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John Adams High School
SOUTH BIND , ISDIANA
Saturday Evening, December 6, 19^7
THE CIVIC MUSIC ASSOCIATION
Presents
THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
RICHARD BURGIN,
Conductor
PROGRAM
Symphony No.
in
1,
E
minor,
Opus 39
Sibelius
Andante ma non troppo
Andante ma non troppo
Allegro
Scherzo.
Finale.
lento
Quasi una Fantasia. Andante
Tone Poem "Don Juan"
Symphony No.
5 in
C
Strauss
minor,
Opus 67
Beethoven
Allegro con brio
Andante con moto
Scherzo
:
Allegro
:
Trio
Finale: Allegro
SERVING THE NATION
OR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY
/
/
PROGRAM ANNOTATIONS
Symphony No.
The
E
in
1,
minor, Op. 39.
orchestral
works
.
Jean Sibelius
(1856)
.
of Sibelius
seem drenched with the desolation
of Fin-
Giant primeval forests and black rushing streams are conjured in the mind.
first symphony was written in 1899 and is quite different from the later
ones, which have a profundity that is somewhat baffling at first hearing. This
earlier work, however, is easily comprehended and is typical of its composer. It
is pure music with no program.
land.
The
I.
{Andante
The
ma
is E
non troppo)
minor, the tempo 2-2. There is a short introduction, characterkey
melody in the clarinet, over a drum roll. After twenty-eight
mournful
by
ized
a
measures, the principal theme enters in the first violins, Allegro energico, 6-4.
After subsidiary material in the woodwinds and strings, the second motive is
heard in the flutes, softly and well marked, over tremulous strings. This theme
is developed and there is a crescendo, ending in B minor, after which the full
development sets in. There are many chromatic ascending passages in the strings
against descending chromatic runs in the woodwinds. A crescendo leads to the
recapitulation, whose principal theme is heard in full orchestra.
II.
{Andante
E
ma non
troppo lento)
major. 2-2. Muted violins and cellos introduce very softly a limpid
vigorous passage in the woodwinds is heard, followed, un poco meno
andante, by a new theme for bassoons. The clarinet takes this up and then the
horns enter in another motive, accompanied by harp arpeggios and a figure in
the violins. This is developed and after a change of mood, there is a stormy
development to a climax, after which the music subsides to softness with the first
theme.
flat
subject.
A
{Scherzo.
III.
C
Allegro)
major. 3-4.
The
chief theme is stated by the violins. There are subsidiary
theme appears as a Trio {Lento ma non troppo) in E
the horns, followed by the woodwinds. After a chromatic
subjects and the second
major.
It is
heard in
passage in violins and violas, the Scherzo is heard again, in a modified form.
The movement ends as it begins, with the pizzicato chords in the strings.
IV.
{Finale.
E
Quasi una Fantasia. Andante)
The
a Fantasia and opens with material based on
the clarinet
first movement.
This theme recurs in tragic form.
The chief theme, Allegro molto, 2-4, is introduced by the woodwinds. The movement alternates between tempest and quiet until it works to a climax and then
dies away in sudden silence. The second theme is heard in the clarinet. All the
strings, except the double-basses, play this theme, forte, and it is earnestly developed; another fine climax is reached; and the symphony ends with a sudden
minor.
2-2.
Finale
theme of the
piano.
is
Tone Poem, "Don Juan," Opus 20
Richard Strauss
(1864)
This work was written when the composer was only twenty-two years old,
during his brief association with the Munich Opera as third conductor. It was
first performed at Weimar under Strauss' own direction in 1889. The first per- V
formance of the work in America was on October 31, 1891, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Arthur Nikisch.
The tone poem is based upon extracts from a poem by Nicolaus Lenau,
Don Juan. The poet in commenting about his Don Juan said, "Goethe's
great poem has not hurt me in the matter of Faust, and Byron's Don Juan will do
me no harm. Each poet, as every human being, is an individual 'ego.' My Don
i
entitled
Juan
no hot-blooded man, eternally pursuing women.
is
It
is
the longing in
him
woman who to him is
women on earth, whom
incarnate womanhood, and to enjoy, in the one,
he cannot as an individual possess. Because he
all the
does not find her, although he reels from one to another, at last Disgust seizes
hold of him, and this Disgust is the devil that fetches him."
to find a
On
the fly-leaf of the score appear three verses of Lenau's
poem
.
.
.
speeches
of the hero addressed to his brother Diego and his friend Marcello.
Symphony No.
5 in
C
minor,
Ludwig van Beethoven
Opus 67
II
(1770-1827)
]
The
Goethe
Mendelssohn sought
win his
friendship for Beethoven's music with a piano rendition of the Fifth Symphony,
He sat, wrote Mendelssohn, "in the dim corner of his room at Weimar like a
Jupiter Tonans, with the fire flashing from his aged eyes." At first he insisted
that he was unimpressed. "That causes no emotion; it's only astonishing and
grandiose," he declared. He continued his mutterings for some minutes, but soon
elderly
listened grudgingly as
"How
—
to
Enough to bring the house
about one's ears! And what must it be with all the people playing at once?"
During dinner he interrupted the conversation again and again to talk about it.
layed aside the pose;
big
it
is
quite wild!
j
I
'-}
I
I
I
I
I
Some urge in the music has laid hold of men's imaginations from the day J
Beethoven penned it. Various reasons for this have been advanced. There are 1
those who point to the philosophical background of the symphony, with its con- i
fident affirmation of man's ability to rise from black despair to triumph. Others 1
believe that its popularity is due to the white heat at which its thrice distilled 1
emotion is projected. Cerainly music had never before been so charged with i
violent passion, so hurled from the orchestra in its bare essentials, stripped of all 1
superfluous ornamentation.
The
four-note motto thundered from strings and clarinets at the opening of
is musically definite, yet enigmatical when the attempt is
made to translate it into terms other than musical. Beethoven is said by Ries to
have taken the theme from the call of the yellow-hammer which he heard during
his walks in the parks around Vienna. The notes of the bird agree in rhythm
if not in interval with the motto of the symphony. Schindler states that Beethoven
said of it: "Thus destiny knocks at the door." There is no more reason to disbelieve that Beethoven made this passing remark than there is to believe that it
was more than a conversational fancy. It was a habit with him to seize upon
the
first
movement
1
i
1
1
1
[
1
I
|
some trenchant fragment, derive the most unexpected meanings from it, and rear
mighty structures of sound upon its latent resources.
His creative spirit dwelt in a sphere of pure music where non-musical ideas
simply did not exist. We may be certain that whatever was the origin of these
famous four notes, their evolution in this symphony was conditioned by their
musical qualities alone. A glance at Beethoven's sketch books will show them as
he first set them down in a series of figures as dry as the moldy sheets that
Further sketches, with rhythm and interval in final form, show
still bear them.
the composer struggling to beat them into fertile shapes from which they might
take flight and generate a symphony.
Serge Koussevitzky, Music Director, Boston
Symphony Orchestra
George E. Judd, Manager, Boston Symphony Orchestra
CIVIC
New York
CONCERT
SERVICE,
Inc.
O. O. Bottorff, President
Chicago
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