It seemed full of promise.

Houston, the vibrant, growing city that had become the center of manned spaceflight and medicine, and André Previn, the wunderkind Oscar winner who toiled in the world of jazz and classical music.

In 1966, the Houston Symphony announced it signed the 37-year-old Previn after Sir John Barbirolli opted to scale back his conducting duties.

"For Previn and Houston, both young, both ready now for their long anticipated new plateau, this is it, a moment of truth," wrote Ann Holmes, the Chronicle's fine arts editor at the time.

Two and a half years later, it all fell apart in a messy divorce.

Previn, who died Thursday at the age of 89, was no stranger to symphony goers. In 1956, he performed as a piano soloist during an all-Gershwin, New Year's Eve performance conducted by Andre Kostelantez. He would return three more times to lead the symphony during its Chronicle-sponsored series of one dollar concerts at the Sam Houston Coliseum.

Barbirolli's departure came during a sea change for American orchestras. A population explosion shifted the median age in America to under 30. In Houston, it was 27. With Previn, who by 1966 was already a four-time Oscar winner and drew upwards of 12,000 to his Coliseum concerts, symphony leaders thought they had found their link to younger audiences.

"He himself had a youthful appearance," wrote Hubert Roussel in "The Houston Symphony Orchestra, 1913 - 1971." "He was small, energetic, and agile; he wore his hair long, with extravagant sideburns, after the fashion much followed by certain youth at the moment, and this seemed to have meaning for young males who showed up in the hall with necks equally shaggy. As a visitor to town Previn had favored the haunts of the 'mod' set, and there was small reason to doubt that in those quarters he was fully approved."

The symphony, Roussel noted, also wanted a younger conductor who would be up for taking the orchestra on tour, a grinding, but lucrative, endeavor that appealed to few of Previn's predecessors.

Previn's sold-out debut as conductor in October 1967 -- with selections from Brahms, William Schuman and Beethoven -- was met with the expected plaudits ("This season could be a sensation," Holmes wrote.). Those early concerts featured a mix of the traditional with the contemporary to keep audiences happy.

But all the good publicity apparently didn't translate into a demand for tickets by young audiences.

"What appeared as a more embarrassing symptom, however, was a falling off in attendance by the orchestra's more settled and habitual patrons," Roussel wrote. "Many of these were not making use of their full memberships, and empty seats measured the losses."

More trouble appeared by the spring of 1968, when the symphony set out on a three-week, 11-state tour, with stops in New York and Washington, D.C. Roussel noted that Previn took a "grudging or condescending approach to the journey. He was severely critical of some of its planning, especially the bus travel required, and implied that, except for its principal dates, the trip was a labor unworthy of his talents or time."

Attendance problems continued as Previn began his second season with the symphony. Around the same time, though, he began to get attention for activities outside Jones Hall.

In late November, the Chronicle's Maxine Mesinger found actress Mia Farrow with the married Previn at Brennan's. Previn, Mesinger noted, was wearing blue jeans, a sport shirt and a blue jean jacket while Farrow, recently divorced from Frank Sinatra, wore a pants suit. Such attire, she reported the next day, didn't pass muster at the plush Warwick Club. Later, the two were spotted at Westbury Square.

"Saturday night they were at a table for two in Maxim's," Mesinger wrote on Nov. 25. "In fact, they were always at a table for two during her visit."

Finally, on Dec. 3, a photo of the two entering Jones Hall made the front page of the Chronicle.

"A news magazine called the affair 'a mad mod romance'; to other observers it seemed a rather clownish display," Roussel wrote. "Whatever the case, the Symphony Society looked on and was not flattered by the type of publicity generated."

Disputes between Previn and symphony leadership over touring continued, which led to a strained relationship. An offer to keep Previn on for two more seasons with an additional title of musical director was met with silence. Citing illness, Previn skipped out on the symphony's visit to Green Bay, Wis., in the spring of 1969.

By May, the society notified Previn that it was done with him. The main reasons included conflicts with his duties as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the attendance drop. Previn figured it had to do with creative control and the selection of musicians and guest conductors.

"I had plans for this orchestra that were far from parochial," Previn told Holmes days after his dismissal. "But the management has control of it now, and I suppose that was what it was all about.

"It wasn't even human. Everyone knows musicians plan one to two years in advance."

In Roussel's book, the symphony society said that since Previn had not signed the contract offered, there was no job for him to be fired from.

The controversy came at a difficult time for the symphony. The musicians' union had not been able to reach an agreement with symphony management over a contract and the annual series of summer concerts at Miller Outdoor Theatre were in question.

Previn moved on. He and Farrow married and welcomed twins in 1970. They divorced in 1979.

Forty years later, Previn and the Houston Symphony left this drama in the past when he returned as a guest conductor in 2009.

"It's nice to see that he has reconciled with this city," then-symphony music director Hans Graf told the Chronicle's Charles Ward.

[Clarification: The Houston Symphony notes that Previn canceled his appearance and was replaced by Kirill Karabits.]

J.R. Gonzales, a third-generation Houstonian, covers local history with an eye toward the people and events that have mostly been forgotten to time. Follow him through Bayou City History on Facebook and Twitter. He can be reached at 713-362-6163 or john.gonzales@chron.com.