Ravinia 2025 Issue 2

movement employs extreme textural chang- es—unisons contrasting with full sonorities—to highlight thematic material. Its tempo marking, Allegro con brio , recalls the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”). Half- way through the movement, Widmann inserts a fragment from the Vivace portion of the first movement of Symphony No. 7 in A major. Next come 10 variations on the “Alla danza te- desca” theme, which vary greatly in character, tempo, and length (ranging from two to thir- ty-five measures). The fifth variation ends with a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the opening “Fate” motive from the Symphony No. 5 in C minor. Widmann concludes with a monumental Ron- do that “repeatedly becomes caught up, almost ad absurdum , in its own breathless playfulness.” The Symphony No. 7 fragment reappears amid this frenetic activity. Widmann’s String Quartet No. 8 ( Beethoven Study III ) was commissioned by the Juilliard String Quartet, The Juilliard School, and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, sponsored by Walter Swap, with commissioning partners Green Music Center at Sonoma State Univer- sity, Meany Center for the Performing Arts, Chamber Music Society in Napa Valley, and Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam. The Juil- liard String Quartet gave the first performance of the Variationen über Beethovens “Alla danza tedesca” movement on December 16, 2020, in a livestream performance from Tucson, AZ. The ensemble returned to Tucson to premiere the complete string quartet live on October 26, 2022, at the Leo Rich Theater, as part of the Ari- zona Friends of Chamber Music series. FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847) String Octet in E-flat major, op. 20 Mendelssohn returned to Berlin in March 1825 after a brief, but disappointing, stay in Paris. The trip home took him through Weimar, where he paid a visit to the great German Romantic writer JohannWolfgang von Goethe. After settling into the family’s new residence at 3 Leipziger Strasse, a country manor formerly part of the hunting preserve of Frederick the Great, Mendelssohn began his string octet for four violins, two violas, and two cellos. Though not a common instru- mental ensemble, a double string quartet had been utilized before Mendelssohn, most notably by the German composer Louis Spohr (1784– 1859). Mendelssohn’s greatest contribution to the genre rests in his constant transformation of instrumental color through numerous and var- ied string combinations. This work offers a wide range of textures, from the delicately scored segments for a typical string quartet grouping to the forceful tremolos and multi-stops of the quasi-symphonic por- tions. Mendelssohn elaborated: “This octet must be played by all the instruments in symphonic orchestral style. Pianos and fortes must be strictly observed and more strongly emphasized than is usual in pieces of this character.” The oc- tet was completed in October 1825 and dedicat- ed to violinist Eduard Rietz, the composer’s close friend. In the Allegro moderato, ma con fuoco , the 16-year-old Mendelssohn developed instrumental textures as well as basic motives found in the principal themes. The lyrical An- dante demonstrates all the sonorous elegance of the eight-part string ensemble. A sprightly Scherzo , one of Mendelssohn’s most enduring and delightful pieces, draws its literary inspiration from the final lines of the “Walpurgis Night” episode in Goethe’s Faust . This movement evokes an almost supernatural world, according to his sister Fanny: “The lone, shivering tremolando , the lightly flickering mor- dents, everything is new, strange, and yet so at- tractive, so sympathetic. One feels so close to the spirit world, so lightly drawn into the sky, one might even wish for a broomstick, the better to follow the mischievous host.” This elfin atmo- sphere foreshadowed the Overture to A Mid- summer Night’s Dream , written one year later. As demonstration of his personal regard for this movement, Mendelssohn frequently substituted an orchestrated version of this Scherzo for the minuet in his Symphony in C minor. The oc- tet culminates in an unusual Presto movement. Rapid motion in the opening measures catapults the movement into an elaborate fugato. A brief reminiscence of the Scherzo provides overall co- hesion to the octet. –Program notes © 2025 Todd E. Sullivan Felix Mendelssohn by James Warren Childe (1825) JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946, the ensemble draws on a deep and vital en- gagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring. The quartet is proud to continue their decades-old tradition of commissioning and performing world premieres each season. Recent premieres have included two works by celebrated German composer Jörg Widmann, inspired by Beetho- ven’s op. 130 string quartet; a quartet by Tyson Davis, premiered at The Kennedy Center; and a quartet titled Fragments , written by Mario Davidovsky. This season, the Juilliard Quartet collaborated on tour with violinist Itzhak Per- lman and pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, performing at such venues as Los Angeles’s Disney Hall and San Francisco’s Da- vies Symphony Hall, as well as with soprano Tony Arnold and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Highlights of the past year have also included the premiere of Together Apart , a work dedicated to the quartet’s late former vio- list Roger Tapping, written by Iraqi American composer Michelle Ross, plus concerts across Europe and the US at such venues as London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, Sal- zburg’s Mozarteum Grosse Saal, and New York’s Alice Tully Hall. Another facet of the Juilliard Quartet’s ongoing legacy is a prolific and cele- brated discography, most recently on Sony Mas- terworks. The ensemble’s latest album features music by Beethoven, Bartók, and Dvořák, and the group recently released the premier record- ing of Fragments paired with further Beethoven and Bartók works. The Juilliard Quartet’s re- cordings of the complete Bartók and Schoen- berg quartets, the Debussy and Ravel quartets, and Beethoven’s “late quartets” earned Grammy Awards in 1966, 1978, 1972, and 1985 (respective- ly), and the ensemble became the first Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award laureate in 2011. The Juilliard String Quartet first appeared at Ravinia in 1976, returned nearly every summer between 2000 and 2019, and tonight marks their 22nd season at the festival. Violist Molly Carr held a fellowship at Ravinia’s Steans Institute in 2011 and 2012. ISIDORE STRING QUARTET Read the Isidore Quartet’s biography on page 69. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 73