Boston Symphony Orchestra concert programs, Summer

/J
Theatre
-
Tanglewood
Concert Hall
SEVEN CONCERTS OF CHAMBER MUSIC
Tuesday Evenings at 8:00
August 3
CLAUDE FRANK
and
LILIAN KALLIR,
Pianists
and
Vocal Ensemble of the Berkshire Music Center
BOSTON
SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
ERICH LEINSDORF
Music Director
S*
BERKSHIRE FESTIVAL
BALDWIN PIANO
1965
RCA VICTOR RECORDS
LIEBESLIEDER WALZER
Op. 52
NEUE LIEBESLIEDER WALZER, Op. 65
For four-part chorus of mixed voices with
accompaniment for piano, four hands
By Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
and living in Vienna when he wrote the first of
his two cycles of waltzes on love songs in 1869. Johann Strauss, Jr., a native
of Vienna and eight years older, was leading his own waltzes at the court
balls. Both were Wiener kinder at heart and yet the waltzes of the two could
hardly have been more different. Brahms, who openly admired Strauss,
cultivated for himself a gentle rather than a heady rhythm. His waltzes,
whether for voices or for the piano, were more in the earlier vein of the
Viennese Laendler. Above all they were vocal for the most part, and as the
Laendler was a folk dance they were in the nature of folk songs for solo
voices or for groups. The composer had conducted a choir at Detmold and
at Hamburg. The symphonic Brahms had yet to appear. The apparition of
waltzes from the composer of the sombre German Requiem caused Eduard
Brahms was
thirty-six
Hanslick, the Viennese critic
who
could be honey-tongued as well as savage,
"Brahms and waltzes! The two words stare at each other in positive amazement on the elegant title-page. The earnest, silent Brahms, a
true younger brother of Schumann and just as North German, Protestant
writing waltzes! There is only one word which
and unworldly as he
solves the enigma, and that is Vienna!"
to write:
.
.
.
Sentimental love songs from Polydore by Georg Dauraer became his
texts.
Ad
They were
entitled "Eighteen
Love Songs
for
Piano Duet with Voices
Libitum." Geiringer points out that "the Liebeslieder are really vocal
quartets with four-handed pianoforte accompaniment. Deleting the mis-
leading 'ad
the singing
an obvious
Neue Liebeslieder, thus declaring
voice to be indispensable, Brahms did only what was musically
necessity." What Brahms' biographer means is that the com-
lib'
from the second
series,
the
poser thought naturally in terms of the four part ensemble, and so wrote his
quartets for strings or voices.
The Neue Liebeslieder, composed in 1875 (six years later than the first
set), show that the form appealed to him. On receiving the first printed
copy of Opus 52 from his publisher, Simrock, the close-mouthed Brahms bespoke for once his pleasure in his own music: "I must confess that it was
the first time I smiled at the sight of a printed work of mine! I will risk
—
being called an ass
if
our Liebeslieder don't give pleasure to a few people."
Later he wrote to Simrock suggesting that they be reduced in price so that
they could reach a larger populace.
"I
can
live
He
offered to forfeit the honorarium:
very well without further fees."
)
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FIFTH CONCERT OF THE CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES
Tuesday Evening, August
3,
at 8:00
AND CLAUDE FRANK,
LILIAN KALLIR
Pianists
Barbara Smith- Conrad, Helene Farras: Sopranos
Judith Keller: Mezzo-soprano; Batyah Godfrey: Contralto
William Dupree, John Paton: Tenors
William Ledbetter:
Eugene Thamon:
Baritone;
Bass
PROGRAM
BRAHMS
Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52
for voices with piano duet
1.
2.
3.
Rede, Madchen
— (Answer, maiden—
Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut— (Like
O die Frauen— (Oh, these women—
accompaniment
thunder roars the tide
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
10.
Wie dess Abends schone Rote (As the glowing sunset
(The green hop vine climbs
Die griine Hopfenranke
(A pretty little bird flew in
Ein kleiner, hiibscher Vogel
Wohl schon bewandt war es (This was once my life, my love
Wenn so lind dein Auge mir (When your eyes so fondly seek mine
Am Donaustrande (On Danube's shores
O wie sanft die Quelle (How gently flows the stream
11.
Nein, es
ist
13.
auszukommen (No, I'll not listen to their chatter(Locksmith, fetch me padlocks
Schlosser, auf, und mache Schlosser
Vogelein durchrauscht die Luft
(The little bird soars
14.
Sieh,
ist
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
12.
—
—
17.
18.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
wie
Welle
(See the bright fountain—
—
schon — (Nightingale
Ein dunkeler Schacht— (Love
a dark
—
Nicht wandle, mein Licht— (Don't wander, my
—
Es bebet das Gestrauche — (Each
trembling—
—
nicht
—
klar
die
that sings so sweetly-
15. Nachtigall, sie singt so
16.
—
)
well
is
light
leaf
MOZART
is
Sonata for
I.
II.
III.
Two
Pianos, in
D major,
K. 448
Allegro con spirito
Andante
Allegro molto
INTERMISSION
BRAHMS
Neue
for Voices
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 65
with piano duet accompaniment
Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung
(Nothing, oh heart, can save theeFinstere Schatten der Nacht
(Dark shadows of night
An jeder Hand die Finger (With rings on every finger
Ihr schwarzen Augen
(Thy dark eyes
Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn
(Guard they son, neighbor
Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter (Roses, from my mother
Gebirge Well auf Well
(From the hills the gusts of rain
Weiche Graser in Revier (Gentle spots of grass
Vom
—
—
—
—
—
(over)
—
—
)
) )
)
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
—
)) )
)
—
—
—
—
—
pains in my heart
chat with one or two
(I will hear no more of love
Alles, alles in den Wind
(Black wood, thy shadow
Schwarzer Wald, dein Schatten
(No. love, sit apart
Nein, Geliebter, setze dich
Flammenauge, dunkles Haar (Eyes of flame, dark tresses
Zum Schluss (Nun, ihr Musen, genug!) (To close: Now, muses, enough!
Nagen am Herzen
fiihl ich
(I feel
—
—
—
—
—
Ich kose suss mit der und der
(I
—
—
—
Miss Kallir and Mr. Frank play the Steinway piano
For the
final song,
"Zum
and departed
exception)
at last
enough! In vain you strive
lover's breast.
tion
You
Schluss" he took a verse from Goethe
from the waltz rhythm: "Now, Muses,
to picture
will never heal the
how
pain and joy alternate in the
wounds
inflicted
by Cupid. Allevia-
must come only from yourselves."
SONATA FOR TWO PIANOS, IN
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart's only Sonata for
November, 1781. Listening
write more, or that
this to the
resource
Two
to it causes
is to
which the two keyboards
much from
her,
and put her
gay throughout
the Andante.
a full unison,
—there
is
(1756-1791)
keen regret that Mozart did not
more did not survive in
piano duet sonatas
D, K. 448
Pianos was composed in Vienna in
publication, for to compare
be struck by the freedom, the expressive
give.
When he
in 1781 for performance with Josephone
is
(by-
strictly
wrote this two-piano work
von Auernhammer, he exacted
on a level with himself. The sonata
not even a momentary cloud on the surface of
The Allegro con
spirito
whereby double power
opens rhythmically and smartly with
is
attained. It
similarly reinforced, or delightfully echoed in the
or spread texture, as the composer wills.
for show,
and
The
is
a
movement
same range,
final Allegro
of scales
of a close
molto
is swift,
for delight.
CONCERTS TO FOLLOW:
August 10
Boston Symphony Chamber Players
(with Claude Frank)
August 17
Music of Aaron Copland
(Part of a Festival of Contemporary
American Music, in cooperation with
the Fromm Music Foundation).