SPECIAL CONCERT
OTTO
KLEMPERER~ with thl
"KOL
YISRAEL"
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
•
, Saturday. 20.5.67 at 8.45 p.m.
Binyanei Ha'uma
Jerusalem
UPON THE GRACIOUS SUGGESTION OF CONDUCTOR
Dr.
OT:rO
THE~
KLEMPERER,
ALL PROCEEDS OF THlS CONCERT GO TO THE . HEBREW UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM.
•
ISRAE.L · W~LOOMES Once upon a time - it s~s incredible it is less than forty years ago ~ there was a great city in which four great music ,institutions . were · permanently directed ·by Jour ' great musical personalities. .Each had a well-planned artistic pro·.gramms of hiB own, each had his own 8p!;*)ial public; and there were no jet p1anes yet to tral;lsportthem to another . c:i.ty abnost every week of the year. The public kn~wthat opera .andsymphony orchestra were in permanent hands; ope,ra ~nsemble6 'andSyII1phony orchestras each reflected the musical leanings and '1!tyle of their own conductor who was able to mould them and attain performances. of a unity and greatness that only ' long-term ' hard work .can ever ' l;l(1hieve. .1his. city., was Berlin. BiraNo W ALTERwas~usic' di:rector the . Staedtische, 0 p er a, Oharlottenburg. WILHELM · FURTWAEN:'GLER was pennanent . oonduqOOI' of . the Berlin ,; Philharmonic Orchestra. ' E RIO H ·XL EI B EN was at the head of the Staatsoper Upter . den .LitMen. OTTO KLEMPERER was musical director of the KroHoper, · the State Opera's second house. Great music could be heard in each of these houses then, but it was Klemperer's opera and Klemperer's symphony orchestra that presented the most interesting and most daring performances. His staging of standard music dramas and his premieres of new contemporary works were most widely discussed and disputed by public and press alike and Klemperer never permit-
01
OTTO ' KLEMPERER .\ ted adverse criticism to influence his own set 'artistic policy. . He searched for the deeper meaning in the musical masterworks he cherished most and he ·gave a hearing to each and every composer of the time who had something original to say. His fanatic search for artistic ·truth was in fact a heritage from the composer, and conductor who had the greatest impact on his musical development - GUSTAV MAHLER, who had · first recommended the 22 -year - old ·.Klemperer to the director of the ~'German Opera House" in Prague in 1907, the young maestro's first important musical job. · Klemperer was born in Br8!llau on May ;14th, 1885. Ile grew up in Hamburg and studied music there, and in Frankfurt and Berlin. After three years in Prague M accepted· positions in Hamburg . (1910 -1914), Strassbourg (1914--.-1917), 00logne (1917-1924), and Wiesbaden .( 1924-1927). In the twenties, his fame spread abroad and · he was ·invited to guest-conduct in the U.S.A., in South America, RU88ia and England. It was ·in 1927 that he became musical director of the Kroll Opera House where he soon pr8!l6nted a repertory of more than 40 operas, standard and modern, the most exciting works being Janacek's "From the House of the Dead", Schoenberg's ''Erwartung'' and "Glueckliche Hand", Strawinskv's "Oedipus Rex" and Hindemith's "Oardillac" and "Neues vom Tage". Since 1929 he was also the successor of Siegfried Ochsas conductor
of the Berlin Philharmonic Choir, which took part in many memorable performances under his baton - :flirat and foremost the Passions of J. S. Bach. Klemperer enjoyed the support of Professor Leo Kesten:berg, - then Director of the Department of Music Education at the Prussian Ministry of Culture particulary when the artistic line of the KroiI House met with vehement hostility of the reactionaries, and politiool intrigue was also evident. In 1931, the reactionary forces succeeded in foroing the closure of the House; one can never forget the scenes that Friday evening when the curta:in fell on Klemperer's wonderful performance of Mozart's "Figaro" and a capacity audience passionately protested the disappearance of Berlin's most interesting repertory opera house. O ,t to Klemperer conducted e.t the State 0 per a H 0 use till 1933" when he was forced to leave Germany for the U. S. A. to become conductor of the Los A n gel e s Symphony Orchestra; in 1938 he reorganised the Pittsburgh Symphony. Arter World War II he returned to Europe. Among his
period at the Budapest Opel"a (19471950). Since then he has tmvelled widely and nmde many beautiful recordings of opera, oratorio, and symphonic works, in particular for E.M.I. Records, with the New Philharmonia Orchestm of London, which is regarded as "Otto Klemperer's Own". two small volumes of reminiscences were also published, and Klamperer composed choml and instrumental music. He is an Hon. Doctor of Law of the Occidental College and of the University of California, Los-Angele6. For all those who remember the great performances in the Berlin of the 'twenties and early 'thirties, who heard Klemperer conduct in Europe, after the war and met him in Israel in 1951, when he conducted a smaIl Kol-Israel Orchestra for the first time in Jerusalem and Ramat-Gan, the concert <txrnight is a particularly exciting and joyful occasion. In Otto Klemperer we welcome a conductor who coUnts with the few realy greaJt musical personalities of our time, a musician whose great ambi,tion and artistic aim is to make us hear the inner voices inherent in great music.
nDrogramme
WEBER
OVERTURE t'FREISCHt:"'ETZ"
SYMPHONY NO.8 IN B-MINOR (ilUNFINISHED")
S OR U B ER'Tf
Allegro moderato Andante con moto
-
ADAGIO AND FUGUE
~N
I n t e r m i s si 0 n
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C-MINOR, K. 546
SYMPHONY NO. 41 IN C-짜AJ"OR ("JUPITER"), K. 551 Allegro vivace Andante cantabile Menuet Molto allegro
MOZART
MOZART