Ravinia 2026 Issue 5

DAME JANEGLOVER British conductor Jane Glover, invested a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in , has been Music of the Baroque’s music director since and principal guest conduc- tor of the Fort Worth Symphony since . Fol- lowing her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in , Glover joined Glyndebourne’s artistic team in and was Music Director of its touring opera company during – . She was also artistic director of the London Mozart Players during – , and from to she was Director of Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is now a Visiting Professor. Glover was recently Visiting Professor of Opera at the University of Oxford, her alma mater. In she received the Royal Philharmonic Soci- ety’s Gamechanger Award in recognition of her conducting career. A frequent guest conductor at the BBC Proms, Glover has appeared with all the major symphony and chamber orchestras in Britain, as well as ensembles across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States, recently including the New York and Helsinki Philhar- monics; Orchestra of St. Luke’s; Maggio Musi- cale Fiorentino; Camerata Salzburg; Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia Orchestras; and Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Toronto Symphonies, plus the period-instrument Philharmonia Ba- roque and Handel & Haydn Society. She recent- ly debuted with the Detroit Symphony. Highly active in opera with a core repertoire of Mon- teverdi, Handel, and Britten, Glover has led all of Mozart’s works since her rst Glyndebourne credits in the ’ s. She has appeared with nu- merous companies and houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, English National Opera, Berlin State Opera, Opera Australia, Royal Danish Opera, Glimmerglass, Aspen Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Chicago Opera eater, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, New York City Opera, Opera eatre of Saint Louis, Detroit Opera, Teatro Real, and Te- atro La Fenice. She recently led the North Amer- ican premiere of Ferdinando Paër’s Leonora with Chicago Opera eater. Dame Jane Glover has conducted Music of the Baroque for the Ravinia Festival in , , and – . Handel received a royal commission to provide music for the peace celebration. Instead of re- cycling his “ re music” from Atalanta —which had become the standard choice for public re- works displays—he assembled a grand orches- tral suite comprising an overture and ve dance movements. Surviving correspondence from John, the Second Duke of Montague (“Master General of the Ordnance”) revealed a perilous stalemate between George II and Handel over the makeup of the ensemble. e king desired martial instruments, such as trumpets and horns, and “said he hoped there would be no dles.” His esteemed composer insisted on a reduced wind ensemble with strings. e peace celebration began around : p.m. on April , , in e Green Park (prior to , this open meadow was called Upper St. James’s Park). e Description of the Machine for the Fireworks documented the opening of the ceremonial event: “A er a grand Overture of Warlike Instruments, composed by Mr. Han- del, a Signal is given for the Commencement of the Firework, which opens by a Royal Salute of Brass Ordnance, viz . Pounders ( ), Pounders ( ), Pounders ( ). e Salute ended, the Firework begins to display itself.” No critical reaction to the musical component of the peace celebration has survived, but several observers documented the ensuing reworks spectacle in considerable detail. John Byrom, the poet, hymn writer, and inven- tor of Universal English Shorthand, described the evening in a letter to his wife, back home in Manchester: “ o’clock: all over, and some- what in a hurry, by an accidental re at one of the ends of the building, which, whether it be extinguished I know not, for I le it in an ambiguous condition that I might nish my letter. I saw every ne show in front, and I be- lieve no mischief was done by the rockets.” As related by the Honorable Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann in a letter dated May , “the illumination was mean, and lighted so slow- ly that scarce anybody had patience to wait the nishing; and then what contributed to the awkwardness of the whole, was the right pa- vilion catching re, and being burnt down in the middle of the show.” e correspondent for the Gentleman’s Magazine (April ) had a di erent perspective the re (le , or north, pa- vilion), reporting that a rocket had set a wom- an’s clothing on re and noting three deaths: a painter who fell from the temple, a boy who fell from a tree, and a man who drowned in a nearby pond. e magazine also described a heated exchange between two of the event planners: “While the pavilion was on re, the Chevalier Servandoni, who designed the build- ing, drawing his sword and a ronting Charles Frederick, Esq.; Comptroller of the Ordnance and Fireworks, he was disarmed and taken into custody, but discharged the next day on asking pardon before the D. of Cumberland.” In early May, Handel appeared before the Gen- eral Committee of the Foundling Hospital (of- cially, the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) with a generous proposal to hold a bene t concert for the completion of the chapel, which still lacked stained glass windows and furnishings. e General Advertiser (May , ) publicized the program, which would in- clude Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks , the Anthem on the Peace (“How beautiful are the Feet of them that bring good Tidings of Peace,” which had premiered on April at the Chapel Royal), selections from the oratorio Solomon , and a new Foundling Hospital Anthem (“Blessed are they that considereth the poor”). e bene t concert was held at noon on May with the Prince and Princess of Wales, other members of the Royal Family, nobility, and gentry in atten- dance. More than , people attended. Tickets sold for half a guinea. No collection was taken. e king made a gi of , pounds, and an anonymous benefactor donated pounds for the performers. Handel’s handwritten manuscript for the Music for the Royal Fireworks contains multiple lay- ers of instrument assignments. e Ouverture , which recycles music from two unpublished concerti grossi (D major, a, and F ma- jor, b), identi es the number and type of instrument before each sta : trumpet I ( ), trumpet II ( ), trumpet III ( ), timpani ( pairs), horn I ( ), horn II ( ), horn III ( ), oboe I ( ), oboe II ( ), oboe III ( ), bassoon I ( ), and bas- soon II ( ). e word “serpent” (a low-pitched wind instrument played with a cupped mouth- piece and shaped like a snake) originally ap- peared at the bottom of the page but was crossed out and replaced by “contrabassoon.” is pre- sumably re ects the “martial” ensemble that performed at the peace celebration, according to the king’s request, although the numbers do not add up to the reported musicians. Handel later added cues for string instruments between the staves—violins and violas doubling oboes, cellos and basses doubling bassoons—presum- ably for the Foundling Hospital performance. Inexplicably, he struck out several string-dou- bling indications in the dance movements. –Program notes © Todd E. Sullivan RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 24 – SEPTEMBER 6 , 2026 78 JOHN BATTEN (GLOVER)