Ravinia 2026 Issue 5

HUNTERPAVILION 7:30 PM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 , 2026 MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE DAME JANE GLOVER, conductor ANDREWMEGILL, chorus director STEVEN ISSERLIS, cello † HAYDN “Wild Hunt and Wine Fest” Choruses from Part III (“Autumn”) of e Seasons , . : Musicof theBaroqueChorus HAYDN Cello Concerto No. in C major, . b: Moderato Adagio Allegro molto Steven Isserlis – – HANDEL Zadok the Priest , ( Coronation Anthem No. ) * HANDEL e King Shall Rejoice , ( Coronation Anthem No. ) * Musicof theBaroqueChorus HANDEL Music for the Royal Fireworks , Ouverture Bourrée La paix: Largo alla Siciliana La réjouissance: Allegro Menuet I Menuet II † Ravinia debut * First performance at Ravinia JOSEPHHAYDN (1732–1809) “Wild Hunt and Wine Fest” Choruses from Part III (“Autumn”) of e Seasons , . : In the early s, Baron Gottfried van Swieten hosted informal music gatherings every Sunday at noon in the Imperial Library in Vienna, where musicians read through his collection of music manuscripts. ese activities later evolved into the Gesellscha der Associierten Cavaliers (Society of Associated Noblemen), which he founded in to produce full-scale concerts with resources provided by the princes and counts who were its members. e society re- vived large-scale works by Bach and Handel and patronized living musicians, such as Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. With van Swieten as its driving force, this organization sponsored the composition and hosted private premieres of Haydn’s last three oratorios: the choral version of e Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross ( ), e Creation ( ), and e Seasons ( ). With all three oratorios, van Swieten as- sumed the leading role in developing the libretto for Haydn. Performances took place at the pal- ace of Joseph II, Prince of Schwarzenberg, locat- ed in the central part of the city. A popular and widely circulated collection of four poems by James omson, e Seasons ( ), served as the primary literary source for Haydn’s oratorio, in addition to smaller poetic contributions by Gottfried August Bürger and Christian Felix Weiße. Baron van Swieten was familiar with the German translation ( Jahres-zeiten , ) by Barthold Heinrich Brockes, who also authored the “Brockes Pas- sion” set to music by Handel, Telemann, Fasch, and others. Adapting omson’s poems into a libretto was a multilayered task. All four poems (“Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter”) required substantial reorganization, condens- ing, and rewriting to create a coherent text. Moreover, van Swieten incorporated three rustic gures—the farmer Simon (bass), his daughter Hanne (soprano), and the young peasant Lukas (tenor)—and gave signi cant roles to the Joseph Haydn by Johann Carl Rößler (1799) RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 24 – SEPTEMBER 6 , 2026 74