class #4: antonio vivaldi. biography 1678 (venice) – 1741 (vienna) father/son violinists ...
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Class #4:Antonio Vivaldi
Biography 1678 (Venice) – 1741 (Vienna)
Father/Son violinists
Innovative composer Form (Sonata) Woodwind Virtuoso violin technique
Virtuoso!"Vivaldi played a solo accompaniment-- splendid-- to
which he appended a cadenza which really frightened me, for such playing has never been nor can be: he brought his fingers up to only a straw's distance from the bridge, leaving no room for the bow-- and that on all four strings with imitations
and incredible speed."
Venice City/state
Tourism Festivals
Christmas
Vivaldi the traveler... Work
Wealth poorly invested
Paris, Amsterdam*, Vienna, Rome Dresden!
Professional musician! Appointment (Patronage)
Church and/or state
Music Publishing Dedications
Vivaldi the priest... “The Red Priest”
Asthma?
Musical Opportunities
The Ospedele della Pieta “Hospital of Pity (Compassion)”
...as it looked then...
And today...
Theater....
Job duties Teach
Violin, viola, flute, oboe, harpsichord and voice
Compose
Two concerti every month for public performances
Performances Most famous and admired orchestra in all of
Venice! Popularity!
Fame!
Large, heavy curtains. Why?
Who are the girls? Orphans?
Illegitimate?
Physically challenged?
Departure... Why?
Popularity Travel Duties included Mass Love?
Vivaldi the lover... Anna Giro
30+ years difference Accomplished singer Scandal!
Vivaldi’s music Prolific
500 concerti, 40 cantatas, 52+ operas, 60+ sacred works
The rest?
Ownership?
Vivaldi and opera Six opera houses in Venice Diversion from sacred music Profit
Ownership Fame
Social aspect
Instrumental Music Attention to timbre
Unusual and new instruments
Sonata (“Sonata Allegro”) form
“The Four Seasons” 1718-1720 "The Contest of Harmony and Invention“
Program music
Four violin concerti Three movements each
“Spring” (1st movement)Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,and murmuring streams are softly
caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.
“Springtime is upon us...” Ritornello
Part A Part B
Complete Partial Variations
“...The birds celebrate her return with festive song...” Flutes High Violin
“...murmuring streams...” Low strings
Ebb/flow motion
“...Thunderstorms... roar...” Thunder
Orchestra Lightening
Violinist Virtuoso displays
“...the birds take up their charming songs once more...”
Flutes High strings
Legacy.... Died penniless in 1741
Musically obsolete 1926
Monastery in Piedmont (region), Italy Revival
Most popular Baroque composer