Remembering Rachmaninoff, Remembering Tchaikovsky

On the occasion of Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday, Midsummer’s Music celebrates with his Trio élégiaque, dedicated to his mentor, Tchaikovsky, with the inscription, “In Memory of a Great Artist.” The “Great Artist” is represented on this program by his First String Quartet.

Sister Bay, Wis. – June 16, 2023 – Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, continues its 2023 concert season with a program commemorating Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday and celebrating his mentor, Pytor Il’ych Tchaikovsky.

Rachmaninoff wrote Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 9, at the age of 19, shortly after Tchaikovsky’s death. The work was dedicated to Tchaikovsky with the inscription, “In Memory of a Great Artist,” and it is one of the few chamber pieces composed by Rachmaninoff. Following Tchaikovsky’s death, Rachmaninoff experienced an extended period of depression. It took him years to work his way out of this aided by therapy and conducting engagements. Eventually, the political turmoil that resulted in the Russian Revolution led to his resettling to Dresden and then finally to the United States.

The String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11, Tchaikovsky’s first of three string quartets, was written with the most pragmatic of intentions: to make money. After six years of teaching at the Moscow Conservatory and running low on cash, he decided to present a concert of his own chamber music. The piece premiered in March 1871. While all the movements of the quartet deserve attention, it is the melancholic Andante cantabile movement that has become famous in its own right. The main theme, which deeply moved Leo Tolstoy, is based on a folk song Tchaikovsky heard at his sister’s house at Kamenka, whistled by a carpenter. The tune is a Ukrainian folk song, “Vanya sat on the sofa,” about an extremely inebriated peasant daydreaming about his love.

Remembering Rachmaninoff, Remembering Tchaikovsky program musicians are David Perry and Roy Meyer, violins; Allyson Fleck, viola; Anthony Arnone, cello; and Jeannie Yu, piano.

Performances are 7:00pm, June 29, at Egg Harbor’s Kress Pavilion, sponsored by David & Genie Meissner; 7:00pm, June 30, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Ephraim, sponsored by Peggy Lott; 7:00pm, July 1, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay, sponsored by Scott & Karin Meyers; and 5:00pm, July 2, at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay, sponsored by Sandy Zingler.

A complete 2023 summer brochure can be downloaded at www.midsummersmusic.com.

Tickets are $38 for adults, $17 for students, and children 12 and under are free with an adult. Premium prices apply for special events. Flex-packs of six tickets for the price of five tickets are also available. Tickets can be ordered at www.midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088.

Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.