Vivaldi: Four Seasons / La Notte / Concerto in Re minore per Viola d'amore & Lute

"This performance comes out on top of every other recording I have listened to...The Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble produces tremendous rhythmic drive, conjuring up real excitement" (Classic CD)

In the context of Antonio Vivaldi's concertos one is inclined to speak in terms of colours, characters and images. His vocabulary is often very simple, sometimes even breaking the 'rules' of harmony. (Musicians of our own time tend to regard the harmonic principles in Bach's works as 'rules'.) He also works with relatively simple thematic material and often there is little or no thematic relationship between tutti and solo sections. With these simple means he created music that is very atmospheric and very 'Italian' in the sense that its message is so direct, extraverted, often theatrical.

As one of the most popular works of all music, Vivaldi's Four Seasons has become part of every man's patrimony. Almost as soon as it was published its fame spread rapidly and contemporary sources show that it was being performed in various European centres of music only a year or two later. But Vivaldi's music has not always been popular. During his last years he could witness how his music disappeared from the concert platform, being now considered old fashioned. Vivaldi the composer also disappeared from view and his name scarcely figures in musical dictionaries of the late 19th century. If he was remembered at all it was because Bach had made use of some of his music.
Gradually scholars began to recognize his greatness and in a study of the instrumental concerto published in 1905 several chapters were devoted to him. At that time what was known about Vivaldi was based on a few manuscripts and the 13 opus numbers - comprising some 114 works - that had been published. It was not until 1926 that the astonishing collection of his manuscripts was found in the Collegio San Carlo in the north of Italy. We now know that he wrote some 500 concertos.

Among the works published in Vivaldi's lifetime was Opus 8 which, as was customary, comprised a dozen concertos for the violin (or the oboe). The collection was entitled: "Il cimento dell' armonia e dell' inventione" ('The Trial of Harmony and Invention'). This title is particularly apposite in the case of the first four concertos - 'The Four Seasons' - in which Vivaldi takes many playful and inspired liberties with the harmonies.

In the first published edition of the concertos a sonnet was included with characteristic features from the different times of the year. As poetry, these sonnets are not masterpieces but they follow the music in detail and it seems likely that Vivaldi wrote them himself - in which case the question is whether he wrote the sonnets of the music first. Whatever the answer, Vivaldi himself indicated where in the music the different passages of text belonged, for the Four Seasons is pure programme music! We hear the small birds in the spring, a sudden summer storm, autumn's happy harvest feast and the icy cold blizzards of winter. It is not surprising that these affecting concertos have acquired a firm place in the concert repertoire. And there is no longer any risk that they will be forgotten again.

Vivaldi's numerous concertos were mainly written for the pupils of the 'Ospedale della Pietà', the girls' orphanage in Venice where he was employed to teach music. The school laid particular emphasis on music and its orchestra was famous throughout Europe. The Concerto for Viola d'amore, Lute and Orchestra (RV 540) was written for the visit in 1740 of the 18-year old Prince of Saxony Friedrich Christian after the first part of a Serenata, Il Core delle Muse, composed by Gennaro d'Alessandro, maestro di capella at the Pietà. On his return to Dresden, the prince took with him a manuscript of the four concertos composed especially for the visit. If the concerto was actually performed in Dresden it might well have been with the more fashionable baroque lute, perhaps even by the great Leopold Weiss himself.

The Concerto in G minor for Flute, Bassoon, Strings and Harpsichord 'La Notte' is, like the Four Seasons, an early example of programme music. Like many other works for 'Flauto' it is not certain whether Vivaldi intended the recorder or the transverse flute but a consideration of the range and the key strongly suggest that Vivaldi had the recorder in mind. (Keys that suit the recorder well are not so comfortable on the transverse flute and vice versa.) The role of the bassoon is less solistic. It is used to add colour to the continuo line in the tutti and to provide a bass line for the recorder in the solo sections.
The night depicted in this concerto has a sinister beginning. The dotted rhythms and softly trilling recorder of the first movement lend it a threatening atmosphere. The threat is fulfilled in the following Presto episode in which spirits (Fantasmi) fly through the night. This is followed by a brief Largo, in which the singing recorder lines are rudely interrupted by the bassoon (possibly a nightmare), and another Presto. In the second movement, "Il Sonno" ('Sleep'), a peaceful atmosphere is at last reached. The concluding Allegro gives free rein to the solo instrument's virtuosic character, but never allows it to return to the tonic. Instead it is left to hover on the dominant, leaving the night in some way unresolved.
Text: BIS Records