Guido's 'Scherzi armonici sopra le quattro stagioni dell'anno' includes a complete cycle of poems, 'Les caractères des Saisons', with phrases from them placed at crucial points in the music to illuminate the text.
Recording & Production
The cover image for this album is 'Summer' by Jean-Antoine Watteau, one of the Four Seasons panels commissioned by Jean-Pierre Crozat, and is reproduced from the National Gallery, Washington D.C.
Composer Biography
Giovanni Antonio Guido, the Italian composer, remains a mysterious figure, partly due to his habit of using both 'Antonio' and 'Guido' as surnames.
Cultural Impact
Évrard Titon du Tillet, a French writer, credited Guido with helping to introduce Italian music to French audiences around the turn of the 18th century.
Composer Biography
Guido, born around 1675 in Genoa, studied violin in Naples and later appeared in Paris, where he was praised as an 'excellent violinist in the service of the Duke of Orléans'.
Composition History
Guido's 'Four Seasons' concertos may have been commissioned by the financier Pierre Crozat to complement a decorative scheme of the four seasons by the artist Antoine Watteau in his Paris home.
Historical Context
Guido's patron, Philippe II de Bourbon, Duke of Orléans and later Regent of France, was a man of great culture who composed operas and maintained a musical establishment with an interest in Italian music.
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