Ravinia 2019, Issue 2, Week 4

Where earlier composers would seek aristocratic patron- age through a variety of means, one composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93) was pleasantly surprised when a wealthy patron began pursuing him. Laboring as a music professor in Moscow, Tchaikovsky suddenly found himself freed to pursue compo- sition full-time thanks to the obsessive devotion and support of Nadezhda von Meck, the widow of a self- made multimillionaire, who first commissioned several works from him in 1876. The composer’s brother Modest wrote that the friendship “so thoroughly changed the basis of his material exis- tence and, in consequence of this, so strikingly affected his artistic career, while at the same time it was of such a highly poetic nature and so unlike anything that occurs in the everyday life of contemporary society.” (Tchaikovsky dedicated to her his Fourth Symphony, which on August 18 tops Ra- vinia’s annual Tchaikovsky Spectacular with the CSO.) By the time Na- dezhda suddenly and inexplicably ended the arrangement in 1890, Tchaikovsky was an international celebrity and enjoyed a conduct- ing career that took him around the world—he was one of two conductors for the con- cert that opened Carnegie Hall in 1891. Perhaps the most unusual career trajectory in this survey is that of Charles Ives (1874–1954). Most of the compositions of this highly experimental iconoclast remained unperformed until after his death; in life, his career was devoted to the in- surance business—in 1907 he and a partner opened their own insurance company, where he worked until his retirement. (His Third Symphony is at the center of the All-American program performed by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra on August 19.) The classical career of André Previn (1929–2019) also had an unconventional start. While still in high school, he began working in the music department of MGM studios, ultimately staying there 16 years; it’s amusing to note that the first film credit for the man who would later serve as music director of the orchestras of Houston, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles as well as principal conductor of the London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic, was a 1949 episode of the Lassie TV series. He composed or arranged the scores for some 50 films, winning four Oscars along the way and collaborating on the 1969 Broadway musical Coco with Alan Jay Lerner. Acclaimed as a jazz pianist, he eventually turned his attention to classical compo- sition, creating the acclaimed song cycle Honey and Rue and the opera A Streetcar Named Desire , in addition to concert overtures, tone po- ems, concertos, and an im- pressive catalog of chamber works. His final composition, Penelope , a work for soprano, string quartet, piano with text by Tom Stoppard, was co-commissioned by Ravinia and will receive a premier performance by Renée Flem- ing and the Emerson String Quartet on July 28. Ravinia also played a curious if minute role in the launching of the career of Jake Heggie. Hailed as one of the most successful opera composers of our time, Heggie got his start while working as a writer in the public relations department of San Francisco Opera. While in that position, he composed a piece for the young singers of the opera’s training programs for the company’s 1997 gala. Shortly thereafter, the general director arranged for Heggie to collaborate with playwright Terrance McNally on his first opera, Dead Man Walking . He now has to his credit over 300 art songs and eight operas that have been produced by major companies on five continents. (Several of those songs figure into soprano Angel Blue’s August 8 pro- gram.) He no longer needs to write press releases. The Ravinia connection? That PR position Heggie snagged in 1994 had been vacated by another writer who left to take a job as program editor at Ravinia Festival. And in case you’re wondering whatever happened to him , you’ve just finished reading one of his articles. Beethoven is reg a rded a s the first m a jor composer/ performer who supported himself entirely through s a les of concert tickets or sheet music. Liszt took th a t phenomenon to new heights: he w a s not merely a n a dmired performer; he virtu a lly cre a ted the concept of the celebrity a rtist a s we know it tod a y. 26 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 17 – JUNE 30, 2019