Chill With Vivaldi

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Cat No: 8556779

Release Date: 12 January 2002

Label: Naxos - Ex Select Products / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099677929

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: CHILL WITH VIVALDI

Description
Chill With VivaldiAntonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)Known in his native Venice as The Red Priest on account ofhis shock of red hair, Antonio Vivaldi was born in 1678, the son of a barberwho later served as a violinist at the great Basilica of St Mark.Vivaldi studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1703.At the same time he won a reputation for himself as a violinist of phenomenalability and was appointed violin-master at the Ospedale della Piet?á. Thisinstitution specialised in the education of orphaned and illegitimate girls andboasted a formidable musical reputation. Vivaldi's association with the Piet?ácontinued intermittently throughout his life, from 1723 under a contract thatprovided for the composition of two new concertos every month.His later career brought involvement with the theatre, asdirector, manager and as the composer of some fifty operas, many of which arenow either lost or forgotten.Visitors to Venice had borne witness to Vivaldi's prowess asa violinist, although some found his performance more remarkable thanpleasurable. He certainly explored the full possibilities of the instrument,while perfecting the newly developing form of the Italian solo concerto. Heleft nearly 500 concertos, many for the violin but there were others for avariety of solo instruments or for groups of instruments.He claimed to be able to compose a new work quicker than acopyist could write it out, and he clearly coupled immense facility with aremarkable capacity for variety within the confines of the three-movement form,with its faster outer movements framing a central slow movement.Although at one time he had been worth 50,000 ducats a year,his career in fickle Venice began to wane in the late 1730s and in 1741 he leftfor Vienna, where there seemed some possibility of revitalising his careerunder imperial patronage. He died there a few weeks after his arrival, inrelative poverty.Church Music The surviving church music of Vivaldi includes the wellknown Gloria, in addition to a number of settings of psalms and motets. Concertos The most famous of all Vivaldi's concertos are Le quattrostagioni (The Four Seasons), characteristic compositions to which the composerattached explanatory programmatic sonnets. These four concertos, for soloviolin, string orchestra and harpsichord, form part of a collection Il cimentodell'armonia e dell'invenzione (The Conflict of Harmony and Invention), one ofseven collections of such compositions published in the composer's lifetime. Inaddition to concertos for solo violin, Vivaldi also wrote concertos for manyother solo instruments, including the flute, oboe, bassoon, cello and violad'amore, and for groups of solo instruments. Chamber Music Vivaldi wrote a number of sonatas and trio sonatas, many ofthem designed for one or two violins and basso continuo. He also wrote a seriesof chamber concertos, compositions similar in approach to the solo and multipleconcertos, but scored for smaller groups of instruments.Tra
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