choreographic poem for orchestra (Martha Graham, 1949); a one-act op?era, The Mighty Casey (1951-53); Credendum (1953); and other small pieces.
Since the "New England Triptych" in 1956, Mr. Schuman has produced Chester, an overture for band (1956); Four Rounds on Famous Words for chorus (1957); film music for The Earth Is Born (1957); Symphony No. 7 (1960); Song of Orpheus for orchestra and cello (1962); Symphony No. 8 (1962); and The Witch of Endor, a ballet for Martha Graham (1965).
In his works he shows a strong leaning toward choral music, which he writes with telling effect. His style is bold and uncompromising in its biton-ality, polyharmony, involved contrapuntal textures, and complex struc?tures. Leonard Bernstein notes his "buoyancy and energetic drive," his "vigor of propulsion," and "lust for life." Paul Rosenfeld writes of his "force, originally fixed and deadly, which is subject to a new incarnation and finally moves, joyously unified and with a gesture of embrace, out to?wards life"; and Alfred Frankenstein refers to his "enthusiasm" and the "lithe and aerated draftsmanship of his polyphony and the luminous quality of his orchestration which always glows but never glitters," "the sharp-edged boldness with which he sets forth his ideas," and "the verve and vir?tuosity and drive that goes the whole hog."
Mr. Schuman has always been fascinated by the music of William Billings (1746-1800), one of America's first composers. A tanner by trade, Billings was ardently devoted to choral singing and published six collections of hymn tunes. The New England Psalm-Singer or American Chorister was one of his six published collections which won wide circulation during his lifetime.
The work on tonight's program was commissioned by Andre Kostelanetz. It had its first performance by Mr. Kostelanetz and the Miami University Orchestra at Miami, Florida, on October 28, 1956.
Of his New England Triptych, Mr. Schuman has written:
"William Billings is a major figure in the history of American music. The works of this dynamic composer capture the spirit of sinewy ruggedness, deep religiosity and patriotic fervor that we associate with the Revolutionary period. Despite the undeniable crudities and technical shortcomings of his music, its appeal, even today, is forceful and moving. I am not alone among American composers who feel an identity with Billings, and it is this sense
Performed at the 1958 May Festival.
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of identity which accounts for my use of his music as a point of departure. These pieces do not constitute a 'fantasy' on themes of Billings, nor 'varia?tions' on his themes, but rather a fusion of styles and musical language. "Billings' text for this anthem includes the following lines:
I. BE GLAD THEN, AMERICA Yes, the Lord will answer
And say unto his people--behold! I will send you corn and wine and oil, And ye shall be satisfied therewith. Be glad then, America, Shout and rejoice, Fear not O land. Be glad and rejoice. Hallelujah!
"A timpani solo begins the short introduction which is developed predomi?nantly in the strings. This music is suggestive of the 'Hallelujah' heard at the end of the piece. Trombones and trumpets begin the main section, a free and varied setting of the words 'Be glad then, America, shout and rejoice.' The timpani, again solo, leads to a middle fugal section stemming from the words, 'And ye shall be satisfied.' The music gains momentum, and com?bined themes lead to a climax. There follows a free adaptation of the 'Hallelujah' music with which Billings concludes his original choral piece and a final reference to the 'Shout and rejoice' music.
II. WHEN JESUS WEPT When Jesus wept, the falling tear In mercy flowed beyond all bound; When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear Seized all the guilty world around.
"The setting of the above text is in the form of a round. Here, Billings' music is used in its original form, as well as in new settings with contrapuntal embellishments and melodic extensions.
III. CHESTER
Let tyrants shake their iron rods, And slavery clank her galling chains, We fear them not, we trust in God, New England's God forever reigns. The foe comes on with haughty stride, Our troops advance with martial noise, Their vet'rans flee before our youth, And gen'rals yield to beardless boys.
"This music, composed as a church hymn, was subsequently adopted by the Continental Army as a marching song and enjoyed great popularity. The orchestral piece derived from the spirit both of the hymn and the marching song. The original words of one of the verses was especially written for its use by the Continental Army."
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THIRD CONCERT Suite No. 2 from the Ballet, Daphnis et Chloi . . . Ravel
Maurice Ravel was born at Cibourne, Basses-Pyrenees, March 7, 1875; he died in Paris, December 28, 1937.
The term "impressionism" passed from a general term to specialized us?age about 1863, when a sunset by Monet was shown in Paris at the Salon des Rejusis entitled "Impression." The name was then adopted for a whole group of painters, of which Monet, Manet, and Degas were the leaders, and later by a similar group of composers, of whom Debussy was the most im?portant figure, and Maurice Ravel a more recent member. Impressionism came to reject all traditions and devote itself largely to the sensuous side of art. It subordinated the subject for the most part to the execution, and it inter?preted isolated momentary sensations, not thoughts or concrete things. In the words of Walter Pater, impressionism was "a vivid personal impression of a fugitive effect." Debussy used his art as a plastic medium for record?ing such fleeting impressions and fugitive glimpses. His style and technique, like that of Monet, Renoir, and early Pissarro, render a music that is inti?mate though evasive, a music with a twilight beauty and glamor, revealing a world of sense, flavor, color, and mystery. And so Debussy, working to the same end as the French impressionists in art, through the subtle and ephemeral medium of sound created an evasive world of vague feelings and subtle emotions --a world of old brocades, the glimmer of moonlight, morning mists, shadowy pools, sunlight on waves, faint odor of dying flowers, the flickering effect of in?verted images in a pool, or the more vigorous and sparkling effects of an Iberian fete day.
In contrast to the ecstatic impressionism of Debussy, the art of Maurice Ravel appeared more concrete. Although he was at home among the colored vapors of the Debussyan harmonic system, Ravel expressed himself in a more tangible form and fashioned the same materials into set designs. His art, in this connection, stands in much the same relationship to musical im?pressionism as the art of Renoir does to the same style in painting; it restores formal values. In this structural sense he differs from Debussy. But, like Debussy, he reveals the typical French genius, an exquisite refinement, un?erring sense of form, purest craftsmanship, attention to minute details, im?peccable taste, and a finesse and lucidity in execution.
The ballet, Daphnis et Chloi, was composed for the Russian Ballet in 1910, at the request of Sergei Diaghilev. It was first performed in June, 1912, at Paris, with Nijinsky as Daphnis, and Monteux conducting.
In the score is to be found the following descriptive note:
No sound but the murmur of rivulets fed by the dew that trickles from the rocks. Daphnis lies stretched before the grotto of the nymphs. Little by little the day dawns. The songs of birds are heard. Afar off a shepherd leads his flock. Another shepherd crosses the back of the stage. Herdsmen enter, seeking Daphnis and Chloe. They find Daphnis and awaken him. In anguish he looks about for Chloe. She at last appears encircled by shepherdesses. The two rush into each other's arms. Daphnis observes Chloe's crown. His dream was a prophetic
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vision; the intervention of Pan is manifest. The old shepherd Lammon explains that Pan saved Chloe, in remembrance of the nymph Syrinx, whom the god loved.
Daphnis and Chloe mime the story of Pan and Syrinx. Chloe impersonates the young nymph wandering over the meadow; Daphnis, as Pan, appears and declares his love for her. The nymph repulses him; the god becomes more insistent. She disappears among the reeds. In desperation he plucks some stalks, fashions a flute, and on it plays a melancholy tune. Chloe comes out and imitates by her dance the accents of the flute.
The dance grows more and more animated. In mad whirlings, Chloe falls into the arms of Daphnis. Before the altar of the nymphs he swears his fidelity. Young girls enter; they are dressed as Bacchantes and shake their tambourines. Daphnis and Chloe embrace tenderly. A group of young men comes on the stage.
Joyous tumult. A general dance.
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83
for Piano and Orchestra.........Brahms
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, May 7, 1833; died in Vienna, April 3, 1897.
No other work of Brahms is more characteristic than this magnificent pi?ano concerto. It contains music that arises from his most secluded spiritual realm and is among the richest and best balanced works he ever produced. Nowhere else does he reveal such conscientiousness and solid thoroughness.
The concerto was begun in May, 1878, at Portschach in southern Austria, on the day before his forty-fifth birthday. It was completed in 1881 at Press-baum, near Vienna. In letters that year to Clara Schumann and Elizabeth von Herzogenberg, Brahms jestingly announced that he had written "quite a little concerto with quite a little scherzo." What he had actually created was a piano concerto and a symphony in one work. Here, as in the first piano concerto, he found a new solution of the problem of reconciling the piano with the orchestra. By embedding its sound in that of the orchestra, and at the same time preserving its contrasting quality; by suppressing all display of technical virtuosity in the soloist as an end in itself; by relating every theme, figure, chord passage, scale, and run organically to the whole, Brahms created an overpowering concerto.
Unlike the earlier classical concept of the form founded on the alternation of orchestral ritornelli and solo episodes, and the later highly romantic dis?play of pieces of Liszt, with their magnficent tone colors, breath-taking bravuras, and ostentatious effects, Brahms allows the soloist's vanity no satisfaction in his symphonically constructed passages where the parts are firmly molded into one radiant whole. The piano part, often dense and slow-moving, with its constant preference for working with massive chord effects and broken chord passages, drives into the very tone center of the orches?tra to contribute its thread and color to the rich symphonic texture.
ANALYSIS
The principal theme of the first movement (Allegro non troppo, B-flat ma?jor, 4--4 time) is foreshadowed by a short dialogue between the first horn
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and piano, creating a quiet twilight atmosphere. The piano dramatically leads to a full, sonorous statement of the theme in the orchestra. This pre?pares for the contrasting lyricism of the second subject, announced by the violins with pizzicato violas and cellos, and, after a vigorous passage, the piano enters in octaves, leading to its modified statement of the principal theme. Part of the opening in the orchestra and the second theme are now developed to some extent. After a passage in F minor for the piano, which leads to a statement in the full orchestra, the development section begins. The principal themes are elaborately treated. The recapitulation begins on the quiet subject of the horn that was heard at the opening of the movement, but the rest of the section is not a literal re-presentation of the exposi?tion material. A tremendous coda, derived from the themes heard in the or?chestral opening of the concerto and summarizing in a broad melodic sweep the content of the main section of the movement, closes this section.
The second movement (Allegro appassionato, F major, 3-4 time) is the "quite a little scherzo" to which Brahms referred in his letters, although it is not designated as such in the score. The theme, recalling the piano scherzo in E minor, Op. 4 and the later piano capricci in its uncouth and sullen tone, is stated in the piano. An episode in the orchestra, derived from the rhythmic figure of the piano theme, is continued later in the solo instrument. This forms a concise sonata-form exposition which closes in A major, and is re?peated. A development follows which introduces a new jubilant theme in D major, which has the effect of a trio section. There is a free sonata-like reca?pitulation of the themes of the exposition, after which a coda, giving freest scope to the piano and orchestra, brings this unique movement to a close.
The orchestra begins the third movement (Andante, B-flat major, 6-4 time) with a broad melody for the cello, a forethought of the sad sweet melody of the later song "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer"; and, after its re?statement, in which the oboe joins the cello, the piano sounds a figure de?rived from the same theme. Then in typical Brahms fashion there is a closely woven passage which, in spite of its familiar material, is treated in an impro?visatory manner. After a sudden change to F-sharp major, a new melody, found in the song "Todessehen," Op. 86, is stated by two clarinets in the accompaniment. "The melody," writes Tovey, "consists of few notes spaced like the first stars that penetrate the sky at sunset. When the strings join in, the calm is as deep as the ocean that we have witnessed in the storms of this huge piece of music." The first theme returns to the cello in F-sharp minor, and a recapitulation of the opening in the orchestra, this time orna?mented by a figure in the piano, brings this lovely movement to a quiet and serene close.
The fourth movement (Allegretto grazioso, B-flat major, 2-4 time), an airy, glittering, and delicately animated finale, presents no trumpets and
Donald Francis Tovey, Essays in Musical Analysis (London: Oxford University Press, 1936), III, 124
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drums, although after such a tremendous treatment as this concerto has re?ceived, one might expect a more triumphant close. The piano states the first rhythmic theme, and it is soon followed by another idea, almost Hungarian in style, which alternates between woodwinds and strings. Another section of it is heard in the solo instrument which leads to a playful subject, still in the piano and accompanied by pizzicato strings. An elaborate development of this and subsidiary material follows, and all is climaxed with a lengthy coda.
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FOURTH CONCERT
Monday Evening, April 24
Requiem Mass...............Verdi
Composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni
The year 1813 was of tremendous importance in the political world; no less so in the domain of music, for it brought to earth two epoch-making geniuses, Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi. In these two masters cli?maxed the greatest artistic forces of the entire nineteenth century. In them, the German and Italian opera established models that seemed to exhaust all conceivable possibilities within the two cultures. Representing two great musical nations, influenced as well by strong national tendencies, each as?sumed, in his own way, a novel and significant artistic attitude toward the lyric theater. Wagner, the German, full of the Teutonic spirit, revolutionized musico-dramatic art by approximating it to the symphony; Verdi, the Ital?ian, no less national in spirit and without losing either his individuality or nationality, developed a similar style in which the orchestra increased its potency of expression without sacrificing the beauty of the human voice.
Verdi was not a man of culture as was Wagner. Born a peasant, he re?mained rooted to the soil, and his art reflects a primitive quality. He created music astonishingly frank and fierce for his time, turning the over-sophisticated seductive melodies of Donizetti and Bellini into passionate ut?terances of new intensity through strong contrasts of violent and tender feel?ing. In his characters he achieved emotional emancipation through the un?limited scope of his musical discourse. His genius often carried him from the depths of triviality and vulgarity to majestic dignity and elegance, but it always reflected large resources of imagination and amazing vitality. His vitality is in fact exceptional among composers. So enduring and resourceful was he that his greatest and most elaborate works were produced after he was fifty-seven. When verging on sixty, he composed A'ida, an opera abounding in the strength, vigor, and freedom of youth. He was sixty-one when he wrote the Requiem, and certainly in it is no hint of diminution of creative power. His last opera, Fahtajj, considered by many his masterpiece, was written when he was eighty! The consistent and continuous growth of his style over sixty years of life is evidence of an incomparable capacity for artistic development and a triumphant vitality. These he had in abundance, sustaining him through a life of sadness and misfortune. As the child of a poor innkeeper, he had few opportunities for a musical education. Misfortune marked him at the threshold of his career; he was refused admittance to the conservatory at Milan because of an arbitrary age limit. Married at twenty-three, he lost his wife and two children within a period of two-and-a-half years, and at the end of a long and eventful life, he experienced the bitter loneliness of old age. But misfortune
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mellowed rather than hardened him. His magnanimity, his many charitable acts, the broad humanity of his art endeared him to his people, who idolized him both as a man and as an artist. Throughout his life and his works ran a virility and a verve, a nobility and valor that challenges the greatest admiration.
The Requiem reveals Verdi at the height of his genius, profound in the maturity of artistic judgment that comes only with years. The whole work is majestic in melodic sweep. To the mastery of vocal resources, so charac?teristic of Italian composers, must be added a control of the orchestra which sets him apart. His style here approaches more closely that of the German masters. Rhythm and harmony, energized by an outstanding control of poly?phony, and an attention directed to the orchestra as something more than a mere support for the voice (unusual in an Italian), give his music a Wagner-ian richness and opulence. There is, however, not the slightest indication of any Wagnerian technique or influence.
A careful study of the treatment of the fugue in Section IV will clearly re?veal that Verdi possessed distinguished power as a contrapuntist. The fact that his themes are so melodious has a tendency to draw attention away from the constructive skill revealed in this fugue. The Requiem approaches the dignity of Bach and the majesty of Wagner, but is ultimately Italian in spirit. Every page reveals the imprint of genius which knows no national boundaries.
The production at Milan, May 22, 1874, signaled a controversy which has persisted to this day. The Germans, with Bach and Handel in mind, hear in this work theatricalism and overwrought sentimentality. They object to an operatic style in a religious work. In England also, the memories of Handel, Mendelssohn, and the awareness of Elgar are still conditioning factors in a judgment of what a religious work should be. The French and Italians, espe?cially the latter, find in it a perfect expression of religious fervor. Justice requires that the Requiem be criticized with realization of the radical differ?ences in religious feeling and expression between people of the Latin and Teutonic backgrounds.
Verdi, like Palestrina, Bach, Handel, Beethoven, and Elgar, used the idi?oms of his day and generation. No one who knows the personality could ac?cuse Verdi of a lack of sincerity or genuine religious conviction. It was Hans-lick who answered certain German criticism of the Verdi Requiem as being too passionate, too sensuous, too violent for religious feeling, by declaring that Verdi's music simply was based on the emotional characteristics of his countrymen. "Certainly the Italian has a right," wrote Hanslick, "to ask if he may not address his God in the Italian language."
The following evaluation of the Requiem is taken from an article written by Lawrence Gilman for the now defunct New York Herald-Tribune:
Fifty-seven years ago the Manzoni Requiem with its melodic luxuriance, its dramatic in?tensity, its vehement utterances of terror, grief, supplication, was a bitter pill for many academic musicians to swallow. They found it lacking An dignity, in austerity; music fit "for the stage and not for the sanctuary."
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But why should not a musical setting of the Requiem Mass be dramatic, lurid--even theatrical, if you will Are not the words themselves dramatic, lurid, theatrical enough Are the basic conceptions that underlie the text: the thoughts, visions, prayers of the believer--are these reserved and sober and austere The thought of the Judgment Day when the graves shall give up their dead, when the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll and the world become ashes; the thought of the trumpets of the Resurrection; the thought of the horror of the everlasting darkness, of the fiery lake, of the agonies of damnation; the thought of universal lamentation, supplication, dread. . . . What music could be too dramatic, lurid, vehement, theatrical, to come within speaking distance of such appalling conceptions
And what of death and lamentation and dread and anguished supplication as they persist in the experience of men--are these things undramatic, calling for reticent dignity of speech
Verdi, the Latin, the Southerner, with his bare nerves and quick responsiveness, has natur?ally reacted to the implications of his subject with the sensibility, the uninhibited emotions, of his race and his type. And thus his setting of the Requiem has validity and distinction. Who would have wished from him an imitation of Northern reticence and gravity
The music has extraordinary and multiple virtues--a mysticism essentially Latin; com?passionate tenderness; purity of feeling; and, above all, an overwhelming dramatic power. . . . Who can forget the hushed and overwhelming close which sets the crown of beauty and affectingness upon the work: that wonderful decresendo, with its prayer for security and holy rest and peace at last--as if the music, breathless with awe, remembered that ancient promise of living fountains of waters, and the end of tears, and the city that needed not the sun.
The importance of Verdi's Requiem cannot be minimized; it ranks among the great scores extant of its kind.
Shortly after Rossini's death (November 13, 1868), Verdi suggested that Italian composers should unite in writing a worthy requiem as a tribute to the memory of the "Swan of Pesaro." It was to be performed only at the cathedral of Bologne every hundredth year, on the centenary of Rossini's death, a curious proposition to submit to Italian composers who lived for the applause of their countrymen. The only bond of unity was a fixed suc?cession of tonalities determined in advance, possibly by Verdi who took the final number "Libera me."
The attempt was an absolute failure. The power and beauty of Verdi's contribution, however, so impressed his friends that, at the death of the great writer Alessandro Manzoni, he composed an entire requiem in his memory. The inception and fulfillment of his idea can be traced in the following excerpts taken from his letters:
1873. To Clarina Maffei:
I am deeply moved by what you say of Manzoni--the description you gave me moved me to tears. Yes, to tears--for hardened as I am to the ugliness of this world, I have a little heart left, and I still weep. Don't tell anyone . . . but I sometimes weep. . . .
1873. To Giulio Riccordi--May 23:
I am profoundly grieved at the death of our Great One. But I shall not come to Milan tomorrow. I could not bear to attend his funeral. However, I shall come soon, to visit the grave, alone, unseen and perhaps (after more reflection, and after I have taken stock of my strength) to propose a way to honor his memory.
Manzoni's novel Promessi sposi ("The Promised Bride") made him Italy's outstanding literary figure and secured for him an international reputation.
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1873. To Claudia Maffei--May 29:
I was not at the funeral, but there were probably few people more saddened this morning, more deeply moved than I, though I was far away. Now it is all over. And with him ends the purest, holiest, highest of our glories.
1873. To the Mayor of Milan-June 9:
I deserve absolutely no thanks (neither from you nor from the city authorities) for my offer to write a Requiem Mass for the anniversary of our Manzoni. It was simply an impulse, or better, a heart-felt need that impelled me to honor, to the best of my powers, a man whom I value so much as a writer and honored as a man and as a model of virtue and patriotism. When the work on the music is far enough along, I shall not fail to inform you what elements are necessary to make the performance worthy of our fatherland and of a man whose loss we all lament.
An analysis of the seven movements of the Requiem follows, with the translation of the text version used by Verdi:
I. REQUIEM ET KYRIE
The Introduction (A minor) to Requiem et Kyrie ("Grant them rest"), a quiet and mournful theme, is developed entirely by the strings. The chorus is purely an accompaniment to the melody played by the violins, until at the words Te decet hymnns ("There shall be singing"), it is supreme. After this division (F major, sung a capella), the introductory theme reappears. At its conclusion the solo parts come into prominence (A major), and the rest of the number is a finely conceived and elaborately executed eight-voiced setting of the words, Kyrie eleison.
Requiem aelernam dona eis, Domine; et lux perpetua literal eis;
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddelur volum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi oralionem meant, ad te omnis euro veniet.
Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie ele-ison.
Eternal rest give to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them.
A hymn, O God, becometh Thee in Sion; and a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusa?lem:
O Lord, hear my prayer; all flesh shall come to Thee; Eternal rest give to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us.
II. DIES IRAE
Dies irae ("Day of Anger") is divided into nine parts, for solo, chorus, and orchestra. The first of these divisions, a very dramatic setting of the text, is in the key of G minor and introduces vocal and orchestral effects which are startling in their intensity. The second division, Tuba mirum ("Hark! the trumpet," A-flat minor) is preceded by a dramatic treatment of the orchestra, in which the trumpet calls in the orchestra are answered in the distance--until a magnificent climax is reached by the fortissimo chords
Verdi--The Man in His Letters, ed. Franz Wcrfel and Paul Stefan, trans. Edward Downes (New York: L. B. Fischer Publishing Co., 1941).
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for full brass, leading into a fine unison passage for male voice, accompa?nied by the full orchestra. In quick succession follows No. 3, solos for bass and mezzo soprano. The words Mors stupebit ("Death with wonder is enchained") and Liber scriptus projeretur ("Now the record shall be cited") involve a change of treatment. An abridged version of the first divi?sion follows, to be succeeded in turn by a beautiful trio for tenor, mezzo, and bass. The next division, Rex tremendae majestatis ("King of Glory"), is written for solo and chorus. The solo parts to the text, Salve me, Jons pietatis ("Save me with mercy flowing"), introduce a melody entirely distinct from that of the chorus, ingenious contrasts of the two leading up to the final blend?ing in Salve me, both intensely interesting and effective. . The sixth number, a duet for soprano and mezzo, is thoroughly Italian in spirit, is beautifully written for the voices, and carries out most perfectly the spirit of the word, Recordare ("Ah! remember"). The tenor and bass solos which now follow, Ingemisco ("Sadly groaning") and Conjutatis, in the opinion of many critics, contain the finest music in the whole work. This part is very arresting, and presents to the musician technical points of im?portance. Dies irae, as a whole, ends with Lacrymosa ("Ah! what weeping") a tender setting of these words. A wonderful crescendo on the word Amen is to be noted.
Dies irae, dies ilia, Solvet saeclum in favilla, Teste David cum Sibylla. Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando Judex est venturus. Cuncta stride discussurus! Tuba minim spargens sonum, Per sepulchra regionunt, Cogel omnes ante thronum. Mors stupebit et natura, Cum resurget creatura, Judicanli responsura. Liber script us projeretur, In quo totum continetur, Vnde mundus judicetur. Judex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet, apparcbit, Xil inultum remanebit. Quid sum, miser; tune dicturus, Quern patronum rogaturus, Cum vix Justus sit securus Rex tremendae majestatis! Qui salvandos slavas gratis, Salve me jons pietatis! Recordare, Jesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae; Ne me perdas ilia die. Quarens me, sedisli lassus; Redemisli cruccm passus;
Dreaded day, that day of ire, when the world shall melt in fire, told by Sibyl and David's lyre. Fright men's hearts shall rudely shift, as the Judge through gleaming rift comes each soul to closely sift.
Then the trumpet's shrill refrain, piercing tombs by hill and plain, Souls to judg?ment shall arraign.
Death and nature stand aghast, as the bodies rising fast, hie to hear the sentence passed.
Then before Him shall be placed that whereupon the verdict's based, book, wherein each deed is traced. When the Judge His seat shall gain, all that's hidden shall be plain, nothing shall unjudged re?main.
Dreaded day, that day of ire, when the world shall melt in fire, told by Sibyl and David's lyre.
Wretched man, what can I plead, whom to ask to intercede, when the just much mercy need
Thou, O awe-inspiring Lord, saving e'en when unimplored, save me, mercy's fount adored.
Ah! Sweet Jesus, mindful be, that Thou cam'st on earth for me, cast me not this day from Thee.
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Tantus labor non sit cassus. Juste Judex ultionis, Donum jac remissionis Ante Diem rationis. Ingemisco tanquam reus, Culpa rubet vultus meus; Supplicanti parce Deus.
Qui Mariam absolvisti, Et latronem exaudisti, Mihi quoque spent dedisti. Preces meae non sunt dignae, Sed tu bonus foe benigne, Ne perenni cremer igne. Inter oves locum praesta, Et latronem exaudisti, Statuens in parte dextra. Conjulatis maledictis, Flammis acribus abdictis, Voca me cum benedictis. Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis, Gere curam mei finis. Lacrymosa dies ilia! Qua resurget ex favilla Judicantus homo reus. Hide ergo parce Deus. Pie Jesu Domine, Dona eis requiem. Amen.
Seeking me Thy strength was spent, ran?soming Thy limbs were rent, is this toil to no intent
Thou, awarding pains, condign, Mercy's ear to be incline, ere the reckoning Thou assign.
I, felon-like, my lot bewail, suffused cheeks my shame unveil: God! O let my prayers prevail.
Mary's soul Thou madest white, didst to heaven the thief invite; hope in me these now excite.
Prayers o' mine in vain ascend: Thou art good and wilt forefend in quenchless fire my life to end.
When the cursed by shame opprest enter flames at Thy behest, call me then to join the blest.
Place amid Thy sheep accord, keep me from the tainted horde, set me in Thy sight, O Lord.
Prostrate, suppliant, now no more, unre-penting, as of yore, save me, dying, I im?plore.
Dreaded day, that day of ire, when the world shall melt in fire, told by Sibyl and David's lyre.
Mournful day! that day of sighs, when from dust shall man arise, stained with guilt his doom to know.
Mercy, Lord, on him bestow. Jesus kind! Thy souls release, lead them thence to realms of peace. Amen.
III. DOMINE JESU CHRISTE
As a contrast in form and style to the varied and extended Dies irae, the com?poser treats the next division of the mass, Dotnine Jesu Christe, in the man?ner of a quartet, each of the four solo voices contributing by its unique timbre to the simple beauty of the melodic and harmonic conception.
Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae, libera animas omnium jidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni et de prof undo lacu; libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, necadant in obscurum. Sed signijer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam. Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.
Hostias el preces, Domine, laudis offeri-mus, tu suscipe pro animabus Mis, quorum hodie memoriam facimus; fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam; Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini equs.
48
0 Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, de?liver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the deep pit;
Deliver them from the lion's mouth, that hell engulf them not, nor they fall into darkness;
But that Michael, the holy standard-bearer, bring them into the holy light.
Which Thou once didst promise to Abra?ham and his seed.
We offer Thee, O Lord, sacrifices and prayers of praise; do Thou accept them
FOURTH CONCERT
Libera animas omnium fidelium defunc-torum de poenis inferni, fac eas de morte transire ad vitam.
for those souls whom we this day com?memorate; grant them, O Lord, to pass from death to the life which Thou once didst promise to Abraham and his seed.
Deliver, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from every bond of sin. And by the help of Thy grace let them be found worthy to escape the sentence of vengeance. And to enjoy the full beatitude of the light eternal.
IV. SANCTUS ET BENEDICTUS
Sanctus is an exalted inspiration of genius. With its glorious double fugue, its triumphal antiphonal effects at the close leading into a soul-uplifting cli?max, it would, of itself, make the reputation of a lesser composer.
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dotnine Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli el terra gloriae tuae. Osanna in excelsis.
Benedidus qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts. The heavens and the earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is He Who cometh in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
V. AGNUS DEI
If Sanctus is sublime in its grandeur, no less so in its pathos is Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God") written for solo voices (soprano and mezzo) and chorus. A simple melody with three different settings is the basis of this important number, and in originality and effectiveness it is not at all inferior to the inspired Sanctus which precedes it.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem setnpi-tertiam. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempilernam.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world: give unto them rest. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world: give unto them eternal rest. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world: give unto them eternal rest.
VI. LUX AETERNA
Lux aeterna ("Light eternal") calls for no extended notice. It is written for three solo voices in the style which we find in Verdi's later works.
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum Sanctis tuis in aeternam, quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpelua luceal eis.
May light eternal shine upon them O Lord, with Thy saints forever, for Thou art kind.
Grant them everlasting rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them, with Thy saints.
VII. LIBERA ME DOMINE
The closing number, Libera me, begins with a recitative (soprano), Libcra me, Domine, de morte aeterna ("Lord, deliver my soul from eternal death"), interrupted by the chorus, which chants these words, and, introducing a
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fugue of stupendous difficulty, gives us a repetition of the beautiful intro?duction to the whole work. There follows a repetition of the recitative, while the chorus holds a sustained chord pianissimo. In the repetition of the intro?duction to the chorus just alluded to, the solo voice (soprano) takes the melody originally played by the violins, with a cappclla chorus accom?paniment. The ending of the work is very dramatic. Everything seems hushed while the awful significance of the words is impressed upon the mind with irresistible force.
Libere me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die ilia tremenda, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra. Dum veneris judicare saecu?lum per ignem.
Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit atque ventura ira, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra.
Dies irae, dies ilia, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et amara valde. Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die ilia tremenda; quando coeli movendi sunt et terra, dum veneris judicare saecu?lum per ignem.
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die ilia tremenda. Libera me.
50
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death on that dreadful day when the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. I am seized with fear and trembling when I re?flect upon the judgment and the wrath to come. When the heavens and the earth shall be moved. That day, a day of wrath, of wasting and of misery, a dreadful and exceeding bitter day. When Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Deliver me, O Lord, from everlasting death, on that dreadful day.
Deliver me, when the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Deliver me, O Lord, from everlasting death, on that dreadful day.
Deliver me!
FIFTH CONCERT
Tuesday Evening, April 25
Program of the Compositions of Johannes Brahms
The differences that actually exist between the art of the two great con?temporaries Brahms and Tchaikovsky are slight indeed. Criticism in the past has been too insistent on symbolizing each of these masters as the epito?me of contrasting ideals in the music of their age. It has identified their aes?thetic theories and the conflict that raged around them with their art and has come to the false conclusion that no two artists reveal a greater disparity of style, expression, and technique.
In truth, Tchaikovsky and Brahms were products of the same artistic soil, nurtured by the same forces that conditioned the standards and norms of art in their time. They both lived in a spiritually poverty stricken and soul sick period, when anarchy seemed to have destroyed culture; an age which was distinctly unfavorable to genuinely great art, unfavorable because of its pretentiousness and exclusiveness and its hidebound worship of the conven?tional. Its love of luxury and its crass materialism brought in its wake dis?illusionment, weariness, and indifference to beauty; its showy exterior did not hide the inner barrenness of its culture. Brahms and Richard Wagner, another of his contemporaries, though opposed in verbal theory, stand to?gether strong in the face of opposing forces, disillusioned beyond doubt with the state of their world, but not defeated by it. Both shared in a serious pur?pose and noble intention and sought the expression of the sublime in their art, and each in his own way tried to strengthen the flaccid spirit of the time by sounding a note of courage and hopefulness. Brahms's first piano con?certo, the German Requiem, the Alto Rhapsody, the Song oj Destiny, and particularly the great tragic songs all speak in the somber, earnest, but lofty accents of Wagner. It is no accident that the real Brahms seems to be the serious, contemplative Brahms of these works, for here is to be found the true expression of an artist at grips with the artistic and spiritual problems of his time.
Even as Beethoven before him, he was essentially of a hearty and vigor?ous mind. Standing abreast of such vital spirits as Carlyle and Browning, he met the challenge of his age and triumphed in his art. By the exercise of a clear intelligence and a strong critical faculty he was able to temper the tendency toward emotional excess and to avoid the pitfalls of utter despair into which Tchaikovsky was invariably led. Although Brahms experienced disillusionment no less than Wagner and Tchaikovsky, his was another kind of tragedy--the tragedy of a man born out of his time. He suffered from the changes in taste and perception that inevitably come with the passing of time. His particular disillusionment, however, did not affect the power and sureness of his artistic impulse. With grief he saw the ideals of Beethoven
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dissolve in a welter of cheap emotionalism. He saw the classic dignity of that art degraded by an infiltration of tawdry programmatic effects and innocuous imitation and witnessed finally its subjugation to poetry and the dramatic play. All of this he opposed with his own grand style--profoundly moving, noble, and dignified. With a sweep and thrust he forced music out upon her mighty pinions to soar once more. What Matthew Arnold wrote of Milton's verse might well have been written of the music of Brahms: "The fullness of thought, imagination, and knowledge make it what it is" and its mighty power lies "in the refining and elevation wrought in us by the high and rare excellence of the grand style."
Brahms lived his creative life upon the "cold white peaks" and in his epic conception of form often verged upon the expression of the sublime. No mas?ter ever displayed a more inexorable self-discipline or held his art in higher respect. He was a master of masters, always painstaking in the devotion he put into his work and undaunted in his search for perfection. The Brahms of music is the man, in Milton"s magnificent phrase, "of devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit that can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and send out His seraphim with the hallowed fire from His altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom He pleases."
Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
If ever a piece of music stood as an eternal refutation of all that is meant by "academic," it is this "Festival Overture." The work was written in 1880, as an acknowledgment by Brahms of the doctor's degree which had been con?ferred upon him by the University of Breslau, as the Princeps musicac severioris in Germany. Shockingly enough, the rollicking "Academic Festi?val Overture" is anything but severely in keeping with the pedantic solem?nities of academic convention. It is typical of Brahms that he should delight in thanking the pompous dignitaries of the university with such a quip, for certainly here is one of the gayest and most sparkling overtures in the orchestral repertory.
In the spirit of "He hath cast down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them that are of low degree," Brahms selected as the thematic materials for his overture a handful of student drinking songs, defying all the established conventions of serious composition. He always took an impish joy in indulg?ing his instinct for championing underdogs of art such as music boxes, ban?jos, brass bands, and working men's singing societies. And here he elevated the lowly student song into the realm of legitimate art. There was never a "nobler man of the people" in the whole history of music.
The overture begins (Allegro, C minor, 2--2 time) without introduction. The principal theme is announced in the violins. Section II is a tranquil melody in the violas, which returns to the opening material. After an episode (E minor) there follows the student song, "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus" ("We had built a stately house"), heard in three trumpets (C major).
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FIFTH CONCERT
At the close of this section, the full orchestra presents another section partly suggested by the first theme of the overture. The key changes to E major and the second violins with cellos pizzicato announce the second student song, "Der Landesvater" ("The Father of the Country"), an old eighteenth-century tune.
The development section does not begin with the working out of the expo?sition material, but, strangely enough, with the introduction of another stu?dent melody (in two bassoons) "Was kommt dort von der Hoh" ("What comes there from on high"), a freshman song. An elaborate development of the material of the exposition then follows. The recapitulation is irregular in that it merely suggests the return of the principal theme, but presents the rest of the material in more or less regular restatement. The conclusion is reached in a stirring section which presents a fourth song, "Gaudeamus igitur," in the woodwind choir, with tumultuous scale passages against it in the higher strings, and with this emphatic and boisterous theme--the most popular of all student songs--the overture gives its final thrust at the Academicians.
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
The Brahms first two symphonies were finished in 1876 and 1877, respec?tively. The third did not follow until six years later and, unlike the others, was immediately successful. In truth Brahms was at the very zenith of his creative powers when he composed this work and with it, his reputation as a symphonist was secured.
In many ways the Third Symphony is his most typical and personal sym?phonic work. It not only made his name as a symphonist resound throughout the world with full resonance, but of the four he composed, it has remained the public favorite. Although its lyrical themes are of exceptional breadth and richness, their development is. accomplished with classical directness and brevity. From the initial sounding of a germ motive (F, A-flat, F octave) at the beginning of the first movement, to the final return at the end of the fourth movement, a regal architecture of sound is created. Epic and virile moments are constantly relieved by those of lyrical tenderness and quiet serenity. The first movement is spirited and energetic, the second and third wistful and brooding, while the fourth, after a somber beginning, bursts forth with demoniac power, only to return at the end, with the reappearance of the germ motive of the first movement, to a resigned quietness. All these fluc?tuating moods are held together in a formal framework of heroic breadth and structural simplicity.
What Brahms was trying to express in this most personal and intimate of his symphonies challenged the curiosity of many of his distinguished contem-
This is a vivacious and slightly grotesque version of the "Fuchslrcd" ("Fox Song"), "Fuchs" being equivalent to "Freshman." Max Kalbeck, an admirer of Brahms, and also his biographer, was shocked at the idea of this irreverence to the learned doctors of the University, but Brahms was unperturbed.
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poraries. According to Clara Schumann it was a "Forest Idyl"; to Hans Richter it was another Beethoven "Eroica." Joseph Joachim, the famous violinist and intimate friend of Brahms, thought it to be a musical transla?tion of the Greek legend of Hero and Leander! Max Kalbeck maintained that it was inspired by the statue Germania at Riidesheim, much admired by the composer. Because of the passage in the first movement, reminiscent of the Venusberg scene in Wagner's Tannhduser, and no doubt because of the fact that Wagner died during its composition, Hugo Riemann believed this symphony to be a tribute to Brahms's famous contemporary.
If words could adequately describe or express the loveliness and signifi?cance of this music, there would be no need for it to exist. Let us not be con?cerned with what Brahms meant to express, but rather heed the admonition of Gustav Mahler that "if a composer could say what he had to say in words, he would not bother trying to say it in music."
Much of the composition of the Third Symphony was done in 1882. It was completed at Wiesbaden in the summer of 1883. Its first performance took place December 2, 1883, at a Philharmonic concert in Vienna.
Daniel Gregory Mason wrote of the Third Symphony:
Certainly in no other work of his is there a happier balance of freshness of inspiration with technical mastery and maturity. Nowhere has he conceived lovelier, more individual melodies than the clarinet theme of the first movement, the 'cello melody of the Poco allegretto, the delightfully forthright, almost burly second theme of the finale. And yet it is in no one melody, nor in any half dozen, that the power and fascination of this work lies, but in the masterly co-ordination of all, the extraordinary diversity of the ideas that pass before us, and their perfect marshaling into final order and complete beauty. Especially remarkable is the rhythmic grasp of Brahms, always one of his greatest qualities. One can think of few works in all musical literature in which the beginning is so completely fulfilled in the end as in the wonderful return of the motto theme and first theme of the first move?ment, spiritualized as it were by all they have been through, at the end of the finale.
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
In the Neue Freie Presse of Vienna, fifty years ago, Hanslick, chief cham?pion of Brahms, referred to the C-minor Symphony as "music more or less clear, more or less sympathetic, but difficult of comprehension ... it affects the hearer as though he had read a scientific treatise full of Faust-like conflicts of the soul."
Tchaikovsky sensed in Brahms's music the same difficulty of comprehen?sion. "I have looked through a new symphony by Brahms (C minor). He has no charms for me. I find him cold and obscure, full of pretension, but without any real depth." He wrote to Mme Von Meek in 1877, and again in 1880--"but in his case, his mastery overwhelms his inspiration. . . . Nothing comes but boredom. His music is not warmed by an genuine emotion. . . . These depths contain nothing, they are void. ... I cannot abide them. Whatever he does, I remain unmoved and cold."
Daniel Gregory Mason, "Brahms's Third Symphony," Musical Quarterly, XVII, No. 3 (July, 1931), 374-75.
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FIFTH CONCERT
Even Mr. H. C. Colles, of all critics of Brahms the most enthusiastic and loyal, speaks of the "difficulty of grasping his music," the statement refer?ring, astonishingly enough, to the transparently beautiful slow movement of this Symphony.
With extraordinary insistence this criticism of Brahms persisted. The old Brahmsians themselves encouraged it. They reveled in the master's esoter?ic inaccessible qualities and, like the champions of Meredith in the eighties and the later cults of Mahler and Bartok, they gloried in his "aloofness," and resented any implication of internationalism or general appeal in his art.
It is true that Brahms has none of the overstimulating and exciting quality of his more emotional contemporaries, Tchaikovsky and Wagner, but this fact does not reduce his music to mere cerebration. One has only to hear the glorious Introduction to this symphony to realize the tremendous emotional impact of the music. If there is anything cerebral or intellectual in Brahms, it lies in the manner in which he controls and sublimates the excessiveness and over-welling of his emotions, and that is the mark of every true artist. One reason that criticism placed upon Brahms's head the condemnation and terrible burden of cold intellectuality lies in the fact that there are none of the sensational or popular devices used to catch immediate response. There are no tricks to discover in Brahms; there is no assailing the judgment in the attempt to excite sudden enthusiasm. We are, however, more and more im?pressed with the infinite wealth of profound beauty that is to be found in his pages. Critics may have been bewildered at times by his rich, musical fabric, often lost and confused in the labyrinth of his ideas, but again, in the light of contemporary attempts at musical expressiveness at all cost, Brahms ap?pears today with an almost lucid transparency, and as a master of great emotional power. He has survived the years and the changing norms of crit?icism, and remains today a master whose art has its roots in humanity. He speaks to the heart, soul, and mind with the variety of feeling that is found in human nature itself, now vigorous and buoyant, now tender to the point of poignancy, courageous and often tragically tortured, but always noble and impressively inspiring.
Fuller Maitland in his admirable book on Brahms, referring to this sym?phony, defends him, saying, "the case is almost parallel to certain poems of Browning, the thoughts are so weighty, the reasoning so close, that the or?dinary means of expression are inadequate. To try to re-score the first move?ment with the sacrifice of none of its meaning, is as hopeless a task as to re?write 'Sordello' in sentences that a child should understand.'
The association of Brahms and Browning is a happy one. There is some?thing fundamentally similar in their artistic outlook and method of expres?sion, for Brahms, like Browning, chose to create, in every case, a style fitly proportioned to the design, finding in that dramatic relation of style and motive a more vital beauty and a broader sweep of expression.
Fuller Maitland, Brahms (London: Methuen and Co., 1911).
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MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
In this broader conception Brahms often verged upon the sublime. He lived in his creative life upon the "cold white peaks." No master ever dis?played a more inexorable self-discipline or held his art in higher respect. For Brahms was a master of masters, always painstaking in the devotion he gave to his work and undaunted in his search for perfection. "The excellence he sought dwelt among rocks hardly accessible, and he had to almost wear his heart out to reach her."
The creation of the C-minor Symphony displayed Brahms's discipline and noble intention--the most impressive marks of his character. With all the ardour of his soul, he sought the levels of Bach and Beethoven. His first sym?phony caused him great trouble and profound thought. It took him years to complete it. The sketches for the work, with which Brahms came forward in his forty-third year (1876), date from decades back. In the fifties Albert Dietrich saw a draft of the first movement. Brahms kept it beyond the time when he committed one symphony after another to the flames, proving the triumphant perseverance that let it survive to a state of perfection. The sym?phony is written with tremendous seriousness and conciseness. It speaks in tones of a troubled soul, but rises from a spirit of struggle and torture in the first movement to the sublimity of the fourth movement with its onrushing jubilation and exultant buoyancy. Mr. Lawrence Gilman, in the program notes for the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, wrote the following analysis:
From the first note of this symphony we are aware of a great voice uttering superb poetic speech. The momentous opening (the beginning of an introduction of thirty-seven measures, Un poco sostenuto, 6-8) is among the unforgettable exordiums of music--a majestic upward sweep of the strings against a phrase in contrary motion for the wind, with the basses and timpani reiterating a somberly persistent C. The following Allegro is among the most powerful of Brahms's symphonic movements.
In the deeply probing slow movements we get the Brahms who is perhaps most to be treasured; the musical thinker of long vistas and grave meditations, the lyric poet of inexhaustible tenderness, the large-souled dreamer and humanist--the Brahms for whom the unavoidable epithet is "noble." How richly individual in feeling and expression is the whole of this Andante sostenuto! No one but Brahms could have extracted the pre?cise quality of emotion which issues from the simple and heartfelt theme for the strings, horns, and bassoon in the opening pages; and the lovely complement for the oboe is inimitable--a melodic invention of such enamoring beauty that it has lured an unchal-lengeably sober commentator into conferring upon it the attribute of "sublimity." Though perhaps "sublimity"--a shy bird, even on Olympus--is to be found not here, but elsewhere in this symphony.
The third movement (the poco allegretto e grazioso which takes the place of the customary Scherzo) is beguiling in its own special loveliness; but the chief glory of the symphony is the Finale.
Here--if need be--is an appropriate resting place for that diffident eagle among epithets, sublimity. Here there are space and air and light to tempt its wings. The wonderful C-major song of the horn is the slow introduction of this movement. (Piu andante, 4-4), heard through a vaporous tremolo of the muted strings above softly held trombone chords, persuaded William Foster Apthorp that the episode was suggested to
Max Kalbeck sees in the whole symphony, but more particularly in the first movement, an image of the tragedy of Robert and Clara Schumann in which Brahms was involved.
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FIFTH CONCERT
Brahms by "the tones of the Alpine horn, as it awakens the echoes from mountain after mountain on some of the high passes in the Bernese Oberland." This passage is inter?rupted by a foreshadowing of the majestic chorale-like phrase for the trombones and bassoons, which later, when it returns at the climax of the movement, takes the breath with its startling grandeur. And then comes the chief theme of the Allegro--that spacious and heartening melody which sweeps us onward to the culminating movement in the Finale: the apocalyptic vision of the chorale in the coda, which may recall to some the exalted prophecy of Jean Paul: "There will come a time when it shall be light; and when a man shall awaken from his lofty dreams and find his dreams still there, and that nothing has gone save his sleep."
Journal of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Season 193536, Jan. 3-7; pp. 424-25.
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NOTES ON THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA AND MAY FESTIVAL ARTISTS
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA, with the five concerts of the 1967 May Festival, performs here for the thirty-second consecutive year. Organized in 1900 under Fritz Scheel, it followed for a dozen years under the leadership of Carl Pohlig, who was succeeded by Leopold Stokowski. In 1940 Eugene Ormandy became the fourth Musical Director. No other orchestra has traveled so far (12,500 miles in an average season) or so often as the Philadelphia group, which has made history through its touring. In 1936 it made its first of six transcontinental tours; in 1949 the orchestra toured the British Isles in its first foreign pilgrimage; and in 1955 it made its first continental European tour. Immediately following these May Festival concerts, the Orchestra embarks upon a Far Eastern tour. The Orchestra will be in residence at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center during August for their second season at that Festival.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Musical Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has appeared annually at these May Festival concerts since 1937. He began his prominent conducting career with sudden impetus in 1931 when he substituted for Toscanini, conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. On that occasion a rep?resentative of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra who was in the audience immediately signed Ormandy as guest conductor, which won for him the permanent post, and where he continued until 1936. Born November 18, 1899, in Budapest, Ormandy's early musical training began at the age of five at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. At nine he became the pupil of the great violinist, Jeno Hubay, after whom he was named. He received his pro?fessor's diploma at seventeen and was given degrees in violin playing, compos?ing, and counterpoint. He concertized, then taught at the State Conservatory in Budapest before coming to the United States to seek his fame and fortune. Mr. Ormandy became an American citizen in 1927. He is a Commander of the Order of Dannebrog, First Class, a Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, and (as of February 18, 1966) Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland for his "meritorious services in promoting Finnish-American Friendship." He is also holder of the Sibelius Medal and the medals of the Mahler and Bruckner societies. He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from twelve leading universities, including The University of Michigan (at the May Festival of 1952).
58'
NOTES ON FESTIVAL ARTISTS
THOR JOHNSON, Guest Conductor of the May Festival, has conducted the University Choral Union performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1940, except for four years when he was serving with the United States Army. He is now Director and Vice-President of the Interlochen Arts Academy. John?son lived most of his early life in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina and later received a master's degree in music at The University of Michigan. In 1935, under a Beebe Founda?tion Scholarship, he studied in Europe with conductors Weingartner, Abendroth, Malko, and Bruno Walter. Upon his return he became conductor of the Uni?versity Symphony Orchestra, organized and conducted the University Little Symphony which toured throughout the country, founded the Mozart Festival in Asheville, North Carolina, and also served as conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony. During World War II, as Warrant Officer in the United States Army, Johnson conducted the first Symphony Band and taught for the Armed Services at Schrivenham, England. Upon discharge he conducted the Juilliard Orchestra for one year before accepting the directorship of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for eleven years. During that period he made special guest conductor appearances with the Symphony of the Air, including its Far Eastern tour. From 1959 to 1964 he was head of orchestral activities at Northwestern University. As a member of the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts, he was sent to Iceland, Czechoslovakia, Korea, the Philippines, and Japan for guest conducting and surveys. He is also Director of the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin, the Moravian Music Festivals, and the Chicago Little Symphony.
LESTER McCOY, Conductor of the University Choral Union since 1947. prepares the chorus in the works performed in the May Festival and each Advent season conducts the Choral Union, the Messiah Special Orchestra, and guest solo artists in the traditional Messiah concerts. He received his Master of Music degree from The University of Michigan in 1938. Before coming to Ann Arbor he trained and taught at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. He serves as Minister of Music of the First Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, and from 1958 to 1964 he conducted the Michigan Chorale, a group of Michigan high school seniors, which toured in Europe and South America during the summer as part of the Youth for Understanding Student Exchange Program, sponsored by the Washtenaw Council of Churches. Beginning in the autumn of 1964, Mr. McCoy became Musical Director of "Musical Youth International," which toured Mexico in the first year, and Europe last July.
WALDIE ANDERSON, tenor, is a faculty member at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Co-ordinator of the Interlochen Honors Musicianship Project. He has done work toward a doctorate in music education at The University of Michigan. Previous education includes a Bachelor of Arts from Central Washington State College and a Master of Music degree from The University
50
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
of Michigan. His singing experience includes several summers as tenor soloist at the National Music Camp, leading roles in the operas Magic Flute, Queen of Spades, and Wozzcck at The University of Michigan, and soloist in oratorios and recitals in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. He has sung with the Chicago and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. He was regional winner in both the Metro?politan Opera Auditions and the Young Artist Auditions, and first place winner in the Illinois Opera Guild Auditions. He has appeared as tenor soloist at the Early Moravian Festival and the Peninsula Music Festival in the summer of 1966 with Thor Johnson.
GALINA VISHNEVSKAYA began her vocal studies in her native city of Leningrad at the age of sixteen and soon became a member of the Leningrad Operetta Theatre. From there she went on to win a competition to join the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, where she scored many successes in various major operatic roles. Mme Vishnevskaya has performed in England, France, and other European countries, as well as the United States, where she is now on her third series of appearances. (She appeared previously in Ann Arbor in the Choral Union Series in 1961.) It was for Mme Vishnevskaya that Ben?jamin Britten wrote the soprano part in the War Requiem, and, since its premiere, she has sung it often in concert and recordings. Mme Vishnevskaya is the wife of the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who also appears in the 1967 May Festival. They are the parents of two daughters, ages nine and seven.
MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH. the famed Soviet cellist, is the son and grandson of noted cellists. At the age of four he began to study piano with his mother and later studied the cello with his father. Rostropovich continued his musical studies when the family moved to Moscow from his native Baku, Azerbaijan, and he made his concert debut in Orenburg at the age of fifteen in the triple role of cellist, pianist, and composer. Upon his return to Moscow he became the first cellist of the Moscow State Symphony and joined in ensembles with Sviatoslov Richter, Emil Gilels. and Leonid Kogan. Three prominent Russian composers--Prokofieff, Miaskovsky, and Shostakovich-have all written works especially for Rostropovich. In New York this spring, he performed the entire literature for cello and orchestra (30 works by 24 composers) in a series of eight concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra. An excellent pianist, Rostropovich often accompanies his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, in recital. Rostropovich first performed in Ann Arbor with the Moscow Philharmonic in the 1965 Choral Union Series.
VAN CLIBURN was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on July 12, 1934. He first played in public at the age of four and in 1946 made his orchestral debut with the Houston Symphony. The following year he made his Carnegie Hall debut. His mother remained his only piano teacher until after high school graduation in 1951, when he came to New York City to study with Juilliard's famous Mme Rosina Lhevinne. In 1952, he won the G. B. Dealey Award in Dallas and
60
NOTES ON FESTIVAL ARTISTS
the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Award. Other awards from the Olga Samaroff Foundation and the Juilliard Concerto Contest followed, and upon graduation at Juilliard, he received the Carl M. Roeder Memorial Award and the Frank Damrosch Scholarship. In 1954, he won the Leventritt Foundation award. He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic, under Mitropoulos, that same year and in the next season played thirty concerts, appearing with many orchestras and making his television debut. In 1957, he received a letter from Mme Lhevinne suggesting that he enter the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. Van Cliburn was proclaimed winner of that competition, and since then he has received unprecedented acclaim throughout the world. Each year he plays extensively in this country and in Western Europe, and has twice returned to Russia. This performance marks Van Cliburn's second appearance in the May Festival and his fifth in Ann Arbor.
VERONICA TYLER, a native of Baltimore, began training for her singing career at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in that city as a scholarship student. A scholarship for graduate study at the Juilliard School of Music followed, and, as a result of participation in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, she was awarded the Fischer Foundation Scholarship. Since her first New York appearance in 1961 she has appeared frequently on the concert stage, on television, and in recordings. Miss Tyler made her debut with the New York City Opera in 1964. Her most recent triumph was at the Tchaikovsky International Music Competition in Moscow last summer, where she won second prize. As a result of this honor Miss Tyler has appeared at the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood, at the Hollywood Bowl, and in a command performance at the White House. Miss Tyler is making her Ann Arbor debut in the 1967 May Festival.
MILDRED MILLER, mezzo-soprano, is a native of Cleveland and claims the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston as her Alma Mater. Miss Miller is best known for her interpretation of various operatic roles, among them Carmen (perhaps her most famous role), Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, in which she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1954. Since that time she has appeared on the opera stage in many roles and in many United States cities. She has also toured the Orient and has received wide acclaim in Europe, most notably in Vienna with the Staatsoper. Recently Miss Miller added the art of lieder singing to her musical achievements. Her first lieder recital was in New York's Town Hall in 1966 and was a most successful debut. One of her most remarkable achieve?ments is an award she received in 1965--the Grand Prix du Disque for her recording of the Brahms' 'Alto Rhapsody" and Mahler's "Songs of a Wayfarer," recorded with Bruno Walter. She recently completed making a color film of The Merry Wives of Windsor in which she played Frau Reich. Miss Miller is making her Ann Arbor debut in the 1967 May Festival.
61
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
GIUSEPPE CAMPORA, as a young man in his native city of Tortona in Northern Italy, enjoyed singing but had no musical background in his family nor any great aspirations for a professional career. He studied semi-seriously in Genoa and Milan in his twenties and built up a very substantial repertoire, thus preparing him for his future in opera. Campora's professional debut came as a complete surprise to him when he was pushed into an audition by some ambitious relatives and was cast as Rodolfo in La Bohemc. This "break" began a series of engagements in all the famous Italian opera theaters and led to appearances in many other countries--and then to the Metropolitan. Campora's Met debut was made in January, 1955, as Rodolfo in Bohemc, and since then he has enjoyed continued success with this famous opera company, as well as in recordings. Campora is making his Ann Arbor debut in this performance of the Verdi Requiem.
EZIO FLAGELLO, basso, was born in the Bronx, New York City. His grand?father had studied with Giuseppe Verdi in Italy and was a conductor there. Although Flagello studied both the piano and violin when he was a child, his original ambition was to be a dentist. When his voice began to mature, how?ever, he began to study with Wagnerian baritone Friedrich Schorr. After serving in the U.S. Army, Flagello won a Fulbright Grant which he used to complete his studies in Italy. He then joined the Teatro dell Opera in Rome to sing the role of Dr. Dulcamara in L'Elisir D'Amore. Flagello made his debut with the Met in 1957, after having won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air. The role was in Tosca, and just a week later he was called on to sub?stitute for an ailing colleague singing Leporello in Don Giovanni. The perform?ance was a great success and Flagello has gone on to sing many major roles with the Met. He has the distinction of being the first American basso ever to sing the title role of "Falstaff" at the Met (in 1964) and thus added another triumph to his career. Flagello makes his debut in Ann Arbor in the 1967 May Festival.
GLENN D. McGEOCH, program annotator for the annual May Festival Program Book, has been associated with the University School of Music since 1931, and is at present Professor of Music Literature and chairman of the Department of Music Literature and History. He holds two degrees from the University of Michigan and has studied further at Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, Cornell, New York, and Wayne Universities in this country; and at Cambridge, England, and Munich, Germany. He initiated the first extension courses in music literature in the early 1930's and has since lectured extensively throughout the state under the joint sponsorship of the University of Michigan and the Wayne State University Adult Education division.
62
THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
Thor Johnson, Guest Conductor Lester McCoy, Conductor Alden Neil Schell, Pianist
FIRST SOPRANOS
Austin, Patricia Beach, Mari C. Bernstein, Judith S. Bradstreet, Lola Mae Bromfield, Rae Ann Burr, Virginia A. Coffman, Judith Ann Colvin, Myra Shepherd Cook, Shirley Ann Hanson, Gladys M. Hawk, Gloria Lee Headen. Nancy H. Henes, Karen Kay Hinzman, Lillian M. Hiraga, Mary L. Hoover, Joanne E. Howe, Jean Frances Hurst, Alice Jerome, Ruth Jones, Jacqueline A. Jones, Shireen M. Luecke, Doris L. Malan, FannieBelle Malila, Elida Marie McDonald, Ruth Mabel Mock, Lynette Faye Myers, Melissa B. Newman, Judy Pearson, Agnes I. Pickett, Jean Ann Pierce, Judith L. Politis, Clara Porter, Mary B. Reddick, Bella G. Ribbens, Millicent Sincock, Mary Ann Smock, Ellen Lee Stevens, Ethel White, Myra W. Yoon, Soon Young S. Zimmerman, Mary Kaye
SECOND SOPRANOS
Bartsch, Rhonda L. Berg, Stephanie M. Berg, Sylvia J.
Berlin, Joan C. Beverly, Delores E. Bradley, Carol Joan Brown, Sue Buchanan, Gale F. Cornell, Gail Ann Cuadrado, Pepi Granat Curby, Mary C. Curll, Joyce P. Datsko, Doris Mae Dearborn, Deborah J. Diskin, Karen Eva Donaldson, Kathryn M. Emhardt, Deborah K. Ford, C. Gay Hahn, Ruth M. Houser, Carolyn Hyslop, Jean Ann Jackl, Marie Hope Karle, Lillian A. Larsen, Mary K. Leftridge, Sharon L. Lehmann, Judith T. Leslie, Judy A. MacDonald, Kathy D. McArtor, Jane C. McArtor, Nancy Ann McMaster, Carolyn J. Miller, Joyce Ann Mohler, Carroll J. Munson, Elizabeth B. Murray, Carol Ann Murray, Marilyn R. Needham, Martha L. Negro, Adele F. O'Connor, Barbara A. Oyer, Thelma Marie Petty, Eleanor Sanford, Anna O. Schumm. Barbara L. Smith, Sandra Joyce Sturm, Thelma I. Surbrook, Barbara L. Teal, Nancy M. Ylisides, Elena Welliver, Margaret Wesley, Caroline G. Wheeler, Susan C. Wilson, Miriam L. Young, Ethel Louise
FIRST ALTOS
Adams, Carol B. Baker, Jean Marie Beam, Eleanor P. Brown, Beverly J. Brown, Marion W. Carr, Nancy P. Crawford, Margaret Eastman, Berenice M. Eiteman, Sylvia C. Evans, Daisy E. Fowler, Lucille Girbach, Nancy Anna Goodson, Judy K. Griffith, Morgen M. Hellstedt, Linda F. Hirshfeld, Lucy W. Hodgman, Dorothy B. Kimmel, Helen G. Klein, Linda Sue Konrad, Martha Ruth Kosmensky, Susan Kay Kramer, Jean Ann Lane, Rosemarie Langer, Margaret L. Lee, Duck Hee Manson, Hinda Marsh, Martha M. Martin, Sarah Jane Mayer, Carol Ann McAdoo, Harriette A. McCoy, Bernice I. Mclnturff, Sharon Mehler, Hallie Jane Nelson, Margaret E. Pence, Ardith F. Pfennigstorf, Heika Reidy, Dorothy E. Rexford, Elizabeth Reynolds, Susan Lynn Rosevear, Freda A. Rubinstein, Sallie Segal, Deborah Aviva Spink, Nesta R. Swinford, Georgiana Thams, Helen Margaret Vierling, Judith Ann Warjelin, Carol Wentworth, Elizabeth
63
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
Wiedmann, Louise P. Wilke, Mary Louise Wolfe, Charlotte Ann Wood, D. Jean
Schutjer, Marlys E. Stebbins, Kathryn J. Van Meter, Roberta G. Vary, Joan Arlene Williams, Nancy P. Young, Judith J.
FIRST BASSES
Beam, Marion L. Brueger, John M. Buresh, David R. Burr, Charles F. Clayton, Joseph F. Eisenhardt, George Hall, Lawrence E. Herren. Donald C. Huff, Charles R. Kays, J. Warren Kissel, Klair H. Litch, Stanley W. Miller, Dean F. Mudarri, David H. Pantelides, Christakis Pearson, J. Raymond Powell, Fredric A. Roach, James Warren Robison, James W. Rothenberg, Jeffrey Savory, James Eugene Smethurst, Everett W. Trapp, Dale M. Wilson, Roger D.
SECOND ALTOS
Adams, Katherine P. Arnold, Helen Marcella Barber, Deborah Jane Blake, Susan Jane Blossom, Elaine A. Bogart, Gertrude J. Brandt, Nancy J. Cangin, LindaBeth G. Clayton, Caroline S. Crossley, Winnifred Dibert, Rita Jean Eisenhardt, Elizabeth Enkemann, Gladys C. Forsyth, Ilene H. Frizzell, Anne W. Galantai, Feme L. Haab, Mary E. Howell, Ruth S. Jenkins. Bernice M. Jezyk, Elisabeth C. Johnson, Elizabeth Jolosky, Marcy Rae Katz, Susan Lynn Kiernan, Toni Knight, Mona J. Kubiak, Donna L. Lidgard, Ruth M. Liebscher, Erika Lovelace, Elsie W. Luton, Jane E. Mastin, Neva M. Mencher, Lenore S. Miller, Carol L. Miller, Rene S. Mills, Donna J. Oehler, Eileen L. Olson, Constance K. Parker. Fannie R. Porter, Carol Richardson, Gloria Roeger, Beverly B. Rohn, Marilyn Emma
FIRST TENORS
Baker, Hugh E. Brandt, Carl D. Cathey, Owen B. Federhen. Herbert Haynes, Evan A. Lowry, Paul T. Lyndall, H. Ward Moore, George W. Morgan, Timothy J. Pratt, Michael W. Preston. Thomas A. Reidy, James J. Rottschafer, J. Mark Schell, Alden Neil Schultz, Stanley T. Senkpiel, David P. Swain, David
SECOND TENORS
Austin, Robert A. Barber, Harold E. Beyer, Hilbert Clark, Harold R. Clow, Daniel Fox Coscia, Arthur F. Cross. Harry Lee Curll, Daniel B. Delp, T. Jeff Galbraith, Merle G. Kinley, William D. Pence, James M. Petersen, Bernard Reed. Robin F. Settler, Leo H. Smith, Douglas Tarzia, Frank L. Tosh, J. Ronald
SECOND BASSES
Bennett, Stanley W. Fisher, Wayne Alan Gill, Douglas E. Hildebrand, Bernard Hunsche, David F. Hunsche, George R. Lee, George W. Lehmann, Charles F. Lohr. Lawrence L. Loukotka, Joseph J. Mastin, Glenn G. McAdoo, William P. McMaster, Ronald A. Morris, John A. Needham, Harold M. Peterson, Robert R. Petty, Mark Alan Schnelle, Timothy Steinmetz, George P. Vander Lugt, Anthony Wolfe, John Andrew
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
Eugene Ormandy, Conductor William Smith, Assistant Conductor
Boris Sokoloff, Manager Joseph H. Santarlasci, Assistant Manager
VIOLINS Norman Carol
Concertmaster David Madison
Associate Concertmaster William de Pasquale
Associate Concertmaster Morris Shulik Veda Reynolds Owen Lusak David Grunschlag Frank E. Saam Frank Costanzo David Arben Barbara de Pasquale Max Miller Jacob Stahl Ernest L. Goldstein Sol Ruden Meyer Simkin Louis Gesensway Irvin Rosen Irwin I. Eisenberg Armand Di Camillo Joseph Lanza Herbert Light Isadore Schwartz Jerome Wigler Norman Black Irving Ludwig Robert de Pasquale George Dreyfus Larry Grika Julia Janson Manuel Roth Benjamin Sharlip Louis Lanza
VIOLAS
Joseph de Pasquale James Fawcett Leonard Mogill Gabriel Braverman Sidney Curtiss Darrel Barnes Leonard Bogdanoff Paul Ferguson Wolfgang Granat Irving Segall Donald R. Clauser
VIOLONCELLOS
Samuel Mayes Elsa Hilger Harry Gorodetzer Francis de Pasquale Joseph Druian Charles Brennand Winifred Mayes William Saputelli Bert Phillips Barbara Haffner Marcel Farago Santo Caserta
BASSES Roger M. Scott Edward Arian Ferdinand Maresh F. Gilbert Eney Carl Torello Wilfred Batchelder Samuel Gorodetzer Neil Courtney Michael Shahan
FLUTES
Murray V. Panitz Kenneth E. Scutt Kenton F. Terry John C. Kre)l, Piccolo
OBOES
John de Lnncie Stevens Hewitt Charles M. Morris Louis Rosenblatt, English Horn
CLARINETS
Anthony M. Gigliotti Donald Montanaro Raoul Querze Lawrence Wagner
BASSOONS
Bernard H. Garfield John Shamlian Adelchi Louis Angelucci Robert J. Pfeuffer, Contra Bassoon
HORNS
Mason Jones
Xolan Miller
Leonard Hale
John Simonelli
Herbert Pierson
Glenn Janson TRUMPETS
Gilbert Johnson
Samuel Krauss
Seymour Roscnfeld
Donald E. McComas TROMBONES
Henry Charles Smith
M. Dee Stewart
Howard Cole
Robert S. Harper, Bass Trombone TUBA
Abe Torchinsky TIMPANI
Fred D. Hinger
Michael Bookspan BATTERY
Charles E. Owen
Michael Bookspan
Alan Abel
Manuel Roth CELESTA, PIANO, AND ORGAN
William Smith
Marcel Farago HARPS
Marilyn Costello
Margarita Csonka LIBRARIAN
Jesse C. Taynton PERSONNEL MANAGER
Mason Jones STAGE PERSONNEL
Edward Barnes, Manager
Theodore Hauptle
James Sweeney PHOTO PUBLICITY
Adrian Siegel
65
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
PRESIDENTS
Henry Simmons Frieze, 1879-1881 and 1883-1889
Alexander Winchell, 1881-1883 and 1889-1891
Francis W. Kelsey, 1891-1927
Charles A. Sink (Executive Secretary, 1904-1927); 1927-
MUSICAL DIRECTORS
Calvin B. Cady, 1879-1888 Albert A. Stanley, 1888-1921 Earl V. Moore, 1922-1939
CONDUCTORS
Thor Johnson, 1939-1942 Hardin Van Deursen, 1943-1947 Thor Johnson (Guest), 1947-Lester McCoy, Associate Conductor, 1947-1956; Conductor, 1956-
ADMINISTRATORS
RossSpence (Secretary), 1893-1896 ThomasC. Colburn (Secretary), 1897-1902 Charles K. Perrine (Secretary), 1903-1904
Charles A. Sink (Executive Secretary, 1904-1927); President, 1927-Gail W. Rector (Assistant to the President, 1945-1954); Executive Director, 1957-
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, which this year observes its eighty-eighth season, was organized during the winter of 1879-80 and was incorporated in 1881. Its purpose was to maintain a choral society and an orchestra, to provide public concerts, and to organize and maintain a school of music which would offer instruction comparable to that of the University in its schools and colleges. Ars longa vita brevis was adopted as its motto. In 1894, as a climax to its offerings, the "First Annual May Festival" was inaugurated. Gradually the number of concerts in the Choral Union Series was increased to ten, and the May Festival, from three to six concerts. In 1946, with the development of musical interest, a supplementary series of concerts was added-the Extra Concert Series. Handel's Messiah, which had been performed at intervals through the years, became an annual production, and since 1946 has been given in two performances each season. Last season a third performance
The "Ann Arbor School of Music" was organized in 1879 and in 1892 was reorganized as the "University School of Music." In 1929 the University provided partial support, and students and faculty were given University status. In 1940 the University Musical Society relinquished full control and responsibility for the School to The University of Michigan.
66
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
was added. Since 1941 an annual Chamber Music Festival of three concerts has been held in Rackham Auditorium and, since 1962, an annual Chamber Dance Festival of three events. During the season the Chamber Arts Series of seven attractions takes place and the Summer Concert Series of four recitals is sched?uled for July. Thus, at the close of its eighty-eighth year, the Musical Society will have presented, throughout the season, forty-seven major events by distin?guished artists and organizations from fifteen countries.
THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION was an outgrowth of a "Messiah Club," made up of singers from several local churches. For a decade and a half, assisted by distinguished professional artists and organizations, it participated in numerous Choral Union concerts. In addition to its Messiah concerts, since 1894, it has performed at the annual May Festivals, offering a wide range of choral literature over the years (see pages 69 and 71). The chorus membership numbers about three hundred singers, including townspeople and students.
67
THE ANN ARBOR MAY FESTIVAL
Maintained by the University Musical Society and founded by Albert A. Stanley and his associates on the Board of Directors in 1894
MUSICAL DIRECTORS
Albert A. Stanley, 1894-1921 Earl V. Moore, 1922-1939
CONDUCTORS
Thor Johnson, 1940-1942 Hardin Van Deursen, 1943-1946 Thor Johnson (Guest), 1947-
GUEST CONDUCTORS
Gustav Hoist (London, England),
1923, 1932 Howard Hanson (Rochester), 1926,
1927, 1933, 1935 Felix Borowski (Chicago), 1927 Percy Grainger (Australia), 1928 Jose Iturbi (Philadelphia), 1937
Georges Enesco (Paris), 1939 Harl McDonald (Philadelphia),
1939, 1940, 1944
Virgil Thomson (New York), 1959 Aaron Copland (New York), 1961 Igor Stravinsky (Los Angeles), 1964 Robert Craft (Los Angeles), 1964
ORGANIZATIONS
The Boston Festival Orchestra, Emil Mollenhauer, Conductor, 1894-1904.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Frederick Stock, Conductor, 1905-1935. Eric DeLamarter, Associate Conductor, 1918-1935.
The Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski. Conductor, Saul Caston and Charles O'Connell, Associate Conductors, 1936; Eugene Ormandy, Con?ductor, 1937, 1938; Eugene Ormandy, Conductor, Saul Caston, Associate Conductor, 1939-1945; Eugene Ormandy, Conductor, Alexander Hilsberg, Associate Conductor, 1946-1953, and Guest Conductor, 1953; Eugene Ormandy, Conductor, 1954--; William Smith, Assistant Conductor, 1957-.
The University Choral Union, Albert A. Stanley, Conductor, 1894-1921; Earl V. Moore, Conductor, 1922-1939; Thor Johnson, Conductor, 1940-1942; Hardin Van Deursen, Conductor, 1943-1947; Thor Johnson, Guest Con?ductor, 1947-; Lester McCoy, Associate Conductor, 1947-1956, and Con?ductor, 1957-
The Festival Youth Chorus, trained by Florence B. Potter, and conducted by Albert A. Stanley, 1913-1918. Conductors: Russell Carter, 1920; George Oscar Bowen, 1921-1924; Joseph E. Maddy, 1925-1927; Juva N. Higbee, 1928-1936; Roxy Cowin, 1937; Juva N. Higbee, 1938; Roxy Cowin, 1939; Juva N. Higbee, 1940-1942; Marguerite Hood, 1943-1956; Geneva Nel?son, 1957; Marguerite Hood, 1958.
68
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION REPERTOIRE
Bach: Mass in B minor (excerpts)--1923, 1924, 192S (complete), 1953
Magnificat in D major--1930, 19S0
Sleepers, Wake (Cantata 140)--1964 Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in D major, Op. 123--1927, 1947, 1955
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125--1934, 1942, 1945, 1966 Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust--1895, 1909, 1920, 19S2
Te Deum--1965
Bernstein: Chichester Psalms--1966 Bizet: Carmen--1904, 1918, 1927, 1938 Bloch: "America," An Epic Rhapsody--1929
Sacred Service (Parts 1, 2, 3)--1958 Bossi: Paradise Lost--1916
Brahms: Requiem, Op. 45--1899 (excerpts), 1929, 1941, 1949
Alto Rhapsodic Op. 53--1939
Song of Destiny, Op. 54--1950
Song of Triumph, Op. 55--1953 Britten: Spring Symphony--1965 Bruch: Arminius--1897, 1905
Fair Ellen, Op. 24--1904, 1910
Odysseus--1910
Bruckner: Te Deum laudamus--1945 Carey: "America"--1915
Chabrier: Fete Polonaise from Le Roi malgri lui--1959 Chadwick: The Lily Nymph--1900 Chavez, Carlos: Corrido de "El Sol"--1954$. 1960 Delius: Sea Drift--1924
Requiem--1966 Dvorak: Stabat Mater, Op. 58--1906
Requiem Mass, Op. 89--1962 Elcar: Caractacus--1903, 1914, 1936
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38--1904, 1912, 1917 Finney, Ross Lee: "Still Are New Worlds"--1963
"The Martyr's Elegy"--1967
Focc: The Seasons--1937
Franck: The Beatitudes--1918
Gabrieli: In Ecclesiis benedicto domino--1958
Giannini: Canticle of the Martyrs--1958
Gluck: Orpheus--1902
Goldmark: The Queen of Sheba (March)--1923
Gomer, Llywelyn: Gloria in Excelsis--1949
Gounod: Faust--1902, 1908, 1919
Gallia--1899
Granger, Percy: Marching Song of Democracy--1928 Hadley: "Music," An Ode, Op. 75--1919 Handel: Judas Maccabeus--1911
Messiah--1907, 1914
Solomon--1959
World premiere tUnited States premiere
69
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Hanson, Howard: Songs from "Drum Taps"--1935
Heroic Elegy--1927
The Lament for Beowulf--1926
Merry Mount--1933 Haydn: The Creation--1908, 1932, 1963
The Seasons--1909, 1934 Heger: Ein Friedenslied. Op. 19--1934t
Holst: A Choral Fantasia--1932t
A Dirge for Two Veterans--1923
The Hymn of Jesus--1923t
First Choral Symphony (excerpts)--1927t Honfgcer, Arthur: King David--1930, 1935, 1942
"Jeanne d'Arc au bucher"--1961 Kodai.y: Psalmus Hungaricus, Op. 13--1939
Te Deum--1966
Lambert, Constant: Summer's Last Will and Testament--1951t
Lock wood, Norm and: Prairie--1953
McDonald, Harl: Symphony No. 3 ("Lamentations of Fu Hsuan")--1939
Mendelssohn: Elijah--1901, 1921, 1926, 1944, 1954, 1961
St. Paul--1905
Mennin, Peter: Symphony No. 4, "The Cycle"--1950 Movssorcsky: Boris Codunov--1931, 1935 Mozart: Great Mass in C minor, K. 427--1948
Requiem Mass in D minor. K. 626--1946
"Davidde penitente"--1956 Orff, Carl: Carmina Burana--1955 Parker: Hora Novissima, Op. 30--1900 Pierne: The Children's Crusade--1915
Saint Francis of Assissi--1928. 1931 Ponchielli: La Gioconda--1925 Poulenc: Secheresses--1959
"Gloria"--1964
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78--1946 Rachmaninoff: The Bells--1925, 1938, 1948 Respighi: La Primavera--19241 Rimski-Korsakov: The Legend of Kitesh--1932t Rossini: Stabat Mater--1897
Saint-Saens: Samson and Delilah--1896, 1899, 1907, 1912, 1916, 1923, 1929, 1940 1958 Schonberc: Gurre-Lieder--1956
SCHTTMAN, William: A Free Song (Cantata No. 2)--1945 Sibelius: Onward Ye Peoples--1939, 1945 Smith, J. S.: Star Spangled Banner--1919, 1920 Stanley: Chorus Triumphalis, Op. 14--1897, 1912, 1921
Fair Land of Freedom--1919
Hymn of Consecration--1918
"Laus Deo," Choral Ode--1913, 1943
A Psalm of Victory, Op. 8--1906 Stock: A Psalmodic Rhapsody--1922, 1943 Stravinsky: Symphonic des psaumes--1932, 1960
"Persephone"--1964
World premiere American premiere
70
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION REPERTOIRE
Sullivan: The Golden Legend--1901
Tchaikovsky: Episodes from Eugen Onegin--1911, 1941
Thompson, Randall: Alleluia--1941
Vardell, Charles: Cantata, "The Inimitable Lovers"--1940
Vauchan Williams, Ralph: Five Tudor Portraits--19S7
"Flos Campi"--1959
Dona nobis pacem--1962 Verdi: Aida--1903, 1906, 1917, 1921, 1924 (excerpts), 1928, 1937, 19S7
La Forza del Destino (Finale, Act II)--1924
Off Wo--1939
Requiem Mass--1894, 1898, 1913, 1920, 1930, 1936, 1943, 1951, 1960, 1967
Stabat Mater--1899
Te Deum--1947, 1963
Villa-Lobos, Heitor: Choros No. 10, "Rasga o coracao"--1949, 1960 Vivaldi: Magnificat--1967 Vivaldi-Casella: Gloria--1954 Wagner: Die fliegende Hollander--1918
Lohengrin--1926; Act. 1--1896. 1913
Die Meistersinger, Finale to Act III--1903, 1913; Choral, "Awake," and Chorale Finale to Act III--1923
Scenes from Parsifal--1937
Tannhduser--9O2, 1922; March and Chorus--1896; "Venusberg" Music--1946
Walton, William: Belshazzar's Feast--1933, 1952 Wolf-Ferrari: The New Life, Op. 9--1910, 1915, 1922, 1929
71
1966-UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY-1967 Resume of Concerts and Music Performed
Concerts--Forty-seven events were included in the international presentations listed below. The total number of previous appearances of the respective artists and organizations, under the auspices of the University Musical Society, is given in parentheses.
EIGHTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CHORAL UNION SERIES
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (188) ;
Jean Martinon, Conductor (2) .......................................October 8
Guiomar Novaes, Pianist (2) ...............................................October 12
Toronto Symphony Orchestra (4);
Seiji Ozawa, Conductor .............................................November 3
American Ballet Theatre (1) .............................................November 17
The Consul (Menotti) New York City Opera (13) .........................November 20
Detroit Symphony Orchestra (8) ;
Sixten Ending, Conductor (1) .........................................January 8
Royal Winnipeg Ballet ..................................................February 4
Shirley Verrett, Mezzo-soprano ..............................................March 13
Stockholm University Chorus................................................April 6
Boston Symphony Orchestra (42) ;
Erich Leinsdorf, Conductor (2) ...........................................April 8
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL EXTRA SERIES
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (189) ;
Jean Martinon, Conductor (3) .........................................October 9
Emil Gilels, Pianist (1) ..................................................November 8
Tosca (Puccini) New York City Opera (12) ...............................November 20
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (7);
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Conductor (2) ...............................February 26
Jose Greco and Spanish Dance Company .....................................March 8
FOURTH CHAMBER ARTS SERIES
Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia;
Anshel Brusilow, Conductor..........................................September 24
Moscow Chamber Orchestra (1) ;
Rudolf Barshai, Conductor (1) ..........................................October 22
Christian Ferras, Violinist ...............................................November 14
Music from Marlboro ....................................................January 30
Andres Segovia, Guitarist (3) .............................................February 28
Jacqueline du Pre, Cellist;
and Stephen Bishop, Pianist .............................................March 20
Boston Symphony Chamber Players ..........................................April 9
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Moscow Chamber Orchestra (2) ;
Rudolf Barshai, Conductor (2) .........................................October 2i
La Traviata (Verdi) New York City Opera (11) ...........................November 19
Andres Segovia, Guitarist (4) ................................................March 1
Artur Rubinstein, Pianist (12) ...............................................March 5
72
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY REPERTOIRE
CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
Handel's Messiah.....................................................December 2, 3, 4
Joan Moynagh, Soprano Thomas Paul, Bass (3)
Carol Smith, Mezzo-soprano (2) Mary McCall Stubbins, Organist (39)
Loren Driscoll, Tenor Lester McCoy, Conductor, (40)
University Choral Union (2S9)
Members of the
Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra The Play of Daniel, New York Pro Musica (4) ......................December 8, 9, 10
CHAMBER FESTIVALS
Chamber Dance Festival--
Hosho Noh Troupe ...................................................October 24
Robert Joffrey Ballet .................................................October 26
Fiesta Mexicana ......................................................October 29
Chamber Music Festival--
Borodin Quartet .....................................................February 17
Stockholm Kyndel String Quartet.....................................February 18
Trio Italiano d'Archi .................................................February 19
SEVENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MAY FESTIVAL--APRIL 22, 2i, 24, 25
The Philadelphia Orchestra (188) ; Conductors: Eugene Ormandy (103) ; Thor Johnson (57). Choral Union (262) ; and soloists:
Galina Vishnevskaya, Soprano (1) Mstislav Rostropovich, Cellist (1) Veronica Tyler, Soprano Mildred Miller, Contralto
Waldie Anderson, Tenor (1) Van Cliburn, Pianist (4) Giuseppe Campora, Tenor Ezio Flagello, Basso
SUMMER CONCERT SERIES (1966)
Alfred Brendel, Pianist ........................................................July 6
Peter Serkin, Pianist (1) .....................................................July 14
Evelyne Crochet. Pianist ......................................................July 20
Grant Johannesen, Pianist (2) .................................................July 25
The complete repertoire of the concerts this season includes music which represents a wide range of musical forms and periods. The compositions, classi?fied into categories of (1) symphony and chamber orchestra, (2) instrumental (by chamber music groups and virtuoso artists), (3) vocal (solo), (4) choral. (5) opera, (6) ballet and modern dance, and (7) dance and folk song groups are listed below. Works presented here for the first time are denoted by asterisks.
SYMPHONY AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Bach, J. C. Passacaglia and Fugue in C
minor ..................Philadelphia
?Sinfonia in B flat
major .........Philadelphia Chamber
Haktok
Concerto for Orchestra . . . .Philadelphia Music for Strings, Percussion,
and Celeste ................Toronto
Bassett
?Variations for Orchestra ......Detroit
Beethoven Overture, "The Consecration of
the House," Op. 124........Chicago
Symphony No. 7 in A major,
Op. 92......................Boston
Symphony No. 8 in F major,
Op. 93 .....................Detroit
Berlioz
Symphonic fantastique in C major, Op. 14a ...................Toronto
73
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Brahms "Academic Festival" Overture,
Op. 80 .................Philadelphia
Symphony No. 1 in C minor,
Op. 68 .................Philadelphia
Symphony No. 2 in D major,
Op. 73 .....................Detroit
Symphony No. 3 in F major,
Op. 90 ...............Philadelphia
Cherubini Symphony in
D major ......Philadelphia Chamber
Clarke Trumpet Voluntary
in D major . .. .Philadelphia Chamber Finney
Concerto for Percussion
and Orchestra ..........Minneapolis
Haydn
?Serenade (encore) ..Moscow Chamber ?Symphony No. 6 in D major
("Le Matin") .....Moscow Chamber
Symphony No. 7 in C major
("Le Midi") ......Moscow Chamber
?Symphony No. 8 in G major
("Le Soir") .......Moscow Chamber
?Symphony in F-sharp minor,
Op 45 ("Farewell") Moscow Chamber Lees
?Concerto for Chamber
Orchestra .....Philadelphia Chamber
Marttnon ?Symphony No. 4,
"Altitudes," Op. S3 ..........Chicago
Mozart Overture to "Don Giovanni"... .Detroit
Overture to "II Seraglio" ......Boston
Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 ("Haffner") (Allegro con spirito only,
encore) ...........Moscow Chamber
Symphony No. 40 in G minor,
K. 550 ............Moscow Chamber
Nielsen
?Symphony No. 4,
"Inextinguishable," Op. 29___Chicago
Ravel
Suite No. 2 from "Daphnis and Chloe" ... Philadelphia
Rossini
'Overture from "La Scala di seta" (encore) .Philadelphia Chamber
Rozsa
?Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Violoncello, and Orchestra, Op. 29 ...........Chicago
ScHONBERG
Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 .....................Chicago
Schubert
?Five Minuets ......Moscow Chamber
Minuet in D minor
(encore) ..........Moscow Chamber
?Symphony No. 3 in
D major ...............Minneapolis
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major ......Moscow Chamber
SCHUIXER
?Diptych .....................Boston
Schuman ?New England Triptych ___Philadelphia
Schumann Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 ...........Chicago
Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 in E minor ...............Minneapolis
Strauss
New Pizzicato Polka (based on themes from Furstin Ninetta, encore) . .. .Toronto
Stravinsky Suite from "The Firebird" ___Boston
Verdi Overture to "I Vespri siciliani". .Toronto
Vivaldi
?Concerto for Orchestra in D minor
(Maestoso, encore) Moscow Chamber ?Concerta Grosso for Strings and Harpischord in G major ("Alia Rustica") Philadelphia Chamber
Weber Overture to Euryanlhe ....Minneapolis
INSTRUMENTAL
Albeniz
Sevilla .......................Segovia
?Torre Bermeja ................Segovia
Bach, J.S.
?Bourree ......................Segovia
Chacona .....................Segovia
Chaconne (Arr. Busoni) ....Rubinstein Fantasie and Fugue in
A minor ...................Crochet
Gavotte ......................Segovia
Goldberg Variations (Aria only,
encore) ......................Serkin
74
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY REPERTOIRE
Organ Prelude in G minor
(Ait. Siloti) ................Novaes
Partita No. 3 in E major
for violin alone) .............Ferras
?Siciliana .....................Segovia
Sinfonien (Three-Part
Inventions) ................. Serkin
Barber ?Nocturne (encore) .........Johannesen
Beethoven Quartet in F minor,
Op. 95 ("Quartetto Serioso"). .Borodin Septet in E-flat major
Op. 20 .............Boston Chamber
Serenade in D major,
Op. 8 (Menuetto only-encore) ............Trio Ital d'Archi
Sonata in E major,
Op. 14, No. 1 ...............Serkin
Sonata in G major,
Op. 14, No. 2 ................Serkin
Sonata in F major, Op. 24,
No. S ("Spring Sonata") ......Ferras
Sonata in D minor,
Op. 31, No. 2 ...............Novaes
Sonata in A major, Op. 69......du Pre
Sonata in A major, Op. 101......Gilels
Sonata in E major, Op. 109......Serkin
String Trio in G major,
Op. 9. No. 1
(Finale only, encore) Trio Ital d'Archi
BoCCHERrNI
Trio in D major,
Op. 14 ............Trio Ital d'Archi
Borodin
Quartet in D major, No. 2 ....Borodin Brahms
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat
major, Op. 83 ..............Cliburn
Quartet in A minor,
Op. 51, No. 2 ___Stockholm Kyndel
Sonata in F minor,
Op. 5, No. 3 ...........Rubinstein
Sonata in F major,
Op. 99, No. 2 ................du Pre
Busoni Toccata ......................Brendel
Cassado
?Preambulo and Sardana .......Segovia
?Prelude and Dance (encore)... .Segovia
Castelnuovo-Tedesco
?Arrulladora ...................Segovia
?Primavera.................... Segovia
Chabrier ?Scherzo-Valse ..............Rubinstein
Chaminade Spanish Serenade (encore) ......Ferras
Chopin Andante spianato and Grand
Polonaise brillante, Op. 22. .Rubinstein Etude in C-sharp minor,
Op. 10, No. 4 ............Rubinstein
Etude in E minor,
Op. 25, No. 5 ..........Rubinstein
Nocturne in F-sharp major,
Op. IS, No. 2 (encore)... .Rubinstein Les Preludes, Op. 28,
No. 1-24 ...............Johannesen
Les Preludes, Op. 28
(IS preludes) ...............Novaes
Waltz in A-flat major,
Op. 64, No. 3 (encore)... .Rubinstein
Crespo Romanze (encore) ............Segovia
Debussy Children's Corner (Dr. Gradus
ad Parnassum, encore) ......Crochet
Hommage a Rameau........Rubinstein
Prelude No. 9, La serenade
interrompue (encore) ........Crochet
Prelude No. 12,
Minstrels (encore) ..........Novaes
Prelude No. 20, Ondine.....Rubinstein
Sonata (1915) .................du Pre
Sonata in G minor .............Ferras
Duarte ?English Suite .................Segovia
Dvorak
Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 ..............Rostropovkh
Fine ?Fantasia for
String Trio ........Boston Chamber
Gluck
Les Airs de Ballet (Alceste)... .Novaes Melody in D minor ...........Novaes
Gran ados
Danza .......................Segovia
?The Maiden and the
Nightingale ..............Rubinstein
Haydn
?Andante .....................Segovia
?Minuet ......................Segovia
Quartet in G major.
Op. 64, No. 4.....Stockholm Kyndel
Quartet in D major, Op. 64, No. 5 ("The Lark") (Allegro moderato only, encore) ....................Borodin
Hindemith Sonata No. 3 in B-flat .....Johannesen
Lanner
?Die Mozartisten Waltz .,.....Marlboro
?Dornbacher Laendler ........Marlboro
75
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Liszt
Bagatelle Without Tonality ___Brendel
?Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 3 ... .Brendel Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 11
(encore) ...................Brendel
Pensees des morts..............Brendel
Sonata in B minor
(in one movement) ...........Gilels
Milan
?Fantasia and Pavana ..........Segovia
Mozart ?Divertimento in D major,
K. 251 ...................Marlboro
?Horn Quintet in E-flat major,
K. 407 ...................Marlboro
?Sonata in A minor,
K. 310 .....................Brendel
Sonata in D major, K. 311 ....Crochet Variations on a Menuet by
Duport, K. 573 .............Brendel
Pacanini ?Romanza and
andantino variato ...........Segovia
Petrassi Trio (1959) ..........Trio Ital d'Archi
Pinto ?March Soldiers (encore) ......Novaes
Ponce ?Sonata Mexicana .............Segovia
Prokofieff
Visions fugitive, Op. 22
(4 pieces-encore) .............Gilels
Ravel
?Gaspard de la Nuit ........Johannesen
Tzigane (Rapsodie de concert) ..Ferras
Saint-saens Havanaise .....................Ferras
Scarlatti, A.
?Courante .....................Segovia
?Gavotte ......................Segovia
?Preambulo ....................Segavia
?Sarabande ....................Segovia
Scarlatti, D. ?Sonata .......................Segovia
ScHONBERG
?Three Pieces, Op. 11 ..........Crochet
Schubert ?Five Dances with Coda and
Seven Trios (for String
Quintet) ..................Marlboro
?Five Minuets .......Moscow Chamber
?Three Pieces, Op. posthumous .. Crochet
Schumann ?Fantasiestiicke, Op. Ill
(encore) ................Johannesen
?Kontrabandiste (Arr. Tausig)
(encore) ................Johannesen
?Nachtstucke, Op. 23 .............Gilels
?Presto appassionato .............Gilels
Papillons. Op. 2 ..............Novacs
Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 ....Brendel
Scriabin
Etude (without identification) (encore) .....................Gilels
Shostakovich ?Quartet No. 3 in F major,
Op. 73 .....................Borodin
Sor
?Andante alia Siciliana..........Segovia
?Andante largo in D ...........Segovia
?Allegretto ...................Segovia
?Allegro in D .................Segovia
?Menuet ......................Segovia
?Rondo .......................Segovia
Spohr ?Nonet, Op. 31 .......Boston Chamber
Strauss
?Die Romaniker Waltz ........Marlboro
?Galopp (encore) ............Marlboro
Stravinsky ?Tango (encore) ...........Johannesen
Viixa-lobos O Polichinelo
(encore) .........Novaes, Rubinstein
?Prelude ......................Segovia
Voillemin ?A c'hoas ar zac'h
bennio (encore) ............Novaes
VOCAL
BlZF.T
"Habanera" from Carmen
(encore) ....................Verrett
Brahms
Vier ernste Gesange ............Verrett
Folk Song (American) ?He's Goin' Away (Arr. John
Jacob Niles, encore) ........Verrett
76
Folk Song (Negro) ?Ev'ry time I feel de spirit
(Arr. Hall Johnson) .........Verrett
Give me Jesus ................Verrett
O, Glory (Arr. Hall Johnson) . .Verrett ?Witness (encore) ..............Verrett
Granados La Maja dolorosa..............Verrett
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY REPERTOIRE
MlLHAUD
?Chanson de negresse ..........Verrett
Mozart
"Alleluia" from Exultate
(encore) ....................Verrett
Not
?Montanesa ....................Verrett
Obradors
El Vito ......................Verrett
Rachmaninoff
Floods of Spring (encore) ......Verrett
Sadjt-saens
"Mon coeurs s'ouvre a ta voix" from Samson el Dalila ............Verrett
CHORAL
Alfven, Hugo ?Four Swedish Folk
Songs ..............Stockholm Univ.
Brahms
?Nachtwache I ........Stockholm Univ.
Debussy, Claude
Trois chansons........Stockholm Univ.
Finney, Ross Lee "The Martyr's
Elegy" ...........Solo, C. U. & Phil.
Handel
Interlochen Arts
"Messiah". .Academy Orchestra members Soloists, CU, McCoy, Krenek, Ernst Der Friihling .........Stockholm Univ.
di Lasso
Quand mon man .....Stockholm Univ.
Monteverdi
Sfogava con le stelle. .Stockholm Univ. Morley, Thomas
Fire! Fire! ...........Stockholm Univ.
Mozart
?V'amo di core ........Stockholm Univ.
Orff, Carl
Si puer cum puellula
("Carmina Burana") Stockholm Univ.
Paulsson, Carl ?Dalvisa (Song from
Dalarna) ...........Stockholm Univ.
PeTERSON-BeRGER, WttHELM
Dan's ropte Felen
(Norwegian) ......Stockholm Univ.
Stemning (Mood) ...Stockholm Univ. Seiber, Mayras ?Yugoslav Folk Songs .. Stockholm Univ.
SODERLUNDH, LlLLE BrOR
?Two Songs in Folk
Idiom .............Stockholm Univ.
Soderman, August ?Six Songs in
Folk Idiom ........Stockholm Univ.
Stenhammar, Wilhelm ?Three Songs (Danish) Stockholm Univ.
Verdi ?Laudi alia Vergine
Maria .............Stockholm Univ.
"Manzoni" Requiem Soli, CU, and Phil.
Vivaldi ?Magnificat in
G minor ......Soli, CU, and Phil.
Wikander, David ?Kung Liljekonvalje (King
Lily of the Valley) . .Stockholm Univ.
OPERA
Menotti
"The Consul" ..New York City Opera Puccini "Tosca" ........New York City Opera
Verdi "La Traviata" ..New York City Opera
TWELFTH CENTURY MUSICAL DRAMA
?The Play of
Daniel ......New York Pro Musica
BALLET AND MODERN DANCE
?Aimez Vous Bach (Bach) ..Winnipeg ?The Combat
(de Banfield) ......American Ballet
Don Quixote (Pas de
Deux) (Minkus) .........Winnipeg
77
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
?Donizetti Variations
(Donizetti) .................Joffrey
Giselle (Peasant pas de deux
from Act I--Adam) .......Winnipeg
?Grand Paz-Glazounov (Raymonda,
Act III) ...........American Ballet
?Moon Reindeer
(Riisager) ..........American Ballet
?Pas des deesses (Field) ..........Joffrey
Sea Shadow (Colgrass) ...... . .Joffrey
The Still Point (Debussy) ..Winnipeg
Theme and Variations
(Tchaikovsky) .......American Balet
VrvA Vivaldi (Vivaldi) .........Joffrey
Les Whoops-De-Doo
(Gillies) .................Winnipeg
FOLK DANCE AND MUSIC
JAPANESE ........................................................... Hosho Noh
Ebira (A han-noh sequence) Sumidagava (The Sumida River)
MEXICAN ......................................................... Fiesta Mexicana
Las Alazanas Chiapanccas Colas La Culebra
Dance to the God of Music Dance of the Priestesses ?Dance Quatzalcoatl ?Dance to the Sun God Tonatiuh ?Dance of the Xtol ?Deer Dance
E1 Canelo Y Cumbamba E1 Jarabe ?Feather Dance ?Floreo Mexicano ?Huapanpos ?La Negra ?Sones Jarochos ?Tehuana Wedding Dance ?Zapateado
SPANISH ............................................................... Jose Grcco
Alegrias Flamenca
?Danza Castellana
Danza De La Vida Breve
?Danza from "Boda De Luis Alonso"
E1 Cortijo
?Fantasia de Valencia y Aragon
?Farruca
?Galician Suite
?Gitanerias en Sevilla
?Guitar Sol
Maja and Nightingale Malaga Old Madrid Por Soleares Rumba Flamenca Times of Goya Yerdiales
SUMMARY
CLASSIFICATION Number of Compositions First Performances at these Concerts Composers Represented Foreign Artists
Symphony and Chamber Orchestra ...... Instrumental 46 IIS 18 60 28 46 2 13
Vocal 14 35 3 13 38 7 27 1 11 37 10 20 3 13
Choral 1
Opera . ...
12th Century Musical Drama Ballet and Modern Dance .. Folk Dance and Music .... 1 3
Totals...... 264 161 120 20
Less duplications --31
99
?Undetermined
78
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
International Presentations for the 1967-68 Season
SUMMER CONCERT SERIES--1967
Malcolm Frager, Pianist ..............................Friday, July 7
Monique Haas, Pianist................................Monday, July 10
Michel Block, Pianist................................Monday, July 24
Grant Johannesen, Pianist, and
Zara Nelsova, Cellist ............................Monday, July 31
CHORAL UNION SERIES
Chicago Symphony Orchestra ................2:30, Sunday, October 1
Jean Martinon, Conductor French National Orchestra, with
Eugene Istomin, Pianist ......................Monday, October 9
Vienna Symphony ..............................Thursday, October 19
"Carmina Burana"--opera by Carl
Orff ..................................(8:00) Sunday, October 29
Expo '67 Production with Les Ballets Canadiens
Christa Ludwig, Mezzo-soprano....................Tuesday, October 31
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
of London ................................Wednesday, January 17
Nathan Milstein, Violinist........................Monday, January 29
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra ..............Saturday, February 24
Van Cliburn, Pianist................................Friday, March 15
Toronto Symphony Orchestra....................Thursday, March 28
Seiji Ozawa, Conductor
EXTRA SERIES
"Land of Smiles"--operetta by Franz
Lehar ....................................Monday, September 25
(Original Viennese production starring Giuseppe di Stefano) Chicago Symphony Orchestra..................Saturday, September 30
Jean Martinon, Conductor
70
Yomiuri Japanese Orchestra......................Friday, November 10
Arthur Fiedler, Conductor
National Ballet from Washington, D.C...........Wednesday, January 24
Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ................Friday, March 8
Antal Dorati, Conductor
CHAMBER ARTS SERIES
Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia..............Saturday, October 21
Anshel Brusilow, Conductor
Berlin Philharmonic Octet ....................Sunday, November S
Berliner Camerata Musicale ..................Monday, November 13
Chicago Little Symphony ......................Saturday, January 20
Thor Johnson, Conductor Music From Marlboro (vocal and
instrumental) ................................Sunday, February 4
Munich Chamber Orchestra ...................Thursday, February 29
San Pietro Orchestra of Naples....................Friday, March 22
ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
"Messiah" (Handel)--Three Performances . . . December 1, 2, 3
FESTIVALS
Fair Lane Festival (on the Dearborn Campus)
Chicago Symphony's Baroque Orchestra ............June 4 & 11
Caramoor Festival Operas: "Curlew River" ................July 5
"The Burning Fiery Furnace"..........................July 6
Yehudi Menuhin and the Bath Festival Orchestra........July 16
Stratford Festival Orchestra of Canada ................July 23
Dance Festival
Olaeta Basque Festival
of Bilbao..........................(2:30) Sunday, October 22
Jose Molina Bailes Espanoles ................Friday, October 27
Third attraction to be announced
Chamber Music Festival
Loewenguth Quartet ........................Friday, February 16
Warsaw Chamber Orchestra ................Saturday, February 17
Early Music Quartet ................(2:30) Sunday, February 18
Ann Arbor May Festival (5 concerts) ................April 20, 21, 22, 23
The Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, Conductor; guest conductors and soloists.