Ravinia 2025 Issue 4

PAVILION 5:00 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 3, 2025 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LAURA JACKSON, conductor ZLATOMIR FUNG, cello # TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36 Andante sostenuto—Moderato con anima Andantino in modo di canzona Scherzo. Pizzicato ostinato: Allegro Finale: Allegro con fuoco –Intermission – TCHAIKOVSKY Variations on a Rococo Theme , op. 33 Moderato assai quasi Andante Tema. Moderato semplice Var. 1. Tempo della Tema Var. 2. Tempo della Tema Var. 3. Andante Var. 4. Allegro vivo Var. 5. Andante grazioso Var. 6. Allegro moderato Var. 7. Andante sostenuto Var. 8 e Coda. Allegro moderato con anima Zlatomir Fung TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Festival Overture, op. 49 (with cannons) # Steans Institute alum Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of Premier Sponsor The Negaunee Foundation as well as The Tchaikovsky Spectacular Consortium . The Tchaikovsky Spectacular Consortium comprises an anonymous donor, Sarah & Larry Barden, Jane & David Casper, Winnie & Bob Crawford, Kari A. Guhl & Larry A. Gerber, Betsy & Arthur Holden, Chris & Elise Klein, and Kenneth & Jodi Meister. Ravinia is proud to feature “Charlie’s Cannons” in tonight’s performance of the 1812 Overture. PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893) Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36 Scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets and two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings Terrible crises often provoke uncommonly hero- ic and majestic responses. The Symphony No. 4 revealed the depth of Tchaikovsky’s character in the face of the greatest crisis in his life. In 1877, an infatuated young student at the Moscow Conser- vatory, Antonina Milyukova, began to flaunt am- orous feelings for her distinguished professor. Tchaikovsky found her a “rather pretty girl of spotless reputation,” but did not share her senti- ment. Nonetheless, he soon felt “as though some power of fate was drawing me to this girl.” An- tonina and Peter married on July 6, 1877. The union suffered a disastrous start from which it never recovered. On his wedding day, Tchaikovsky confessed great shame to his pa- tron Nadezhda von Meck, the wealthy widow of a railroad baron. “But as soon as the ceremony was over, as soon as I found myself alone with my wife and realized that it was now our desti- ny to live together, inseparable, I suddenly felt that not only did she not inspire in me even simple friendship but that she was detestable in the fullest sense of the word.” A quick, but pain- ful, dissolution was arranged. The despondent composer found consolation and security in his distant relationship with Meck. In gratitude for her monetary and emotional beneficence, Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony to “my best friend,” Nadezhda von Meck. The Symphony No. 4—written between May 1877 and January 7, 1878, and premiered in Mos- cow on February 22, 1878, by the Orchestra of the Imperial Musical Society under conductor Nikolai Rubinstein—portrayed Tchaikovsky’s triumph over the ill fortunes of Fate. He once divulged that the work’s model was Beethoven’s Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s cabinet card by Émile Reutlinger (1888) RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 75