Evening star., 1936-02-15

the program:
Romeo and Juliet 1symDhOnis posmS:
"cSnss.:f IL Minor for Violin is,dunov snd
Efrem Zimbalist.
Entr'acte from ''Khovanstchina:"
"Fire Bird Suite -----Stravinsky
Introduction.
Danse de L'Oiseau de feu.
Ronde des princesses.
Danse infernale du roi Kastchei.
Berceuse.
Finale.
~ YER so often / get requests for
l. Russian programs-just as we
get requests for Brahms or
- Wagner programs. The diff
ference between these and the Rus
sian programs is that, whereas Wag-
ner and Brahms have a personal
idiom, Russian music, if taken in a
certain way, can be the exact oppo-
site of what the askers mean when
they request Russian program"
II, for instance. we would compose
a Russian program Of some Of
Glinkas music, followed by the
Tchaikovsky of the "Nutcracker" or
the Eugene Onegin" music, then to
be followed by Cesar Cui, and some
of the more problematic Stravinsky
at the finish. the person who asked
for q Russian program would feel
himself definitely "sold!" There
would not be one atom of that par
ticular thing which we identify with
Russian music" There would be
none of the nostalgia, Of the dark
and brooding colors, of the deep feel
ing which Is identified with the very
sol. of the country. the contrasts of
melancholy and sudden excitement.
the penetration into the heart of
passion, the surg1ng Of masses Of
sound-comparable in its brilliance
only to the irresistibly bright colors
Of peasant f1nery, and which few
other composers except Russians have
made their own.
In the program for Thursday I
have tried to give a cross-section OF
the different schools Of Russian music,
Of their different ways of expression.
starting with the peasant songs Of the
Kamarinskaja, by Glinka, and ending
with the mature Stravinsky of 20
years ago
''Kamarinskajs" - Glinka
CLINKA, who lived in the early
part of the nineteenth century,
took in Russian music the same place
Pushkin did in Russian literature.
He started what was to become a
national Russian movement in art,
independent, or nearly, so, from West
ern European influences, and thereby
became known as the father of Rus
sian music.
His operas, "a Life for the Gar"
and Russian and Ludnilla," on
nationalistic texts. achieved great
popularity among artists and public
alike "Kamarinskaja" is a short fan
tasy on two Russian airs, a wedding
song and dance, and was the begin
ming of genuine Russian symphonic
music.
Romeo and Juliet" (Symphonic
POem) Tchaikovsky
THE symphonic poem, Romeo and
Juliet" is Tchaikovsky at his
best. without being overloaded with
the kind Of self-pity of which the
"Pathetique" is full and which at
times makes us quite definitely i'm
patient with the man, as well as
with the artist, it is full of sincerity,
of poignancy, of a feeling of ineffable
tenderness, growing through natural
development into a blaze If passion.
followed by the inevitable catastrophe,
which makes the drama Of Romeo
and Juliet" live for us in the Ian
guage Of music.
Tchaikovsky's tone poem begins
with a chorale, probably illustrative
Of Friar Laurence's activities in the
drama. This develops into music
filled with hesitancy and quality of
anguish. which, in its turn. leads
to a description of the turbulent
state Of the Verona Of the day. And
1t is at the end Of this that one
Of Tchaikovsky's great inspirations
occurs, namely, the music written to
illustrate the budding love Of the
two young people. Surely no more
richly poetic, tenderly beautiful music
has ever been written than the exqui-
site theme for muted strings which
projects the mood of the enraptured
lovers as they watch the coming of the
dawn in Juliet's chamber.
The love scene is followed by a re-
sumption of the stress and conflict
Of the first part. A solemn warning
Is heard, but in vain. The lovers are
again brought before US, with increas-
ing and passionate intensity. There
Is o great climax. Then, after a
brief and portentous silence Ito my
mind indicative of the death OF the
lovers) there Is q short epilogue, an
elegiac conclusion, which ends one OF
Tchaikovsky's finest and most moving
inspirations.
Concerto in A Minor for Violin and
Orchestra -GlaZounov
THE concerto by Glazounov IS one
the lesser played of the concertos