UMS Concert Program, March 19, 1972: The Vienna Symphony Orchestra --

Concert: Ninth
Complete Series: 3768
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The University Musical Society
of
The University of Michigan
Presents
THE VIENNA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JOSEF KRIPS, Conductor
Sunday Afternoon, March 19, 1972, at 2:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Symphony No. 94 in G major ("Surprise")........Haydn
Adagio cantabile, vivace assai Andante
Menuetto, allegro molto Allegro di molto
Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 4..........von Einem
Allegro
Larghetto Allegro
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 9 in C major ("The Great").......Schubert
Andante; allegro non troppo Andante con moto
Scherzo: allegro vivace Finale: allegro vivace
Epic, Vox, Westminster, Deutsche Grammophon, Mercury & Philips, Lyric, Everest, Richmond, Bach Guild, Turnabout, Desto, and Music Guild Records
The Vienna Symphony has previously appeared in Ann Arbor on February 20, 1964, and October 19, 1967. Mr. Krips is conducting here for the first time.
Ninth Concert Ninetythird Annual Choral Union Series Complete Programs 3768
PROGRAM NOTES
Symphony No. 94 in G. major ("Surprise") .... Franz Joseph Haydn
The "Surprise" Symphony was composed in 1791. The name, of course, comes from the fortissimo in the second movement which effects a sudden sharp contrast with what has gone before. It is the second in the series of twelve great symphonic masterpieces which Haydn wrote for the Salomon concerts, so called after the impresario who had sought out Haydn in Vienna after the death of Haydn's lifelong patron, Count Esterhazy.
Adagio cantabile, vivace assai. As in all the "Salomon" symphonies except one, this work begins with a slow introduction, a sort of generalized prologue in which Haydn seems to invite his hearers to reflect for a moment on the seriousness of the symphonic enterprise just before speeding off on a typical opening movement with all its jollity and good spirit.
Andante. This movement is a theme and four variations. The theme is heard at the start in violins and is one of the best known of all symphonic tunes. The "surprise" comes in the middle, a resounding chord for full orchestra and in the midst of otherwise pianissimo sounds. Haydn may have joked about the chord but the fact is that it has a clear musical purpose in the context. It is a pivotal chord which sharply calls back the melody into the key of C major from whence it had momentarily strayed.
Menuetto: allegro niolto. This is a regular minuet and trio. The theme is notable. It begins with a Haydnesque dance melody and ends with a contrasting half which has an amaz?ingly simple and "melting" beauty.
Allegro di molto. A classic Haydn rondo, this begins with the theme in the violins, goes through several repetitions and brilliantly workedout episodes and arrives at a second theme. Fhe sections between presentations of the themes show Haydn at his best. These transitions are highly developed; they are not mere marking of time until the theme can be respectably brought back. The orchestral forces are fully exploited. Haydn's unerring sense of style leads him to accomplish wonders with simple material. This is one of the most remarkable of all his symphonies.
Concerto for Orchestra.........Gottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem is an Austrian but was born in Berne, Switzerland, where his father was serving as military attache at the Austrian embassy. He was educated in Germany and spent some time travelling in France, Italy, and England after graduating from college. The composer was suspected by the Nazis of being sympathetic to what they called "Kultur Boschevismus" and after being under surveillance for some time, he was arrested along with his mother in 1938. The charges were the usual high treason and subversive activities for which Einem spent four months incarcerated and his mother a year and a half. He became a conductor and coach at the Berlin Staatsoper in 1941 and was subsequently offered a position as conductor of the Dresden Opera where he served until 1944. Since 1948 he has been on the Board of Directors of the Salzburg Festival. In 19S4 Einem became a member of the artistic board of the Vienna State Opera, and he still lives and works in Vienna.
The Concerto for Orchestra was premiered by the Berlin Staatsoper Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan in 1944, and it was one of the products of Einem's creativity which drew fire from Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels' Nazi Propaganda Ministry. It's hard to say what revolutionary traits the twisted little doctor heard in it. The composition opens with a three note figure which also concludes the Allegro movement. Two main rhythmical motifs are
developed contrapuntally. The first is proclaimed in octaves by strings, woodwinds and horns. The first climax is followed by bassoon and oboe solos. The trombones then burst forth with the main rhythm of the opening which carrys the energetic and exciting movement to its conclusion. The Larghelto is said to remind one of Mahler. It has a songlike subject intro?duced by the clarinet and muted violins and answered by the flute. As the music develops, its broad lyrical flow changes into smaller figures. The contrabasses end the movement on a low Csharp. The witty, exuberant final Allegro makes use of jazz rhythms which belie Einem's interest in such American music as that of George Gershwin and Duke Ellington. Perhaps it was the "tongueincheek" character of this movement that especially provoked Dr. Goebbels. The Coda starts softly and builds to a climactic conclusion.
Symphony No. 9 in C major ("The Great").....Franz Schubert
Six years after the "Unfinished," Schubert completed his great Cmajor Symphony of March. 1828. Considered to be too long and too difficult by the Musikverein in Vienna, it lay virtually in oblivion for ten years. Schumann, who discovered the manuscript among the possessions of Schubert's brother, Ferdinand, sent a copy of the score to Mendelssohn in Leipzig, where it was performed in March, 1839.
Homs in unison begin the broad and serene introduction. Its melody winds its way through the different choirs and registers of the orchestra, gathering counterfigures as the mood becomes more exultant. The tempo quickens to usher in the main body of the move?ment, which is essentially a play of rhythms. Its principal theme combines within itself a decisive beat of "two" time in the strings and a triplet figure in the winds which sound sometimes in succession and sometimes simultaneously before the preparation for the second theme. This is a dancelike melody, given to the oboe and bassoon, with a whirling accom?paniment by the strings. Most wonderful of Schubertian digressions is the imaginative passage of the trombones in pianisimo, derived from the introduction and developed with poetic power and masterly design. Ideas then burst forth in a profusion of "lyrical fluor?escence," one offshoot begetting another. In an energetic coda the movement ends with a mounting climax.
During the slow movement, Schubert, by magically veering from minor to major tonality, creates an indefinite romantic color, tinged with melancholy. After the introductory passages by plucked strings, the oboe sounds a melody to which the strings respond in a more flowing phrase. Full chords by the orchestra in martial rhythms are echoed by the woodwinds. The reposeful second subject assumes broad outlines in the strings. The music becomes more dynamic and rises to a final tragic height, which is intensified by a dramatic pause. Fragments of the original oboemelody form the mournful coda.
The Scherzo's main body is a miniature, highly organized sonata form, inexhaustible in its variety and exhuberant gaiety. Its contrasting middle section, the Trio, is a huge single melody which reflects the sentiment and nostalgia of a Viennese waltz.
The Finale returns to the broad scale of the opening movement. The first approach to a definite phrase is heard in the oboes and doubled by the bassoons as violins ceaselessly spin a figuration of the idea. Its chief charm lies in the sense of endless motion as the song freely sweeps along. The second theme arises out of four premonitory repeated notes by the horn and stretches itself ad infinitum to the persistent accompaniment of strings. A song, evolved from the new idea, is developed in the woodwinds and continued in tremolo by the violins. Towards the finish, the four great C's by bassoons, horns and strings in unison are followed by four orchestral chords, shouting in answer. Question and answer recur again and again, and the whole symphony surges to a tumultuous close.
INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS -197 172
RESCHEDULED
Julian Bream, Guitarist and Lutenist .... Monday, March 20 Hill Auditorium 8:00 p.m.
Additional Tickets Now Available
Minnesota Orchestra........(8:30) Sunday, April 9
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Conductor
Berlioz: Excerpts from "Romeo and Juliet"; Mahler: Das Klagende Lied," with University Choral Union, Donald Bryant, director; Sheila Armstrong, soprano; Maureen Forrester, con?tralto; John Stewart, tenor; Brent Ellis, baritone.
ANN ARBOR
The Philadelphia Orchestra at all concerts-Eugene Ormandy and Thor Johnson, conductors
May 4--Harris: Symphony No. 3; Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, Dietrich FischerDieskau, baritone; Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique.
May 5--Wallace Berry: Intonation; Mozart: Vespers, K. 339, Festival Chorus, Noelle Rogers, soprano, Elizabeth Mannion, contralto, Waldie Anderson, tenor, Willis Patterson, bass; Schumann: Concerto in A minor, Susan Starr, pianist.
May 6--AllBrahms program: Tragic Overture; Symphony No. 3; Concerto in D major, Mayumi Fujikawa, violinist.
May 7--(2:30) Mozart: Symphony No. 29, K. 201; Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, Festival Chorus, Noelle Rogers, soprano, Elizabeth Mannion, contralto, Leslie Guinn, baritone; Weber: Concerto No. 2, Malcom Frager, pianist.
May 7--Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue; Rossini: three arias; Wagner: excerpts from Die Gb'tterdammerung, Marilyn Home, soprano.
(All Festival concerts at 8:30 unless otherwise noted)
Series tickets: S36, $30, $25, $20, $15 (five concerts)
Single concerts: $8.50, $7.50, $7, $6, $5, $3.50
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gail W. Rector, President
Roscoe 0. Bonistecl, VicePresident
Erich A. Walter, Secretary
E. Thurston Thieme, Treasurer
Died, February 25, 1972
William L. Brittain Allen P. Britton Douglas D. Crary Robben W. Fleming
Harlan Hatcher Paul K. Kauper Wilbur K. Pierpont Daniel H. Schurz