Saturday 31 July, St Mary’s Church 7.30pm – 9.20pm

Armonico Consort: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons With Chloë Hanslip (violin), Eloise Irving (soprano) and Edward Button (alto)

Stabat Mater Giovani Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)

Giovani Battista Pergolesi’s renown in during the 1730s had much to do with the premiere of his La serva padrona and his appointment, in 1734, as maestro di cappella to the Duke of Maddaloni. Owing to delicate health (since his childhood) he retired to a Franciscan monastery the following year where he began his Stabat Mater conceiving it for the Neapolitan Confraternity of San Luigi di Palazzo. Its completion on his deathbed has added to its romantic fascination. Much of the work’s appeal during the 18th century stems from its expressive setting of a familiar 13th century text of Franciscan origin concerning the suffering of the Virgin Mary as she observes her son’s crucifixion. Listeners unused to the bitter-sweet and sensual chromatic language applied to sacred text quickly warmed to Pergolesi’s intensely personal response.

Scored for soprano, alto, and strings, the work is divided into twelve separate numbers. Its opening duet portrays the weeping mother standing in front of the cross, her torment evoked in sinuous lines and expressive dissonances. A more rhythmic movement follows in which the soloist’s trills creates accumulating tension. Agreeably harmonious phrases reflecting on Mary’s grief shape the duet ‘O quam tristis afflicta’ and the succeeding jaunty alto aria (‘Quæ mœrebat et dolebat’) gives expression to Mary’s trembling emotions. ‘Qui est homo qui non fleret’ asks who would not weep to see Mary’s suffering, and its two separate pleas join for an animated conclusion, pointing to Christ’s sufferings on behalf of all humanity. Drama inhabits the soprano aria, ‘Vidit suum dulcem natum’ where Mary witnesses her son’s final breath and nowhere less graphic is Pergolesi’s setting of the words ‘Morientem desolatum’.

The lilting ‘Eia mater fons amoris is another example of the composer’s habit of setting sombre words to uplifting music, a notion reinforced in the blistering fugue that follows. A more subdued partnership follows in the gratifying phrases of ‘Sancta mater istud agas’, its five verses pointed by expressive decorative figures, and their subsequent melodic development evolving from the initial intervals. Petitions for endurance are coloured by sombre unison figures and striking dissonances in the alto aria ‘Fac ut portem Christi mortem’, while the flowing lines of ‘Inflammatus et accensus’ support pleas to the Virgin Mary for protection at the Last Judgement. A consoling duet (note the long-breathed lines and exquisite clashes) conjures a heavenly paradise, its eternal joys implicit in the vigour of the concluding ‘Amen’.

Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) (1678-1741)

17th century Venice still enjoyed some considerable financial and artistic prosperity and was one of the most important musical centres in Italy. Despite economic decline by the time Vivaldi was born, the new musical genres of instrumental concerto and opera had become fashionable with the aristocracy and the middle classes. Public demand for new music was so great that by the 18th century Venice had no fewer than six opera houses. Such was the city’s musical opulence that the charitable institutions housing and educating hundreds of orphan girls were able to boast highly respectable and . Not surprisingly the musical and financial resources offered by the orphanages attracted eminent musicians, and it was at the Ospedale della Pietà that Antonio Vivaldi’s career began in 1703. His intermittent association with the orphanage involved teaching the violin, leading the and writing instrumental music for the various resident ensembles. In parallel to these duties, he became a successful virtuoso and, as composer, wrote over 250 concertos for his own instrument. Of these his le quattro Stagioni is the most celebrated. Dating from 1725, it comprises four concertos (in a fast slow fast design) with each season colourfully evoked with an unfailing imagination and irrepressible vitality.

Violin Concerto in E major Op. 8 No. 1 La Primavera (Spring) Allegro: the arrival of spring, birdsong, murmuring brooks, thunder and the return of birdsong. Largo e pianissimo sempre: a sleeping goat-herd, a barking dog and rippling leaves. Danza pastorale: a rustic dance with a 12/8 bagpipe rhythm.

Violin Concerto in G minor Op. 8 No. 2 L’ Estate (Summer) Allegro non molto: drooping phrases suggest the heat of summer, followed by portraits of a cuckoo, turtle dove and a goldfinch. Adagio – Presto: weariness and unease in the weather alternates with flies and thunder. Presto: dashing rain, hailstones and thunder and lightning clear the summer air.

Violin Concerto in F major Op. 8 No. 3 L’ Autunno (Autumn) Allegro: a peasant celebration of the harvest with sedate dancing becoming ever wilder as everyone falls ‘under the influence’. Adagio molto: a scene of sleeping and repentant drunks. Allegro: a hunt complete with horn calls, a chase and capture of the fleeing prey.

Violin Concerto in F minor Op. 8 No. 4 L’ Inverno (Winter) Allegro non molto: Frost and ice make the teeth chatter. Largo: A scene of contentment sitting by the warmth of a fire. Allegro: Cautious response to the ice as, with falling phrases, it begins to melt. Finally, winter brings joy and the work reaches an exhilarating conclusion.

Generously sponsored by Tim & Jane Barrington, Robert & Lynda Moorby, Nicholas & Ronagh Wheeler, Augustus Brandt, Newlands House Gallery and Petworth Places