Ravinia 2024 Issue 2

PAVILION 5:00 PM SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2024 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MARIN ALSOP, conductor HAYATO SUMINO, piano † CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, op. 11 Allegro maestoso Romanze: Larghetto Rondo: Vivace Hayato Sumino –Intermission– STRAUSS Don Juan , op. 20 RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 Lever du jour—Pantomime—Danse générale † Ravinia debut Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of Mainstage Sponsor the Ravinia Women’s Board . FRYDERYK FRANCISZEK CHOPIN (1810–1849) Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, op. 11 Scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, trombone, timpani, strings, and solo piano Both of Chopin’s completed piano concertos emanated from a glorious one-year period of musical ingenuity—1829–30. Some early biog- raphers report a third concerto that apparently never progressed beyond the planning stage. The young Pole brimmed with enthusiasm after his recent successes in Vienna, where he excit- ed the typically staid audiences with “exotic” mazurkas, polonaises, and Krakowiaks and his phenomenal improvisation skills. Love, or rath- er infatuation, for a young soprano, Konstancja Gladkowska, further kindled his passion. Konstancja entered the Warsaw Conservatory in 1826. A chance encounter with Chopin, a fel- low conservatory student, left no impression on the young woman. However, the pianist-com- poser was absolutely smitten by the charming chanteuse . To his friend Tytus Woyciechowski, Chopin swooned like a love-struck adolescent: “I have—perhaps to my misfortune—already found my ideal, which I worship faithfully and sincerely. Six months have elapsed, and I have not yet exchanged a syllable with her of whom I dream every night.” Indeed, Konstancja possessed Chopin’s every thought, especially while he wrote the two piano concertos. The slow movements in both works embody his affection. Chopin described the Lar- ghetto of his new Piano Concerto No. 1 in E mi- nor, op. 11 (composed after the Concerto No. 2 in F minor, but published three years earlier) to Woyciechowski: “I have not tried to display dance evoking the dance of life itself, in this case done “somewhat clumsy and rough.” Un- usual instrumentation turns the simple, happy dance step into an awkward, mocking gait. The sarcastic mood continues in the Rondo-Burleske , which the composer privately dedicated “to my brothers in Apollo,” fellow composers who ac- cused him of possessing little contrapuntal skill. Symphony No. 9 concludes with a slow finale in which the “farewell” quotations resume. This anti-climactic ending distances itself emotional- ly and musically from the rest of the symphony (the Ninth begins in the key of D and ends in D-flat) and, symbolically, from life itself. Mahler survived the composition of his Sympho- ny No. 9, which was, in fact, his tenth symphony if one counts the unnumbered Das Lied von der Erde . Believing that he had dodged the curse, he sketched and began orchestrating a five-move- ment Symphony No. 10 during the summer of 1910 in Alt-Schluderbach. Mahler laid aside the score, intending to complete the orchestration the following summer. His feeble heart gave out on May 18, 1911, and the symphony remained un- finished. Fate prevailed in the end. Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic gave the posthumous premiere of Mahler’s Sym- phony No. 9 on June 26, 1912. The performance took place at the Vienna Music Festival Week, a musical celebration that included performanc- es of the Ninth Symphonies of Beethoven and Bruckner. In addition, Walter’s 1936 volume of reminiscences, Gustav Mahler , includes his in- terpretive insights into the Symphony No. 9. –Program notes © 2024 Todd E. Sullivan Bruno Walter (1912) MARIN ALSOP, Ravinia Chief Conductor For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 72. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 89