Download 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