Vivaldi's concertos were widely disseminated across Europe, with nine collections printed in Amsterdam between 1711 and 1729, and performed in cities like Paris, Dresden, Weimar, and London.
Compositional Technique
Vivaldi's Chamber Concertos, often termed 'con molto istrumenti', reveal his skill in deploying a wide diversity of instrumental colors to great effect, achieving rich tonal variety within chamber music resources.
Compositional Technique
Vivaldi's Concerto in F major, RV 572, subtitled 'The World Turned Upside Down', allows for the solo violin and cello parts to be interchanged, much like the Greek sea god Proteus who could assume different guises.
Composer Biography
Antonio Vivaldi, a gifted and expressively individual composer, was ordained as a priest in 1703, the same year he was engaged by the Ospedale della Pietà as 'Maestro di violino'.
Composer's Artistic Vision
This album showcases Vivaldi's originality as a sensitive colorist, master of form, and felicitous melodist, whose harmonies and phraseology create a heady atmosphere.
Instruments
Vivaldi's concertos for horns, such as RV 539, were among the earliest of their kind, as horns were not yet a standard component of the classical orchestra in the mid-eighteenth century.
Historical Context
The Ospedale della Pietà, one of four orphanages for girls in Venice, boasted one of the finest permanently established orchestras in Europe during Vivaldi's time.
