Leopold Stokowski Concerts -

[1950]

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

+ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 6 in E minor - seems to be the 1947 version, which was further revised later in 1950

Falla: El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All Suite on Pristine Classical 

J. S. Bach: Cantata no 174: "Ich liebe den Hochsten von ganzem Gemute" BWV 174: Sinfonia - Stokowski transcription

J. S. Bach: St. John's Passion BWV 245 - "Es ist vollbracht" - Stokowski transcription

J. S. Bach: Chaconne in D minor - from Partita no 2 in D minor BWV 1004 - Stokowski transcription

Intermission

+++ Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): The Mother of Us All: Suite:

- Prelude

- Second Interlude: Cold Weather

- First Interlude: A Political Meeting

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

J. S. Bach: Chaconne in D minor - from Partita no 2 in D minor BWV 1004 - Stokowski transcription

Intermission

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): The Mother of Us All: Suite:

- Prelude

- Second Interlude: Cold Weather

- First Interlude: A Political Meeting

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Stokowski's 1950 Mahler Symphony no 8 Music & Arts CD1130  

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sacrae symphoniae Book 2: "In Ecclesiis Benedicite Domino" - Stokowski transcription

Chorus of the Schola Cantorum, Westminster Choir

+ Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony no 8 in E-flat major "Symphony of a Thousand"

- Frances Yeend soprano

- Uta Graf soprano

- Camilla Williams soprano

- Martha Lipton mezzo-soprano

- Louise Bernhardt alto

- Eugene Conley tenor

- Carlos Alexander tenor

- George London bass-baritone,

- Chorus of the Schola Cantorum, Westminster Choir, Boys Choir of Public School number 12

concert for the New York Bank Clearing House Association

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III scene 3: "Magic Fire Music"

Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Intermission

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Stokowski selected a brilliant roster of NYC musicians including: Victor Aity Concertmaster, Julius Baker flute, Robert McGinnis clarinet, William Polisi bassoon, James Chambers horn, William Vacchiano trumpet

Stokowski's first concert with the Houston Symphony Orchestra ⁶⁷

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III scene 3: "Magic Fire Music" - Stokowski transcription

another work by Wagner

+ Carl Ruggles (1876-1971): Organum (1946) for orchestra

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

a piano concerto with Walter Hendl piano soloist - Perhaps the Grieg Concerto

Walter Hendl in 1950 - then conductor of the Dallas Symphony

Special memorial concert in memory of Max Reiter founder of the San Antonio Symphony who died 2 weeks previously and which Stokowski conducted only two works, beginning with the Allegetto movement of the Beethoven Symphony and concluding with Debussy

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92: Movement 2: Allegretto

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Antonio Iglesias Álvarez   

Stokowski introduced the movement of the Beethoven Symphony no 7 in memory of Max Reiter founder of the San Antonio Symphony who died 2 weeks previously

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92: Movement 2: Allegretto

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Intermission

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III scene 3: "Magic Fire Music" - Stokowski transcription

+++ Antonio Iglesias (Álvarez) (1918-2011): First Adventure of Don Quixote

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

[1951]

J. S. Bach: Chorale, "Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh", BWV 478 - Stokowski transcription

J. S. Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

+ Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961): Symphony no 3 opus 42 (1948)

Wagner: Das Rheingold: "Entry of the Gods into Valhalla"

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act III (1867)

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III scene 3: Wotan's Farewell and "Magic Fire Music" - Stokowski transcription

Donald Steinfirst in the Pittsburgh Post-Dispatch wrote: "Riegger's work is difficult to grasp at one hearing. Its atonalities and acridities do not make it palatable. Yet one remembers that Bach lay domant for a hundred years and Wagner was often hissed, one can understand the need for a sympathetic understanding of contemporary music." ¹⁰⁵

the Pittsburgh Symphony concert hall, the Syria Mosque, was a Moorish style theater with 3,850 seats. As well as being too large for a symphony hall, also its oval shape, wider than deep, produced poor acoustics.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

+ Arthur Honegger (1892-1955): Symphony no 3 "Liturgique" (1946)

+ Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): Louisiana Story

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

The Pittsburgh Post-Dispatch wrote: "'La cathédrale engloutie' transcribed for orchestra by Stokowski was last played in Pittsburgh under Stokowski's baton in 1926." ¹⁰³

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

+ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 6 in E minor 1950 version

Falla: El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Rolf Liebermann  

Rolf Liebermann (1910-1999): Furioso (1947)

"its uncompromising wildness brought its composer Rolf Liebermann international fame"

+ Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961): Symphony no 3 opus 42 (1948)

Wagner: Das Rheingold: "Entry of the Gods into Valhalla"

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act III (1867)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Parsifal - Stokowski Synthesis of music from Act III - Stokowski transcription

Maestro Serebrier wrote: "Stokowski's Symphonic Synthesis of Act III includes the transformation music from the conclusion of the final scene and the final moments when Parsifal heals Amfortas's wound by touching it with his spear. Stokowski excluded the 'Good Friday Spell' music from his version because Wagner himself had already made a concert version of it"

Wallingford Riegger was present at the Washington and Baltimore concerts. Concerning Stokowski and Wagner, Weldon Wallace of the Baltimore Sun wrote: "one may regret the inflated sounds and extravagance of some of his effects; this was especially true last night in the orgiastic and inflated reading of the music from the third act of 'Parsifal'. But it is impossible to remain immune to the allurements of some of the timbres Stokowski secures and to be unresponsive to the physical impact." ¹¹⁷

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

+ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 6 in E minor 1950 version

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III scene 3: "Magic Fire Music"

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Gilles Marcotte in Le Devoir of Montréal wrote: "The interest in yesterday's concert was further increased by the fact that Stokowski had included in the programme a work never heard in Montreal, the sixth symphony of Vaughan Williams (in E minor) completed in 1947. If, as Mr. Stokowski himself wrote, this symphony is 'a musical painting of our era, expressing chaos and dispair', the music still remains robust and healthy, attached very closely to the English musical tradition. Thus, the painting is dark and heavy, but not, if I may say, of exhaused inspiration. The chaos is resolved into a sort of indecision marked by the oscillation from major to minor and which finds its most striking expression in the final movement, extradinarily a slow movement of perfect ambiguity that ends the symphony on points of suspension." ¹⁵²

Leopold Stokowski and Sir Thomas Beecham in 1951  

In the Spring and Summer of 1951, during the "Festival of Britain", Stokowski toured Great Britain conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the invitation of Sir Thomas Beecham

Davis Theater Croydon  

It seems that Stokowski and the Royal Philharmonic on tour would perform not only in famous concert halls, but also in old movie theaters such as the Davis Theater, Crydon. Daniels quotes Denis Vaughan: "{Stokowski] insisted that for the whole tour around England in various old cinemas and so on that the stages be stripped entirely so rhat there were only walls to be seen - no curtains at all so that the sound would be as reverberant as possible..." ⁷

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Paris version 1861): Overture and Venusberg Music

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act III (1867)

+ Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): from the movie "Descobrimento do Brasil": Impressão moura

Falla: El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

Kings Hall Belle Vue Theater in Belle Vue Park, Manchester  

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

+ Carl Ruggles (1876-1971): Organum (1946) for orchestra

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919) as adapted by Stokowski

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Oliver Daniel writes ⁶: "[the 28 April concert] was in Bournemouth, where he was able to visit his mother in the nursing home. It would be his last visit, since she died September 23, 1952 at the age of 93."

Review of the Town Hall, Birmingham concert generally favorable except: "...Someone might have told Stokowski that Birmingham knows the Tchaikovsky Fifth symphony too well to accept the exaggeration of tempo and doubling of parts which he allowed..." ¹³⁸

Gaumont New Victoria Theater, Bradford  

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

+ Carl Ruggles (1876-1971): Organum (1946) for orchestra

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Gerald Jackson flute

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919) as adapted by Stokowski

Dennis Brain horn

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

The Royal Albert Hall, home of the "Proms" Concerts  

The 16 May 1951 concert in the Royal Albert Hall with an audience of 6000 was Stokowski's first London concert since his 22 May 1912 London debut at the very beginning of his conducting career. It was also broadcast on the BBC Home Service.

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Paris version 1861): Overture and Venusberg Music

+ Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): from the movie "Descobrimento do Brasil": Impressão moura

Falla: El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Prokofiev: Scythian Suite opus 20

+ Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961): Symphony no 3 opus 42 (1948)

J. S. Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Carl Ruggles in 1950  

+ Carl Ruggles (1876-1971): Organum (1946) for orchestra

Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony no 2, opus 38 (1939)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Royal Festival Hall  

Stokowski's Royal Festival Hall debut

Concert broadcast on the BBC - part 1 on the Light Programme (later renamed "BBC Radio 2") and part 2 on the Third Programme (later renamed "BBC Radio 3")

National Anthem

J. S. Bach: Chorale "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (from Cantata BWV140) - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Adagio for Strings opus 11 (1936-1938)

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps (1913 version)

Broadcast live on the BBC Home Service

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Adagio for Strings opus 11 (1936-1938)

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps (1913 version)

The Kurhaus of Scheveningen in the 1950s, a resort spa with a concert hall  

1951 Holland Festival concert

+ J. S. Bach: Chorale "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (from Cantata BWV140) - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

+ Lukas Foss (1922-2009): Recordare (1948) - an elegy to Gandhi

+ Shostakovich: 24 Preludes opus 34 (1933): 14: Prelude in E-flat minor - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam one of the world's great concert halls with famous acoustics and a famous history  

thanks to Theo van der Burg for this photograph  

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Falla: El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Adagio for Strings opus 11 (1936-1938)

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

+ Carl Ruggles (1876-1971): Organum (1946) for orchestra

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony no 1, opus 9 (1906)

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919) as adapted by Stokowski

A Munich review of the concert wrote: "...In the Second Symphony of Brahms, Stokowski proved to be a miracle of precision, of faithful music making, and stylistic treatment. With the sparkling liveliness of a young man, he gave even the smallest detail a dynamic and a logic, and exposed the often misunderstood Brahms symphony with true drama. After the interval, he performed what was likely a gesture to his adopted home with the "Organum" of the American twelve-tone composer Carl Ruggles."

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool  

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Falla: El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

Kenneth Leighton, said to be influenced by Goffredo Petrassi in Rome, his style is described as lyric and contrapuntal  

J. S. Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

J. S. Bach: Cantata BWV 208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

*** Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988): Primavera Romana Overture opus 14 (1951)

the premiere of this work according to the Guardian ¹⁴²

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - probably the Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 6 in B minor, opus 74 "Pathétique"

thanks to Adrien Strugeon for this Salzburg Festival programme  

+ Shostakovich: 24 Preludes opus 34 (1933): 14: Prelude in E-flat minor - Stokowski transcription

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

Frantisek Picha: Stepancikovo Overture

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Frantisek Picha (1893-1964) a student of Josef Suk

thanks to Adrien Strugeon for this Salzburg Festival programme  

Shostakovich: 24 Preludes opus 34 (1933): 14: Prelude in E-flat minor - Stokowski transcription

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

Stravinsky: Pastorale, for Violin with Oboe, English Horn, Clarinet and Bassoon

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Programme of the Lisbon concert  

J. S. Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Cello Concerto no 2 (1953)

- Aldo Parisot cello (he taught for 60 years at the Yale School of Music, retiring at age 100)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Julian Carrillo  

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919) as adapted by Stokowski

*** Julian Carrillo (1875-1965): Horizontes: Poema sinfónico - world premiere

Nicoline Zedeler-Mix, Livio Mannucci cello, Ann Elizabeth Jones playing Carillo's harp-zither "...played somewhat like a zither, but strung to produce 97 tones to the octive" ⁸.

Carillo advocated the use of musical intervals smaller than half-tones, and composed works such as Horizontes in quarter, eighth and sixteenth-tones. Stokowski had commissioned and premiered several of Carrillo's works in the 1930s and 1940s.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 6 in B minor, opus 74 "Pathétique"

Encore: Carrillo Horizontes

Conrad Seaman, Dorothy Bund, Jane Bower, Mary Watkins, Wynette Betcher, Joseph Halliday, Nancy Lee Williams, John Beiswanger, Robert Reidel, Edmund Osbourne, Sidney Wildman, Charles Schraeder, David Bauman, Ruth Cotton, Lucille Nolte, Eleanore Carothers.

works of Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) published about 1585:

- Popule meus, quid feci tibi?

- O vos omnes

- Vere Languores

- Ave Maria

"O vos omnes" is sung during Easter Holy Week: "All you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow

Ralph Lewandon in the Pittsburgh Press wrote: "The concert lasted only 25 minutes. The invited audience of about 200 packed the Chapel. In keeping with the devotional character of the occasion, singer and leader were unseen, performing behind the alter." ¹⁰⁶

The Pittsburgh Press also wrote: "Leopold Stokowski's program of music by Tomas Luis de Victoria will be reproduced by recordings preceding the sky shows at Buhl Planetarium each Saturday and Sunday night for the remainder of December."

+ J. S. Bach-Stokowski: Chorale Preludes - Stokowski transcriptions:

- "Christ lag in Todesbanden" BWV 718

- "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437

- "Nun Komm', der Heiden Heiland" BWV 62

J. S. Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Shostakovich: Symphony no 6 in B minor, opus 54

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

[1952]

concert included Herbert Elwell: Ode for orchestra (1950)

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

+ Julian Carrillo (1875-1965): Horizontes: Poema sinfónico

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Edmund Rubbra  

Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Suite from Purcell operas transcribed by Stokowski:

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

Vivaldi: L'estro armonico - Concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 in d minor RV 565 - Stokowski transcription

J. S. Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

+++ Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986): Symphony no 5 in B-flat opus 63 (1947)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

+ Julian Carrillo (1875-1965): Horizontes: Poema sinfónico

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

of the Carillo work, Weldon Wallace in the Baltimore Sun wrote: "The new instrument is a harp/zither that can subdivide the usual 12-tone octave into 97 tones...the result was not at all like the highly dissonant or even atonal composers...it was not grating but sliding, not jarring but tantalizingly as it slithered about among the tones one is accustomed to." ¹¹⁸

Roger Goeb  

Columbia University Festival of Contemporary Music Sunday afternoon broadcast by CBS Radio

*** Alexei Haieff (1914-1994): Piano Concerto (1952) - Leo Smit piano - world premiere ⁵

*** Roger Goeb (1914-1997): Symphony No 3 - world premiere ⁵

Oliver Daniels writes: " [the concert] was to have taken place in Columbia's McMillan Theater but a strike by kitchen workers...[caused] the concert to be hastily moved to a quite unrehabilitated theater on Broadway at 65th Street"

Concert broadcast on the BBC Home Service

Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Suite from Purcell operas transcribed by Stokowski:

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

J. S. Bach: "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - Stokowski transcription

J. S. Bach: "Nun Komm', der Heiden Heiland," BWV 62 - Stokowski transcription

Vivaldi: L'estro armonico - Concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 in d minor RV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) BBC Chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986): Symphony no 5 in B-flat opus 63 (1947)

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act I (1867)

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Ennio Porrino: Sardegna (1933) a symphonic poem evoking his native Sardinia

Ennio Porrino (1910-1959) was a student of Respighi

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975): Due Pezzi per orchestra (1947)

Beethoven: Symphony no 9 in D minor, opus 125 'Choral'

- Teresa Stich Randall soprano

- Nan Merriman mezzo-soprano

- Petre Munteanu tenor

- Raffaele Arié bass

- Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Chorus - directed by Andrea Morosini

Rolf Liebermann (1910-1999): Furioso (1947)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

- Marina de Gabarain mezzo-soprano

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Thanks to Adrien Strugeon for this programme and extensive further information

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sacrae Symphoniae (1597) - volume 1, with individual motets perhaps selected by Stokowski

- Rosetta Noli soprano

- Lucia Danieli mezzo-soprano

- Gino Penno tenor

- Rolando Panerai baritone

- Coro della Scala di Milano - Vittore Veneziani director

Günter Raphael  

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Günter Raphael (1903-1960): Jabonah ballet suite opus 66 (1948)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Ulysses Kay  

Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Hymn and Fuguing Tune

Ulysses Kay (1917-1995): Suite for Strings

John Lessard (1920-2003): Cantilena for Oboe and String Orchestra (1946) - Robert Bloom oboe

Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961): Study in Sonority

Alan Hovahaness: 30th Ode of Solomon - Warren Galjour baritone

Ben Webber  

Lou Harrison (1917-2003): Suite for Violin and Piano with Small Orchestra

Anahid Ajemian violin, Maro Ajemian piano

Elliott Carter (1908-2012): Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for Woodwind Quintet (1950)

Vladimir Ussachevsky (1911-1990): Sonic Contours (1952)

Otto Luening (1900-1996):

- Low Speed (1952)

- Invention (1952)

- Fantasy in Space (1952)

Ben Webber (1916-1979): Symphony On Poems Of William Blake - Warren Galjour baritone

The works of Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening are of electronic tape music, not requiring a conductor - one of the pioneering concerts of this gendre.

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

+ Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610) - as arranged by Stokowski

Mariam Stewart soprano, Dorothy Clark contralto, William Miller tenor, Bruce Foote baritone,

100 voice University of Illinois Oratorio Society Chorus, Paul Young director.

This concert was also recorded by the legendary engineer Bert Whyte, with at least the Beethoven being recorded in stereophonic sound; amazing for 1952.

From a contemporary newspaper: "STOKOWSKI TRIES SOUND EXPERIMENT. (Champaign, Illinois) Three dimensional sound recordings with Leopold Stokowski conducting the symphony orchestra are being made at the University of Illinois in a pioneering educational project. Stokowski conducted the University of Illinois student symphony orchestra in the first recording, the start of a library of stereophonic or 'three-dimensional' recordings." ¹⁸.

Music & Arts CD 1190  

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Schubert: Rosamunde D797 (1823): third Entr'acte, second Ballet music - as arranged by Stokowski

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III: 'Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music'

*** Jacob Avshalomov (1919-2013): The Taking of T'ung Kuan - world premiere

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

This concert was also recorded in stereophonic sound (in 1952!) by the legendary recording engineer Bert Whyte allowing the issue of the Avshalomov and Tchaikovsky on a Music & Arts CD 1190.

Cala Recording CACD 0535  

"All-Russian Program"

+ Shostakovich: 24 Preludes opus 34 (1933): 14: Prelude in E-flat minor - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, opus 36

- Colin Harvey offstage baritone taking the hymn part usually scored for the trombone

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Boris Godunov: excerpts - Stokowski transcription:

- Outside the Novodievichi Monastery

- Coronation of Boris

- Monks Chanting In The Monastery Of Choudov

- Siege of Kazan

- Outside the Church of Saint Basil; the starving people and the Idiot foretells the fate of Russia

- Death of Boris

- Nichola Rossi-Lemeni bass (Boris Godunov)

- Lawrence Mason tenor (The Idiot)

- San Francisco Opera Chorus, Kurt Herbert Adler director

- San Francisco State College Choir, Roy Freeburg director

- San Francisco Boys Choir, Madi Bacon director

Two days after this series of concerts on 8 December and on 10 December, RCA Victor recorded Stokowski's remarkable performance of these scenes from Boris Godunov with the San Francisco cast. It was issued on LM 1764 LP and on CD issued by Cala Records on CACD 0535. Mussorgsky was one of the composers to whom Stokowski was particularly atuned.

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Boris Godunov: excerpts - Stokowski transcription:

- Outside the Novodievichi Monastery

- Coronation of Boris

- Monks Chanting In The Monastery Of Choudov

- Siege of Kazan

- Outside the Church of Saint Basil; the starving people and the Idiot foretells the fate of Russia

- Death of Boris

- Nichola Rossi-Lemeni bass (Boris Godunov)

- Lawrence Mason tenor (The Idiot)

- San Francisco Opera Chorus, Kurt Herbert Adler director

- San Francisco State College Choir, Roy Freeburg director

- San Francisco Boys Choir, Madi Bacon director

+ Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008): Serenade

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

[1953]

Copland: Lincoln Portrait (1942)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Powell Weaver, a Kansas City-based composer and organist, with fellow organist Bethel Davis (1919-2003)  

J. S. Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Powell Weaver (1890-1951): The Vagabond symphonic poem

Wagner: " Die Gotterdammerung" - Act III Finale

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes - with the Intercollegiate Women’s Chorus

(selected from Rosary Hill College, D'Youville College, the State Teachers College and the University of Buffalo)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Herbert Elwell (1898-1974) said to be the first American to study in France with Nadia Boulanger  

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Herbert Elwell: Ode for orchestra (1950)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

Copland: Lincoln Portrait (1942)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Halsey Stevens (1908-1989): Suite no 1 (1945) - lyrical with fast changing rhythms

Henry Brant (1913-2008): Signs and Alarms (1954)

Lou Harrison (1917-2003): Canticle no 3 (1941)

Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990): Letters from Morocco for tenor and small orchestra - William Hess tenor

Jacob Avshalomov (1919-2013): Evocations - Herbert Tichman clarinet

Schubert

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Wagner: Die Götterdämmerung Act III: The Rhine Journey, Funeral March and Brünnhilde's final scene

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

+ Bach: Chorale Prelude "Christ lag in Todesbanden" BWV 718 - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Parsifal Good Friday Music, Act II

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, opus 36

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64 ¹⁵¹

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945)

Stokowski with the children, ages 7 and 8, who peformed of the first part of the second movement of the Toy Symphony 14 April 1953. Both works were performed by New York freelance musicians in the CBS television studios.

Ennio Porrino (1910-1959): Nuraghi (1952) - a tonal work which was inspired by a summer in Sardinia

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

encore: Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Gian Carlo Menotti in 1950  

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007): Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951)

Giulietta Simionato mezzo-soprano as Amahl's mother

- Alvaro Cordova boy soprano as Amahl

- choreography by George Balanchine

concert part of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino May Festival

Broadcast live in the US via CBS Radio with commentary by James Fassett, CBS Radio music director ¹⁴³

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Ennio Porrino (1910-1959): I Shardana (Gli uomini dei nuraghi) opera - Four Sardinian Dances

Ennio Porrino in 1958 shortly before his early death

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Fartein Valen (1887-1952)  

+ Bach-Stokowski: Chorale Preludes - Stokowski transcriptions:

- "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - "Nun Komm', der Heiden Heiland," BWV 62

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Harald Sæverud (1897-1992): The Ballad of Revolt (1943) opus 22A no 5

Fartein Valen (1887-1952): Churchyard by the Sea opus 20

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Oliver Daniel quotes Jon Embretsen: "...Valen was not popular with the concert public in Norway...[Stokowski] with his usual flair gave the Valen piece a superb rendition - so much so that in the end the audience was stunned, and there was this dead silence of several seconds before a thunderous applause broke out..." ¹⁹

Sibelius and Stokowski in a 1953 visit prior to the concert, which Sibelius also attended  

Sibelius Programme

Sibelius: Finlandia opus 26 (1899)

Sibelius: Symphony no 1 E Minor opus 39

Sibelius: Suite from the incidental music to Pelléas et Mélisande opus 46

Sibelius: Symphony no 7 in C Major, opus 105

Guild Historical has issued GHCD 2341 containing this concert, but like other sources, the sound is poor, although they were able to made some improvements; yet the recording demonstrates the excellence of these performances and expains the audience acclaim.

Twentieth Century Concert Hall on CBS radio

Sponsored by the American Composer's Alliance ⁶⁶

Bach: Siciliano from Sonata for Violin and Clavier BWV 1017 - Stokowski transcription

Nicolai Berezowsky (1900-1953): Adagio from String Sextet Concerto (1940) (played by Stokowski "In Memoriam" to Berezowsky who had recently died)

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Concerto for orchestra no 1 "Arevakal" opus 88 (1951)

Colin McPhee  

Programme of Canadian Composers

Pierre Mercure (1927-1966): Pantomine for Wind Instruments and Percussion

Alexander Brott (1915-2005): Violin Concerto - Noel Brunet violin

Colin McPhee (1900-1964): Tabuh-Tabuhan (1936) using 2 pianos and extensive percussion

Intermission

François Morel (1926- ): Antiphone

Godfrey Ridout: Two Mystical Songs of John Donne - Lois Marshall soprano

Healey Willan: Coronation Suite - Westminster Choir, John Finley Williamson director

Twentieth Century Concert Hall on CBS radio

Sponsored by the American Composer's Alliance

Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990): a composition

Roger Goeb (1914-1997): Concertino no 1, for orchestra (1949)

Twentieth Century Concert Hall on CBS radio

Sponsored by the American Composer's Alliance

Antonio Cesti (1623-1669): Tu mancavi a tormentarmi - Stokowski transcription

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): Cantabile : for strings : Portrait of Nicolas de Chatelain

Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Hymn and Fuguing Tune

Douglas S. Moore (1893-1969): Polka and Cakewalk from Cotillion Suite (1952)

Vladimir Ussachevsky (1911-1990)/Otto Luening (1900-1996): Incantation for Tapesichord

The Ussachevsky/Luening work required no conductor, since it was electronic music produced using magnetic tape recording: a "Tapesichord"

Twentieth Century Concert Hall on CBS radio

Sponsored by the American Composer's Alliance

Carl Ruggles (1876-1971): Portals (1925) for string orchestra

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) ¹⁵²

concert conducted by Stokowski followed by the "Music Critics Workshop" organized by the American Symphony Orchestra League ⁷⁹.

Enrique Jorda San Francisco Music Director 1954-1963  

Stokowski opened the San Francisco Symphony 1953-1954 season

The New York Times wrote: "With Leopold Stokowski on the podium, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra opened its 'Season of Decision' last night. This is the season at the conclusion of which, according to Howard K. Skinner, the orchestra's General Manager, it is hoped that a decision can be reached on a successor to Pierre Monteux as permanent conductor" ⁷⁸

Stokowski was in the running to becomer San Francisco Symphony director, and he programmed a relatively conservative programme, with several of his best works. Eventually, however, Enrique Jorda was appointed San Francisco Music Director beginning with the 1954-1955 season, rather than Stokowski.

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

- San Francisco Opera Chorus, Kurt Herbert Adler director in Sirènes

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Stokowski had the woodwinds seated at stage front to the right for this concert ³¹

"Stokowski was on campus under the auspices of the Stanford Symphony Forum and also led a discussion at Bowman Alumni House... Stokowski was introduced to the orchestra by its regular leader, Sandor Salgo. He chose to direct Berlioz' "Roman Carnival Overture", which he directed without score or baton. At the close of the selection, Stokowski thanked the orchestra, and commented that he 'was especially impressed with the tambourine section'." ²⁷

soloists: Arthur Wittemore and Jack Lowe pianists

Walter Piston (1894-1976): Toccata (1948) originally commissioned by the French National Orchestra

Chou Wen-chung (1923- ): Landscapes "based on three traditional Chinese melodies associated with three ancient Chinese poems"

"Chou is credited by Nicholas Slonimsky to be one of the first Chinese composer who has attempted to translate authentic oriental melo-rhythms into the terms of modern Western music." ²⁷

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Beethoven: Incidental music for The Ruins of Athens, opus 113: "Turkish March"

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Walter Aschaffenburg: Ozymandias 'symphonic reflections'

Walter Aschaffenburg (1927-2005) was a long-time professor at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Wagner: Parsifal: Prelude to Act I, Symphonic Synthesis of Act III, "Good Friday Spell"

Arthur Shepherd (1880-1958) was a professor of music at Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887): "Requiem" - as orchestrated and arranged by Stokowski.

Ivan Marsh in The Gramophone wrote: "Stokowski's orchestration of Borodin's Requiem is not what it might seem, but a five-minute work that was originally one of three piano pieces based on the childish ostinato we call 'Chopsticks'. Stokowski inflated this material into a huge orchestral crescendo which begins pianissimo on tremolando violins and then reaches a double climax with massive brass scoring." ¹⁵³

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade opus 35 (1888)

"Annual Christmas Carol Hour" broadcast Christmas eve on CBS radio

Concert of Christmas carols - Eileen Farrell soprano and Robert Shaw Chorale

[1954]

Emmanuel Bondeville (1898-1987): Illuminations no 2 - Ophélie (1931)

Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975): For the fallen: Berceuse

Uuno Klami (1900-1961): Karelian Rhapsody opus 15 (1927)

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Stokowski often improved the acoustics in halls in which he performed, but not in the old Constitution Hall, Washington. "January 1954: Washington. [Leopold Stokowski] wanted a large curtain removed from the stage of Constitution Hall in Washington. He said he'd been complaining about the thing for years because it ruins the acoustics of the place. Eventually he capitulated and played before the undisturbed drapes..." ²⁰

Stokowski protesting about the drapes which the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to remove from Constitution Hall.

of the Baltimore concert, Weldon Wallace in the Baltimore Sun wrote: "The first half of the evening featured four works by living composers...none of these was modern in a harsh, jagged way. None of them had distinctive profile, but they were rewarding in their own way, especially as played last night." ¹¹⁹

Stokowski lead the Air Force Band

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932): The Stars and Stripes Forever (1897)

Harald Sæverud (1897-1992)  

Harald Sæverud (1897-1992): The Ballad of Revolt (1943) opus 22A no 5

Howard Hanson (1896-1981): Pastorale for oboe, harp and strings opus 38

Uuno Klami (1900-1961): Karelian Rhapsody opus 15 (1927)

Bach: Chorale, "Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh", BWV 478 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Mozart: Piano Sonata no 11 in A major, K 331: Movement 3 Alla Turca "Turkish March"

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Herbert Elwell (1898-1974): The Forever Young (1952)

Wagner: Das Rheingold: Alberich's curse and "Entry of the Gods into Valhalla" - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Twentieth Century Concert Hall - broadcast by CBS radio

+++ Charles Ives (1874-1954): A Set of Three Short Pieces: Hymn, Largo cantabile

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus for harp and string orchestra (1939)

Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances for Orchestra BB 68

Josef Foerster (1859-1951): Sarabande - Maurice Wilk violin

Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968)  

Otmar Nussio (1902-1990): Danze di Majorca (1949)

Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968): Preludio a un altro giorno (1952)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Steinfirst in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote: "The Nussio Majorcan dance proved to be pleasant, bright-colored, and strongly rhythmic and not much else." ¹⁰⁸

Harold Coletta, left and Eddie Grosso soloists in Ives  

Twentieth Century Concert Hall - broadcast by CBS radio

Charles Ives (1874-1954): Holiday Symphony: Washington's Birthday

"Jews Harp" soloists: Harold Coletts (usually NBC viola), Eddie Grosso amateur musician.

Paul Creston (1906-1985): Partita for Flute, Violin & Stings opus 12

soloists: Maurice Wilk violin, Julius Baker flute

CBS radio and Stokowski received extensive nationwide newspaper coverage of their search for musicians playing the "Jews Harp" for Ives's Washington's Birthday score. When the story died down, Stokowski issued a press release saying he might have to cancel the concert due to a lack of a jews harp musician. The search and audition of musician candidates received continued daily newspaper coverage for one week prior to the concert, seemingly effective publicity for the 21 February 1954 concert. Photographs of the winning musicians, shown above, were printed by newspapers nationwide.

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887): "Requiem" - as orchestrated and arranged by Stokowski.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

François Morel (1926- ): Antiphone

Claude Delvincourt (1888-1954): Pamir (1938)

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): English Folk Song Suite (1923)

Peter Mennin - he also succeeded William Schuman as head of the Juilliard School  

Twentieth Century Concert Hall - broadcast by CBS radio

Robert Kurka (1921-1957): Elegy for English horn & Strings: In memory of Mrs. Hepburn (1948)

Peter Mennin (1923-1983): Fantasia for String Orchestra (1947)

Walter Piston (1894-1976): Fantasy for English Horn, Harp & Strings (1953)

featured artists in the Piston work: Harry Shulman English horn (of the NBC orchestra), Gloria Agostini harp

Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Suite transcribed by Stokowski 3 of the following (not identified):

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

Gala all-Norwegian Concert sponsored by the Norwegian Government

Leopold Stokowski * and Øivin Fjeldstad § were conductors

Johan Svendsen (1840-1911): Carnival in Paris 'Episode for Orchestra' opus 9 (1872) *

+ Fartein Valen (1887-1952): Churchyard by the Sea opus 20 *

Harald Sæverud (1897-1992): Galdreslatten opus 20 'Danza sinfonica con passacaglia' *

+ Klaus Egge (1906-1979): Piano Concerto no 2 opus 21 (1944) 'Symphonic variations on a Norwegian folk tune' §

- Robert Riefling piano

+ Arne Eggen (1881-1955): Liti Kersti Suite: "Bjorguly the Fiddler" §

+++ Ludvig Irgens-Jensen (1894-1969): Partita Sinfonica §

Harald Sæverud (1897-1992): The Ballad of Revolt (1945) *

+++ Edvard Grieg (1843-1907): Lyric Pieces, opus 54 no 6: Bell Ringing - as arranged by Stokowski *

+++ David Monrad Johansen (1888-1974): Voluspaa opus 15 *

- Frances Anderson soprano

- Esther Petersen contralto

- Gunnar Sandvold bass-baritone

- Columbia University Chorus

- First Presbyterian Church of New York Choir

Concert broadcast on the BBC Home Service

Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006): Beckus the Dandipratt opus 5 - Comedy Overture

Reinhold Glière (1875-1946): Concerto for Coloratura and Orchestra opus 82

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, Op 67

Alan Rawsthorne (1905-1971): Symphonic studies for Orchestra (1938)

George Enesco (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1, opus 11 (1901)

Malcolm Arnold (later Sir Malcolm) was present in the audience

Leopold Stokowski conducts Arnold Bax in a 1954 BBC telecast  

Televised concert by the BBC introduced by Stokowski

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Arnold Bax (1883-1953): Tintagel (1919)

George Enesco (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1, opus 11 (1901)

Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Suite from Purcell operas transcribed by Stokowski:

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

Concert broadcast on the BBC Home Service

William Schuman (1910-1992): Circus Overture

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus for harp and string orchestra (1939)

Arnold Bax (1883-1953): Tintagel (1919)

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

This was Stokowski's first and only concert performance in Belgium

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

Kurt Leimer at about the time of this concert  

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Kurt Leimer (1920-1974): Piano Concerto no 2 (1948) - with the composer at the piano

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio italien opus 45

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Statements for Orchestra (1935)

Rolf Liebermann (1910-1999): Furioso (1947)

George Enesco (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1, opus 11 (1901)

Boris Blacher (1903-1975): Orchestral Variations on a Theme by Paganini opus 26

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El sombrero de tres picos: Suite arranged by Stokowski

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Vespro della Beata Vergine SV 206: "Sancta Maria ora pro nobis" - Gabriella Carturan soprano

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sacrae symphoniae Book 2: "In Ecclesiis Benedicite Domino" - Stokowski transcription

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Beatus Vir RV 597 - with organ and Choir

Gabriella Carturan mezzo-soprano, Carlo Tagliabue baritone, Giovanni Spina tenor, Choir of La Fenice

Stokowski conducting in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy  

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): L'estro armonico - Concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 in d minor RV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade opus 35 (1888)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade opus 35 (1888)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor opus 36

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 9 in D minor, opus 125

- Bruna Rizzoli soprano

- Anna Maria Rota mezzo-soprano

- Amedeo Berdini tenor

- Giorgio Algorta bass

- Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia directed by Bonaventura Somma

Bicentennial Celebration of Columbia University

this seems to be the only Stokowski - New York Philharmonic concert of the 1950s following his departure as Co-Principal conductorof the orchestra in 1949.

Daniel Gregory Mason (1873-1953): Chanticleer Overture festival overture for orchestra, Op 27

Otto Luening (1900-1996): Symphonic Fantasia no 2

Douglas Stuart Moore (1893-1969): Symphony no 2 in A major

Edward MacDowell (1860-1908): Concerto no 2 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, opus 23 - Gary Graffman

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Dance Suite BB 86a

Stokowski rehearsing the Boston University Symphony in Carmina Burana  

Normand Lockwood (1906-2002) a student of Respighi: Prairie (1953) with chorus

Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

The Boston University Symphony, Symphonic Chorus, Newton Boys' Choir

Student soloists: Gwendolyn Belle mezzo-soprano, John Colleary baritone, Elmer Dickey tenor, Kenneth Shelton baritone, Ruth Ann Tobin soprano

Although the first performance of Carmina Burana was in Frankfurt in 1937, the published score was not available in the USA until 1953. The USA premiere took place in a little-noticed San Francisco concert given by the University of San Francisco's Schola Cantorum under Giovanni Camajani ²¹. Thor Johnson conducted the second USA performance at the Cincinnati May Festival 5 May 1954 ²¹. The November 1954 Stokowski/BU concerts seem the third USA performance prior to a number of leading orchestras adding in the work to their repetoire in 1955.

Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

The Boston University Symphony, Symphonic Chorus, Newton Boys' Choir

Student soloists: Gwendolyn Belle mezzo-soprano, John Colleary baritone, Elmer Dickey tenor, Kenneth Shelton baritone, Ruth Ann Tobin soprano

Carnegie Hall performance was sponsored by Contemporary Music Society.

Paul Henry Lang of the New York Herald-Tribune, often critical of Stokowki wrote: "Orff prefers melismas, microscopic fragments which are repeated, at times endlessly. There is not development, musical or psychological, of the kind we find in even the most avant guarde music, and everything is pared down to a primordial simplicity of music" ¹²⁰

Robert Cogan when a composition professor at the New England Conservatory  

+ Robert Cogan (1930- ): Fantasia for Orchestra (1951)

+ Henri Barraud (1900-1997): Offrande à une ombre, pour orchestre, à la mémoire de Maurice Jaubert (1942)

Stravinsky: Apollon musagète ballet (1928/1947)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

+ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Sinfonia Antarctica (Symphony no 7 written in 1952)

Stravinsky: Apollon musagète ballet (1928/1947)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

[1955]

Bach: "Mein Jesu! was vor Seelenweh" BWV 487 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription based on the Luther theme

Bach: Chorale, "Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh" BWV 478 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Cantata BWV 208: Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

+ Roy Harris (1898-1979): Symphony no 7 (1952)

Thomas Sherman in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote: "... the Harris symphony, played in one movement, seemed to have been conceived in much the same spirit as his third symphony, which has been heard here several times. Harris's harmonies are certainly modern, but they are rarely astringent. The composer was present at the concert and received the audience's ovation. Several of the Bach transcriptions for which irridescent coloring, surging diminuendi and crescendi and startling dynamic contrasts he used could not have been intended in the original." ¹⁵⁵

Wagner: Siegfried Act II: 'Waldweben' (Forest Murmurs)

Wagner: Parsifal: Symphonic Synthesis of Act III, "Good Friday Spell" - Stokowski arrangement

Jack Frederick Kilpatrick, Cherokee heritage composer  

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Jack Frederick Kilpatrick (1915-1967): Invocation and Ritual opus 30

Jack Frederick Kilpatrick was a native american composer who often used themes inspired by his Cherokee heritage including in Invocation and Ritual.

The Dallas Herald wrote: "...it reveals a remarkable craft for achieving rich and full-bodied effects with an economy of means."

Concert was also intended to include Lou Harrison (1917-2003): Symphony on G (Symphony no 1) written in 1952 using Harrison's variation on Schoenberg's 12 tone system, but Stokowski cancelled due to lack of two harps and the work by Kilpatick (then composing in Dallas) was substituted. Lou Harrison, who had taken a bus from California to be present expressed his disappointment.

local newspapers described the choice of Kilpatrick: "Stokowski explained that he loved Kilpatrick's music, and he ordered that the program be changed. The program was almost ready to go to press but that made no difference to the great Stokowski who ordered the program changed." ¹⁰⁹

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Jack Frederick Kilpatrick (1915-1967): Invocation and Ritual opus 30

Rimsky-Korsakov: Dubinushka opus 62

- Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral arrangement of the traditional folk song "The Little Oak Stick"

+ Shostakovich: Symphony no 10 in E minor opus 93

William Schuman (1910-1992): Prayer in Time of War, 1943

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

This seems to be the world premiere of the Hovhaness work although not claimed in newspaper accounts. In 1986, Hovhaness wrote: My success now is quite a surprise to me: for the first half of my life I was known as the composer who was never performed. I had no luck until I was 41, when Leopold Stokowski, the great conductor, conducted one of my pieces and decided to champion my work".

Hovhannes's comments seem to refer to this Detroit premiere and the famous 31 October 1955 premiere of Mysterious Mountain, listed below.

Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991): Symphony for Peace (1951)

- Lutnia Singing Society

Panufnik later replaced his Symphony for Peace with his Sinfonia Elegiaca Symphony no 2 which used the first two movements from the Symphony for Peace.

Peter Mennin (1923-1983): Folk Overture (1945)

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Rimsky-Korsakov: Dubinushka opus 62

- Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral arrangement of the traditional folk song "The Little Oak Stick"

+ Shostakovich: Symphony no 10 in E minor opus 93

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Suite bergamasque: Movement 3: Clair de Lune - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Mein Jesu! was vor Seelenweh" BWV 487 - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

This was the occasion when Stokowski's broadcast was cut off the air. The Miami Daily News wrote: "Stokowski, here for a concert at the Miami Beach Auditorium and another tonight at the Dade County Auditorium was being interviewed backstage at the Miami Beach Auditorium. Announcer John Prosser read 'Leopold Stokowski was born in 1882...' Stokowski shouted 'No, no, no, that is not true, I was born in 1887!' Prosser read on 'He was born of a Polish father and an Irish mother...' Stokowski shouted 'That's a lie! My mother was not Irish! Where did you get that stuff?'. There was a scuffle and then the broadcast was cut" ¹⁰²

thanks to Adrien Strugeon for this programme  

Bach: Chorale "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" BWV 645 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Mein Jesu! was vor Seelenweh" BWV 487 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 9 in D minor, opus 125

- Bruna Rizzoli soprano

- Luisa Ribacchi contralto

- Amedeo Berdini tenor

- Ivan Sardi bass

- Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia directed by Bonaventura Somma

Bach: Cantata BWV208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

+++ Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

Soloists: Soloists: Angelica Tuccari soprano, Antonio Pirino tenor, Raffaele de Falachi baritone, Margherita Salvi soprano, Aurelio Oppicelli baritone

Morton Gould in about 1945  

Jacques Ibert: Féerique Scherzo (1924)

Morton Gould (1913-1996): Latin-American Sinfonietta (Rhumba, Tango, Guaracha, Conga)(1936)

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, Op 67

Morton Gould (1913-1996): Latin-American Sinfonietta (Rhumba, Tango, Guaracha, Conga)(1936)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) - Oralia Dominguez mezzo-soprano

George Enescu (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1 in A major opus 11 (1901)

Gottfried von Einem known in particular for his operas  

Gottfried von Einem (1915-1996): Meditationen Two Pieces for Orchestra opus 18

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): Percussion Concerto opus 109 (1930)

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983): Variaciones Concertantes opus 23 (1953)

Werner Egk (1901-1983): French Suite after Rameau (1949)

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet ballet opus 64 - Stokowski's selection from Prokofiev's Suites no 1 and 2:

- no 6 from Suite no 1 opus 64a: Romeo and Juliet

- no 6 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: Dance of the Girls with Lilies

- no 7 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: Romeo at Juliet's Grave

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - transcription by Stokowski

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Bach: Cantata BWV208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

+ Karl Hartmann (1905-1963): Symphony no 2 (1946)

Boris Blacher (1903-1975): Orchestral Variations on a Theme by Paganini opus 26

Hessischer Rundfunk "Week of New Music"

+ Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992): Hymne au Saint Sacrement (1932)

+ Ernst Krenek (1900-1991): Concerto for Cello opus 133

Stravinsky: Mass (1948) with mixed chorus

+ Karl Hartmann (1905-1963): Symphony no 2 (1946)

*** Hans Werner Henze (1926-1912): Quattro poemi (1955) a premiere and commissioned for this concert

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Ernst Krenek composed in a relaxed version of the twelve-tone technique after studying with Webern  

Bach: Chorale "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" BWV 645 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

+ Ernst Krenek (1900-1991): Concerto for Cello opus 133

Mozart: Symphony no 40 in G Minor, K 550

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Concert of the 1955 Vienna Music Festival

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Khovanshchina arranged by Stokowski: Act IV, scene 2 Entr'acte

+ Max Haager (1905-1984): Chaconne for Orchestra (1947)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Stokowski returned to the Hollywood Bowl for the first time since 1946 to conduct the concluding concert of 1955 'Symphony Under The Stars'. It was "Leopold Stokowski's 37 appearance on the Hollywood Bowl stage" ¹²¹

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet ballet Suite no 2 opus 64b: Romeo at Juliet's Grave

+ Reinhold Glière (1875-1956): Symphony no 3 in B minor, opus 42 "Ilya Mourometz" - as abridged by Stokowski

+ Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

soloists included a young Marilyn Horne (born 1934) soprano, Marni Nixon soprano, Richard Robinson tenor, Heinz Blankenburg baritone

Roger Wagner Chorale

"The Sunken Gardens of Santa Barbars's Old Spanish Courthouse, sketched here, will be the scene of the Pacific Coast Music Festival September 10 through 18 under the baton of Leopold Stokowski Music Director in four outdoor symphony concerts" ¹¹¹  

Pacific Coast Music Featival

Handel: Concerto Grosso in G minor, HWV 324 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: 'Siciliano' from Sonata for Violin and Clavier BWV 1017

Bach: "Mein Jesu! was vor Seelenweh" BWV 487 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Prelude in B minor BWV 869 from Book I of the "Well-Tempered Clavier" - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Preludio in E - from Partita no 3 in E major BWV 1006 - Stokowski transcription

Mozart: Serenade in D major K. 239 "Serenata notturna"

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Concerto no 5 for piano and strings opus 98 no 3

*** Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Hymn and Fuguing Tune number 10 (1955) - billed as world premiere

Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (1899)

Joaquin Rodrigo: his most famous work Concierto de Aranjuez was composed in 1939  

Pacific Coast Music Featival

concert included: ¹¹⁰

William Schuman (1910-1992): Symphony for Strings - Symphony no 5 in Three Movements (1943)

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999): Zarabanda lejana (1926) arranged for orchestra

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959): Concerto Grosso no 2 (1952)

Pacific Coast Music Featival

William Lawes (1602-1645): Consort Sets in Six-parts: Six-part Fantasy and Air no 1 - Stokowski transcription

Matthew Locke (1621-1677): Suite no 1 in G minor - Stokowski transcription

Henry Purcell (1659-1695): King Arthur: Excerpts - arranged by Julian Herbage

John Humphries (1707-1745): Concerto in D minor, opus 3 no 10 - Stokowski transcription

William Billings (1746-1800): Lamentation Over Boston

Supply Belcher (1752-1836): How Swift the Moments Fly

Jacob Kimball (1761-1826): Leicester and Hark What News the Angels Bring

Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings in C major opus 48

Pacific Coast Music Featival

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): Percussion Concerto opus 109 (1930)

Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Unanswered Question (1908)

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta BB 114

Stravinsky: Mass (1948) with 160 voice Roger Wagnor Choral mixed chorus

The Stravinsky Mass was dedicated by Stokowski to New York music critic Olin Downes who died 22 August 1955. Downes was a strong advocate of contemporary music.

Sibelius: The Tempest opus 109: Berceuse

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Serenade to Music (1938)

Television Broadcast: This is a 30 October 1955 final rehearsal prior to the 31 October 1955 first concert beginning Stokowski's tenure as Music Director of the Houston Symphony. The rehearsal was televised nationally on NBC's 'Wide, Wide World', and was also the Houston Symphony's first telecast

*** Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Mysterious Mountain Symphony no 2 (1955)

this is the rehearsal prior to the world premiere

First Houston Symphony concert with Stokowski as Music Director

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act I (1867)

*** Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Mysterious Mountain Symphony no 2 (1955)

Hovhaness's compostion Mysterious Mountain was commissioned by the Houston Symphony and given its world premiere coinciding with the beginning of Leopold Stokowski's tenure. The compostion had uniformly positive reviews following the concert and went on to become perhaps Hovhaness's most popular composition.

Intermission

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Daphnis et Chloé, Suite no 2

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Leopold Stokowski in 1955  

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

+ Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704): Médée Passacaglia - Stokowski transcription

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

+ Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Unanswered Question (1908)

Intermission

+ Thomas de Hartmann (1885-1956): Esther: Dances

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

+ Bach: Orchestral Suite no 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067: Badinerie - Stokowski transcription

+ Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

+ Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Unanswered Question (1908)

Intermission

*** Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Symphony no 6 (1952) - premiere; probably Cowell's least-performed symphony

Henry Cowell was present for this premiere

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Intermission

+ Howard Hanson (1896-1981): Piano Concerto in G major - Rudolf Firkusny piano

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Stokowski performed and recorded the music of Aram Khachaturian throughout his career including this USA premiere of this 19 minute Festive Poem depicting people celebrating Soviet rule (Khachaturian survived the Stalin era)  

+++ Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Festive Poem (1950) - USA premiere

+ Shostakovich: Symphony no 10 in E minor opus 93

Intermission

+ Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961): Dance Rhythms

George Enesco (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1, opus 11 (1901)

All Sibelius Programme commemorating the composer's 90th birthday

Sibelius: Finlandia opus 26 (1899)

Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite opus 22: "The Swan of Tuonela" opus 22 no 2

Sibelius: The Tempest: Berceuse opus 109 (1926)

+++ Sibelius: Hymn of the Earth opus 85 - USA premiere

mixed chorus: the Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

Sibelius: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 43 (1902)

Mozart Programme

Mozart: Ave verum corpus in D major K. 618

Mozart: Missa brevis no 9 in B-flat major K. 275: excerpts

Mozart: Canon for Six Voices in D major: K. 347

Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major K. 299

Mozart: Serenade no 10 for winds in B flat major K. 361/370a "Gran Partita"

[1956]

Mozart: Symphony no 40 in G Minor, K 550

Bach: Chaconne in D minor - from Partita no 2 in D minor BWV 1004 - Stokowski transcription

+ Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992): Réveil des Oiseaux (1953)

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919) as adapted by Stokowski

Phillip Lamdro of the Christian Science Monitor wrote of this Messiaen performance: "Messiaen's is not merely to spin polyrhythmic counterpoint, but through our limited system of musical notation to create 'living' music. It does not sound like any other music one may have heard since it is as far removed from academic formualas as it is from revolutionary ones." ¹²²

Stokowski programmed a memorable 1956 performance of Carmina Burana which he was then to record with Capital Records in 1958

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 1 in C major, opus 21

+ Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

Virginia Babikian soprano, Jack Waggoner tenor, Guy Gardner baritone, Howard Hartmann baritone

Stokowski employed a mixed chorous of 150 singers: the Houston Symphony Chorale ²⁴

for the last 2 concerts of the Houston 1955-1956 season, Stokowski programmed innovative repetorie including Orff's "Trionfo di Afrodite" and works by Brazilian composer Mozart Camargo Guarnieri and local composer Paul Holmes

Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas Overture opus 95

Schumann: Symphony no 2 in C major opus 61

+ Carl Orff (1895-1982): Trionfo di Afrodite

Virginia Babikian soprano, Audre Lokey soprano, Jack Waggoner tenor, Guy Gardner baritone

Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

+ Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) : Symphony for Trombone and Orchestra (1954)

- Davis Schuman trombone

Paul Holmes (1923-2007) University of Texas composer commissioned by the Houston Symphony  

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): L'éventail de Jeanne (Jean's Fan) ballet (1927)

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993): Dansa negra (1946)

Oscar Espla (1886-1976): Don Quijote velando las armas (1924)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Boléro (1928)

*** Paul Holmes (1923-2007): Fable (1956) premiere of a work commissioned by the Houston Symphony

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

Phillip Lamdro of the Christian Science Monitor wrote: "Espla composed a Fantasia consisting of a Prelude, Dance, and Final Scene, all based on one simple theme. Scored for large orchestra, the work is free in form and contains massive tonal effects." ¹²³

This concert, with a programme - which would only be devised by Stokowski - concluded the Houston Symphony 1955-1956 seasaon.

Oscar Espla (1886-1976) said to be mainly self-taught as composer  

Stokowski's first concert performance in Spain

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999): Homenaje a la Tempranica (1939) - a lyrical work

Oscar Espla (1886-1976): El sue? de Eros in B-flat minor (1912)

Conrado del Campo (1878-1953): Fantasia Castellana

Conrado del Campo had been for many years principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): Saudades do Brasil opus 67 (1921): movement 3: Botafogo

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

encore: Morton Gould (1913-1996): Latin-American Symphonette - Symphonette no 4 (1940): Tango

Blagoje Bersa (1873-1934) a Croatian composer  

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Boléro (1928)

Blagoje Bersa (1873-1934): Suncana polja ("Sunny Fields")

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

While in Yugoslavia, Stokowski was a particularly active tourist, since he could not take his fee in dinars out of the country ²⁵

The Serbian composer Petar Konjovic is perhaps best remembered for his operas of nationalistic folk themes 

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Petar Konjovic (1883-1970): song from "My Country": Chestnut Wood

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Boléro (1928)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

many thanks to Adrien Strugeon for this programme

"Zurich June Festival" which took place 1 June to 3 July 1956 ¹¹³

Beethoven: Leonore Overture no 3, opus 72b

Mozart: Symphony no 40 in G Minor, K 550

Kurt Leimer (1920-1974): Left Hand Concerto (1952) - with the composer at the piano

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Boléro (1928)

Frank Forrest (Frank Hayek) as opera tenor  

Empire State Music Festival in Ellenville, New York 75 miles north of New York City

This mini-festival was funded primarily by Frank Eugene Forest (1896-1976), (born Frank Hayek) who made his fortune founding a drug company, changed his stage name to Frank Forest and pursued an opera singing career in Italy and the USA. With the Empire State Music Festival, he wanted to create a music festival that would avoid the usual opera repertoire, and to present "brand-new works or very, very old ones." ³⁰

Fully staged production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Carl Orff's incidental music

+ Carl Orff (1895-1982): incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream

cast and chorus: Basil Rathbone - Oberon, Nancy Wickwire - Titania, Red Buttons - Bottom, Alvin Epstein - Puck, the Shawangunk Choraliers ²⁸

The Shakespeare play, normally taking nearly three hours was reduced to the span of two hours by some heavy cuts ²⁹.

Miles Kastendieck in the Christian Science Monitor wrote:"A professional cast starring Basil Rathbone as Oberon and Red Buttons as Bottom gave a fair account of the text. Neither star was completely in character. It remained for Alvin Epstein as Puck to come closest to a full realization of his role." ¹²⁵.

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sacrae symphoniae: Canzon quarti toni a 15, C185 - Stokowski transcription

Prokofiev: Scythian Suite opus 20 (1915)

Gustav Holst (1874-1934): The Planets opus 32 (1916)

- chorus

The Los Angeles Times wrote: "The three suspended microphones at the front of the shell which are normal Bowl procedure were augmented by six additional ones dispursed though the orchestra like tall young saplings, and the sound man had been give instructions to turn up the juice at every crescendo and at every climax."

Robert Helps (1928-2001)  

Fromm Music Foundation Award Winners Concert

*** Bernhard Heiden (1910-2000): Memorial (1955)

Bernhard Heiden was a student of Paul Hindemith and for three decades was Chair of the Composition Department at the Indiana University School of Music,

*** Robert Helps (1928-2001): Symphony no 1 movement 2: Adagio (1953)

Helps began composing in his teens, and studied with Roger Sessions. Helps also had a successful career as a concert pianist.

+ Leon Kirchner (1919-2009): Toccata for Strings, Solo Winds, and Percussion (1955)

*** Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959): Piano Concerto no 4 "Incantation"

This concert completely of new music illustrates the breadth of Stokowski's repetoire, unmatched by any other conductor of his era. Stokowski's view in assessing new scores is shown by an account of Anthony Morss: " I had heard that Ormandy hired people to winnow through the enormous piles of scores that were sent to him, because he just hadn't the time to read them all. I asked Stokowski if he did that and he said, no, because he was always afraid of some assistant's dismissing out of hand a crude, primitive genius like Moussorgsky, who was enormously original but who wrote in a way that might seem illiterate. Stokowski was searching for that kind of rugged individuality, and he couldn't trust any other person not to miss a rough-hewn genius." ²⁹

Programme of the 14 October 1956 Symphony of the Air concert  

*** Charles Ives (1874-1954): Robert Browning Overture

- that this Ives work was a world premiere in 1956 shows the continuing lack of recognition of Ives only 2 years after his death

*** Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Symphony no 3

Bach: St. Matthew Passion BWV 244-63: "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" - Stokowski transciption

- Bach played in memory of Philip Sklar, Principal bass of the Symphony of the Air and longtime of the NBC Symphony who had died 3 weeks earlier on 26 September 1956.

*** Kurt Leimer (1920-1974): Piano Concerto no 4

+++ Werner Egk (1901-1983): French Suite after Rameau (1949)

Opening of the Houston Symphony 1956-1957 season, Stokowski's second season as Music Director

Handel: Chandos Anthem no 2 in d minor HWV 247 - Overture in D minor - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941): Solemn Melody for organ and orchestra (1908)

Davies was one of Stokowski's teachers at the Royal College of Music

William Rice: Concerto for Wind and Percussion

William E. Rice (1921-1987) was a Houston composer who studied at Yale and Indiana University, and who was present for the premiere of his work.

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Paris version 1861): Overture

Bach: Cantata BWV208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Mozart: Symphony no 41 in C major, K. 551

Michael Tippett (1905-1998): The Midsummer Marriage (1954): Ritual Dances

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake ballet opus 20: excerpts selected by Stokowski:

- Act I: Introduction

- Act I: Pas de deux for Two Merry-makers

- Act II: Scène

- Act II: Danses de cygnes

- Act III: Danse russe pour Mlle Pelageya Karpakova

- Act III: Danse Espagnole

- Act IV: Danse des petits cygnes

- Act IV: Scène finale

Stokowski begins a Beethoven cycle

Stokowski wrote the programme notes for each concert of the Beethoven cycle.

Beethoven: Symphony no 1 In C Major, opus 21

Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C Major, opus 56

soloists: Lois Zabel Banke (University of Texas music professor) piano, Raphael Ray Fliegel Concertmaster, Marion Davies Principal cello

Beethoven: Symphony no 2 in D major opus 36

University of Texas 1956-1957 Fine Arts Festival

"...The minor annoyance of hissing steam pipes caused the maestro, in a regrettable display of temperament, to delay the opening of the concerts some 45 minutes..."

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Cantata BWV 208: Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 2 in D major opus 36

Kent Kennan (1913-2003): Night Soliloquy (1936) for solo flute, piano and strings

Kennan was professor of music at the University of Texas, Austin

Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941): Solemn Melody (1909) for cello and orchestra

Davies was one of Stokowski's teachers at the Royal College of Music; the music was scheduled, but not played due to the delay in opening the concert.

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake ballet opus 20: excerpts selected by Stokowski:

- Act I: Introduction

- Act I: Pas de deux for Two Merry-makers

- Act II: Scène

- Act II: Danses de cygnes

- Act III: Danse russe pour Mlle Pelageya Karpakova

- Act III: Danse Espagnole

- Act IV: Danse des petits cygnes

- Act IV: Scène finale

  Stokowski at the 15 November 1956 University of Texas concert

Stokowski continues a Beethoven cycle

Beethoven: Coriolan Overture opus 62

Beethoven: Piano Concerto no 4 in G major, opus 58

soloist: June Stokes (Pantillon) piano

Beethoven: Symphony no 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55 "Eroica"

Stokowski rehearsing the Houston Symphony Orchestra  

Reinhold Glière (1875-1956): Symphony no 3 in B minor, opus 42 "Ilya Mourometz" - as abridged by Stokowski

Prokofiev: Violin Concerto no 2 in G minor, opus 63 (1935)

soloist: - Fredell Lack violin (she was Professor of violin at the University of Houston)

Borodin: Polovtsian Dances as arranged by Glazunov and Stokowski

Stokowski continues a Beethoven cycle

Beethoven: Leonora Overture no 3, opus 72b

Beethoven: "Three Equali" for four trombones, opus 30

Beethoven: Symphony no 4 in B flat, opus 60

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

Stokowski continues a Beethoven cycle

Beethoven: Incidental music to Egmont opus 84

soloist: Margaret Blackburn soprano

Beethoven: Symphony no 6 in F major, opus 68 "Pastoral"

soloists: Lois Townsend soprano

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): L'Enfance du Christ opus 25 (1854)

soloists: Audrey Lokey soprano, Jack Waggoner tenor, Jack Dickinson baritone, Philip Maero baritone, Yi-Kwei Sze bass

Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

this concert was also broadcast locally

[1957]

Daniel Barenboim in 1957  

This was a benefit concert for "UNISOMI" as it called itself, related to the United Nations, with the objective of 'World Peace through World Music'

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung" - funeral march

Stokowski played this music in memory of Arturo Toscanin who had died four days earlier.

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Mozart: Symphony no 41 in C major, K. 551

Intermission with a speach by Dr. Everett R. Clinchy on "World Brotherhood"

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto no 1 in D-flat major, opus 10 (1912)

- a 14 year old Daniel Barenboim makes his debut at this New York concert with a 74 year old Stokowski at the beginning of Barenboim's performing career.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

encore: Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung": Act III Interlude: Siegfried's funeral march - Stokowski transcription

This Wagner funeral march was played in memory of Arturo Toscanini who died 19 January 1957

Stokowski continues a Beethoven cycle

Beethoven: Overture to Creatures of Pometheus opus 43

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, opus 61

soloist: Zino Franescatti violin

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Programme for the 12 March 1957 concert with the Hovhannes premiere  

This concert was "in tribute to the city of Bombay, India" and recorded for broadcast in India under US State Department sponsorship ³⁷

John Stafford Smith: Star Spangled Banner

National Anthem of India

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

César Franck: Symphony in D minor (1888)

- the performance of the Franck received remarkably negative reviews ('melodramatic', 'stressful' ³⁷)

*** Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Ad Lyram opus 143

soloists: Melba Petzold soprano, Ruth Porter contralto, Alan Messer tenor, Henry Bennick baritone

Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

This work of about 12 minutes was commissioned by the Houston Symphony and called for a 4 solo voices,

large chorus, full symphony orchestra, and a string quartet. It is set to poetry by the Roman poet Horace.

Melba Petzold soprano, Ruth Porter contralto, Alan Messer tenor, Henry Bennick baritone

Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pines of Rome (1916)

soloist: Raymond Weaver Principal oboe

Richard Arnell (1917-2009): Ceremonial and Flourish

this Arnell work for brass was commissioned to mark the occasion of Sir Winston Churchill's visit to Columbia University in 1946.

Natalie Bender (1919-1988?): Oboe Soliloquy - (Stokowski's assistant)

Carlos Chavez (1899-1978): Toccata for 6 Percussionists

In 1939, avant-garde composer John Cage asked Chavez to compose a piece for Cage's percussion ensemble with which Cage was touring the West Coast. This toccata, rather than for keyboard or strings is for percussion including multiple drums and gongs.

Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act I: Prelude

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Beethoven Cycle concluded

Beethoven: Symphony no 8 in F major, opus 93

Beethoven: Symphony no 9 in D minor, opus 125

- Jean Hinkle soprano

- Annette Dinwoodey contralto

- Rudolph Petrak tenor

- Jay Froman bass

- Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

One of these concerts was broadcast on Sunday, March 31, 1957, 9.00 pm

Second season of the Empire State Music Festival in Ellenville, New York 75 miles north of New York City

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Canticum Sacrum ad Honorem Sancti Marci Nominis (1955) - dedicated "To the City of Venice" which Stravinsky admired and where he was eventually buried.

Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

Stokowski began his Summer 1957 European tour in Vienna

Society 'Musikfest' concert of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Mozart: Symphony no 41 in C major, K. 551

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Stokowski programmed two works by Stravinsky which he was scheduled to record with the Berlin Philharmonic after this concert

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916)

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version) as adapted by Stokowski

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Stravinsky: Petrushka (1911 version)

the Musikverein, Vienna on of the world's greatest concert halls  

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El sombrero de tres picos: Suite arranged by Stokowski

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Kurt Leimer (1920-1974): Piano Concerto no 4

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version) as adapted by Stokowski

Stokowski's first concert with the London Symphony Orchestra (other than his 1912 London debut concert !).  Stokowski was to perform and record many programmes with this orchestra over the next 17 years)

Broadcast live on the BBC Home Service ¹⁴⁸

Stokowski recorded the Ravel and Debussy works at the time of this concert

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Rapsodie espagnole (1907)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Prokofiev: Scythian Suite opus 20 (1915)

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version) as adapted by Stokowski

Leopold Stokowski visits Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1957  

Broadcast live on the BBC Third Programme

Schubert: Rosamunde Overture D. 797

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 8 in D minor (1955)

Vaughan Williams attended the concert

Schumann: Symphony no 2 in C major opus 61

Empire State Music Festival

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Canticum Sacrum ad Honorem Sancti Marci Nominis (1955) - dedicated "To the City of Venice" which Stravinsky admired and where he was eventually buried.

Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

Rudolf PetrÁk tenor, Philip Maero baritone, Eileen Faull soprano

American Concert Choir

Leopold Stokowski in 1957  

Initial concert in the 1957-1958 season, Stokowski's third as Music Director of the Houston Symphony

Beginning with the 1957-1958 Houston Symphony season, all concerts were given in pairs, and the season extended from 20 to 24 concerts, both extending the season, while reducing the number of concerts Stokowski would need to prepare ²⁶

Bach: "Nun Komm', der Heiden Heiland," BWV 62 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Chorale, "Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh" BWV 478 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Mein Jesu! was vor Seelenweh" BWV 487 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Sibelius: Symphony no 7 in C major, opus 105 (1924)

Sibelius's symphony, which Stokowski had introduced in the USA at a 3 April 1926 Philadelphia Orchestra concert soon after its composition, was said to be "In Memorium", since Sibelius had died several weeks previously.

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung" - Siegfried's Rhine Journey,

Siegfried's Death Music, Immolation Scene and Act III Finale - Stokowski transcription

José Serebrier and Leopold Stokowski in the 1960s  

+ Claude Debussy (1862-1918): 6 Épigraphes antiques (1915)

*** José Serebrier (1938- ): Symphony no 1 (1956) - premiere

In this 1957-1958 Houston season, Stokowski had intended to give the premiere of the Charles Ives Symphony no 4, but the reconstructed score was not yet ready. Stokowski instead gave the premiere of José Serebrier's Symphony no 1 with the Houston Symphony which he had seen recently. Serebrier was then still a student of the Curtis Institute, Class of 1958, but of course went on to a brilliant career not only assisting Stokowski with the American Symphony, but also combining the historic roles of prolific composer and prolific conductor.

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini opus 43 - Leonard Pennario

+ Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

11 November 1957 Houston Symphony programme  

+++ Carl Orff (1895-1982): Nänie und Dithyrambe - USA premiere

Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

+ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 8 in D minor (1955)

On 30 June 1957 Stokowski performed this symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall with Vaughn William present

+ Ernst Krenek (1900-1991): Concerto for Cello opus 133 - Margaret Auë cello

*** Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991): Sinfonia Elegiaca (Symphony no 2) - world premiere

On 17 February 1955 in Detroit, Stokowski had performed Panufnik's Symphony for Peace. Panufnik later used materials from this symphony in 1957 to compose the Sinfonia Elegiaca premiered by Stokowski.

Except for the Shchedrin, Stokowski made memorable recordings of all of the works of this concert with the Philhadelphia Orchestra. His 1937 recording of Stravinsky's Petrushka was the first USA recording.

+ Rodion Shchedrin (1932- ): The Little Humpbacked Horse ballet (1956) - Stokowski selections

Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914): Eight Russian Folk Songs opus 58 Stokowski arrangement

- Religious Chant

- Christmas Carol - Kolyada

- Plaintive Melody

- Humorous Song 'I Danced With The Gnat'

- Legend of the Birds

- Cradle Song

- Round Dance

- Village Dance Song

Stravinsky: Petrushka (1911 version)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 6 in B minor, opus 74 "Pathétique"

[1958]

Boleslaw Szabelski, one of the "Polish new-wave" composers to adopt atonal composition  

Stokowski Chicago Symphony Debut

+ Bach: Chorale Preludes - Stokowski transcriptions:

- "Nun Komm', der Heiden Heiland" BWV 62 - "Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh" BWV 478 - "Mein Jesu, was fuer Seelenweh befaellt dich in Getsemane" BWV 487 - "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

INTERMISSION

+ Boleslaw Szabelski (1896-1979): Toccata (1938)

Wagner: " Die Gotterdammerung" - Act III Finale - Stokowski transcription

Reinhold Glière (1875-1956): Symphony no 3 in B minor, opus 42 "Ilya Mourometz" - as abridged by Stokowski

Intermission

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet ballet opus 64 - Stokowski's selection from Prokofiev's Suites no 1 and 2:

- no 6 from Suite no 1 opus 64a: Romeo and Juliet

- no 6 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Dance of the Girls with Lilies

- no 7 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Romeo at Juliet's Grave

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake ballet opus 20: excerpts selected by Stokowski:

- Act I: Introduction

- Act I: Pas de deux for Two Merry-makers

- Act II: Scène

- Act II: Danses de cygnes

- Act III: Danse russe pour Mlle Pelageya Karpakova

- Act III: Danse Espagnole

- Act IV: Danse des petits cygnes

- Act IV: Scène finale

Samual Barber, left, with friend and collaborator Gian Carlo Menotti at about the time of Vanessa  

This concert had a programme that few other conductors would construct, with works from the classial era that Houston's audiences often accused Stokowski of neglecting ³², but which were still unusual. An excerpt from Barber's recently successful opera Vanessa was followed by the Stokowski staple: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod in his transcription.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): L'estro armonico - Concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 in d minor RV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 - Mathan Milstein violin

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony no 88 in G major (Hoboken 1/88)

This was likely Stokowski's first performance of this symphony, as the Haydn symphonies were not central to his repetoire

Mozart: Adagio and Rondo in C minor, K.617

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): opera Vanessa (1958): Intermezzo

Samuel Barber's successful opera Vanessa had received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera 2 months previously on 15 January 1958, conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos with production by Cecil Beaton and directed by Gian-Carlo Menotti who had also written the libretto.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) who died young of alcohol  

Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940): Janitzio (1933) extroverted music depicting an island of his youth

Prokofiev: Symphony no 5 in B flat major opus 100

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Alborada del gracioso (1905)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Images pour orchestre: "Ibéria" (1908)

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Peter Mennin (1923-1983): Symphony no 6 (1953)

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, opus 36

Wagner: Parsifal: Prelude to Act I, Symphonic Synthesis of Act III, "Good Friday Spell"

In this performance includes Prelude to Act I, "Symphonic Synthesis" of Act III, and "Good Friday Spell". Stokowski gives an orchestral overview of Parsifal by performing the Prelude to Act I, and his "Symphonic Synthesis" of Act III, including music from the end of Scene 1, the "transformation music" to Scene 2, and the conclusion of the final scene when Parsifal heals Amfortas's wound by touching it with his spear. To this, Stokowski has added the "Good Friday Spell", music which he usually did not include in the Synthesis because Wagner had separately arranged a concert version of this music.

The Stokowski/Houston Symphony recording of the Shostakovich Symphony no 11, praised for both performance and recorded sound  

This concert led to two famous recordings made the next week with Capital Records of the Shostakovich symphony and of Carmina Burana

+++ Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 11 "Year of 1905" in G minor opus 103 - USA premiere

Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

Virginia Babikian soprano, Jack Waggoner tenor, Guy Gardner baritone, Joseph Edwin Naron baritone

Stokowski employed a mixed chorous of 150 singers, the Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director and the Houston Youth Symphony Boys Choir

The Stokowski - Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française recording for Capital records  

Stokowski recorded the works by Ibert, Ravel and Debussy of this concert on 13 May 1958 with this orchestra for Capital Records.

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Intermission

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962): "Escales" suite (1922)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Miroirs: "Alborada del gracioso" (piano composition orchestrated by the composer in 1919)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Images pour orchestre no 2: "Ibéria" (1905)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 11 "Year of 1905" in G minor opus 103

Stokowski with Dmitri Shostakovich following this 1958 performance of the Shostakovich Symphony no 11  

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Adagio for Strings opus 11 (1936-1938)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 11 "Year of 1905" in G minor opus 103

The Barber Adagio for Strings was performed by Stokowski as an encore

- no 6 from Suite no 1 opus 64a: Romeo and Juliet

- no 6 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: Dance of the Girls with Lilies

- no 7 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: Romeo at Juliet's Grave

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Symphony no 5 in B flat major opus 100

Stokowski also performed in Moscow the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde and the Falla El amor brujo with Irina Arkhipova singing from off stage. Irina Arkhipova said she learned the work in three days and was further coached by Stokowski. She preformed El amor brujo also in Leningrad 29, 30 June 1958.

Perhaps it was in this Moscow concert that these two works were included:

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916)

- Irina Arkhipova mezzo-soprano

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act I: Prelude

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 6 in B minor, opus 74 "Pathétique"

The Leningrad Philharmonia, site of the 23, 24 June 1958 concerts in the Bolshoi Zal, or Large Hall  

Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 11 "Year of 1905" in G minor opus 103

Thanks to Adrien Strugeon for this programme and extensive further information

+ Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Mysterious Mountain Symphony no 2 (1955)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916)

- Irina Arkhipova mezzo-soprano

Thanks to Adrien Strugeon for this programme and extensive further information

- played by an orchestra of Russian folk instruments, including the balalaika.

The Soviet Embassy wrote: "In Leningrad, the State Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments gave a concert for Stokowski... For all his long experience as s musician, Stokowski had never heard anything like it. He said he would very much like to conduct the group, and the conductor yielded the podium to listen to his orchestra playing a Schubert symphony [first movement of the 'Unfinished'] with Stokowski conducting." ¹⁵⁶

Thanks to Adrien Strugeon for these photographs and extensive further information

This was intended as a gala concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of Stokowski's debut as a conductor - although his debut was at a Paris concert with the Colonne Orchestra on 12 May 1909

Juan Orrego-Salas (1919- ): Obertura Festiva opus 21 - Chilean composer long at the Indiana University School of Music

+ Paul Creston (1906-1985): Toccata opus 68 (1957) - a 14 minute work with frequent rhythmic shifts and contrasting themes, with each section of the orchestra alternatively being featured.

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Mysterious Mountain Symphony no 2 (1955)

+ Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961): New Dance opus 18b (1935) - a 5 minute syncopated romp

+++ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 9 in E minor - completed in 1957 and premiered in London in April, 1958

Stokowski selected this USA premiere to honor Vaughan Williams who had died one month earlier on 26 August 1958. The score for large orchestra also includes three saxophones and a flugelhorn.

Stokowski in Houston 1958  

Stokowski's opening concert of the Houston Symphony 1958-1959 season - his 4th as Music Director

Weber: Euryanthe: Overture

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

+ Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Meditation on Orpheus opus 155

a memorable 12 minute work in which Hovhaness includes sections without indicated meter, but with the instruction they should be played "about 20 seconds ad. lib. ...with notes rapid, but not together" giving a murmuring or rushing sound which intensifies each time repeated.

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Paris version 1861): Overture and Venusberg Music

played with the Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Khovanshchina arranged by Stokowski: Act IV, scene 2 Entr'acte

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-sharp minor opus 3 no 2 - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: song Again, as Before, Alone, opus 73, no 6 - Stokowski transcription

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet ballet opus 64 - Stokowski's selection from Prokofiev's Suites no 1 and 2:

- no 6 from Suite no 1 opus 64a: Romeo and Juliet

- no 6 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Dance of the Girls with Lilies

- no 7 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Romeo at Juliet's Grave

+ Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Symphony no 2 "Symphony With Bells" inspired by World War 2 ³⁴

Serge de Gastyne (1930-1992)  

Bach: Adagio in C from Toccata, Adagio and Fugue BWV 564 - Stokowski transcription

Handel: Oboe Concerto in B-Flat Major, HWV 302a - Ray Weaver Principal oboe

Schubert: Symphony no 8 in b minor - "Unfinished"

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): 3 Chansons, for a cappella chorus: - Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

- Nicolette

- Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis

- Ronde

*** Serge de Gastyne (1930-1992): tone poem Atala based on a Native American legend,

this work was commissioned by Stokowski for the Houston Symphony. From 1953–1972, Serge de Gastyne was composer-in-residence with the US Air Force Band in Washington DC, which Stokowski had conducted in January 1954.

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962): "Escales" suite (1922)

Paul Creston  

+ Paul Creston (1906-1985): Toccata opus 68 (1957)

+ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 9 in E minor

Tchaikovsky: Hamlet Incidental music opus 67 b - Stokowski selection:

- Overture - Act II Entr'acte - Funeral March

Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Tranfiguration), opus 24

Stokowski was engaged by the Turkish Government to perform a Turkish concert in the United Nations hall of the General Assembly

Anis Fuleihan (1900-1970): Invocation to Isis (1941)

+++ Ahmed Adnam Saygun (1907-1991): oratorio Yunus Emre opus 26 (1942)

performers: Janice Harsanyi soprano, Carol Wolf contralto, James Wainner tenor, Scott Gibson bass, the Chorus of the Crane School of Music of the New York Teachers College, Potsdam.

Contemporary Music Society concert

Halim El-Dabh (1921- ): Fantasia-Tahmeel for derabucca (a hand drum) and strings - the composer played the derabucca, Harry Zaratzian viola

*** Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Persian Set (1954) "a pioneering effort in assimilating Persian influence"

Odeon Partos (1907-1977): Yizkor (In memoriam) for viola & string orchestra

Shukichi Mitsukuri (1895-1971) : Ten Haikus opus 8 no 2 - based on Matsuo Basho haikus

Colin McPhee (1900-1964): Nocturne

Chou Wen-chung (1923- ): To a Wayfarer for clarinet, strings, harp and percussion

Malloy Miller (1918-1981): Two Rituals for percussion - Manhattan School of Music Percussion Ensemble

Walter Piston (1894-1976): Divertimento for Nine Instruments (1946)

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175 - Stokowski transcription

Mario del Monaco tenor sings:

- Verdi: Luisa Miller (1849) Act II: "Quando le sere al placido"

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pines of Rome (1924)

Mario del Monaco tenor sings:

- Verdi: Macbeth (1847) Act IV: "Ah, la paterna mano"

- Wagner: Lohengrin Act III: "In fernem land"

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 11 "Year of 1905" in G minor opus 103

[1959]

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Mysterious Mountain Symphony no 2 (1955)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 11 "Year of 1905" in G minor opus 103

Paul Ben-Haim (1897-1984): From Israel (1957) - a 15 minute suite in 6 sections

Mendelssohn: Symphony no 4 in A major opus 90 "Italian"

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959): Schelomo (1916)

- George Neikrug cello

Oedoen Partos (1907-1977): Ein Gev symphonic fantasy paying tribute to the pioneering kibbutz Ein Gev

- David Bar-Ilan piano

Following this concert they recorded the Scriabin and Amirov on Everest SDBR 3032  

Bach: St. Matthew Passion BWV 244-63: "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" - Stokowski transciption

a Stokowski Bach transcription of 4 minutes with solo voice of the Passion given to the bassoon, solemn and contemplative and not often performed by him, but recorded 28 November 1936 with the Philadelphia Orchestra,

Brahms: Symphony no 3 in F major, opus 90

Fikret Amirov (1922-1984): Azerbaijan Mugams Kyurd ovshary

Fikret Amirov developed what he called "symphonic mugam" based on Azerbaijan folk melodies. Amirov's symphonic mugam Kyurd ovshary (1948) was recorded with the Houston Symphony on 18 March 1959, released on Everest SDBR 3032 (33 RPM) coupled with the Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy.

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915): Poem of Ecstasy (Le Poème de l'extase) opus 54

Stokowski's 1959 Everest Records SDBR 3031 recording of music from Parsifal  

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Benedictus Dominus Deus Sabaoth a 8 - Stokowski transcription

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643): Gagliarda

Frescobaldi published several volumes of his compositions, of which the second was entitled "Il secondo libro di toccate, canzone, versi d'hinni, Magnificat, gagliarde, correnti et altre partite d'intavolatura di cembalo et organo." The "gagliarde" was the piece transcribed by Stokowski and recorded with the title "Gagliarda"

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007): Piano Concerto (1945) - Francesca Bernasconi

Stokowski first performed Menotti's Piano Concerto, which Menotti referred to as his first purely instrumental composition ³⁵ with Rudolf Firkusny and the New York Philharmonic in concerts of 20, 21 January 1949. Stokowski again programmed the Piano Concerto in this concert with the ten-year old pianist Francesca "Kiki" Bernasconi, whom Stokowski had met in Naples, Italy ³⁶. Kiki Bernasconi later appeared with several US regional orchestras, on TV as a prodigy, before apparently disappearing from sight (professionally).

Wagner: Parsifal: Prelude to Act I, Symphonic Synthesis of Act III, "Good Friday Spell"

In this performance Stokowski has given an orchestral overview of Parsifal by performing the Prelude to Act I, and his "Symphonic Synthesis" of Act3. Stokowski's Synthesis of Act III includes music from the end of Scene 1, the transformation music to Scene 2, and the conclusion of the final scene when Parsifal heals Amfortas's wound by touching it with his spear. Stokowski has added the "Good Friday Spell", music which Stokowski had not included in his Symphonic Synthesis because Wagner had separately arranged a concert version of the "Good Friday Spell".

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, opus 36

+ Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Violin Concerto in D minor (1954)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

"Concert of Contemporary Music"

sponsored by the Houston Contemporary Music Society

contemporary works for orchestra including:

Arthur Hall: Impressions at a Calder Exhibition

Arthur E. Hall (1901-1978) was chairman of the Rice University Shepherd School of Music 1953-1973.

Programme for the 6 April 1959 Bach Mass in B minor  

Concluding concert of the 1958-1959 Houston Symphony season

Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232

Ruth Schmoll soprano, Lois Townsend soprano, Gloria Brydon contralto, James Wainner tenor, Phyllis Treigle soprano

Houston Symphony Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

Stokowski wrote in his programme notes for this concert: "First of all, as musical expression, the Mass is profound and sincere. The Mass in B minor is planned on a vast scale and the texture of the music is complex and highly concentrated, revealing the slow and rich outwelling of his inspiration. Second, while it is cast in a form similar to the great Masses preceding Bach, this form is greatly enlarged and extended. Third, it has cosmic vastness of expression and consciousness. Fourth, the parts which are in reality prayers, such as the beginning of the first Kyrie, have the intensity and simple directness that probably is always one of the chief elements in prayer. Fifth, in many places, such as the great choruses of the Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Credo in unum Deo, the Sanctiis, and Osanna in excelsis, there is a blazing jubilation like radiant sunlight. It is as if all Nature, man, the planets, the whole universe, were singing together. Sixth, at certain moments in the Mass such as Qui tollis peccata mundi and Et incarnatus est and Crucifixus, there is in the music profound mystical intensity that could only have come from the spirit of a man who was moved to the uttermost depths of his being."

Bizet: Carmen: Prelude

Mozart: Three German Dances K. 605: "Sleigh Ride" - Stokowski transcription

Leopold Mozart: "Toy Symphony" (Cassation in G major for toys, 2 oboes, 2 horns, strings and continuo) - Stokowski arrangement played by children

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Age of Gold Suite opus 22: Polka

Natalie Bender (1919-1988?): Children's Suite (Stokowski's assistant)

Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Engelbert Humperdinck: opera Hänsel & Gretel: Evening Prayer

Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994): Symphony no 1 (1947)

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937): Stabat Mater opus 53 (1926)

Alina Bolechowska - soprano

Krystyna Szczepanska - alto

Andrzej Hiolski - baritone

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with Leipzig Radio Chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Intermission

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with the Favre Choir

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Intermission

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

"Only appearance in Great Britain in 1959" ¹⁴⁴

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175 - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: Hamlet Fantasy Overture opus 67

Intermission

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pines of Rome (1924)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

+++ Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Ode to Joy (1956) - a Soviet pot-boiler

performed by mezzo-soprano and chorus

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): cantata Alexander Nevsky opus 78

performed with chorus

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959): Trois poemes juifs pour grand orchestre: 3 - 'Cortège funèbre'

this work was played in memory of Bloch who had died 15 July 1959

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 3 in F major, opus 90

Stravinsky: Oedipus rex an opera-oratorio (1926)

performed with soloists and chorus, Hugh Ross director

Stokowski's debut with the New York City Opera in these fully-staged productions of Carmina Burana and Oedipus Rex

Stravinsky: Oedipus rex an opera-oratorio (1926)

performed with soloists and chorus

+ Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

soloist, chorus dressed in hooded robes, and choreography by John Butler

Stokowski's opening concert of the Houston Symphony 1959-1960 season - his 5th as Music Director

Stokowski's biographer Oliver Daniel wrote: "Even before he began his 1959-1960 season in Houston, Stoki had expressed disenchantment with the whole Texas affair. Other options were so much more appealing: invitations from Philadelphia, from the New York Philharmonic, City Center, and the major orchestras in Europe..."

+ Handel: Water Music Suite (1717)

this performance is of the Stokowski arrangement and transcription of Handel's music, to which he added the Adagio from Handel's Oboe Concerto in D Minor; not in the original Water Music suite.

+ Mozart: Symphony no 25 in G minor, K. 183

+ Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, opus 45 (1940)

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

Rudolf Serkin circa 1960  

Following the dissatisfaction of some of the Houston Symphony subscribers about the quantity of new and contemporary music ²⁴, Stokowski announced the beginning of a Brahms cycle

First concert of the Brahms cycle

Brahms: Academic Festival Overture, opus 80

Brahms: Piano Concerto no 1 in D minor, opus 15 - Rudolf Serkin piano

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Bachianas brasileiras no 1, W246: movement 2: Modinha

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pines of Rome (1924)

*** Harold Farberman (1929- ): Symphony for Strings and Percussion (1959)

+ Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Variations for Orchestra (1956)

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

Second concert of the Brahms cycle

Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn opus 56

Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major opus 77 - Zino Francescatti

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

The Tucson Citizen reported that Stokowski said: "The music of Bach is like an immense cathedral - it is full of sunlight and the love of nature, like those fantastic [Tucson] mountains out there."

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Beethoven: Romance for Violin and Orchestra no 2 in F opus 50

- Frederic Balazs (1919-2018) violin who was also conductor of the Tucson Symphony

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

[1960]

Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski at the time of this 1960 return concert  

Stokowski's first concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra since 3 April 1941

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Mozart: Marriage of Figaro K, 492: Overture

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) - Shirley Verrett mezzo-soprano

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pines of Rome (1924)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

Contemporary Music Society - closing event of the 1959-1960 American Music Festival, sponsored by the Rockefeller Institute

works by: ⁹⁵

Ernst Krenek (1900-1991)

Lou Harrison (1917-2003)

Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975)

Henry Cowell (1897-1965)

Michael Colgrass (1932- )

assisting artists: Percussion Ensembe and Madrigal Group, Manhattan School of Music

- "Nun Komm', der Heiden Heiland," BWV 62 - "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde "Symphonic Synthesis" - transcription by Stokowski

This is the second Stokowski "Symphonic Synthesis" of Tristan und Isolde. In April, 1932 Stokowski recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra excerpts from Tristan und Isolde Act II, concluding with the Love Music (Liebesnacht) from Act II. Reception to this version regretted the missing Liebestod from Act III. Then in his 1935 recording of his second "Symphonic Synthesis" arrangement, Stokowski expanded the music from Acts 2 and 3, concluding the transcription with a transition from the Act II music to the concluding finale of the opera, the Liebestod in which Isolde sings over the body of Tristan. Stokowski retains the protagonist's interplay having cellos play Tristan's music and violins play Isolde's music.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

(note: a classic Stokowski programme with works he seems to have selected for his most important concerts during his career)

Leopold Stokowski and Leonard Bernstein  

Stokowski's first concerts with the New York Philharmonic since 26 October 1954

+ Handel: Water Music Suite (1717)

- the first NYPO performance of the Stokowski arrangement and transcription of Handel's music, to which he added the Adagio from Handel's Oboe Concerto in D Minor; not in the original Water Music suite.

Mozart: Symphony no 40 in G minor, K.550

Intermission

+++ Fikret Amirov: Azerbaijan, Symphonic Suite - USA premiere

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 1 in F minor opus 10

Beethoven: Symphony no 6 in F major, opus 68 "Pastoral"

Chopin: Stokowski transcriptions of works for piano:

- Mazurka in A minor opus 17 no 4 - Prelude in D minor, opus 28 no 24 - Waltz in C-Sharp Minor, opus 64 no 2

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III scene 3: Wotan's Farewell and "Magic Fire Music" - Stokowski transcription

Leopold Stokowski in early 1960s  

Third concert of the Brahms cycle

Brahms: Hungarian Dance no 1 in G minor

Brahms: Serenade no 1 in D major opus 11

Brahms: Alto Rhapsody opus 53

soloist: Francis Bible mezzo-soprano and male chorus of the Houston Chorale, Alfred Urbach director

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Stokowski's Everest Records recording of recent works from Houston Symphony concerts: Thomas Canning, his Chopin Transcriptions and Wagner Die Walküre Wotan's Farewell and "Magic Fire Music"  

Thomas Canning (1911-1989): Fantasy on a Hymn Tune by Justin Morgan

Mozart: Horn Concerto no 4 in E-flat major, K. 495 - Thomas E. Newell, Jr. Principal horn

*** Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Symphony no 12 (1956): andante, allegro, presto, maestoso

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Concerto for Orchestra BB 123

Programme for the April 1960 Houston Symphony German Requiem  

Fourth concert of the Brahms cycle

Brahms: German Requiem

soloists: Saramae Endich soprano, Desire Ligeti, bass

the Houston Chorale, Alfred Urbach, director, University of Houston Concert Choir, Dr. Merrils Lewis, director

Children's Concert sponsored by the Parent's League of New York ⁴¹

Stokowski rehearsing students for the Children's Concert

Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf opus 67 with Bob Keeshan, children television's Captain Kangaroo narrating.

Student compositions:

Ellen Glickman, a 13 year-old New York school student: Serenity

Robert Coren, a 14 year-old New York school student: Fantasy

Robert Levin, a 12 year-old New York school student: An Evening in the Forest - Robert Levin piano

Joey Alfidi, a 10 year-old New York school student: Rondo for Orchestra - Joey Alfidi piano

Beethoven: Incidental music for The Ruins of Athens, opus 113: "Turkish March"

Mozart: Piano Sonata no 11 in A major, K 331: Movement 3 Alla Turca "Turkish March"

Percussion was demonstrated during the two Turkish marches. Children of the U.N. International school participated in the production

At the beginning of this concert, Stokowski announced to the audience that he had just heard that Carnegie Hall would be preserved, a cause which he had actively promoted. ⁹³

"Only London Appearance This Season" ¹⁴⁵

Beethoven: Overture to Egmont opus 84

Brahms: Symphony no 3 in F major, opus 90

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Concerto for Orchestra BB 123

"Stokowski conducted in Robin Hood Dell for the first time since 1933. 30,000 people jammed the Dell and its surrounding hillside." ¹⁴⁶

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899): "Nuages" and "Fêtes"

Fikret Amirov (1922-1984): Azerbaijan Mugams Kyurd ovshary - Stokowski had given the US premiere of this symphonic suite with the New York Philharmonic in March 1960

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Miroirs: "Alborada del gracioso" (piano composition orchestrated by the composer in 1919)

Programme for the 31 July 1960 Stadium concert, postponed from 30 July due to rain 

Stadium Concert - Lewisohn Stadium

Bach: Chorale prelude:  Wir glauben all an einen Gott  BWV 680 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Cantata BWV208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Intermission

Richard Strauss: Don Juan opus 20

Encore: Richard Strauss: Salome opus 54: Dance of the Seven veils

Stokowski paused the concert 5 times because of airliners noise.

Stratford Festival

Concerts marking the week of the International Conference of Composers. Stokowski was announced for this concert series ⁴², but was replaced by Walter Susskind and Otar Taktakishvili ¹⁴⁷.

Daily Herald Newspaper

"Leopold Stokowski, one of the world's great conductors, led the 30-piece of this small town in a rendition of the 'Stars and Stripes Forever'. The maestro, as summer resident had been asked to give his services by the Community Center. The conductor warned the musicians that he would stop if they failed to perform to his satisfaction. But they did, and he didn't..." ¹²⁶.

Stokowski's second season with the New York City Opera

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): L'Orfeo SV 318 (1607)

- abridged and transcribed for larger orchestra by Stokowski with other Monteverdi music interpolated in a performance different from what is usually performed today.

soloists: Gérard Souzay baritone (Orfeo), Judith Raskin soprano (Euridice), Doris Yarick-Cross soprano (La Musica), Regina Sarfati mezzo-soprano (Messaggiera), Joy Clements soprano (Speranza), Andrew Frierson bass-baritone (Caronte), Joshua Recht bass (Plutone), Frank Doretta (Apollo), Mary Lesawyer (Ninfa), Maurice Stern tenor (Pastore I), John Dennison tenor (Pastore II)

Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975) : Il prigioniero (The Prisoner) (1949) one act opera presented in English - a primarily atonal score with some flavor of Alban Berg

soloists: Norman Treigle bass-baritone (the Prisoner), Richard Cassilly tenor (the Jailor and Inquisitor), Anne McKnight (the Mother), John Macurdy bass (Priest)

Orchestra and Chorus of the New York City Center Opera

Paul Henry Lang of the New York Herald-Tribune, often critical of Stokowki wrote: "Mr. Stokowski's performance was informed by a sure knowledge of the work and he eschewed all temptation to meddle with the score. The difficult aggregation of instruments was handled with exemplary skill, and the little orchestral interludes as well as the charming vocal madrigals were delightful" ⁹⁶

Boris Blacher (1903-1975)  

Beginning of Stokowski's 6th season as Houston Symphony Music Director - Advertised as "Stokowski's Farewell Season with the Orchestra" ³⁸

Bach: Cantata BWV208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Bach:  Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu Dir  (Out of the Depths I Cry to Thee) from Cantata BWV 38 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Preludio in E - from Partita no 3 in E major BWV 1006 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55 "Eroica"

Boris Blacher (1903-1975): Orchestral Variations on a Theme by Paganini opus 26

Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier opus 59: Waltzes - as arranged by Stokowski

soloists: Raphael Fliegel violin, Marion Davies cello, Raymond Weaver oboe, Paul R. Tucci bassoon.

Mozart: Piano Concerto no 24 in C minor, K. 491 - Ezra Rachlin piano

ZoltÁn KodÁly (1882-1967): HÁry JÁnos: Suite (1926)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): "La soirée dans Grenade" (Night in Granada), from Les estampes - Stokowski transcription

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Rapsodie espagnole (1907)

+ Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): Peter Grimes (1945): Interlude from Act II (Passacaglia)

+ William Walton (1902-1983): Partita for Orchestra (1957) originally commissioned by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, opus 61

soloist: Isaac Stern violin

(Oliver Daniel recounts an Isaac Stern story about this concert: "I remember our playing in Houston because I remember going down in the elevator with him and discussing the opening of the Brahms. He looked at me very quietly and said 'Isaac, what are your talking about? We're playing the Beethoven'. So I gulped and said 'OK'... From that night on we also became very good friends' " ³⁹)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

This season, billed as "Stokowski's Farewell Season with the Orchestra" was not to be a full season. Stokowski's biographer Oliver Daniel wrote of Houston professor and Stokowski acquaintance Lee Pryor: "Just before conducting his final pair of concerts before the Christmas holidays, he invited me to dinner...and during dinner said 'I want you to read something' and he took out of his pocket a letter which turned out to be his letter of immediate resignation in which he said he could no longer serve a city which had this kind of racial bias. After dinner, he said 'would you mind taking me to General Hirsch's [President of the Houston Symphony Society] house? So I drove him there; he went up to the door, rang the bell - there was no response - and put the letter in the mail slot". The orchestra Board later voted to agree to and early end to Stokowski's contract with the Houston Symphony. ⁴⁰

Programme for the 1960 Philadelphia Orchestra Pension Fund concert  

1960 Philadelphia Orchestra Pension Concert

Beethoven: Leonore Overture no 3, opus 72b

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Boris Godunov: excerpts - Stokowski transcription

- Outside the Novodievichi Monastery

- Coronation of Boris

- Monks Chanting In The Monastery Of Choudov

- Siege of Kazan

- Outside the Church of Saint Basil; the starving people and the Idiot foretells the fate of Russia

- Death of Boris

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet ballet opus 64 - Stokowski's selection from Prokofiev's Suites no 1 and 2:

- no 6 from Suite no 1 opus 64a: Romeo and Juliet

- no 6 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Dance of the Girls with Lilies

- no 7 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Romeo at Juliet's Grave

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Capriccio Espagnol" opus 34

encore: Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

encore: Schubert: Moment Musical in f minor opus 94 no 3 (D780-3) 'Air russe' - Stokowski transcription

encore: Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act III: Prelude

encore: Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Gayaneh ballet: Sabre Dance

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Boris Godunov: excerpts - Stokowski transcription

- Outside the Novodievichi Monastery

- Coronation of Boris

- Monks Chanting In The Monastery Of Choudov

- Siege of Kazan

- Outside the Church of Saint Basil; the starving people and the Idiot foretells the fate of Russia

- Death of Boris

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet ballet opus 64 - Stokowski's selection from Prokofiev's Suites no 1 and 2:

- no 6 from Suite no 1 opus 64a: Romeo and Juliet

- no 6 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Dance of the Girls with Lilies

- no 7 from Suite no 2 opus 64b: + Romeo at Juliet's Grave

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Capriccio Espagnol" opus 34

encore: Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Gayaneh ballet: Sabre Dance

Smetana: "The Bartered Bride" Overture

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Piano Concerto no 1 - Malcolm Frager piano

Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967): "Hary Janos" Suite from the opera (1927) - Janos Hosszu, cimbalom

INTERMISSION

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

[1961]

Birgit Nilsson at Turandot and Franco Corelli as the Calaf in the 1961 Production of Turandot  

Puccini: Turandot (1924)

Birgit Nilsson soprano - Princess Turandot - all performances

Franco Corelli - The Calaf - all performances except 29 March Act I

Giulio Gari - The Calaf - 29 March Acts II, III

Anna Moffo soprano - Liù - 24 February, 4 March, 11 April

Teresa Stratas soprano - Liù - 9, 13 March

Leontyne Price soprano - Liù - 21, 29 March

Lucine Amara - Liù - 24 March, 19 April

Licia Albanese - Liù - 8 April

Bonaldo Giaiotti bass - Timur - 24 February, 4, 9, 13 March, 8, 11, 19 April

William Wilderman bass - Timur 21, 24, 29 March

Frank Guarrera - Ping - all performances

Yoshio Aoyama - Producer, Nathaniel Merrill - Stage Director, Cecil Beaton - Designer, Mattlyn Gavers, Choreographer

Harold C. Schonberg of the New York Times wrote: "Mr. Stokowski conducted, as always, without a baton. Could this, too, have been a Metropolitan first? Baton or not, the singers seemed to know exactly what he wanted; at least, they followed him throughout. Mr. Stokowski being Mr. Stokowski, there were bound to be a few little changes in the score. One extremely noticeable one occurred during Turandot's aria, 'In quest reggia' where Mr. Stokowski dropped all of the instrumentation except the tympani. He probably figured that it was more effective and dramatic his way rather than Puccini's. He came on the stage after the performance for three bows. The principals were called almost twenty times. It was quite an evening." ⁴³

Metropolitan Opera Broadcast was of the 4 March performance

Programme for the March, 1961 Philadelphia Orchestra Gurre-Lieder concerts  

This concert was originally planned for January, but Stokowski's hip injury caused the Philadelphia Orchestra to move William Steinberg to January, and reschedule Stokowski for Steinberg's dates in March ⁴⁹

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) : Gurre-Lieder (1911) - as abridged by Stokowski

Margarita Zambrana (Richards) soprano (Tove)

Rudolf Petrak tenor (Waldemar)

Nell Rankin mezzo-soprano (Wood dove)

George Hoffman bass (Farmer)

Thomas Hageman tenor (Klaus the Jester)

Choirs of Temple University, Philadelphia

given without Narrator in a shortened version

Childrens Concert

Frank W. Meacham (1856-1909): American Patrol march (1884) - as arranged by Stokowski

Bach: English Suite No 2 in A minor BWV 807: Bourée - Stokowski transcription

Mozart: Marriage of Figaro K, 492: March

Rimsky-Korsakov: opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan Act III: 'Flight of the Bumblebee'

Student compostions ⁹⁴

- Daniel Troob, a 12 year-old student: Overture to Rip Van Winkle - Faye Silverman, a 13 year-old student: Sunset and Twilight - Mary Richman, a 10 year-old student: Prelude and Nocturne - Dorothy Gross, a 14 year-old student: Clock Work - Deborah Watarz, a 12 year-old student: and untitled work

Roy Harris (1898-1979): When Johnny Comes Marching Home Overture (1935)

Bedrich Smetana: The Bartered Bride (1866): Overture

Johann Strauss, Jr.: Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka opus 214

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony no 45 in F-sharp minor "Farewell" - final movement

encore: Rimsky-Korsakov: Dubinushka opus 62

encore: Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Bachianas Brasileiras no 2 "Little Train of the Caipira" - Tocata

encore: Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act III: Prelude

Francesca Bernasconi pianist  

Rome concert for the Festival Internazionale with the Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia

Bedrich Smetana: The Bartered Bride (1866): Overture

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007): Piano Concerto no 1 in F major (1945)

Francesca Bernasconi piano

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pines of Rome (1924)

Stokowski conducting the Czech Philharmonic for the first time  

Stokowski's first concert in Czechoslovakia

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Capriccio Espagnol" opus 34

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto no 3 in D minor opus 30 - Lev Oborin piano

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in D minor, opus 47 (1937)

the London Symphony Orchestra's first visit to Vienna for the Vienna Festival

Walton: Symphony no 2

Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Tranfiguration), opus 24

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

Concert given for the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte K. 620: Overture

+ Handel: Water Music Suite (1717) - the Hamilton Harty arrangement:

- allegro, air, bouree, hornpipe, andante expressivo, allegro deciso

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967): "Hary Janos" Suite from the opera (1927)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version) as adapted by Stokowski

Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

soloists: Agnes Giebel soprano, Paul Kuën tenor, Marcel Cordes baritone, Philharmonia Chorus

An inspired concert: Guild Historical issued this concert on GHCD2388-89 - surprisingly, the BBC did not record the concert and this release comes from home tape recordings of the broadcast (so sonically less than ideal)  

Opening Concert of the 1961 Edinburgh Festival

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951): Gurre-Lieder (1913)

Gré Brouwenstijn soprano (Tove)

James McCracken tenor (Waldemar)

Nell Rankin mezzo-soprano (Wood dove)

Forbes Robinson bass (Farmer)

John Lanigan tenor (Klaus the Jester)

Alvar Lidell (Narrator)

Edinburgh Royal Choral Union

a review by Benjamin Künzel:"Stokowski does not hold the threads tightly in his hands, but rather inspires his musicians. That is part of the magic of the moment, which can be felt almost palpably in this performance" ⁵²

Concert of the 1961 Edinburgh Festival

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175 - Stokowski transcription

Michael Tippett (1905-1998): Concerto for Double String Orchestra (1939)

Liszt: Mephisto Waltz no 1 (1859)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

a review by the usually critical Neville Cardus:"The octogenarian wizard conjured this orchestra to play with astonishing virtuosity. In fact I have seldom, if ever before, heard and English orchestra produce a like body and brilliance of tone, every phrase clear, characteristic and beautifully balanced." ¹⁴⁹

Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-born composer who later taught DePaul University in Chicago  

Opening concerts of the Chicago Symphony 1961-1962 season

Following his major heart attack on 7 October 1960, Reiner missed most of the Chicago Symphony 1960-1961 season.

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

Intermission

+ Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977): "Georgiana": Suite opus 92 - a Russian composer who had settled in Chicago

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Capriccio Espagnol" opus 34

Birgit Nilsson at Turandot and Richard Tucker as the Calaf in the 1961 Production of Turandot  

Puccini: Turandot (1924)

Birgit Nilsson soprano - Princess Turandot - all performances

Richard Tucker - The Calaf - all performances

Lucine Amara - Liù - all performances

Ezio Flagello bass - Timur - all performances

Frank Guarrera - Ping - all performances

Yoshio Aoyama - Producer, Nathaniel Merrill - Stage Director, Cecil Beaton - Designer, Mattlyn Gavers, Choreographer

Robert Sabin in Musical America wrote: "Miss Nilsson was, of course, the overwhelming feature of the evening. The others were familiar in their roles. Mr. Stokowski seemed tired, and the performance lacked the smashing power and brilliance of last season's performances, although, as always, he elicited lush and beautiful sounds from the orchestra. The stage brass could not apparently see his beat (given without stick) and wavered in several places, though no such catastrophe occurred as did at one performance last season, when they came in fortissimo in the wrong place! Cecil Beaton's decor seemed as lovely as ever." ⁴⁴

[1962]

Leopold Stokowski in Philadelphia - 1962  

photograph: Adrian Siegel      

Brahms: "Variations On A Theme By Haydn" opus 56a

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Capriccio Espagnol" opus 34

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto no 1 in B-flat minor, opus 23 - Byron Janis

Intermission

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung" - Siegfried's Rhine Journey,

Siegfried's Death Music, Immolation Scene and Act III Finale - Stokowski transcription

The Chicago press reported: "Stokowski's ear required a string section with 10 double bases" ⁴⁵

Beethoven: Symphony no 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55 "Eroica"

Intermission

+ Tikhon Khrennikov (1913-2007): "Much Ado About Nothing" - Incidental Music

photo of Tikhon Khrennikov in 1948 when General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers in a speech denouncing Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Khachaturian during the Soviet Composers Congress, Moscow 19-25 April 1948 ⁴⁶. "...In the music of Comrade Shostakovich we find all sorts of things alien to realistic Soviet art, such as tenseness, neuroticism, escapism and repulsive pathology..." ⁴⁷

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Review of this concert by Roger Dettmer: "Altogether an extraordingary performance. Most praisworthy of all, it never for a moment lagged or lost your attention. When you have heard a work perhaps 100 times in 10 years, maybe even more times than that, and it can still absorb you every moment, something remarkable is at work in the performance. Last night's remarkable something was the unpredictable Stokowski, a giant among musicians when he will put himself at the service of music." ⁴⁸

George London, Harpo Marx, Leopold Stokowski in the Academy of Music 1962  

Gala Programme to celebrate the Academy of Music 105th Anniversary

Wagner: Rienzi (1840): Overture

Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act I: Prelude

Arias with Birgit Nilsson soprano and George London bass-baritone:

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (1786): Act I: "Non più andrai" - George London

Borodin/Rimsky-Korsakov: Prince Igor (1888): Act II: " Ni sna, ni otdikha izmuchennoi dushe " - George London

Gounod: Faust (1859): Act IV: "Vous qui faites l'endormie" - George London

Puccini: Tosca (1899): Act II: "Vissi d'arte" - Birgit Nilsson

Verdi: Aida (1891): Act III: "Cielo! mio padre!" - Birgit Nilsson, George London

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung":

Immolation Scene and Act III Finale - - Birgit Nilsson

Harpo Marx performed in this gala program conducting a comic rendition of the Leopold Mozart Toy Symphony

A Sketch of Henry Eichheim by Alfredo Ramos Martinez (1871-1946)  

1961-1962 Philadelphia Orchestra Pension Fund concert

A concert filled with many Stokowski transcriptions which he had recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 1930s

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: St. John's Passion BWV 245 - "Es ist vollbracht" - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643): Gagliarda

Frescobaldi published several volumes of his compositions, of which the second was entitled "Il secondo libro di toccate, canzone, versi d'hinni, Magnificat, gagliarde, correnti et altre partite d'intavolatura di cembalo et organo." The "gagliarde" was the piece transcribed by Stokowski and recorded with the title "Gagliarda"

Chopin: Mazurka in A minor opus 17 no 4 - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Henry Eichheim (1870-1942): 'Oriental Impressions' Suite (1918-1922}: Japanese Nocturne

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade opus 35 (1888)

encore: Bach: Preludio in E - from Partita no 3 in E major BWV 1006 - Stokowski transcription

encore: Novacek: Perpetuum Mobile opus 5 no 4 - Stokowski transcription

encore: Antonin Dvorak: Slavonic Dance no 10 in E minor opus 72 - Stokowski transcription

encore: Shostakovich: 24 Preludes opus 34 (1933): 14: Prelude in E-flat minor - Stokowski transcription

encore: Romanus Hoffstetter (attributed to Franz Josef Haydn): String Quartet in F major opus 3 no 5, Hob III-17 mvmt 2: Andante cantabile (sometimes called "Haydn's Serenade") - Stokowski transcription

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pines of Rome (1924)

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Peter Herman Adler, conductor of the Baltimore Symphony 1959-1967 said of this concert: "Something happened during the first rehearsal. Suddenly there was that typical rich sonority. You couldn't explain it, but you could hear it. It was mysterious and miraculous." ⁵¹

Programme for the 1 March 1962 New York Philharmonic concert  

Stokowski was replacing a mortally ill Fritz Reiner at this concert

Robert Kurka (1921-1957): Julius Caesar opus 28 (1955) "a symphonic epilogue after Shakespeare's play"

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910)

Stokowski wrote: "Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis spans the 16th and 20th centuries ... those who love beauty, deep emotion, and the unseen mystery of life, will find intense joy in listening to it."

Wagner: Parsifal Act III Symphonic Synthesis - Stokowski transcription

Intermission

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

+ Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Suite from Purcell operas transcribed by Stokowski:

- "Cebell" for trumpet

- "The Fairy Queen" Pastorale

- "The Fairy Queen" Hornpipe

- "Dido and Aeneas": Dido's Lament: "When I am laid in earth"

- "The Fairy Queen" Largo and Allegro

+ Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Sinfonia Antarctica (Symphony no 7 written in 1952)

Stravinsky: Apollon musagète ballet (1928/1947)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899) with chorus

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Programme for the March 1962 Philadelphia Orchestra concert  

Webern: Passacaglia opus 1

Sibelius: Symphony no 4 in A minor opus 63 (1911)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): "La soirée dans Grenade" (Night in Granada), from Les estampes - Stokowski transcription

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act I: Prelude and Act III: Prelude

Wagner: Die Walküre Act III scene 3: Wotan's Farewell and "Magic Fire Music"

The Philadelphia Orchestra on tour

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): "La soirée dans Grenade" (Night in Granada), from Les estampes - Stokowski transcription

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

encore: Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act III: Prelude

Stokowski was replacing an ill Fritz Reiner

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no 2 in D major opus 36

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): 24 Preludes opus 34 (1933): 14: Prelude in E-flat minor - Stokowski transcription

Reinhold Glière (1875-1956): Symphony no 3 in B minor, opus 42 "Ilya Mourometz" - as abridged by Stokowski

Televised concert with Stokowski substituting for a mortally ill Fritz Reiner

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no 2 in D major opus 36

a rare recorded performance by Stokowski of the Beethoven Symphony no 2

issued in a Chicago Symphony box set "Chicago Symphony in the 20th Century" disc CSO CD00-02

Interview with Stokowski

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Roman Carnival Overture opus 9

First Concert of the American Symphony Orchestra

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Piano Concerto no 1 in C major, opus 15 - Susan Starr piano

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 6 in B minor, opus 54 (1939)

Contemporary Music Society concert

"Chamber Ensemble" of the American Symphony Orchestra

José Mar? Castro (1892-1964): Preludio y Toccata

Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Ensemble

José Serebrier (1938- ): Elegy

Héctor Campos Parsi (1922-1998): La Calle

Lou Harrison (1917-2003): Suite for Symphonic Strings:

- Estampie - Et in Arcadia Ego - In Honor of Hercules - In Honor of Eros - Lament - In Honor of Apollo - Viola's Reward - In Honor of Hermes - Nocturne

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Bachianas brasileiras no 1, W246: movement 2: Modinha

Puerto Rican composer Héctor Campos Parsi was present for the concert

Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini opus 32

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963): Mathis der Maler Symphony (1934)

Brahms: Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 73

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): 6 Épigraphes antiques (1915) - transcription by Ernest Ansermet, who was in the audience for this concert

Frank Martin (1890-1974): Petite Symphonie concertante opus 54 (1946)

This concert is available on Pristine Classical PASC379 in Andrew Rose's restoration from broadcast tapes from the collection of Stokowski scholar Edward Johnson  

1962-1963 Philadelphia Orchestra Pension Fund concert

Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act III: Prelude

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Miroirs: "Alborada del gracioso" (piano composition orchestrated by the composer in 1919)

Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940): SensemayÁ (1937) - based on poetry by NicolÁs Guillén

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Encores:

Jeremiah Clarke (1674-1707): Suite in D Major: Prince of Denmark's March (sometimes labelled: "A Trumpet Voluntary") - Stokowski transcription

Morton Gould (1913-1996): Latin-American Symphonette - Symphonette no 4 (1940): 3 - Guaracha

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor opus 3 no 2 - Stokowski transcription

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony no 45 in F-sharp minor "Farewell" - end of the final movement with musicians gradually leaving the stage

[1963]

Virgil Thomson at about the time of composition of 'Fugues and Cantilenas'  

Virgil Thomson himself conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in 'Fugues and Cantilenas' on 2 May 1959 during the University of Michigan May Festival concerts

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): 'Fugues and Cantilenas' from the film "Power Among Men" (1959)

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Announcement for the Academy of Music 106th Anniversary Concert  

Academy of Music 106th Anniversary Concert

Verdi: La forza del destino (1862): Overture

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini opus 43 (1934) - Susan Starr piano

Richard Strauss: Salome opus 54: Dance of the Seven veils

George Enescu (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1 in A major opus 11 (1901)

Arias:

Umberto Giordano (1867-1948): Andrea Chénier: Act I: "Un di all'azzurro spazio" - Franco Corelli

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924): Tosca: Act I: "Recondita Armonia" - Franco Corelli

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848): Lucia di Lammermoor: Act III: Mad Scene - Joan Sutherland, Franco Corelli

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Miroirs: "Alborada del gracioso" (piano composition orchestrated by the composer in 1919)

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

encore: Wagner: Lohengrin (1850): Act III: Prelude

- something of a stretch since his Philadelphia debut was 11 October 1912

Beethoven: Leonora Overture no 3 opus 72b

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859-1935): Caucasian Sketches Suite no 1 opus 10 (1894): no 4 'Procession of the Sardar'

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Paris version 1861): Overture and Venusberg Music

Masonic Temple Auditorium, Detroit  

The Philadelphia Orchestra on tour

Beethoven: Leonora Overture no 3 opus 72b

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

encore: Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983): Variaciones Concertantes opus 23 (1953)

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): Concert Champêtre for Harpsichord and Orchestra (1928)

Beethoven: Symphony no 3 in E-flat major, opus 55 "Eroica"

Contemporary Music Society concert

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): The Burning House one act opera opus 185 (1959): Overture

Donald Erb (1927-2008): Four for Percussion - percussive tone row sound - Manhattan School Percussion Ensemble, Paul Price director

Lou Harrison (1917-2003): Suite for Symphonic Strings:

- Estampie - Et in Arcadia Ego - In Honor of Hercules - In Honor of Eros - Lament - In Honor of Apollo - Viola's Reward - In Honor of Hermes - Nocturne

Richard Donovan (1891-1970): Soundings (1953)

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati (1919-1994): Mobile for Shakespeare composed using musique concrète

Pierre Boulez (1925- ): Pli selon pli (1959): "Improvisations sur Mallarmé" I and II

"American Israeli Concert"

Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in b minor, opus 61: movement 1 - Shmuel Ashkenasi violin

Paul Ben-Haim: Symphony no 2 (1953): Invocation

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin opus 24: "Tatiana's Letter" - Netania Davrath soprano

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Beverly Sills early in her career  

Bach: St Matthew Passion BWV 244 concert performance with selected cuts

Beverly Sills soprano

Louise Parker contralto

Rudolf PetrÁk tenor

Gene Boucher baritone

William Wiederanders bass

Schola cantorum, Hugh Ross director

Concert in association with the Fédération internationale des jeunesses musicales, sponsored by the Carnegie Hall Corporation

William Schuman (1910-1992): American Festival Overture (1939)

Luigi Boccherini (1643-1705): Cello Concerto in B-flat major, G. 482 - Lynn Harrell cello

*** Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Praise the Lord with Psaltery, opus 222 Symphony no 15 opus 199 (1962) "Silver Pilgrimage"

Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto no 1 in G minor opus 25 (1831) - Ruth Laredo piano

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Concluding concert in this first season of the American Symphony Orchestra

Bach: Chorale Prelude "Christ lag in Todesbanden" BWV 718 - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Parsifal Act III Symphonic Synthesis - Stokowski transcription

+ Paul Creston (1906-1985): Lydian Ode opus 67 (1956)

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, opus 36

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

encore: Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Leopold Stokowski and Lauritz Melchoir at Melchoir's 50th Anniversary concert  

50th Anniversary Concert of Lauritz Melchoir's debut as an opera singer with the Royal Danish Opera on 2 April 1913 ⁵⁴

Bach: Cantata no 4: "Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn" BWV 4 - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: Parsifal Act III Symphonic Synthesis - Stokowski transcription

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, opus 36

Paul Creston (1906-1985): Lydian Ode opus 67 (1956)

Wagner: Die Walküre Act I: "Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond" - Lauritz Melchoir

Grieg: Melodies of the Heart opus 5: no 3 - "Jeg elsker dig" ("I love you") - Lauritz Melchoir

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

encore: Grieg: Melodies of the Heart opus 5: no 3 - "Jeg elsker dig" ("I love you") - Lauritz Melchoir

encore: Bach: "Little Fugue" in g minor BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

The Philadelphia Orchestra on tour

Beethoven: Leonora Overture no 3 opus 72b

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

encore: Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Cincinnati Music Hall, home of the Cincinnati May Festival  

Stokowski returns to the Cincinnati Symphony for the first time in 51 years !

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Intermission

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): Fugues and Cantilenas from the film "Power Among Men" (1960)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967): "Hary Janos" Suite from the opera (1927)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910)

Gustav Holst (1874-1934): The Planets opus 32 (1916) - London Symphony Chorus

A concert of the 1963 Proms (The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts)

An historian of the Proms concerts states that this 1963 Proms, the first for Stokowski, was the beginning of major international conductors such as Stokowski participating in the concert series ⁵⁵

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175 - Stokowski transcription

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra - Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell (1946)

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

This famous 1963 Proms Mahler Symphony no 2 issued on BBC Legends BBCL 4136-2  

Stokowski's second concert of the 1963 Proms (The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts)

A stirring performance of the "Resurrection" now issued on BBC Legends CD

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony no 2 in C minor "Resurrection" (1894)

Janet Baker mezzo-soprano

Rae Woodland soprano

Harrow Choral Society, the Goldsmiths Choral Union, the BBC Choral Society, the BBC Chorus

encore: last few minutes of the "Resurrection" played as an encore

a review by Peter Heyworth:"...one of the finest performances of a Mahler symphony it has been my good fortune to hear... to these immense edifices Stokowski brought a fervour and sense of drama that never deprived the music of its epic drama." ¹⁵⁰

Scranton Philharmonic programme  

The Scranton Philharmonic Orchestra is a semi-professional group

Bach: "Little Fugue" in g minor BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

William Schuman (1910-1992): New England Triptych (1956)

- Be Glad then, America - When Jesus Wept - Chester

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto no 1 in B-flat minor, opus 23 - Thomas Hrynkiw piano

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

Leopold Stokowski begins his second season, 1963-1964, as Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra

This Carnegie Hall concert was presented as a "Tribute to the United Nations"

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: "Wir glauben al' an einen Gott" BWV 437 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

*** José Serebrier: Poema Elegiaco - commissioned by the American Symphony; José Serebrier was also Assistant Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Bachianas brasileiras no 1, W246: movement 2: Modinha

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version) as adapted by Stokowski

Ulysses Kay in the 1960s  

Ulysses Kay (1917-1995): Of New Horizons (1944)

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act III (1867)

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony no 10: Andante - Adagio

Handel - Beecham: Amaryllis Suite selected and transcribed by Sir Thomas Beecham)

Originally arranged by Beecham for ballet performance using movements from various Handel works extensively reorchestrated:

- Entrée: (from Alcina HWV 34 Act III) - Bourrée (from Water Music HWV 348) - Musette: (from Concerto Grosso 0pus 6 no 6 in G minor HWV 324) - Gigue (from Terpischore HWV 8c) - Sarabande (from Terpischore HWV 8c) - Gavotte (from Il Pastor Fido HWV 8a) - Menuet (from Il Pastor Fido HWV 8a) - Ballo (from Il Pastor Fido HWV 8a)

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): L'estro armonico - Concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 in d minor RV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major K 364

Paul Ben-Haim (1897-1984): Piano Concerto (1949) - Joel Rigal piano

Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967): "Hary Janos" Suite from the opera (1927)

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Two Images opus 10 BB 59

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) - Jean Madeira mezzo-soprano

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung": Act III Interlude: Siegfried's funeral march - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Chorale "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" BWV 645 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 3 in E-flat major, opus 55 "Eroica"

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung" - Siegfried's Rhine Journey,

Siegfried's Death Music, Immolation Scene and Act III Finale

- Berit Lindholm soprano - Stokowski transcription

[1964]

Jean Sibelius: (1865-1957): Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 43 (1902)

Wagner: Die Walküre: "Ride of the Valkyries"

Warner Bass (1915-1988): Song of Hope (Warner Bass was at that time Associate Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra

Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Tranfiguration), opus 24

1963-1964 Philadelphia Orchestra Pension Fund concert

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sacrae symphoniae: Canzon quarti toni a 15, C185 - Stokowski transcription

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): L'estro armonico - Concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 in d minor RV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major K 364

John de Lancie oboe, Anthony Gigliotti clarinet, Bernard Garfield bassoon, Mason Jones horn

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

encores: Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Vocalise opus 34 no 14 (1915) - Stokowski arrangement

Brahms: Serenade no 1 in D major opus 11: Two Minuets

Bach: English Suite No 3 in G minor, BWV 808: Sarabande - Stokowski transcription

Henry Eichheim (1870-1942): 'Oriental Impressions' Suite (1918-1922}: Japanese Nocturne

Novacek: Perpetuum Mobile opus 5 no 4 - Stokowski transcription

Romanus Hoffstetter (attributed to Franz Josef Haydn): String Quartet in F major opus 3 no 5, Hob III-17 mvmt 2: Andante cantabile (sometimes called "Haydn's Serenade") - Stokowski transcription

Stokowski and the American Symphony Orchestra performing Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky in 1964  

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sacrae symphoniae: Canzon quarti toni a 15, C185 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: St. John's Passion BWV 245 - "Es ist vollbracht" - Stokowski transcription

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony no 88 in G major (Hoboken 1/88)

Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in c minor, K. 546

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): cantata Alexander Nevsky opus 78

- Nell Rankin mezzo-soprano, Rutgers University Choir

Stokowski's First Boston Symphony Orchestra concert (at age 82)

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Sacrae symphoniae: Canzon quarti toni a 15, C185 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: St. John's Passion BWV 245 - "Es ist vollbracht" - Stokowski transcription

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): L'estro armonico - Concerto grosso opus 3 no 11 in d minor RV 565 - Sam Franko transcription

+ Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Prelude and Quadruple Fugue opus 128 (1954)

+ Ned Rorem (1923- ): Eagles

Rorem was impressed that Stokowski conducted Eagles as a normal repertoire piece, did not require a premiere, did not contact Rorem, but simply programmed the work ⁵⁶

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Nocturnes (1899)

- Nuages

- Fêtes

- Sirènes

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Violin Concerto opus 14 (1939) - Jaime Laredo violin

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

Frank Martin (1890-1974): Petite Symphonie concertante opus 54 (1946)

Wagner: Siegfried Idyll (1870)

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Wagner: Siegfried Idyll (1870)

Brahms: Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny) opus 54 (1871) - American Symphony Chorus

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Stokowski's first Tanglewood Festival concert

Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major K 364

Ralph Gomberg oboe, Gino Cioffi clarinet, Sherman Walt bassoon, James Stagliano horn

Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Tranfiguration), opus 24

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Prelude and Quadruple Fugue opus 128 (1954)

Ned Rorem (1923- ): Eagles

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

A concert of the 1964 Proms (The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts)

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Symphony no 8 in D minor (1955)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) - Gloria Lane mezzo soprano

Jean Sibelius: (1865-1957): Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 43 (1902)

encore: the ending of the Sibelius symphony was played as an encore

A concert of the 1964 Proms (The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts)

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): "A Night on Bare Mountain" - Stokowki transcription

Novacek: Perpetuum Mobile opus 5 no 4 - Stokowski transcription

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

encore: Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Fantasia on Greensleeves (1934)

Opening Concert for the 1964-1965 American Symphony season - Stokowski's third season as Music Director

Handel: Concerto Grosso in G minor, HWV 324 - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 3 in F major, opus 90

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Mountain Bell

Edgar Varèse (1883-1965): Ionisation (1931)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Daphnis et Chloé, Suite no 2

London Symphony Orchestra "on its first US tour since 1912" ⁵⁷

Pierre Monteux was to have conducted this tour, but unfortunately he died 1 July 1964. Pablo Casals (in the first half) and Leopold Stokowski (in the second half) took his place for this concert in tribute to Pierre Monteux.

During the first half, Pablo Casals conducted:

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no 3 in G Major, BWV 1048

Bach: St Matthew Passion BWV 244: Aria: "Erbarme dich, mein Gott" - Maureen Forrestor soprano, Isaac Stern violin

Ernest Chausson - Poème for violin and orchestra, opus 25 - Isaac Stern violin

Pablo Casals: "El Pessebre" (The Manger)

During the second half, Stokowski conducted:

Beethoven: Fantasy in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra opus 80 (1908) - Rutgers University Choir, Rudolf Serkin piano

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

Bach: Cantata BWV 208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

William Schuman (1910-1992): Symphony no 7 (1960)

Eric Satie: Gymnopédie nos 1 and 3 - orchestrated by Debussy and Stokowski

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Concerto for Orchestra BB 123

Stokowski in the Syria Mosque with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra  

Stokowski opened the Pittsburgh Symphony 1964-1965 season

Bach: Chorale "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" BWV 645 - Stokowski transcription

Bach: Cantata BWV 208  Schafe können sicher weiden  (Sheep May Safely Graze) - Stokowski transcription

Brahms: Symphony no 3 in F major, opus 90

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000): Meditation on Zeami opus 207 (1963)

Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977): Symphonic Prayer opus 93

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Daphnis et Chloé, Suite no 2

The Pittsburgh Press wrote:"For the first time since 1954, Leopold Stokowski will appear here as guest conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Stokowski is the first in a series of guest conductors who will replace William Steinberg, now on a year's leave of absense with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera." ¹⁰⁴

Mozart: Piano Concerto no 20 in D minor, K.466 - Jose Iturbi

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra (1890) - Jose Iturbi

Elgar: Enigma Variations opus 36

Peter Mennin (1923-1983): Symphony no 5 (1950)

Gustav Holst (1874-1934): The Planets opus 32 (1916)

BBC Television broadcast introduced by Stokowski

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): "A Night on Bare Mountain" - Stokowki transcription

Novacek: Perpetuum Mobile opus 5 no 4 - Stokowski transcription

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade opus 35 (1888)

Kimio Eto playing his traditional Japanese Koto  

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884): Ma vlast (1879): "Sarka"

Jean Sibelius: (1865-1957): Symphony no 2 in D major, opus 43 (1902)

*** Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Concerto for Koto and Orchestra (1962) - Kimio Eto, Koto

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1867): Prelude to Act I, Act III Prelude, Dance of the Apprentices, Procession Of The Meistersingers - Stokowski transcription

[1965]

Tchaikovsky: Serenade for String Orchestra in C major, opus 48

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 10 in E minor opus 93

Schubert: Symphony no 8 in b minor - "Unfinished"

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps (1913 version)

Schubert: Symphony no 8 in b minor - "Unfinished"

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

Programme of American Symphony concert of 5 April 1965  

Paul Creston (1906-1985): Corinthians: XIII for Orchestra opus 82 (1963)

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony no 2 in C minor "Resurrection" (1894)

soloists: Helen Boatright soprano, Betty Allen contralto, Westminster Choir, Dr. George Lynn director

Programme of the 26 April 1965 World Premiere of the Ives Symphony No 4  

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) (1843): Overture

Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite opus 22: "The Swan of Tuonela" opus 22 no 2

*** Charles Ives (1874-1954): Symphony no 4 - world premiere (note: this premiere performance was preceded by 10 rehearsals)

José Serebrier and David Katz Associate Conductors

Schola Cantorum of New York, Hugh Ross director

The music critic of the Times of London wrote:"It is impossible to praise Mr. Stokowski highly enough for his courage and vision giving the Fourth Symphony it first performance. But even more praiseworthy was the brilliance of his performance. Only the most complete of musicians could have brought the work to life so vividly." ⁸⁰

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

George Enesco (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1, opus 11 (1901)

Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987): The Hollow Men opus 25 (1944)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 10 in E minor opus 93

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): cantata Alexander Nevsky opus 78 - Elaine Bonazzi soprano

Minao Shibata (1916-1996) also composed electronic music later in his career  

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

+ Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Unanswered Question (1908)

Minao Shibata (1916-1996): Sinfonia (1960)

柴田南雄/シンフォニア

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

encore: John Philip Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever (1896) - arranged by Stokowski

Bunka Kaikan Hall (Metropolitan Festival Hall)

Mendelssohn: Symphony no 4 in A major opus 90 "Italian" (conducted by Taijiro Iimori 飯守泰次郎)

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92 (conducted by Stokowski)

thanks to Stokowski scholar Theo van der Burg for identifying the complete Stokowski Tokyo concerts of July, 1965 (thanks Theo !)

Nippon Budokan indoor arena built for the 1964 Summer Olympics

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

+ Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Concerto for Koto and Orchestra (1962) - Kimio Eto, Koto

This concerto was composed at the request of Kimio Eto. The Koto is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument. The concerto was later renamed "no 1" when Cowell wrote a 2nd Koto concerto.

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

encore: Sousa: "Stars and Stripes Forever"

The Philadelphia Orchestra programme notes state about Kimio Eto: "Born in 1925 in Oita, Japan, Mr. Eto at an early age became fascinated with the Koto. He began his study of the 13 stringed instrument, and became the foremost virtuoso of Japan. He and his wife, who is also blind, divide their time between Tokyo where the teach and the United State and Europe where they have a heavy recital schedule."

--- This concert was cancelled due to booking problems. The programme scheduled was:

Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 - Stokowski transcription

Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Unanswered Question (1908)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (1916) Suite

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

+ Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Concerto for Koto and Orchestra (1962) - Kimio Eto, Koto

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 4 in F minor, opus 36

Schubert: Symphony no 8 in b minor - "Unfinished"

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 5 in d minor, opus 47 (1937)

BBC Television broadcast with Stokowski interview

Rehearsals took place 8, 9 and 10 September followed immediately by the recording 2:30-5:30 PM

Recorded 10 September 1965, this was broadcast 12 September 1965

Beethoven: Overture to Egmont opus 84

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty ballet opus 66: excerpts selected by Stokowski:

- Introduction - Prologue no 3: Pas de six - Canari qui chante - Act I: no 6: Valse - Act I: no 8: Pas d'action - Act III: no 22: Polacca - Act III: no 23: Pas de quatre - Allegro - Act III: no 25: Pas de quatre - Adagio - Act III: no 28: Pas de deux - Adagio - Act III: no 30: Apothéose

intermission with Stokowski interviewed by Deryck Cooke

Carl Nielsen (1865-1931): Symphony no 6 "Sinfonia semplice" (1924)

Concert was also later broadcast by BBC television on 3 October 1965

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake ballet opus 20: excerpts selected by Stokowski:

- Act I: Introduction

- Act I: Pas de deux for Two Merry-makers

- Act II: Scène

- Act II: Danses de cygnes

- Act III: Danse russe pour Mlle Pelageya Karpakova

- Act III: Danse Espagnole

- Act IV: Danse des petits cygnes

- Act IV: Scène finale

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Pràludes I, no 10 "La cathédrale engloutie" - Stokowski transcription

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

Opening Concert for the 1965-1966 American Symphony season - Stokowski's fourth season as Music Director

John Stafford Smith: Star Spangled Banner

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Orchestral Variations (1957)

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): The Seine at Night (1947)

George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess - A Symphonic Picture

- Fritz Reiner commissioned Robert Russell Bennett to make this arrangement of Gershwin's music

Bach: Chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (from Cantata BWV 80) - Stokowski transcription

- played "In Memorium to Adlai E. Stevenson" who had died 14 July 1965

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor, opus 98

Beethoven: Symphony no 2 in D major opus 36

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Capriccio Espagnol" opus 34

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition - Stokowski transcription

- Iphigénie en Aulide (1774): lento - Orfeo ed Euridice (1762): "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" - Armide (1777): musette - Iphigénie en Aulide (1774): air gai - Armide (1777): sicilienne

Mozart: Symphony no 40 in G minor, K.550

Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Piano Concerto no 1 BB91 (1926) - Jerome Lowenthal piano

Wagner: Parsifal Act III Symphonic Synthesis - Stokowski transcription

Philadelphia Orchestra programme of November, 1965  

Mozart: Overture from Don Giovanni, K. 527

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): The Tale of the Stone Flower ballet opus 118: "Ural Rhapsody"

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version) as adapted by Stokowski

Stokowski in his New York apartment with the clock he designed  

Bach: Christmas Oratorio BWV 248: excerpts:

- Part I no 1: Chorus Christians Be Joyful - Part I no 5: Chorale How shall I fitly meet Thee - Part I no 8: Aria Mightly Lord - Fague Springmann bass - Part II no 10: Sinfonia Shepherd's Song - Part II no 21: Chorus Glory to God

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Die Natale opus 37

Rimsky-Korsakov: opera Christmas Eve (1895) Suite:

- Sacred Night - mazurka Dance of the Stars - Comet - Falling Stars - Dance of the Mischief-Maker - Polonaise - Procession of Christmas Carolers - In the Church

Charles Ives (1874-1954): Symphony no 4

José Serebrier and David Katz Associate Conductors

Schola Cantorum of New York, Hugh Ross director

encore: Christmas music attributed to Ippolitov-Ivanov: "In the Manger" - the Stokowski transcription is in this programme called "Traditional Slavic Christmas Music"

[1966]

Beethoven: Symphony no 6 in F major, opus 68 "Pastoral"

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Violin Concerto no 2 in G minor opus 63 (1935) - Berl Senofsky violin

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Anton Webern (1883-1945): Six Pieces for Orchestra, opus 6

Richard Strauss: Salome opus 54: Dance of the Seven veils

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 6 in B minor, opus 74 "Pathétique"

Beethoven: Symphony no 8 in F major, opus 93

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 10 in E minor opus 93

Leopold Stokowski was born 18 April 1882  

Leopold Stokowski's 84th birthday!

Walter Piston (1894-1976): Concerto for Orchestra (1934) - a tonal and fugal work

Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Symphony no 2 in C major opus 61 (1847)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Pavane pour une infante défunte

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod - Stokowski transcription

Programme for the Riverdale concert  

Gabriel Fauré: Requiem opus 48 (1888)

soloists: 'Offertory' Paul Sohmer baritone, 'Pie Jesu' Sara Ford soprano, 'Liber me' Craig Della Penna, Scott Johnson, Joshua Karter, Paul Sohmer, baritones

Riverdale Country Choir, Robert Rudie Music Director, Horace Mann School choir, Nightengale- Bamford School choir

Herbert Haslam (1920-2005): Chronos

soloist: Mary Lou Gilbert soprano

Jeremiah Clarke (1674-1707): Suite in D Major: Prince of Denmark's March ("A Trumpet Voluntary") - Stokowski transcription

Reinhold Glière (1875-1956): The Red Poppy Act 1: Russian Sailor's Dance - Stokowski arrangement

Stokowski conducting the Riverdale concert from the LP jacket cover - thanks to Edward Johnson

American Symphony programme of May, 1966  

Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas Overture opus 95

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony no 31 in D major "Hornsignal" Hob. I:31 (1765)

Tchaikovsky: Marche Solennelle which Tchaikovsky conducted on the Carnegie Hall opening night in 1891

Carl Orff (1895-1982): Carmina Burana (1936)

soloists: Lucille Perret soprano, Henry Nason tenor, Leslie Guinn baritone

The Dessoff Choirs, Paul Boepple director, Boy's Choir of the Church of the Transfiguration, Stuart Gardiner director

J. S. Bach: "Little" Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 - Stokowski transcription

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Four Seasons 1725

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung" - Siegfried's Rhine Journey, Siegfried's Death Music, Immolation Scene and Act III Finale - Stokowski transcription

soloist not yet known

1966 Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival concert

A concert of the 1966 Proms (The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts)

Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, opus 36

Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Piano Concerto no 1 in E-flat major (1854) - Charles Rosen piano

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Daphnis et Chloé, Suite no 2

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 5 in E minor, opus 64

encore: Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Khovanshchina arranged by Stokowski: Act IV, scene 2 Entr'acte

The Times of London wrote:"Brass were raised one tier aloft behind the woodwind, and behind and above them all were the cellos and basses spread out in two long lines right across the platform - and they were a splendid sight to watch, as well as hear, when their turn came to sing the ripe tune of the Andante in Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony" ⁸²

Opening Concerts for the 1966-1967 American Symphony season - Stokowski's fifth season as Music Director

David Diamond (1915-2005): Overture to Shakespeare's The Tempest

Beethoven: Symphony no 4 in B flat, opus 60

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung" - Siegfried's Rhine Journey,

Siegfried's Death Music, Immolation Scene and Act III Finale - Stokowski transcription

Benefit concert in support of the strike of the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra

David Diamond (1915-2005): Overture to Shakespeare's The Tempest

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Khovanshchina arranged by Stokowski: Act IV, scene 2 Entr'acte

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

encores:

Bach: Prelude in E flat BWV 869 from Book I of the "Well-Tempered Clavier" - Stokowski transcription

Wagner: "Lohengrin": Prelude to Act III

Romanus Hoffstetter (attributed to Franz Josef Haydn): String Quartet in F major opus 3 no 5, Hob III-17 mvmt 2: Andante cantabile (sometimes called "Haydn's Serenade") - Stokowski transcription

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Gayaneh ballet: Sabre Dance

Rafael Puyana harpsichord, Murray Adler violin, Sofie Sollberger and Jacqueline Giat flutes

Handel: Harpsichord Concerto opus 4 no 6 in B flat Major HWV 294 (originally for organ) - Rafael Puyana harpsichord

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): Concert Champêtre for Harpsichord and Orchestra (1928) - Rafael Puyana harpsichord

Arthur Honegger (1892-1955): Symphony no 3 "Liturgique" (1946)

Edward MacDowell (1860-1908): Piano Concerto no 2 opus 23 - Andre Watts piano

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Special concert sponsored by the Kosciuszko Foundation

Chopin: Piano Concerto no 2 in F minor opus 21 - Sylvia Zaremba piano

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937): Stabat Mater (1926)

Schola Cantorum, Hugh Ross director

+++ Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991): Sinfonia Sacra - Symphony no 3 (1963)

American Symphony programme of December, 1966  

Another concert programme likely to come only from Stokowski

Charles Ives (1874-1954): Robert Browning Overture

- Stokowski had given the world premiere of this work in Carnegie Hall on 14 October 1956

+++ Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Lines from the Dead Sea Scrolls (1956): "A Thanksgiving Psalm"

Schola Cantorum, Hugh Ross director

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Botticelli Triptych: "Adoration of the Magi"

Borodin: opera Prince Igor (1887): Polovetsian Dances - Stokowski arrangement

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Three Russian Songs opus 41 (1926)

Schola Cantorum, Hugh Ross director

this work was dedicated by Rachmaninoff to Leopold Stokowski, who had conducted the first performance in Philadelphia on 18 March 1927

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Boris Godunov: excerpts - Stokowski transcription

- Outside the Novodievichi Monastery

- Coronation of Boris

- Monks Chanting In The Monastery Of Choudov

- Siege of Kazan

- Outside the Church of Saint Basil; the starving people and the Idiot foretells the fate of Russia

- Death of Boris

[1967]

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Khovanshchina arranged by Stokowski: Act IV, scene 2 Entr'acte

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Beethoven: Symphony no 7 in A major, opus 92

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Khovanshchina arranged by Stokowski: Act IV, scene 2 Entr'acte

Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite from 1911 ballet

Stokowski and Kodaly in 1967  

Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967): "Hary Janos" Suite from the opera (1927) - Charlotte Péczely cimbalom

Kodaly was present during the BBC recording of this performance. The BBC later broadcast this recording on 16 December 1967.

Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major opus 77 - Joseph Silverstein violin

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Symphony no 5 in B flat major opus 100

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Bachianas brasileiras no 5 (1945) - scored for cellos and soprano, Maria L?ia Godoy soprano

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962): "Escales" suite (1922)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Shéhérazade (1903) - Maria L?ia Godoy soprano

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Jeremiah Symphony (Symphony no 1) (1942)

Bernstein was present at the concert.

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake ballet opus 20: excerpts selected by Stokowski:

- Act I: Introduction

- Act I: Pas de deux for Two Merry-makers

- Act II: Scène

- Act II: Danses de cygnes

- Act III: Danse russe pour Mlle Pelageya Karpakova

- Act III: Danse Espagnole

- Act IV: Danse des petits cygnes

- Act IV: Scène finale

George Enesco (1881-1955): Romanian Rhapsody no 1, opus 11 (1901)

Dvorak: Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 'From the New World'

George Lynn (1915-1989): Gettysburg Address - Lynn was the Music Director of the Westminster Choir which performed this work

Beethoven: Symphony no 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'

Carolyn Stanford mezzo-soprano, Stanley Kolk tenor, Veronica Kusmin soprano, Marvin Hayes bass

Westminster Choir, George Lynn Music Director

Orchestra made up of primarily the Premier Prix winners of the 1967 Concour of the Paris Conservatory

Beethoven: Overture to Egmont opus 84

Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor opus 68

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Rapsodie espagnole (1907)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony no 1 in F minor opus 10

On 7 June 1967, the France-Soir music critic Jean Cotte wrote:"Stokowski directs in Technicolor. With him, music gleams, shimmers, overwhelms. He had an orchestra after his own heart. Its average age is twenty. They are all young Premier Prix winners following the perfecting cycle created this season at the Conservatoire. Its fruits are succulent. What a musical fantasia! At the timpani, the most virile of all reigns a frail young lady. The first violin is a small Japonese girl, fragile except when the music transforms her." ⁸⁴

Tchaikovsky: Marche Slave in B-flat minor, opus 31

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 version) as adapted by Stokowski

Wagner: "Die Götterdämmerung" - Siegfried's Rhine Journey,

Siegfried's Death Music, Immolation Scene and Act III Finale - Berit Lindholm soprano - Stokowski transcription

Stanley Sadie in the Times of London wrote:"His direction of the 'Firebird' was nothing if not effective: at its best delicate with the LSO violins playing suavely and the woodwinds phrasing their music gently, in the Berceuse and especially in the Ronde des princesses; and often very pointed and sharp in accent and rhythm. Yet it was not a subtle performance; and the actual characterization of the music was not searching" ⁸¹

Salle Garnier, Opéra de Monte-Carlo  

Bach: Toccata and Fugue, D minor, BWV 565 - Stokowski transcription

Beethoven: Symphony no 5 in C minor, opus 67

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade opus 35 (1888)

Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Overture Fantasy - Stokowski arrangement

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Khovanshchina arranged by Stokowski: Act IV, scene 2 Entr'acte