Ravinia 2026 Issue 2

Gavin’s plot to murder his wife. Scottie takes Judy back to the Mission tower to force a confession, but a nun’s unexpected appearance startles Judy, and she falls to the ground beneath. A distraught Scottie looks down from the edge of the belltow- er, suddenly cured of his vertigo. Herrmann completed his music for Vertigo be- tween January 3 and February 19, 1958, drawing on thematic and emotional parallels in Hitch- cock’s tale and Richard Wagner’s Romantic music drama Tristan and Isolde . The illicit love triangle, consuming romantic obsession, and notion of love as a transformative but also de- structive force influenced Herrmann’s epic or- chestral score. The Wagner connection appears clearly in the “Scène d’amour,” in which Scottie convinces Judy to remake herself as “Madeleine” by changing her clothing, makeup, and hair style. Convinced he is seeing his deceased lover, Scottie embraces Judy with intense romantic passion. Herrmann underscores this climactic moment with Wagner’s “Tristan chord.” ARTUROMÁRQUEZ (b. 1950) Danzón No. 2 Arturo Márquez was born in the town of Álam- os, Sonora, and grew up in a musical family be- fore moving to La Puente, CA, where he studied violin, piano, and trombone and composed his first works. Márquez later entered the Conserva- torio Nacional de Música in Mexico City, studied privately with Jacques Castérède in Paris, and taught composition at the Escuela Nacional de Música, pausing only to complete a Ful- bright-supported master’s degree in composition at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Drawing deeply on Mexico’s diverse musical her- itage, Márquez received commissions from ma- jor cultural institutions and earned the Medalla de Oro de Bellas Artes in 2006—the first time a musician had received this honor. President Felipe Calderon bestowed the Premio Nacion- al de Artes y Sciences award on Márquez three years later. His brilliant series of nine symphonic Arturo Márquez dances has secured a regular place on orches- tral programs, especially the widely performed Danzón No. 2. In the 19th century, the danzón spread from Cuba to the Yucatan peninsula and port cities like Veracruz, traveling the rail lines to Puebla, Guadalajara, and Mexico City. An elegant, romantic couples dance, the danzón is still performed in plazas and other public spaces throughout Mexico, accompanied by traditional danzonera orchestras. In November 2023, Mexi- co City declared danzón an Intangible Cultural Heritage in a ceremony held in its central square, Zócalo or Plaza de la Constitución. HENRYMANCINI (1924–1994) Touch of Evil Universal-International Studios commissioned a film adaptation of Whit Masterson’s novel Badge of Evil in April 1956, assembling a celeb- rity cast that included Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, and Orson Welles. Welles assumed the roles of screenwriter and director, completely transforming the novel into the film noir classic Touch of Evil . Mexican narcotics officer Miguel Vargas (Heston) honeymoons with his new bride, Susie (Leigh), when a bomb explodes near the US-Mexico border, killing two people. The corrupt police captain Hank Quinlan (Welles) leads the investigation on the US side, but irregularities in his forensic techniques and obvious anti-Mexican bias draw Vargas into the case. Quinlan allies himself with crime boss “Uncle” Joe Grandi. They kidnap Susie and frame her with murder, but Quinlan forgets his cane at the crime scene. Pete Menzies, the po- lice captain’s assistant, attempts to extract a con- fession from his boss while wearing a hidden wire. Quinlan discovers this betrayal, shoots Menzies, then is himself shot by his mortally wounded assistant. Susie is cleared of murder and reunites with her husband. Welles filmed Touch of Evil in about three months, then failed to deliver the director’s cut. Anxious studio executives brought on a series of staff editors to finish the project, without Henry Mancini consulting Welles. After screening the film in November, Welles wrote a 58-page memo con- taining dozens of edits and a separate nine-page document, the “Sound Notes,” explaining his concept for the soundtrack. Studio executives implemented very few of these changes before releasing Touch of Evil on April 23, 1958. Almost four decades later, producer Rick Schmidlin initiated a project to restore Welles’s original conception. He enlisted Oscar-winning film and sound editor Walter Murch, who used the 58-page memo and “Sound Notes” as guides. Welles left specific directions for the type of mu- sical realism the film demanded: “The usual ran- cheros and mariachi numbers should be avoid- ed and the emphasis should go on Afro-Cuban rhythm numbers … rock and roll comes through radio loudspeakers, juke boxes … the music itself should be skillfully played … through a cheap horn in the alley … then loused up further.” In the opening scene, Murch transferred the cred- its to the end of the movie and removed Henry Mancini’s Afro Cuban-styled Main Title, leaving only the sounds of the street, bars, and car radi- os—sounds that were part of the original effects track, beneath Mancini’s music. The re-edited version of Touch of Evil premiered in September 1998 at the 25th Telluride Film Festival. “The Female Lens” Suite ANNAMEREDITH (b. 1978) Nautilus (arranged by Jack Ross) Scottish composer, producer, and performer Anna Meredith creates “genredefying” music that travels fluidly among contemporary clas- sical, art pop, electronica, film and television scoring, installations, and experimental rock. Her music has been performed at major concert venues such as the Hollywood Bowl and BBC Proms, pop festivals, clubs, television shows, ad- vertisements, and BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6. Mer- edith has held residencies with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia ViVA and appeared widely as a guest, judge, and panelist on television shows. Her achievements include topping The List ’s Hot 100 (2016), placement on the BBC Woman’s Hour Power List (2018), and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) at the Queen’s Birthday Honors (2019). Meredith has received honorary doc- torates from Napier University (2022) and Cov- entry University (2023) and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music (2022), an honor conferred by then-Prince Charles. “ Nautilus [2011] was written as a sort-of call- to-arms (for myself!),” Meredith explains, “and was one of the first tracks I wrote when I started to work in electronics alongside my acoustic or orchestral writing. This shift was my way to reclaim some power over my writing, making RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 75