L'estro Prog Notes

January 20–24, 2016 Trinity St-Paul’s Centre, Jeanne Lamon Hall L'ESTRO ARMONICO Mira Glodeanu, guest director & violin soloist This week’s concerts have been programmed by guest director Mira Glodeanu. She sent the following note outlining her concept of the programme, written by her collaborator Marc Dumont. Exploring L’estro armonico: A musical journey through an imagined Italy The astonishing Vivaldi takes the violin to its extremes, with a new harmonic inspiration that was completely out of the ordinary for his time. “Harmonic inspiration” is the essence of the meaning of “l’estro armonico,” and with this collection, Vivaldi offers a sort of manifesto for a “modern” violin. He seems to make light of the greatest difficulties, striving to invent music so swift that at times it seems unplayable, for the sheer pleasure of instrumental colours. This concert may be seen as a musical journey to the heart of music that is free, full of inspiration and humour. It is a journey in two parts — the first around Vivaldi, with two concertos from L’estro armonico, but also the quite unexpected Four seasons by… Giovanni Guido. This Italian composer and violinist, contemporary of Vivaldi, passed through Versailles and remained in France, among the highest royalty, for more than a quarter of a century. This is where he composed his Quattro stagioni, in imitation to Vivaldi. The second part brings us to a different scene, where music becomes theatre. Taking the spotlight are two oboes, or just one, and then two violins. After Vivaldi, this music invites you on a journey away from Italy, passing through Hanover — where Francesco Venturini spent most of his life — and on to Prague, where Giuseppe Tartini spent a few years. This tour, brimming with sunny and poetic music, concludes with the Introduttioni teatrali by another angel of the violin, Pietro Locatelli, who went from Rome to Berlin and then Amsterdam, revealing true instrumental surprises abundant with great “Harmonic inspiration.” Marc Dumont NOTES ON THE MUSIC By Christopher Verrette The publication in 1711 of L’estro armonico, Antonio Vivaldi’s Opus 3, was a pivotal event in the composer’s career. It was the first appearance in print of his contributions to the genre he would become most associated with, the concerto, though by this time many examples would already have been heard in performance in Venice. The choice to publish in Amsterdam with the firm of Étienne Roger, rather than at home in Venice, guaranteed both a superior print and wider distribution. It was, in fact, one of the most reprinted collections of instrumental music in the eighteenth century, and one of the most influential. It was sold in many countries, manuscript copies were also made, and some of the concertos were transcribed for keyboard instruments, notably by J.S. Bach. Thirty years later, when Vivaldi died in poverty in Vienna, L’estro still remained a valuable asset to the publisher. The title has been translated many ways: the “armonico” is relatively straight forward, but “l’estro” has been rendered variously as “whim, fancy, innovation, stimulus, frenzy,” etc. Whatever the best English equivalent, there seems to be an implicit promise of both energy and novelty that Vivaldi delivers in full. There are three basic types of concerto in the collection; for one, two, and four violin soloists, with further variations in texture achieved with the occasional use of a solo cello or divided viola parts. The commercial success of L’estro armonico surpassed even that of Vivaldi’s best-known solo concertos, The Four Seasons, published in 1725 as part of his Opus 8. We know from the dedication page that these pieces had already enjoyed some popularity prior to publication, but a new feature of the printed score was the addition of poetic verses on the subject of the seasons that explain some of the musical imagery. The Italian-born violinist Giovanni Antonio Guido self-published a work of similar concept in France, including French verses [see p. 22-24], although the chronology of their creation is unknown, so it remains unclear who may be imitating whom. Guido was employed in Paris at the household of the Duc D’Orléans (one of Tafelmusik’s “houses of dreams”!), but this piece may, in fact, be associated with a different Parisian house, that of the financier Pierre Crozat, who had a dining room decorated by Antoine Watteau on a four-seasons theme, and may have wanted this music written to complement it. Watteau was also responsible for the only known artistic likeness of Guido, so they were clearly part of the same artistic circle. The poetry and music use many of the same tropes as Vivaldi’s — birds, winds, storms, the hunt — and the harvest goddess Ceres, who is also featured in the Watteau room, makes an appearance. Despite his Italianate name, Francesco Venturini seems to have come from France or the Low Countries and was employed at the Electoral court in Hanover, Germany. (His first boss there was the future George I of England, who also once employed Handel at the court, and was reunited with him when he ascended to the English throne.) Venturini became Kapellmeister at Hanover in 1714, and his Opus 1 Concerti da camera were published the following year. Manuscript copies of some of his works were made by distinguished contemporaries, such as the concertmaster in Dresden, J. G. Pisendel. The Ouverture in G Minor is the introductory part of one of the Op. 1 concertos, which are really orchestral dance suites in the French style. The erudite violinist, composer, teacher, and theorist, Giuseppe Tartini, worked most of his career at the Basilica of San Antonio in Padua. He is best known for a work ensconced in mystery and romance. He claimed that the devil once appeared to him in a dream and demonstrated violin playing beyond his wildest imaginings. The Devil’s Trill sonata was his attempt to capture some of what he heard, though he admitted it does not do it justice. Mira Glodeanu includes a short excerpt from the sonata to introduce the eleventh concerto from Vivaldi's L'estro armonico. The commercial success of Vivaldi’s music enticed a least one composer to impersonate him. In 1737, a purported Opus 13 by Vivaldi was published in Paris under the title Il pastor fido, but it turns out to be the work of one Nicholas Chédeville, a proponent of the musette, a type of small bagpipe. As with the hurdy-gurdy, there were attempts to incorporate these “outdoor” instruments into conventional chamber music. Perhaps his hope was to elevate the status of his instrument by associating it with the work of a higher-end composer. The Pastorale (played here by oboe and cello) evokes the then-fashionable idealized view of rural life that the musette also represented. Pietro Locatelli had a very entrepreneurial career: he managed to publish his first set of concerti grossi while still a relatively unknown young violinist in Rome’s thriving freelance scene, then embarked on extensive travels, during which his reputation grew as a player that always dazzled, even if he didn’t always please the ear. He also developed a reputation for the high fees he commanded, the lavish gifts that were bestowed upon him, and his extravagant garments. He eventually settled in Amsterdam where he was involved in the publishing industry and the selling of strings, as well as teaching and presenting concerts in his house, which, it was noted, were to be attended by gentlemen, and not other professional musicians. He also amassed a large library of books, music, and paintings. An accomplished composer of concertos and sonatas, he also wrote several Introduttioni teatricali. They follow the typical form of Italian opera overtures of this period, being in three movements: the first fast and exuberant, the next lyrical and slower, and the last lively and in triple time. © Christopher Verrette 2015 .

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