Vivaldi: Gloria, Rv 589 / Beatus Vir, Rv 597

Featuring

Nicholas Ward
Anna Markland-Crookes
Jayne Whitaker
Caroline Trevor
Carys Lane
Northern Chamber Orchestra

Schola Cantorum of Oxford
Antonio Vivaldi

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Performer Biography

The Northern Chamber Orchestra, formed in 1967, is one of England's finest chamber ensembles, known for its imaginative program planning and often performing without a conductor.

Compositional Technique

Vivaldi often left intricate musical passages to the instruments while employing the chorus homophonically, a tendency perhaps typical for a violinist.

Compositional Technique

In Beatus vir, Vivaldi uses double orchestra and choir, reminiscent of the cori spezzati style of earlier Venetian composers, and even has two different triads playing simultaneously.

Composer Biography

Despite his ordination to the priesthood in 1703, Vivaldi pursued a musical career, with his first appointment as maestro di violino at the Ospedale della Pietà, an institution for orphaned or abandoned girls.

Compositional Technique

The Beatus vir is structurally cohesive, with the opening music reappearing for the Gloria Patri and the phrase 'Beatus vir' serving as a unifying refrain.

Performer Biography

Schola Cantorum of Oxford, founded in 1960 by Hungarian dissident László Heltay, is Oxford University's longest-running chamber choir.

Composer Biography

Antonio Vivaldi, born in Venice, was the son of a professional violinist and began playing the violin at an early age, sometimes deputizing for his father at St. Mark's.