- In Italian with English subtitles. Inspector Federico Vivaldi is an old-school cop in a new world: his son is gay, his wife has left him and an ambitious colleague is angling to take over his position. He may be old-fashioned, but he's resilient enough to find his way in his new reality.
- A fortuitous background indeed, into which Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4th, 1678. Though ordained a priest in 1703, according to his own account, within a year of being ordained Vivaldi no longer wished to celebrate mass because of physical complaints ('tightness of the chest') which pointed to angina pectoris, asthmatic bronchitis, or a nervous disorder.
by George Bozarth
Co-Artistic Director, Musique du Jour Presents
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-6589332-1509053508-6740.jpeg.jpg "The Vivaldi")
Last weekend I mentioned that, in addition to arranging a four-violin concerto from Antonio Vivaldi’s popular L’estro Armonico, op. 3, for four harpsichords and strings, Bach “reduced” three concertos from this set for unaccompanied harpsichord, and two more for organ. He most likely prepared these “reductions” during the period July 1713–July 1714, while he was serving as organist to the court of the Duke of Weimar and learning the new Italian style stemming from sunny Venice. I’ve placed “reduced” and “reductions” in quotation marks because, while fitting the full tutti onto just a keyboard, Bach went further and added more contrapuntal lines to Vivaldi’s texture. Some of the concertos he transposed into different keys.
Antonio Vivaldi - Four SeasonsBudapest StringsBela Banfalvi, ConductorYou can get the exact album I have here on Amazon: (affiliate).H. 🎵 Buy 'The Four Seasons' on the Official Halidon Music Store: Stream the album on Spotify: Apple Music &. The VIVALDI Study. National study launched to find out about COVID-19 infections in care homes, led by Dr Laura Shallcross. Care home residents and people who work in care homes have higher rates of infection compared to the general population. Care home residents are also more likely to be admitted to hospital or to die from COVID-19.
Canaletto – The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice
Canaletto-The-Bucintoro-Venice
Canaletto-Veduta-del-Palazzo-Ducale-Venice
CONCERTO No. 3 in G major, RV 310 —> CONCERTO in F major, BWV 978
- Allegro
- Largo
- Allegro
A scalar motive, easy to hear when it returns, opens the ritornello. The solo violin offers up echos and sequences. Standing in stark contrast is the minor-key Largo, with lyrical wisps and arabesques in the solo violin supported by bleak orchestral chords (“Winter”?). Active life is rejoined in the Allegro Finale, which is all hustle and bustle, with the bass charging forward, echo effects and engaging syncopations in the upper strings, and the soloist showing off fast-note virtuosity.
Vivaldi: Performed by Elizabeth Wallfisch, violin, with Tafelmusik, by Jeanne Lamond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6b7WH9Le-E
Watch how Bach adds to the left-hand imitations of the right hand’s scalar motive, to increase the movement’s dynamism.
Bach: Performed by the elegant young French harpsichordist and organist Benjamin Alard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv3sUq-GJe0
CONCERTO No. 9 in D major, RV 230 —> CONCERTO in D major, BWV 972
- Allegro
- Larghetto
- Allegro
For this work we’ll listen to two recordings: Fabio Biondi playing the Vivaldi and Richard Egarr performing the Bach. The Allegro is announced with a group of well-spaced, snappy dotted rhythms open to interpretation — is it a slow introduction (Biondi) or an assertive overture (Egarr)? The same interpretative options are available for the central Larghetto, as witness our two recordings — is it soulfully sad, or is it melancholy yet strongly anchored? On the harpsichord Egarr’s Finale is a bold burst of sound, replete with bounding chords and improvised trills; with Biondi’s orchestra, it is a spritely, dance-like dash-to-the-finish, with quick minor-key inflections.
Vivaldi: Performed by violinist Fabio Biondi with Europa Galante
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymn1i-kMn2M
Bach: Performed by the English harpsichordist Richard Egarr, playing on a 1640 Ruckers harpsichord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CACAlhcmKPM
The Vivaldi Work That Took A Whole
As Egarr notes, “Bach added an interesting part for the left hand in the third movement, and in the first movement he fitted a whole string orchestra onto one harpsichord, while also making the music more appropriate for keyboard.” For a demonstration of how Bach did this, see Richard Egarr’s chat at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYCEqH3RfE&t=os
The Vivaldi Brothers
CONCERTO No. 12 in E major, RV 265 —> CONCERTO in C major, BWV 976
- Allegro
- Largo (Vivaldi) —> Largo e spiccato (Bach)
- Allegro
The chipper ritornello Allegro, with its bouncing repeated notes, is always welcome on each reappearance. The solo violin appears with a bit of the opening motive in sequence before weaving its own extensions of fancy fiddle-work, specializing in showy cross-string playing. The Largo features contemplative dueting between soloist and first violin, often in stepwise sequences, ending in warm, secure cadences. In The English Concert’s interpretation the ritornello of the Allegro final has a galloping feeling, setting off the soloist’s rapid-fire displays of virtuosity. Yet, all ends quietly.
Vivaldi: Performed by violinist Simon Standage with Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bGxZMUoBh8
The Vivaldi Mysteries
Bach: Performed by Robert Hill on a harpsichord built by his brother, Keith Hill, with a scanning score that allows you to see, as well as hear, the step dynamics in the tutti sections using the two keyboards, the brilliant passage-work in the solo sections, as well as how a fine harpsichordist ornaments the melodic lines, inserts poignant hesitations (especially in the Largo), and employs a wonderful variety of arpeggiation (or rolling) of full chords to create lush “orchestral sounds.” After hearing Vivaldi’s original Finale, you’ll be amazed at the incredible arrays of left-hand passage-work that Bach adds to drive the movement forward at a manic pace. You’ll need to take some deep breaths after the roiling, then crashing climax! In Bach’s hands (and Hill’s performance) Vivaldi’s quiet closing takes on a certain nobility of accomplishment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL0LLFcJENg
The Vivaldi Project
During his years in Weimar, Bach also transcribed two of Vivaldi’s double violin concertos for the solo organ. We shall explore these works next week.