1. Class #4: Antonio Vivaldi

2. Biography  1678 (Venice) – 1741 (Vienna)  Father/Son violinists  Innovative composer Form (Sonata) Woodwind Virtuoso violin technique

3. 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."

4. Venice  City/state  Tourism Festivals  Christmas

5. Vivaldi the traveler...  Work Wealth poorly invested  Paris, Amsterdam*, Vienna, Rome Dresden!

6. Professional musician!  Appointment (Patronage) Church and/or state  Music Publishing Dedications

7. Vivaldi the priest...  “The Red Priest” Asthma?  Musical Opportunities

8. The Ospedele della Pieta  “Hospital of Pity (Compassion)”...as it looked then...

9. And today...

10. Theater....

11. Job duties  Teach Violin, viola, flute, oboe, harpsichord and voice  Compose Two concerti every month for public performances

12. Performances  Most famous and admired orchestra in all of Venice! Popularity!  Fame!  Large, heavy curtains. Why?

13. Who are the girls?  Orphans?  Illegitimate?  Physically challenged?

14. Departure...  Why? Popularity Travel Duties included Mass Love?

15. Vivaldi the lover...  Anna Giro 30+ years difference Accomplished singer Scandal!

16. Vivaldi’s music  Prolific 500 concerti, 40 cantatas, 52+ operas, 60+ sacred works  The rest? Ownership?

17. Vivaldi and opera  Six opera houses in Venice  Diversion from sacred music  Profit Ownership  Fame Social aspect

18. Instrumental Music  Attention to timbre  Unusual and new instruments  Sonata (“Sonata Allegro”) form

19. “The Four Seasons” 1718-1720  "The Contest of Harmony and Invention“  Program music  Four violin concerti Three movements each

20. “Spring” (1 st 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.

21. “Springtime is upon us...”  Ritornello Part A Part B  Complete  Partial  Variations

22. “...The birds celebrate her return with festive song...”  Flutes  High Violin

23. “...murmuring streams...”  Low strings Ebb/flow motion

24. “...Thunderstorms... roar...”  Thunder Orchestra  Lightening Violinist  Virtuoso displays

25. “...the birds take up their charming songs once more...”  Flutes  High strings

26. Legacy....  Died penniless in 1741 Musically obsolete  1926 Monastery in Piedmont (region), Italy  Revival Most popular Baroque composer