Christmas Concertos

Description

Christmas ConcertiGeorge Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759)Pastoral Symphony from Messiah Giuseppe Torelli (1685- 1709)Concerto grosso in G Minor, Op. 8 No.6 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)Siciliano from Violin Sonata No.4 in C Minor, BWV 1017 (arr. J. Kr(e)cek) Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)Largo from Flautino Concerto in C Major, RV 443 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)Air from Suite No.3 in B Minor, BWV 1068 Pietro Antonio Locatelli (1695 - 1764) Concerto grosso in F Minor, Op. 1 No.8 Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)Flute Concerto in F Major, La tempesta di mare, RV 433 attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)Capriccio from Suite No.5 in G Minor, BWV 1070 The Concerto grosso, a form of instrumental music in which a smaller group of players, the concertino, generally consisting of two violins, cello and harpsichord, is contrasted with the rest of the orchestra, the ripieno players, developed in the later 17th century and was much imitated by later Baroque composers in the first half of the 18th century. The Christmas Concerto added to this form of composition, or included in it, a siciliano movement, a pastorale, making it suitable for performance during the vigil preceding Christmas Day. The most famous of all Christmas Concertos was the work of the composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli, first published posthumously in 1714. The genre has an older history. The one musical element that was associated with Christmas was the pastoral Siciliano, a shepherd dance originating in Sicily, described by theorists as a slow gigue, as far its rhythm was concerned, with a generally calming effect on the listener. The first reference to a composition of this kind occurs in 1637 in Venice, with the publication of a collection of Pastorali Concerti al Presepe (Pastoral Music at the Crib), of which one item seems to have been purely instrumental. Among the composers credited with the development of the concerto, one of the most important is Giuseppe Torelli, who was born in Verona in 1658 but made his career primarily in Bologna, where he was employed in the musical establishment of the basilica of San Petronio and was from 1684 a member of the distinguished Accademia Filarmonica, a musical association demanding the highest standards of academic competence. His Opus 8, published posthumously in 1709, was a set of twelve concerti grossi, described in the title as Concerti grossi con una pastorale per il Sa. Natale. The pastoral referred to forms part of the sixth concerto of the collection. Johann Sebastian Bach made various use of the Siciliano dance-form, notably in his Christmas Oratorio, where it performs the expected function of setting the scene for shepherds in the fields at the first Christmas. The fourth of his six sonatas for violin and harpsichord, five of which are in church sonata style, contains a Siciliano slow movement. The very familiar Air from the B minor orchestral suite, written during the composer's later career in Leipzig as Cant