Ravinia 2026 Issue 1

mutual friend, the singer Eva Gauthier. Gersh- win’s piano playing astounded the Frenchman. Gauthier wrote, “George that night surpassed himself, achieving astounding feats in rhythmic intricacies so that even Ravel was dumbfound- ed.” When Gershwin traveled to Paris in 1928, he asked to study composition with Ravel, only to receive a complimentary refusal: “Why should you become a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?” The influence of Ger- shwin’s piano playing (including distinct echoes of the Rhapsody in Blue ) is strongly felt in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. The Allegramente reveals a strikingly stylistic palette within the lines of traditional sonata form. A startling snap launches the movement on its rhythmically propulsive path, under- scored by the piano figuration. Ravel begins with a Basque-styled theme assumed by a trum- pet, giving it a Coplandesque coloration. The first piano solo wavers between jazz influences and the composer’s own Impressionist language. A high-lying bassoon melody and trumpet re- sponse accentuate the jazz legacy. Cadenzas for harp—playing sonorous glissandos and a mel- ody in harmonics—and the woodwind section break up the development. A solo-piano caden- za prefaces the melodically rich recapitulation. The Adagio assai , a movement of exquisite beau- ty, offers pure Ravelian lyricism. The solo-piano introduction establishes an atmosphere of mys- tical simplicity belied by the conflicting rhyth- mic patterns in the left and right hands (6/8 and 3/4, respectively). Strings and woodwinds enter with greatest delicacy, adding melodic phras- es above the piano accompaniment. The piano leads into a central section devoted to harmonic wandering and an elaborately embellished treble part. These figurations gain rhythmic impulse as the original melody reappears in the soulful English horn. Ravel returns to the “divertimento” ideal in his Presto finale, a type of sonata-rondo. Rapid pi- ano figures combine with clarinet, trombone, piccolo, and trumpet wails. This primitivistic music recalls Stravinsky’s Petrushka ballet score. Marguerite Long Clarinets and piano engage in a supple exchange of ideas. Horns and trumpets add a march-like theme. The movement drives excitedly to its conclusion. RICHARDSTRAUSS (1864–1949) Suite from Der Rosenkavalier (arranged by Artur Rodziński) Scored for three flutes and piccolo, three oboes and English horn, two A clarinets, one E-flat clarinet, and one bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, glockenspiel, triangle, tambourine, side drum, rattle, cymbal, bass drum, celesta, two harps, and strings Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss became the most important and innovative op- eratic team of the 20th century, perhaps in the whole history of opera. An elegant versifier, Hofmannsthal had imagination, dramatic pli- ability, and abundant (though certainly not lim- itless) tolerance for the temperamental compos- er. Their first joint venture was the stunning one-act opera Elektra , a modernist thriller set in ancient Mycenae. Strauss and Hofmannsthal next devised a three-act comic opera situated in mid-18th-century Vienna during the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa. This comedy also borrowed character types from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro , including a lecherous and imbecilic aristocrat, a passionate young man (performed as a trouser role), and a noblewom- an whose melancholy grows as her beauty fades with age. Remarkably, Strauss and Hofmanns- thal conceived, wrote, and staged this second opera in less than two years. Ernst von Schuch conducted the first performance in Dresden at the Royal Opera House on January 26, 1911. Der Rosenkavalier became an instant success and has remained Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s most fa- miliar collaboration. Princess Marie Thérèse Werdenberg—wife of the Field Marshal, hence the appellation Feld- marschallin, or simply Marschallin—carries on Richard Strauss (1910) an affair with the 17-year-old Count Octavian Rofrano (usually interpreted by a mezzo-so- prano). The Marschallin’s buffoonish cousin, Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (“a rustic Don Juan beau,” according to Strauss), arrives to an- nounce his engagement to Sophie, the daughter of wealthy Herr von Faninal, recently out of a convent. (Strauss and Hofmannsthal original- ly called their opera Ochs auf [sometimes von ] Lerchenau .) Octavian arrives disguised as the chambermaid Mariandel, with whom the Baron flirts. The Baron seeks an envoy to deliver a silver rose to Sophie. The Marschallin suggests Octavian for the part of Rose Knight (prompting the ultimate title, Der Rosenkavalier ). When Octavian de- livers the rose, he and Sophie fall immediately in love. The Baron makes a less impressive en- trance, offering unflattering remarks to his be- trothed. Octavian declares that Sophie will not marry the Baron. Ochs draws his sword and is slightly wounded by Octavian. Dressed again as Mariandel, Octavian lures the Baron into a trap at dinner to the accompaniment of numerous waltzes. Police are summoned to witness Ochs’s alleged infidelity. The wedding contract with Sophie is nullified. Attracted by the commotion, the Marschallin arrives and, observing the love between Octavian and Sophie, releases her for- mer lover to the young maiden. Period flavor accounted for much of Der Rosen- kavalier ’s popularity. Though the waltz prop- erly represented the 19th century (the minuet would have been a more appropriate dance for the 18th-century setting), its graceful triple-time embodied a vanishing age of elegance. This dance component invariably elicited compar- isons with the other waltzing Strauss (of no relation)—Johann Strauss Jr. For the 1925 film version of Der Rosenkavalier directed by Robert Wiene, Richard Strauss arranged several instru- mental numbers and composed a new march. He also compiled two waltz sequences of dance music from Acts I and II (1944) and Act III (1934) for concert performances. The popularity of the waltzes and other segments of the opera also prompted the well-known Rosenkavalier Suite. This unbroken potpourri of themes was not Strauss’s own, but one fash- ioned by conductor Artur Rodziński (though unattributed in the score), who premiered the suite with The Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York on October 5, 1944, before its pub- lication the following year. –Program notes © 2026 Todd E. Sullivan RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 11 – JULY 19 , 2026 72