Jury
Ernest Ansermet
Béla Bartók
Alfredo Casella
Eugene Goossens
Charles Koechlin
Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg
Václav Štepán
Prague (31 May – 2 June 1924)
This was the first orchestral music festival of the ISCM (which was Part One of the 1924 festival).
It was presented in connection with a large Prague music festival in celebration of the Smetana centenary
Concerts
Saturday, 31 May 1924
Bedřich Smetana (Czechoslovakia, 1824-1884): Pražský karneval (1883) [6′];
Otakar Ostrčil (Czechoslovakia, b. 1879; d. 1935): Symfonietta, op. 20 (1921) [38′];
Vittorio Rieti (Italy, b. 1898; d. 1994 in the U.S.A.): Concerto for wind quintet and orchestra (1923) [15′];
Florent Schmitt (France, b. 1870; d. 1958): “Bacchanale” from Antoine et Cléopâtre, Suite No. 2, op. 69b (1920) [10′];
Karl Horwitz (Austria, b. 1884; d. 1925): Vom Tode for baritone and large orchestra (1922) [17′];
Ernest Bloch (U.S.A., b. 1880 in Switzerland; d. 1959): 22nd Psalm for baritone and orchestra (1914) [8′];
Arthur Honegger (France, b. 1892; d. 1955): Pacific 231 (1923) [7′].
Sunday, 1 June 1924
Eduard Erdmann (Germany, b. 1896 in Latvia; d. 1958): Symphony No. 2, op. 12 (1923) [27′];
Serge Prokofiev (b. 1891, Russia [now Ukraine], then living in Germany; d. 1953): Violin Concerto (No. 1), op. 19 (1916-17) [22′];
Arnold Bax (United Kingdom [England], b. 1883; d. 1953): Symphony (No. 1) in Eb major (1922) [32′];
Igor Stravinsky (France, b. 1882 in Russia; d. 1971 in the U.S.A.): Le Chant du Rossignol (1917) [21′].
Monday, 2 June 1924
Albert Roussel (France, b. 1869; d. 1937): Symphony No. 2 in Bb, op. 23 (1919-21) [38′];
Karol Szymanowski (Poland, b. 1882; d. 1937): Violin Concerto (No. 1), op. 35 (1916) [22′];
Gian Francesco Malipiero (Italy, b. 1882; d. 1973): Impressioni dal Vero, 3rd Suite (1922) [10′];
Josef Suk (Czechoslovakia, b. 1874; d. 1935): Zrání (The Ripening), Symphonic Poem, Op.34 (1912-1917) [38′].
Additional concert programs later in the festival featuring new music….
Wednesday, 4 June 1924
Arnold Schönberg (Austria, b. 1874; d. 1951 in the U.S.A.): Bearbeitung für grosses Orchester von Zwei Choralvorspielen J. S. Bachs (1922) [13′];
Alexander von Zemlinsky (Austria, b. 1871; d. 1942 in the U.S.A.): Lyric Symphony, op. 18, for voice and orchestra (1923) [42′] [world premiere].
Friday, 6 June 1924
Arnold Schönberg: Erwartung, op. 17, monodrama for soprano and orchestra (1909) [34′] [world premiere].
Interpreters
Singers: Maria Gutheil-Schoder (for Schönberg), Stepän Chodounsky
Violin soloists: Joseph Szigeti, Alma Moodie
Conductors: Vaclav Talich, Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg, Fritz Reiner, Gregor Fitelberg, Alfredo Casella, Martin Witkowski, Alexander von Zemlinsky (Schönberg)
Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic
Salzburg (6 – 9 August 1924)
Chamber music festival of the ISCM (Part Two of the 1924 festival)
Concerts
Wednesday, 6 August 1924
Arnold Bax (United Kingdom [England], b. 1883; d. 1953): Sonata for viola and piano (1922) [27′];
Kurt Weill (Germany, b. 1900, Germany; d. 1950 in the U.S.A.): Frauentanz, lieder for soprano, viola, flute, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, op. 10 (1923) [12′];
Heinrich Kaminski (Germany, b. 1886; d. 1946): Drei geistliche Lieder for soprano, violin and clarinet (1922/23) [8′];
Ildebrando Pizzetti (Italy, b. 1880; d. 1968): Sonata in F for cello and piano (1921) [36′];
Ernst Kanitz (Austria, b. 1894; d. 1978 in the U.S.A.): Drei Lieder, op. 8 and 9 ?? ;
Ladislav Vycpálek (Czechoslovakia, b. 1882; d. 1969): Lieder, op. 5 and op. 14;
Ernst Krenek (Austria, b. 1900; d. 1991 in the U.S.A.): String Quartet No. 4, op. 24 (1923) [30′] [world premiere].
Thursday, 7 August 1924
Willem Pijper (Netherlands, b. 1894; d. 1947): Septet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, doublebass, and piano (1920) [13′];
Peter Warlock [Philip Heseltine] (United Kingdom [England], b. 1894; d. 1930): The Curlew for tenor, flute, English horn and string quartet (1920-22) [22′];
Ralph Vaughan-Williams (United Kingdom [England], b. 1872; d. 1958): On Wenlock Edge, song cycle for tenor, string quartet, and piano (1909) [22′];
Zoltán Kodály (Hungary, b. 1882; d. 1967): Sonata for violin and cello (Duo), op. 7 (1914) [25′];
Alexander Shenschin (Russia [USSR], b. 1890; d. 1944): Der undurchbrechliche Kreis (Unbreakable Circle) op. 8, 5 romances on poems by Aleksandr Blok for baritone and piano (1922);
Paul Hindemith (Germany, b. 1895; later emigrated to the U.S.A. but then returned to Germany, d. 1963): String Trio (No. 1), op. 34 (1924) [world premiere].
Friday, 8 August 1924
John Ireland (United Kingdom [England], b. 1879; d. 1962): Sonata for cello and piano (1923);
Gian Francesco Malipiero (Italy, b. 1882; d. 1973): String Quartet No. 2 Stornelli e Ballate (1923);
Erik Satie (France, b. 1866; d. 1925): Socrate for voice and chamber orchestra (1917-19);
Francis Poulenc (France, b. 1899; d. 1963): Sonata for clarinet and bassoon (1922);
Karol Szymanowski (Poland, b. 1882; d. 1937): Etudes for piano, op. 33 (1915);
Othmar Schoeck (Switzerland, b. 1886; d. 1957): Gaselen, op. 38, song cycle to texts by G. Keller for baritone with flute, oboe, bass clarinet, trumpet, and piano (1923);
Erwin Schulhoff (Czechoslovakia, b. 1894; d. 1942 in the Wülzburg concentration camp, Germany): 5 pieces for string quartet (1924) [world premiere]. *
Saturday, 9 August 1924
Philipp Jarnach (Germany, b. 1892 in France; d. 1982): String Quartet, op. 16 (1924);
Boleslav Vomáčka (Czechoslovakia, b. 1887; d. 1965): Adagio/Tempo rubato from the suite Hledání (Sinnen und Suchen), op. 4, Nr.2, for piano (1921);
Karel Boleslav Jirák (Czechoslovakia, b. 1891; d. 1972 in the U.S.A.): Marsch, Berceuse, and Scherzando from Na rozhrani, op. 24, for piano (1923);
Darius Milhaud (France, b. 1892; later emigrated to the U.S.A., d. 1974 in Switzerland): Catalogue des Fleurs, op. 60 [settings of poems by Lucien Daudet] for soprano and small orchestra (1920) [6′];
Georges Auric (France, b. 1988; d. 1983): Alphabet [7 quatrains by Raymond Radiguet] for soprano and piano (1922) [6′];
Egon Wellesz (Austria, b. 1885; d. 1974 in the U.K.): Kleine Suite (Die Nächtlichen: Tanzsinfonien, op. 37), for seven instruments (1924) [28′];
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Italy, b. 1895; d. 1968 in the U.S.A.): Coplas, op. 7 for soprano and piano [texts by Jean Richepin] (1915) [15′];
Igor Stravinsky (France, b. 1882 in Russia; d. 1971 in the U.S.A.): Octet for winds (1923) [15′].
Interpreters
Singers: Marya Freund, Lotte Leonard, Charles A. Case, Heinrich Rehkemper.
Violinists: Willem de Boer, Imre Waldbauer.
Violoncellists: Paul Hermann, Beatrice Harrison, Gilberto Crepax.
Pianists: Harriet Cohen, Alberto Casella, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Walter Frey, Henri Gil-Marchex, Willem Pijper, Vaclav Stepän.
Winds: H.W. Draber, Werner Reinhart, Poul Hagemann.
Conductors: Alfredo Casella, Philipp Jarnach, Hermann Scherchen, Othmar Schoeck.
Ensembles: Amar-Quartett (mit Paul Hindemith), Quartetto Veneziano, Zika-Quartett, Zürcher Tonhalle-Quartett, Bläser des Frankfurter Opernhausorchesters, Bläser des Tonhalleorchesters Zürich.
Notes
* As musicologist Yoel Greenberg has noted in a 2014 article:
“The Five Pieces went through a series of changes before reaching the final five movement form. They were first performed as a collection of six pieces, including the later-discarded, highly dissonant Napoletana movement. Two reviews of the performance at the 1924 IGNM festival at Salzburg refer to it as Four Pieces without mentioning which of the original six were performed. Schulhoff also originally intended to include a seventh movement, Alia marcia militaristica in modo europaico, for which there exist two sketches. There is no documentation of the reasons for the exclusion of the Napoletana or the abandonment of the march in Schulhoff’s final version.”
Sources
Edwin Evans, “After the festivals,” Modern Music, Vol. I, No. 3 (November 1924), pp. 22-23.
Yoel Greenberg, “Parables of the Old Men and the Young: The Multifarious Modernisms of Erwin Schulhoff’s String Quartets,” Music & Letters, Vol. 95, No. 2 (May 2014), pp. 213-250 (available online via JSTOR)
Anton Haefeli, Die Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM), Ihre Geschichte von 1922 bis zur Gegenwart (Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1982), pp. 481-482.
Richard Hammond, “Salzburg,” Modern Music, Vol. I, No. 3 (November 1924), pp. 23-25.
Nicolas Slonimsky, Music Since 1900, Sixth Edition edited by Laura Kuhn (Schirmer Reference, 2001), pp. 194 + 196.
(annotated by Frank J. Oteri)