Vivaldi: Chamber Concertos

Regular: £11.49

Sale: £11.49
Regular

Out of Stock

Unit Price: per

Cat No: 8557215

Release Date: 10 January 2005

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313221523

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: VIVALDI

Description
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)Concertos for RecorderAntonio Vivaldi was born in 1678, the son of a barberwho later served as a violinist at the great Basilica of SanMarco, where the Gabrielis and then Monteverdi hadpresided. Vivaldi studied for the priesthood and wasordained in 1703. At the same time he won a reputationfor himself as a violinist of phenomenal ability and wasappointed violin-master at the Ospedale della Piet?á. Thislast was one of four such charitable institutions,established for the education of orphan, indigent orillegitimate girls and boasting a particularly fine musicaltradition, which attracted visitors to Venice from othercountries. Here the girls were trained in music, some ofthe more talented continuing to serve there as assistantteachers, earning the dowry necessary for marriage.Vivaldi's association with the Piet?á continuedintermittently throughout his life, interrupted in 1718when he moved for three years to Mantua as Maestro diCappella da Camera to Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt, appointed governor of the city by theEmperor in Vienna. In Venice again, in 1723 Vivaldireturned to the Piet?á under a freer form of contract thatprovided at first for the composition of two newconcertos every month, some of which he would himselfdirect. At the same time he enjoyed a connection withthe theatre, as the composer of some fifty operas, andpossibly many more, and as director and manager. Hefinally left Venice in 1741, travelling to Vienna, wherethere seemed some possibility of furthering his careerunder the imperial patronage of Charles VI, whoserelatively sudden death proved as inopportune forVivaldi as it did for the Habsburg dynasty. Vivaldi diedin Vienna in July, a month to the day from his arrival inthe city, in relative poverty. At one time he had beenworth 50,000 ducats a year, it seemed, but now had littleto show for it, as he arranged for the sale of some of themusic he had brought with him.In perfecting the newly developing form of theItalian solo concerto Vivaldi played an important part.He left nearly five hundred concertos. Many of thesewere for his own instrument, the violin, but there wereothers for a variety of solo instruments or for groups ofinstruments. He claimed to be able to compose a newwork quicker than a copyist could write it out, and heclearly coupled immense facility with a remarkablecapacity for variety within the confines of the threemovementform, with its faster outer movementsframing a central slow movement.Some 22 concertos of Vivaldi survive, scored forvarious instruments and in various sources, with bassocontinuo. Seven of these, here recorded, include therecorder, while two others offer alternativeinstrumentation, suggesting flute or violin as possiblealternatives. The Concerto in G minor, RV 103, is scoredfor recorder, oboe, bassoon and harpsichord continuo,instrumentation particularly effective in this chamberconcerto. The first movement, with the customaryrecurrent ritornello, is followed by a
Tracklisting