Ravinia 2024 Issue 3

TERLATO AND RAVINIA A Pairing Made Perfect A perfect pairing includes fine wines and great music. Because you are here tonight, you know that Ravinia provides great music in an incomparable setting. Terlato invites you to elevate your experience with a bottle of wine from their exceptional portfolio, which is available throughout the park and at many Chicagoland retailers and restaurateurs. The Terlato family supports Ravinia because much like music, an appreciation for fine wine also has the power to enrich lives. Family-owned and headquartered in Lake Bluff, Terlato has a diverse portfolio of more than 85 wine and spirit brands from world-class producers in more than a dozen countries. terlato.com | @terlatowines varied widely, running the gamut from “fantas- tic” to “preposterous.” The joint production closed after 11 performances. Neither the opera nor the ballet was staged again during the com- poser’s lifetime. Years passed until Tchaikovsky’s “fairy ballet” enjoyed a significant revival. Two classical pro- ductions in 1934 set the stage for The Nutcrack- er ’s international popularity: Vasily Vainonen’s version for Kirov Ballet in Leningrad (as Saint Petersburg was then named) and Nicholas Sergeyev’s choreography for Vic-Wells Ballet (later renamed the Royal Ballet) in London. American audiences experienced their first fully staged version of The Nutcracker with William Christensen’s San Francisco Opera Ballet pro- duction in 1944. George Balanchine, who had danced several roles in The Nutcracker at the Mariinsky Theater, choreographed the ballet for New York City Ballet one decade later—the pro- duction that ignited a Nutcracker craze in the United States. Act I opens in the household of president Sil- berhaus, whose children Clara (Marie) and Fritz excitedly survey the gifts beneath the brightly Peter Carl Geissler’s illustration from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Nußknacker und Mausekönig (1840) Alexandre Dumas’s Histoire d’un casse-noisette (1889) adorned Christmas tree. Midnight strikes. The children’s godfather, Drosselmeyer, arrives with four expensive mechanical dancing dolls, which Silberhaus removes to his study. Drosselmeyer gives a nutcracker to Clara and Fritz, who breaks the wooden figurine. Clara cares for the dam- aged toy, wrapping it in cloth and placing it in a doll’s cradle. The children are sent to bed as the party guests bid farewell. When the house falls silent, Clara returns to check on the nutcracker, only to find the toys have come to life. An army of mice battles a battalion of gingerbread sol- diers. The Nutcracker wounds the Mouse King, forcing him to retreat. Clara and the Nutcrack- er disappear into the Christmas tree branches. Snowflakes descend during a wintry waltz. Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35 Scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings, and solo violin “I neither know, nor can I understand, why, despite such favorable circumstances, I am not disposed to work. Am I played out? I have to squeeze out of myself weak and worthless ideas and ponder every bar. But I shall achieve my goal, and I hope inspiration will dawn upon me.” At his retreat in Clarens, Switzerland, Tchaikovsky initiated a new compositional proj- ect in 1878 that, he hoped, would revive his be- leaguered spirits. The disillusionment caused by his short-lived, disastrous marriage to Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova still clouded his thoughts and dulled his imagination. Josef Kotek, a graduate of the Moscow Conser- vatory, arrived in Clarens, bringing a welcome breath of fresh air. This young violinist was res- ident musician to the wealthy and eccentric Nadezhda von Meck. Two years earlier, Kotek had convinced her to commission several short works for violin and orchestra from Tchaikovsky. Thrilled by the results, she offered Tchaikovsky a substantial annual salary, free- ing him from teaching responsibilities at the conservatory. As Tchaikovsky’s patron and friend, the influential Meck helped expedite his divorce proceedings. Plans for a violin concer- to quickly came into focus. By March 28, 1878, Tchaikovsky had completed three movements. Dissatisfied with the slow movement, he ex- cised it and wrote another. (The original move- ment later became the “Méditation” in his Sou- venir d’un lieu cher , op. 42.) He finished the orchestration on April 11. Tchaikovsky praised Kotek for his devotion to the new work: “How lovingly he busies himself with my concerto! It goes without saying that I would have been able to do nothing without him. He plays it marvelously!” In the end, how- ever, Tchaikovsky dedicated the concerto to Leopold Auer, who refused to perform it, Tchaikovsky with his wife, Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova (1877) RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 65