Part 4

In the summer of 1929 Hofmannsthal suddenly died. Some time before he had written a short novel, _Lucidor_, about an impoverished family with two marriageable daughters for whom an attempt is made to secure wealthy husbands. To facilitate the marital stratagem one of the daughters is dressed in boy’s clothes. The disguised girl falls in love with a suitor of her sister, Arabella, to whom one Mandryka, a romantic Balkan youth of great wealth, pays court. The period is the year 1860, the scene Vienna.

Inevitably, _Arabella_ turned out to be something of a throwback into the scene, if not the glamorous period or milieu, of _Der Rosenkavalier_. Almost inevitably, the lyric comedy—the final product of the Strauss-Hofmannsthal partnership—is filled with scenes, characters and analogies to the more famous work. In truth, _Arabella_ is a kind of little sister of _Rosenkavalier_. At the same time the texture of the score and the character of the orchestral treatment has a transparency and a delicate charm which Strauss rarely equalled, even if the melodic invention and the instrumentation suggest a kind of chamber music on a large scale. As in _Ariadne auf Naxos_ the composer does not hesitate to make use of a florid soprano to introduce scintillating samples of ornate vocalism. One feels, however, that _Arabella_ is a semi-finished product. The second half of the work does not sustain the level of the first. Many things might have been worked out more expertly if the librettist had been spared to supervise work, which as things stand is far from a really satisfactory or unified piece. But the score contains some of the older Strauss’s most enamoring lyric pages and it is easy to feel that his heart was in the better portions of the opera. The score of _Arabella_ benefits by the introduction of folk-songs influence—in this instance of a number of South Slavic melodies, which are among its genuine treasures.

Lacking his faithful Hofmannsthal Strauss turned to Stefan Zweig, who had made for him an operatic adaptation of Ben Jonson’s play, “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman”. On June 24, 1935, it was produced under Karl Böhm at the Dresden Opera. At once trouble arose. Hitler and the Nazis had come into power and Zweig, as a Jew, was automatically an outcast. After the very first performances the piece was forbidden, not to be revived till after Hitler’s end (and then in Munich and in Wiesbaden). It is actually a question whether the temporary loss of _Die Schweigsame Frau_ must be accounted a serious deprivation. _The Silent Woman_ is a rowdy, cruel farce about the tricks played on a wretched old man, unable to endure noise and subjected to all manner of torments in order that he be compelled to renounce a young woman, who to assure a lover a monetary settlement, plays the shrew so successfully that the old man is only too willing to pay any amount of his wealth to be rid of her. It is much like the story of Donizetti’s _Don Pasquale_ and the dramatic consequences are to all intents the same. There is, in reality, nothing serious or genuinely based on musical _inspiration_ in the opera, the best features of which are certain set pieces (some rather adroitly polyphonic) and a charmingly orchestrated overture described in the score as a “potpourri”. A tenderer note is struck only at the point where, as evening falls, the old man drops off to sleep.

As librettist for his next two operas, _Friedenstag_ and _Daphne_, Strauss sought the aid of Joseph Gregor. The first named work (in one act) was performed on July 7, 1938, in Munich, under Clemens Krauss. Ironically enough this work that aimed to glorify the coming of peace after conflict, was first performed with the political troubles which heralded the outbreak of the Second World War, visibly shaping themselves. _Daphne_, bucolic tragedy in a single act, also from the pen of Gregor, was heard in Dresden, October 15, 1938. And Gregor, too, supplied the aging composer, with the book of _Die Liebe der Danae_, a “merry mythological tale” in three acts. To date its sole production to date seems to have been in Salzburg, as a “dress rehearsal”, August 16, 1944.

Strauss’s last opera (produced under Clemens Krauss in Munich on October 28, 1942), was _Capriccio_, “a conversation piece for music”, in one act. Krauss and the composer collaborating on the book. The “conversation” is a discussion of certain aesthetic problems underlying the musical treatment of operatic texts. It was the final work of operatic character Strauss was to attempt. This did not mean, however, that he had written his last score. Far from it! At 81 he was to complete several, the real value of which may be left to the judgment of posterity. They include some songs, a duet-concertino for clarinet and bassoon with strings, a concerto for oboe and orchestra, a still unperformed concert fragment for orchestra from the _Legend of Joseph_. More important, unquestionably, is _Metamorphoses_, a “study for 23 solo strings”, first played in Zurich, January 25, 1946 under the direction of Paul Sacher. This work, despite its length, is music of suave, beautiful texture; a certain nobly nostalgic quality of farewell which seems to sum up the composer’s life work, with all its ups and downs. We may allow it to go at this and to spare further enumeration of the innumerable odds and ends he was to assemble from his boyhood to the patriarchal age of more than 85 years; or even to allude to his gross derangement of Mozart’s “Idomeneo”, done in 1930 at Munich.

Having lived through a lively young manhood and endured the bitter experience of two world wars Richard Strauss in the end performed the miracle of actually dying of old age! One might almost have looked for convulsions of nature, for signs and portents at his eventual passing. But his going was to be accompanied by no such things. His death in Garmisch, September 8, 1949, was brought about by the illnesses of the flesh at more than four score and five. He died of a complication of heart, liver and kidney troubles—and he died in his bed! A Heldenleben, if you will! And a death and transfiguration played against the loveliest conceivable background—an incomparable stage setting of Alpine lakes and heights, with streams and gleaming summits furnishing a glorious backdrop for his resting place!

COMPLETE LIST OF RECORDINGS by THE PHILHARMONIC-SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

COLUMBIA MASTERWORKS RECORDS

The following records are available on Columbia “Lp”

DIMITRI MITROPOULOS conducting

Concerto For Piano And Orchestra (Khachaturian). With Oscar Levant (piano). Concerto In D Minor For Three Pianos And Strings (Bach). With Robert, Gaby, and Jean Casadesus pianos). Concerto No. 1 In A Minor For ’Cello And Orchestra (Saint-Saëns). With Leonard Rose (’cello). Concerto No. 3 In B Minor, Op. 61 (Saint-Saëns). With Zino Francescatti (violin). Danse Macabre, Op. 40 (Saint-Saëns).[*] Danse Macabre, Op. 40 (Saint-Saëns).[*] Erwartung (Schönberg). Mer, La (Debussy). Overture And Allegro (Couperin-Milhaud). Petrouchka (A Burlesque in Four Scenes) (Stravinsky). Philharmonic Waltzes (Gould). Procession Nocturne, La, Op. 6 (Rabaud). Rouet d’Omphale, Le, Op. 31 (Saint-Saëns).[*] Rouet d’Omphale, Le, Op. 31 (Saint-Saëns).[*] Schelomo—Hebraic Rhapsodie For ’Cello And Orchestra (Block). With Leonard Rose (’cello). Symphonic Allegro (Travis). Symphonic Elegy For String Orchestra (Krenek). Symphony No. 2 (Sessions). Wozzeck (Berg). With Mack Harrell, Eileen Farrell, Frederick Jagel and Others.

BRUNO WALTER conducting

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 (Brahms). Concerto In C. Major For Violin, ’Cello, Piano And Orchestra, Op. 56 (“Triple”) (Beethoven). With John Corigliano (violin), Leonard Rose (’cello), Walter Hendl (piano). Concerto In D Major For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 61 (Beethoven). With Joseph Szigeti (violin). Concerto In E Minor For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 64 (Mendelssohn). With Nathan Milstein (violin). Concerto No. 5 In E-Flat Major For Piano And Orchestra, Op. 73 (“Emperor”) (Beethoven). With Rudolf Serkin. Hungarian Dance No. 1 In G Minor (Brahms). (See: Hungarian Dances). Hungarian Dance No. 3 In F Major (Brahms). (See: Hungarian Dances). Hungarian Dance No. 10 In F Major (Brahms). (See: Hungarian Dances). Hungarian Dance No. 17 In F-Sharp Minor (Brahms). (See: Hungarian Dances). Hungarian Dances (Brahms). Moldau, The (Vltava) (Smetana). Oberon—Overture (Weber). Song Of Destiny, Op. 54 (Schicksalslied) (Brahms). (See: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor (Beethoven). Symphony In C Major (B. & H. No. 7) (Schubert). Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 21 (Beethoven). Symphony No. 3 In E-Flat Major, Op. 55 (“Eroica”) (Beethoven). Symphony No. 3 In E-Flat Major, Op. 97 (“Rhenish”) (Schumann). Symphony No. 4 In E Minor, Op. 98 (Brahms). Symphony No. 4 In G Major (Mahler). With Desi Halban (Soprano). Symphony No. 4 In G Major, Op. 88 (Dvorak). Symphony No. 5 In C Minor, Op. 67 (Beethoven). Symphony No. 7 In A Major, Op. 92 (Beethoven). Symphony No. 8 In F Major (Beethoven). Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125 (“Choral”) (Beethoven). With Irma Gonzalez (soprano), Elena Nikolaidi (contralto), Raoul Jobin (tenor), Mack Harrell (baritone) and The Westminster Choir (John Finley Williamson, Cond.). Symphony No. 41 In C Major (K. 551) (“Jupiter”) (Mozart). Vltava (“The Moldau”) (Smetana).

LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI conducting

Ascension, L’ (Messiaen). Billy The Kid (Copland). Francesca Da Rimini, Op. 32 (Tchaikovsky). Götterdämmerung, Die—Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Siegfried’s Funeral Music (Wagner). Gurrelieder: Lied Der Waldtaube (Schönberg). With Martha Lipton (Mezzo-soprano). Masquerade Suite (Khachaturian). Rienzi—Overture (Wagner). Romeo And Juliet—Overture—Fantasia (Tchaikovsky). Symphony No. 6 In E Minor (Vaughan Williams). White Peacock, The, Op. 7, No. 1 (Griffes). Wotan’s Farewell And Magic Fire Music (from “Die Walküre”—Act III) (Wagner).

GEORGE SZELL conducting

Freischütz, Der—Overture (Weber). From Bohemia’s Fields And Groves (Smetana). Midsummer Night’s Dream, A (Incidental Music) (Mendelssohn). Moldau, The (Smetana).

EFREM KURTZ conducting

Age Of Gold, The—Polka (Shostakovich). (See: Russian Music). Comedians, The, Op. 26 (Kabalevsky). Concerto In A Minor For Piano And Orchestra, Op. 16 (Grieg). With Oscar Levant (piano). Concerto No. 2 In D Minor For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 22 (Wieniawski). With Isaac Stern (violin). Eugen Onegin—Entr’Acte And Waltz (Tchaikovsky). (See: Russian Music). Flight Of The Bumble Bee, The (Rimsky-Korsakov). (See: Russian Music). Gayne—Ballet Suite No. 1 (Khachaturian).[*] Gayne—Ballet Suite No. 2 (Khachaturian).[*] Life Of The Czar—Mazurka (Glinka). (See: Russian Music). Mlle. Angot Suite (Lecocq). March, Op. 99 (Prokofiev). (See: Russian Music). Monts d’Or Suite, Les—Waltz (Shostakovitch). (See: Russian Music). Russian Music. Sabre Dance (Khachaturian). (See: Gayne-Ballet Suite No. 1).[*] Sylphides, Les—Ballet (Chopin).[*] Symphony No. 9, Op. 70 (Shostakovitch). Uirapurú (A Symphonic Poem) (Villa-Lobos).

CHARLES MUNCH conducting

Concerto No. 21 In C Major For Piano And Orchestra (K. 467) (Mozart). With Robert Casadesus (piano). Symphony No. 3 In C Minor, Op. 78 (With Organ) (Saint-Saëns). With E. Nies-Berger (organ). Symphony On A French Mountain Air For Orchestra And Piano, Op. 25 (d’Indy). With Robert Casadesus (piano).

ARTUR RODZINSKI conducting

American In Paris, An (Gershwin). Arabian Dance (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a).[**] Bridal Chamber Scene (from “Lohengrin”) (Wagner). With Helen Traubel (soprano) Kurt Baum (tenor). Chinese Dance (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a).[**] Concerto No. 4 In C Minor For Piano And Orchestra, Op. 44 (Saint-Saëns). With Robert Casadesus (piano). Dance Of The Reed-Pipes (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a).[**] Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a).[**] Escales (Ports Of Call) (Ibert). Jubilee (Gould). (See: Spirituals For Orchestra). Little Bit Of Sin, A (Gould). (See: Spirituals For Orchestra). Lincoln Portrait, A (Copland). With Kenneth Spencer (narrator). March (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a). Méphisto Waltz (Liszt).[**] Miniature Overture (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a).[**] Mozartiana (Suite No. 4 In G Major, Op. 61) (Tchaikovsky). Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a (Tchaikovsky).[**] Pictures At An Exhibition (Moussorgsky). Proclamation (Gould). (See: Spirituals For Orchestra). Protest (Gould). (See: Spirituals For Orchestra). Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 In A Major, Op. 11 (Enesco). Russian Dance (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a).[**] Sermon (Gould). (See: Spirituals For Orchestra). Siegfried Idyll (Wagner). Spirituals For Orchestra (Gould). Symphony No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 68 (Brahms). Symphony No. 2 In D Major, Op. 73 (Brahms). Symphony No. 5, Op. 100 (Prokofiev). Walküre, Die—Act III (Complete) (Wagner). With Helen Traubel, Herbert Janssen. Waltz Of The Flowers (Tchaikovsky). (See: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a).[**]

IGOR STRAVINSKY conducting

Circus Polka (Stravinsky). (See: “Meet The Composer”—Igor Stravinsky). Firebird Suite (New augmented version) (Stravinsky). Fireworks, Op. 4 (Stravinsky). (See: “Meet The Composer”—Igor Stravinsky). Norwegian Moods (Stravinsky). (See: “Meet The Composer”—Igor Stravinsky). Ode (Stravinsky). (See: “Meet The Composer”—Igor Stravinsky). Petrouchka, Suite From (Stravinsky). Sacre Du Printemps, Le (Stravinsky). Scenes De Ballet (Stravinsky). Symphony In Three Movements (Stravinsky).

SIR JOHN BARBAROLLI conducting

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 (Brahms). Concerto No. 1 In G Minor For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 26 (Bruch). With Nathan Milstein (violin). Concerto No. 27 In B-Flat Major For Piano And Orchestra (K. 595) (Mozart). With Robert Casadesus (piano). Theme And Variations (from Suite No. 3 In G Major, Op. 55) (Tchaikovsky).

SIR THOMAS BEECHAM conducting

Symphony No. 7 In C Major, Op. 105 (Sibelius).

LEONARD BERNSTEIN conducting

Age Of Anxiety, The (Symphony No. 2 For Piano And Orchestra) (Bernstein).

MORTON GOULD conducting

Quickstep (Third Movement from Symphony No. 2—“On Marching Tunes”) (Gould).

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ conducting

Concerto In F For Piano And Orchestra (Gershwin). With Oscar Levant (piano).

DARIUS MILHAUD conducting

Suite Francaise (Milhaud).

[**]Also available on 45 rpm. [*]Also available on 78 rpm.

VICTOR RECORDS

ARTURO TOSCANINI conducting

Beethoven—Symphony No. 7 in A major Brahms—Variations on a Theme by Haydn Dukas—The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Gluck—Orfeo ed Euridice—Dance of the Spirits Haydn—Symphony No. 4 in D major (The Clock) Mendelssohn—Midsummer Night’s Dream—Scherzo Mozart—Symphony in D major (K. 385) Rossini—Barber of Seville—Overture Rossini—Semiramide—Overture Rossini—Italians in Algiers—Overture Verdi—Traviata—Preludes to Acts I and II Wagner—Excerpts—Lohengrin—Die Götterdämmerung—Siegfried Idyll

SIR JOHN BARBAROLLI conducting

Debussy—Iberia (Images. Set 3, No. 2) Purcell—Suite for Strings with Four Horns, Two Flutes, English Horn Respighi—Fountains of Rome Respighi—Old Dances and Airs (Special recording for members of the Philharmonic-Symphony League of New York) Schubert—Symphony No. 4 in C minor (Tragic) Schumann—Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor (with Yehudi Menuhin, violin) Tschaikowsky—Francesca da Rimini—Fantasia

WILLEM MENGELBERG conducting

J. C. Bach—Arr. Stein—Sinfonia in B-flat major J. S. Bach—Arr. Mahler—Air for G string (from Suite for Orchestra) Beethoven—Egmont Overture Handel—Alcina Suite Mendelssohn—War March of the Priests (from Athalia) Meyerbeer—Prophete—Coronation March Saint-Saens—Rouet d’Omphale (Omphale’s Spinning Wheel) Schelling—Victory Ball Wagner—Flying Dutchman—Overture Wagner—Siegfried—Forest Murmurs (Waldweben)

Special Booklets published for RADIO MEMBERS of THE PHILHARMONIC-SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

POCKET-MANUAL of Musical Terms, Edited by Dr. Th. Baker (G. Schirmer’s) BEETHOVEN and his Nine Symphonies by Pitts Sanborn BRAHMS and some of his Works by Pitts Sanborn MOZART and some Masterpieces by Herbert F. Peyser WAGNER and his Music-Dramas by Robert Bagar TSCHAIKOWSKY and his Orchestral Music by Louis Biancolli JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH and a few of his major works by Herbert F. Peyser SCHUBERT and his work by Herbert F. Peyser *MENDELSSOHN and certain MASTERWORKS by Herbert F. Peyser ROBERT SCHUMANN—Tone-Poet, Prophet and Critic by Herbert F. Peyser *HECTOR BERLIOZ—A Romantic Tragedy by Herbert F. Peyser *JOSEPH HAYDN—Servant and Master by Herbert F. Peyser GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL by Herbert F. Peyser

These booklets are available to Radio Members at 25c each while the supply lasts except those indicated by asterisk.

_Great Performances by the_ Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York _on Columbia 33⅓_ (Lp) _Records_

DIMITRI MITROPOULOS conducting Berg: Wozzeck. Complete Opera with Mack Harrell, Eileen Farrell and others. Set SL-118 Debussy: La Mer. ML 4434 Saint-Saëns: Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61. With Zino Francescatti, Violin. ML 4315 Stravinsky: Petrouchka. ML 4438

BRUNO WALTER conducting Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55. (“Eroica”). ML 4228 Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98. ML 4472

GEORGE SZELL conducting Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream—Overture and Incidental Music. ML 4498 Smetana: The Moldau; From Bohemia’s Fields and Groves. ML 2177

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Transcriber’s Notes

--A few palpable typos were silently corrected; unusual transliterations of names or musical terms were retained.

--Copyright notice is from the printed exemplar. (U.S. copyright was not renewed: this ebook is in the public domain.)

--Columbia trademarks in the discography are represented with “ASCII art” approximations.