Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Name	Accordion
Names	Danish (free-bass): ''Accordeon''. Danish (standard-bass), Hungarian & Icelandic: ''Harmonika'' French:''Accordéon'' German:''Akkordeon'' Greek:''Ακορντεον'' Italian:''Fisarmonica'' Norwegian:''Trekkspill'' Polish:''Akordeon, harmonia'' Russian:''Bajan'' Swedish:''Dragspel
Image capt	A piano accordion (top) and a Russian bayan (bottom)
Background	keyboard
Hornbostel sachs	412.132
Hornbostel sachs desc	Free-reed aerophone
Developed	Early 19th century
Range	Depends on configuration: Right-hand manual Chromatic button accordion Diatonic button accordion Piano accordion Left-hand manual Stradella bass system Free-bass system
Related	Hand-pumped: Bandoneón, Concertina, Flutina, Garmon, Trikitixa, Indian harmonium Foot-pumped: Harmonium, Reed organ Mouth-blown: Melodica, Harmonica, Laotian Khene, Chinese Shêng, Japanese Shō Electronic reedless instruments: Electronium, MIDI accordion, Roland Virtual Accordion Combination acoustic/electronic instruments: Cordavox, Duovox
Musicians	Accordionists (list of accordionists).
Midi	021/022023/024 (Tango Accordion)
Articles	Accordion, Chromatic button accordion, Bayan, Diatonic button accordion, Piano accordion, Stradella bass system, Free-bass system, Accordion reed ranks & switches }}

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an ''accordionist''.

It is played by compressing or expanding a bellows whilst pressing buttons or keys, causing valves, called ''pallets'', to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called ''reeds'', that vibrate to produce sound inside the body.

The instrument is sometimes considered a one-man-band as it needs no accompanying instrument. The performer normally plays the melody on buttons or keys on the right-hand manual, and the accompaniment, consisting of bass and pre-set chord buttons, on the left-hand manual.

The accordion is often used in folk music in Europe, North America and South America. It is commonly associated with busking. Some popular music acts also make use of the instrument. Additionally, the accordion is sometimes used in both solo and orchestra performances of classical music.

The oldest name for this group of instruments is actually ''harmonika'', from the Greek ''harmonikos'', meaning ''harmonic, musical''. Today, native versions of the name ''accordion'' are more common. These names are a reference to the type of accordion patented by Cyrill Demian, which concerned "automatically coupled chords on the bass side".

Construction

Accordions are made in a large number of different configurations and types. What may be technically possible to do with one accordion could be impossible with another:

Some accordions are ''bisonoric'', meaning they produce different pitches depending on the direction of bellows movement

Others are ''unisonoric'' and produce the same pitch regardless of the direction of bellows movement

Some accordions use a chromatic buttonboard for the right-hand manual

Others use a diatonic buttonboard for the right-hand manual

Yet others use a piano-style musical keyboard for the right-hand manual

Some accordions are capable of playing in registers different from others

Additionally, different accordion craftsmen and technicians may tune the same registers in a slightly different manner, essentially "personalizing" the end result, such as an organ technician might voice a particular instrument

Universal components

Bellows

The bellows is the most recognizable part of the instrument, and the primary means of articulation. Similar to a violin's bow, the production of sound in an accordion is in direct proportion to the motion of the player. It is located between the right- and left-hand manuals, and is made from pleated layers of cloth and cardboard, with added leather and metal. It is used to create pressure and vacuum, driving air across the internal reeds and producing sound by their vibration, applied pressure increasing the volume.

The keyboard touch is not expressive and does not affect dynamics: all expression is effected through the bellows: some bellows effects as illustrated below: # Bellows used for volume control/fade # Repeated change of direction ("bellows shake") # Constant bellows motion while applying pressure at intervals # Constant bellows motion to produce clear tones with no resonance # Using the bellows with the silent air button gives the sound of air moving, which is sometimes used in contemporary compositions particularly for this instrument

Body

The accordion's body consists of two wood boxes joined together by the bellows. These boxes house reed chambers for the right- and left-hand manuals, respectively. Each side has grilles in order to facilitate the transmission of air in and out of the instrument, and to allow the sound to better project. The grille for the right-hand manual is usually larger and is often shaped for decorative purposes. The right-hand manual is normally used for playing the melody and the left-hand manual for playing the accompaniment, however skilled players can reverse these roles.

The size and weight of an accordion varies depending on its type, layout and playing range, which can be as small as to have only one or two rows of basses and a single octave on the right-hand manual, to the standard 120-bass accordion and through to large and heavy 160-bass free-bass converter models.

Pallet mechanism

The accordion is an aerophone. The manual mechanism of the instrument either enables the air flow, or disables it:

Variable components

There is a wide range of instruments that are called ''accordion''. The different types have varying components. All instruments have reed ranks of some format. Not all have switches. The most typical accordion is the piano accordion, which is used for many musical genres. Another type of accordion is the button accordion, which is used in Conjunto and Tejano music.

Right-hand manual systems

Different systems exist for the right-hand manual of an accordion, which is normally used for playing the melody. Some use a button layout arranged in one way or another, while others use a piano-style keyboard. Each system has different claimed benefits by those who prefer it. They are also used to define one accordion or another as a different "type":

Chromatic button accordions and the bayan, a Russian variant, use a buttonboard where notes are arranged chromatically. Two of these systems exist

Diatonic button accordions use a buttonboard limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys. The keys are often arranged in one row for each key scale available

Piano accordions use a musical keyboard similar to a piano, at right angles to the cabinet, the tops of the keys inward toward the bellows

6-plus-6-accordions use a buttonboard with three rows of buttons. The chromatic scale consists of two rows. The third row is a repetition of the first row. So there is the same fingering in all twelve scales. These accordions are produced only in special editions.

Left-hand manual systems

Different systems are also in use for the left-hand manual, which is normally used for playing the accompaniment. These almost always use distinct bass buttons and often have buttons with concavities or studs to help the player navigate the layout despite not being able to see the buttons while playing. There are three general categories:

The Stradella bass system, also called ''standard bass'', is arranged in a circle of fifths and uses single buttons for chords

The Belgian bass system is a variation used in Belgian chromatic accordions. It is also arranged in a circle of fifths but in reverse order. This system has 3 rows of basses, 3 rows of chord buttons allowing easier fingering for playing melodies, combined chords, better use of fingers 1 and 5, and more space between the buttons. This system was poorly traded outside of native Belgium

Various free-bass systems for greater access to playing melodies on the left-hand manual and to forming one's own chords. These are often chosen for playing classical music

Reed ranks and switches

Inside the accordion are the reeds that generate the instrument tones. These are organized in different sounding ''ranks'', which can be further combined into ''registers'' producing differing ''timbres''. All but the smaller accordions are equipped with switches that control which combination of reed ranks will be brought into operation, organized from high to low registers. Each register stop produces a separate sound timbre. See the accordion reed ranks & switches article for further explanation and audio samples.

All but the smallest accordions usually have treble switches. The larger and more expensive accordions often also have bass switches.

Classification of chromatic and piano type accordions

In describing/pricing an accordion, the first factor is size, expressed in number of keys on either side. For a piano type, this could for one example be 37/96, meaning 37 keys (3 octaves plus one note) on the treble side and 96 bass keys. After size, the price and weight of an accordion is largely dependent on the number of reed ranks on either side, either on a cassotto or not, and to a lesser degree on the number of combinations available through register switches. Typically, these could be announced as Reeds: 5 + 3, meaning 5 reeds on the treble side and 3 on the bass, and Registers: 13 + M, 7, meaning 13 register buttons on the treble side plus a special "master" which activates ALL ranks like the "tutti" on an organ, and 7 register switches on the bass side.

Straps

The larger piano and chromatic button accordions are usually heavier than other smaller squeezeboxes, and are equipped with two shoulder straps to make it easier to balance the weight and increase bellows control while sitting, and avoid dropping the instrument while standing.

Other accordions, such as the diatonic button accordion, have only a single shoulder strap and a right hand thumb strap. All accordions have a (mostly adjustable) leather strap on the left-hand manual to keep the player's hand in position while drawing the bellows. There are also straps above and below the bellows to keep it securely closed when the instrument is not playing.

Unusual accordions

Various hybrid accordions have been created between instruments of different buttonboards and actions. Many remain curiosities — only a few have remained in use:

The Schrammel accordion, used in Viennese chamber music and klezmer, which has the treble buttonboard of a chromatic button accordion and a bisonoric bass buttonboard, similar to an expanded diatonic button accordion

The schwyzerörgeli or Swiss organ, which usually has a 3-row diatonic treble and 18 unisonoric bass buttons in a bass/chord arrangement – actually a subset of the Stradella system – that travel parallel to the bellows motion

The trikitixa of the Basque people has a 2-row diatonic, bisonoric treble and a 12-button diatonic unisonoric bass

In Scotland, the favoured diatonic accordion is the instrument known as the British Chromatic Accordion. While the right hand is bisonoric, the left hand follows the Stradella system. The elite form of this instrument is generally considered to be the German manufactured Shand Morino, produced by Hohner with the input of Sir Jimmy Shand

History

The accordion is a free reed instrument and is in the same family as other instruments such as the sheng and khaen. The sheng and khaen are both much older than the accordion and this type of reed did inspire the kind of free reeds in use in the accordion as we know it today. Look at Free reed aerophone History for more details.

The accordion's basic form is believed to have been invented in Berlin in 1822 by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann, although one instrument has been recently discovered that appears to have been built earlier. Engraved Name F. Löhner.

The accordion is one of several European inventions of the early 19th century that used free reeds driven by a bellows. An instrument called ''accordion'' was first patented in 1829 by Cyrill Demian, of Armenian descent, in Vienna

Demian's instrument bore little resemblance to modern instruments. It only had a left hand buttonboard, with the right hand simply operating the bellows. One key feature for which Demian sought the patent was the sounding of an entire chord by depressing one key. His instrument also could sound two different chords with the same key; one for each bellows direction (a ''bisonoric'' action).

The piano accordion was played in German speaking regions, then all over Europe. Some early portable Instrument with piano keys had been invented in 1821, but it started to actually be played much later, and built its reputation from there. At that time in Vienna, mouth harmonicas with ''Kanzellen'' (chambers) had already been available for many years, along with bigger instruments driven by hand bellows. The diatonic key arrangement was also already in use on mouth-blown instruments. Demian's patent thus covered an accompanying instrument: an accordion played with the left hand, opposite to the way that contemporary chromatic hand harmonicas were played, small and light enough for travelers to take with them and used to accompany singing. The patent also described instruments with both bass and treble sections, although Demian preferred the bass-only instrument owing to its cost and weight advantages.

By 1831 at least the accordion had appeared in Britain. The instrument was noted in ''The Times'' of that year as one new to British audiences and not favourably reviewed, but nevertheless it soon became popular. It had also become popular with New Yorkers by at least the mid-1840s.

The musician Adolph Müller described a great variety of instruments in his 1833 book, ''Schule für Accordion''. At the time, Vienna and London had a close musical relationship, with musicians often performing in both cities in the same year, so it is possible that Wheatstone was aware of this type of instrument and may have used them to put his key-arrangement ideas into practice.

Jeune's flutina resembles Wheatstone's concertina in internal construction and tone color, but it appears to complement Demian's accordion functionally. The flutina is a one-sided bisonoric melody-only instrument whose keys are operated with the right hand while the bellows is operated with the left. When the two instruments are combined, the result is quite similar to diatonic button accordions still manufactured today.

Further innovations followed and continue to the present. Various buttonboard and keyboard systems have been developed, as well as voicings (the combination of multiple tones at different octaves), with mechanisms to switch between different voices during performance, and different methods of internal construction to improve tone, stability and durability.

Use in various music genres

The accordion has traditionally been used to perform folk or ethnic music, popular music, and transcriptions from the operatic and light-classical music repertoire. Today the instrument is sometimes heard in contemporary pop styles, such as rock, pop-rock, etc., and occasionally even in serious classical music concerts, as well as advertisements.

Use in traditional music

Invented in 1829, its popularity spread rapidly: it has mostly been associated with the common people, and was spread by Europeans who emigrated around the world. The accordion in both button and piano forms became a favorite of folk musicians and has been integrated into traditional music styles all over the world: see the list of traditional music styles that incorporate the accordion.

Use in popular music

The accordion appeared in popular music from the 1900s-1960s. This half century is often called the "Golden Age of the Accordion." Three players: Pietro Frosini, and the two brothers Count Guido Deiro and Pietro Deiro were major influences at this time.

Most Vaudeville theaters closed during the Great Depression, but accordionists during 1930s-1950s taught and performed for radio. During the 1950s through the 1980s the accordion received great exposure on television with performances by Myron Floren on the Lawrence Welk Show. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the accordion declined in popularity.

In popular music, it is now generally considered exotic or old-fashioned to include the accordion, especially in music for advertisements. Some popular acts do use the instrument in their distinctive sounds. See the list of popular music acts that incorporate the accordion.

In 1981, Nonesuch Records released the Digital LP, The Tango Project, featuring the accordionist Dr. William Schimmel. It became a number 1 hit on the classical music charts and won the Stereo Review Album of the Year Award and Grammy nominations in various categories. It later was released in CD form with two follow up albums, Two to Tango and Music from the Palm Court. The Tango Project later released a CD, White Rabbit, on the Newport Classic label. The Tango Project appears in the movie Scent of a Woman starring Al Pacino, can be heard in the films True Lies, All the Kings Men, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (trailer), HBO Sex and the City, Real Sex as well as Sesame St. The Tango Project is responsible for ushering in the Tango revival in America.

Dr. William Schimmel is also the featured accordionist on Tom Waits Raindogs (Island Records) and also performs on Tom Waits Frank's Wild Years (Island Records) and also was featured in the 1985 production of Frank's Wild Years at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Dr. Schimmel also appears with Tom Waits in a recording of the music of Kurt Weill (Lost in the Stars - A+M Records). Schimmel also recorded a remake of As Tears Go By (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards) with Marianne Faithful in 1986 on Island Records. The album title is Strange Weather - the title of a Tom Waits song on the same album.

In 1993, during their MTV Unplugged performance, Nirvana's Krist Novoselic used accordion while covering The Vaselines song Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam.

Eddie Vedder plays the accordion in the song "Better Man", on Pearl Jam's 1994 album ''Vitalogy''.

The New York band They Might Be Giants extensively use the accordion in many of their recordings, especially on earlier albums such as ''Apollo 18''.

Perhaps the most famous accordionist in popular music is "Weird Al" Yankovic, who has used the accordion in every album he has recorded, most extensively on his debut album. The accordion also features prominently in the folk metal genre.

Comedienne Judy Tenuta frequently uses an accordion in her act.

Julieta Venegas is an American-born (but of Mexican ancestry) musician who commonly uses an accordion to produce a unique and special effect on listeners. The unique flair of the accordion is used some of her most popular songs, such as El presente, and Me Voy. Arcade Fire features an accordion in a few of their songs, notably in Wake Up and Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)

Panic at the disco frontman Brendon Urie plays the accordion, and the instrument features on their 2011 album Vices & Virtues in the song "Sarah Smiles".

NOFX guitarist Eric Melvin plays accordion on several songs, most notably on the song "A Theme to a NOFX Album"

Team Me, an indie-pop band from Norway, uses accordion on several of their tracks, such as "Weathervanes and Chemicals" and "Dear Sister".

Use in classical music

Although best known as a folk instrument, it has grown in popularity among classical composers. The earliest surviving concert piece is '''', written in 1836 by Miss Louise Reisner of Paris. Other composers, including the Russian Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the Italian Umberto Giordano, and the American Charles Ives (1915), wrote works for the diatonic button accordion.

The first composer to write specifically for the chromatic accordion was Paul Hindemith. In 1922, the Austrian Alban Berg included an accordion in ''Wozzeck'', Op. 7. Other notable composers have written for the accordion during the first half of the 20th century American composer William P. Perry featured the accordion in his orchestral suite ''Six Title Themes in Search of a Movie'' (2008). The experimental composer Howard Skempton began his musical career as an accordionist, and has written numerous solo works for it. Russian Bayan virtuoso Stas Venglevski has premiered contemporary works by Yehuda Yannay, Anthony Galla-Rini and William Susman.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The accordion is a traditional instrument in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the dominant instrument used in sevdalinka, a traditional genre of folk music from Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is also considered a national instrument of the country.

Brazil

The accordion is a traditional instrument in Brazil. Used in the style known as baião and forró in the northeast,in traditional music in the south of the country, a famous accordeonist is Renatto Borghetti, and used in sertanejo and caipira music in the south-east and mid-west regions of Brazil. Luiz Gonzaga is known as the king of baião, Mario Zan is the king of the accordion. Another famous player is Dominguinhos.

Colombia

The accordion is also a traditional instrument in Colombia. Used in the style known as vallenato and cumbia in the Atlantic Coast of Colombia. Recently the Accordion has been used by Tropipop musicians such as Bacilos, Carlos Vives, and Andres Cabas, as well as Rock musicians like Juanes and Shakira. Vallenato has come to symbolize the folk music of Colombia. The legend of the Accordion's arrival in Colombia comes from a story of a ship wreck that was coming from Germany to Argentina. The wreck happened over the Magdalena river in the Atlantic coasts.

Use in heavy metal music

Accordionists in heavy metal make their most extensive appearances in the folk metal sub-genre, and are otherwise generally rare. Full-time accordionists in folk metal seem even rarer, but they are still utilized for studio work, as flexible keyboardists are usually more accessible for live performances.

Notably, the Finnish symphonic folk-metal band Turisas has always had a full-time accordionist, employing classical and polka-style sensibilities alongside a violinist. Another Finnish metal band, Korpiklaani, invokes a type of Finnish polka called humppa, and also has a full-time accordionist. Sarah Kiener, the former hurdy-gurdy player for the Swiss melodic-death/folk metal band Eluveitie, played a Helvetic accordion known as a ''zugerörgeli'', which could be a distant relative (in one way or another) to the Swiss schwyzerörgeli, as both are indigenous to and very rare outside of Switzerland.

Manufacturing process

The best accordions are always fully hand-made, especially in the aspect of reeds; completely hand-made reeds have a far better tonal quality than even the best automatically manufactured reeds. Some accordions have been modified by individuals striving to bring a more pure sound out of low-end instruments, such as the ones improved by Yutaka Usui, a Japanese-born craftsman.

The manufacture of an accordion is only a partly automated process. In a sense, all accordions are handmade, since there is always some hand assembly of the small parts required. The general process involves making the individual parts, assembling the subsections, assembling the entire instrument, and final decorating and packaging.

Famous centres of production are the Italian cities of Stradella and Castelfidardo, with many small and medium size manufacturers especially at the latter. Castelfidardo honours the memory of Paolo Soprani who was one the first large-scale producers. Larger scale production existed in Germany by Hohner and Weltmeister, but these lost volume by the end of the 20th century.

Other audio samples

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Notes

References

External links

Free accordion scores, music, videos, forum GoldAccordion.com

Accordions Worldwide

List of accordionists List_of_accordionists

Accordion museum in Castelfidardo Museo della Fisarmonica Comune di Castelfidardo

Category:German musical instruments Category:Free reed aerophones Category:Keyboard instruments Category:Sets of free reeds Category:Austrian musical instruments Category:Belarusian musical instruments Category:Bosnian musical instruments Category:Brazilian musical instruments Category:Celtic musical instruments Category:Colombian musical instruments Category:Greek musical instruments Category:Irish musical instruments Category:Lithuanian musical instruments Category:Polish musical instruments Category:Portuguese musical instruments Category:Slovak musical instruments Category:Swiss musical instruments Category:Danish musical instruments Category:San Marinese musical instruments

ar:أكورديون az:Akkordeon bo:ལག་སྦྲེང་། bs:Harmonika br:Boest an diaoul bg:Акордеон ca:Acordió cs:Akordeon da:Harmonika de:Akkordeon et:Akordion el:Ακορντεόν es:Acordeón eo:Akordiono eu:Akordeoi fa:آکوردئون fr:Accordéon gl:Acordeón ko:아코디언 hr:Harmonika io:Akordeono id:Akordeon ia:Accordion it:Fisarmonica he:אקורדיון kk:Аккордеон la:Harmonica diductilis lt:Akordeonas lmo:Fisarmonica hu:Harmonika mk:Хармоника ml:അക്കോർഡിയൻ nl:Accordeon ja:アコーディオン no:Trekkspill nn:Trekkspel nds:Quetschkommood pl:Akordeon pt:Acordeão ro:Acordeon qu:Yatana takiy phukulli ru:Аккордеон sq:Akkordeon scn:Fisarmònica si:අ'කෝඩිඅ'න් simple:Accordion sk:Akordeón sl:Harmonika szl:Cyjo sr:Хармоника fi:Harmonikka sv:Dragspel th:หีบเพลงชัก tr:Akordeon uk:Акордеон vi:Phong cầm vls:Accordeong zh:手风琴

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Name	MF DOOM
Background	solo_singer
Alias	DOOM, King Geedorah, Metal Face, Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn, Zev Love X
Born	January 09, 1971 London, United Kingdom
Born as	Daniel Dumile
Origin	Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre	East Coast hip hop
Instrument	Vocals, sampler, synthesizer, drum machine, Pro Tools
Occupation	Rapper, hip hop producer
Associated acts	Danger Doom, Madlib, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Omer Saar, J Dilla, KMD, Madvillain, MF Grimm, Count Bass D, Talib Kweli, Aesop Rock, Mos Def, RZA
Years active	1988–19931997–present
Label	Elektra (1988–1993)Sub Verse (1997–2003)Fondle 'Em (1997–2001)Metal Face (1997–present) Big Dada (2003–present)Naturesounds (2003–present) Rhymesayers (2003–present)Stones Throw (2004–present)Lex (2005–present)
Website	Official website }}

Daniel Dumile (pronounced ) is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for Metal Fist, Metal Fingers, or Metal Face. He has appeared in several collaborative projects such as Danger Doom (with Danger Mouse) and Madvillain (with Madlib).

History

Early years with KMD

Dumile was born on January 9, 1971, in London, England, the son of a Trinidadian mother and Zimbabwean father. He then moved with his family to New York and was raised in the city of Long Beach, New York on Long Island.

As Zev Love X, he formed the group KMD in 1988 with his younger brother DJ Subroc and another MC called Rodan. When Rodan left the group, Zev found another MC to replace Rodan named Onyx the Birthstone Kid. A&R; rep Dante Ross learned of KMD through the hip hop group 3rd Bass, and signed the group to Elektra Records.

Dumile and KMD's recorded debut came on 3rd Bass's song "The Gas Face" from ''The Cactus Album'', followed in 1991 with KMD's album ''Mr. Hood'', which became a minor hit through its singles "Peachfuzz", "Who Me?" and heavy video play on cable TV's ''Yo! MTV Raps'' and ''Rap City''.

Subroc was struck and killed by a car in 1993 while attempting to cross a Long Island expressway before the release of a second KMD album, titled ''Black Bastards''. The group was subsequently dropped from Elektra Records that same week. Before the release of the album, it was shelved due to controversy over its cover art, which featured a cartoon of a stereotypical pickaninny or sambo character being hanged from the gallows.

With the loss of his brother, Dumile retreated from the hip hop scene from 1994 to 1997. He testifies to disillusionment and depression, living "damn near homeless, walking the streets of Manhattan, sleeping on benches." In the late 1990s, he left New York City and settled in Atlanta. According to interviews with Dumile, he was also "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him." ''Black Bastards'' had become bootlegged at the time, leading to Doom's rise in the underground hip hop scene.

Birth of MF Doom

In 1997, Dumile began freestyling incognito at open-mic events at the Nuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan, obscuring his face by putting a stocking over his head. He meanwhile had taken on a new identity, MF Doom, patterned after and wearing a mask similar to that of Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom, who is depicted rapping on the cover of the 1999 album ''Operation: Doomsday''. He wears this mask while performing and isn't photographed without it, except for very short glimpses in videos such as Viktor Vaughn's "Mr. Clean", "?", and in earlier photos with KMD. MF Doom's mask has undergone at least one design revision since its adoption (it is now an altered version of the mask worn by the character Maximus Decimus Meridius in the film ''Gladiator'').

Early career

Dumile released three singles on "Bobbito" García's Fondle 'Em Records, "Dead Bent", and "Greenbacks" (1997), and "The M.I.C." (1998). In 1999 Fondle 'Em released MF Doom's first full-length LP, ''Operation: Doomsday,'' which included these singles and their b-sides, and additional tracks. Dumile had used the spelling variant "M.F. DOOM" for the singles releases, but thereafter changed this to "MF DOOM".

Among the collaborators on these tracks were fellow members of the Monsta Island Czars collective (The M.I.C.), for which each artist took on the persona of a monster from the Godzilla mythos. Dumile went by the alias "King Ghidorah" (a three-headed golden dragon "space monster"), and some of his appearances on the LP are as, and are credited to this persona, instead of that of MF Doom. Dumile would revisit this character later under various name-spellings.

Guest appearances, production, and instrumental work

In the years intervening before his next full-length solo release, and continually since, Dumile has appeared on several tracks on other artists' LPs and remixes, contributed one-off tracks to compilations, and done various guest production work.

In 2002, he appeared on the Sound-Ink's Colapsus collection,on a very hard to find track titled "Monday Nite at Fluid" featuring Kurious with production by King Honey, who also produced some tracks for Dumile's album ''Vaudeville Villain''. Doom also made an appearance in "November Has Come", a track on Gorillaz's 2005 album ''Demon Days'', which reached #6 on the Billboard 200.

With few exceptions Dumile produces the instrumentation tracks for his solo releases.

Beginning in 2001, under the "Metal Fingers" moniker, Dumile began releasing his ''Special Herbs'' instrumentals series. Many of these beats can be heard as the instrumentation tracks throughout his body of work. A separate website catalogs for which tracks each instrumental has been used.

Ongoing career

In 2003, Dumile released the King Geedorah album ''Take Me to Your Leader''. Geedorah is credited as producer, but only appears as an MC on four tracks. The majority of vocal tracks feature guest MCs, and the album features several instrumental montages of sampled vocals from old movies and TV shows—a technique employed on most of Dumile's albums. Both ''Venomous Villain'' and ''Take Me to Your Leader'' feature appearances by MF Doom.

Also in 2003, Dumile released the LP ''Vaudeville Villain'' under the moniker Viktor Vaughn (another play on Doctor Doom, whose "real name" is ''Victor von'' Doom). In 2004 he released a follow-up LP, ''Venomous Villain'' (also called ''VV2'').

And, in 2004, the second MF Doom album ''MM.. Food'' was released by the Minnesota-based label Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Mainstream recognition

Doom's first commercial breakthrough came in 2004, with the album ''Madvillainy'', created with producer Madlib under the group name Madvillain. Released by Stones Throw Records, the album was a critical and commercial success. MF Doom was seen by mainstream audiences for the first time as Madvillain received publicity and acclaim in publications such as ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and ''Spin''. A video for "All Caps" and a four-date U.S. tour followed the release of ''Madvillainy''. Additional videos for "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion", both directed by Andrew Gura, were released on the DVDs ''Stones Throw 101'' and ''Stones Throw 102: In Living the True Gods'', respectively.

Though still an independent artist, MF Doom took a bigger step towards the mainstream in 2005 with ''The Mouse and the Mask'', a collaboration with producer DJ Danger Mouse under the group name Danger Doom. The album, released on October 11, 2005 by Epitaph, was done in collaboration with Cartoon Network's ''Adult Swim'' and featured voice-actors and characters from its programs (mostly Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Danger Doom reached #41 on the Billboard 200. In 2006 Doom hosted the Adult Swim Christmas special and he could be seen in between shows, usually talking about what was up next, and making jokes.

2006–2009

MF Doom produced tracks for both of Ghostface Killah's 2006 albums ''Fishscale'' and ''More Fish'', and the two are currently at work on a collaboration album titled ''Swift & Changeable''. So far only one track has been released from the album, "Angels", which appeared on a ''Nature Sounds'' compilation in late 2006, and later re-released in a different fashion on Doom's 2009 album ''Born Like This''. Doom has also revealed plans for a second Madvillain album with producer Madlib, with one song, "Monkey Suite", first appearing on the Adult Swim/Stones Throw Records album ''Chrome Children'', later it appeared on ''Madvillainy 2 - The Madlib Remix''. Other potential projects mentioned by Doom include new albums from Danger Doom, KMD, as well as further albums under both his Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah aliases. However, many such Doom projects have been rumored in recent years without materializing.

Despite no new Doom releases in 2006, Kidrobot and Stones Throw released an 8" tall Madvillain toy available to coincide with the release of the ''Chrome Children'' CD/DVD (hosted by Peanut Butter Wolf) which featured a DVD performance of Madvillain and several other Stones Throw artists. Doom also continued to work with ''Adult Swim'' doing voice-over work as Sherman the Giraffe on ''Perfect Hair Forever'', being the voice for ''The Boondocks'' ads and previews and hosting their Christmas Eve 2006 programming.

In late January 2009, Lex records confirmed Doom's new album title to be ''Born Like This'', and that the "MF" would be dropped from his name, now just "DOOM". The album was released worldwide on March 24, 2009. As a teaser, the track "Ballskin" was posted on Doom's Myspace page on January 13, 2009. Snippets of the entire album were made available for streaming on Doom's Myspace on the album's release date. The title for the album was inspired by the poem "Dinosauria, We" by 1970s and 1980s poet Charles Bukowski. Doom samples a performance of the poem by Bukowski on the track "Cellz". Previously, Doom used a Bukowski sample for a vocal interlude on 2004's "All Outta Ale. "Thom Yorke of Radiohead remixed the track "Gazillion Ear" which is available as an iTunes-only bonus track. June 26, 2009 Kurious released ''II'' which featured Doom on the song "Benetton".

Upcoming projects

On May 26, 2010, the second single for the next Madvillain album "Paper Mill" was released through Adult Swim. ''Expektoration'', a live Doom album, was released on September 14, 2010 through Gold Dust Media. In mid 2010, Doom released the mix-tape "DOOM!", a collection of greatest hits, B-sides and rareties, including the theme for the video game ''Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars'' featuring Ghostface Killah, and Biochemical Equation, featuring the RZA.

On July 27, 2011 Doom and Ghostface Killah released the track "Victory Laps" from their long awaited collaboration project ''Swift & Changeable'' on the Nature Sounds label.

DOOM has been chosen by Portishead to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they will curate in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace.

Live show controversy

Dumile has become infamous for allegedly sending imposters posing as himself to his live shows. Fans attribute this to his supervillain persona. Doom has countered such accusations by claiming that he lost weight and thus looked different.

Discography

1991: ''Mr. Hood'' (as Zev Love X with KMD)

1993: ''Black Bastards'' (as Zev Love X with KMD)

1999: ''Operation: Doomsday''

2000: ''MF EP'' (with MF Grimm)

2003: ''Escape from Monsta Island!'' (as King Geedorah with Monsta Island Czars)

2003: ''Take Me to Your Leader'' (as King Geedorah)

2003: ''Vaudeville Villain'' (as Viktor Vaughn)

2004: ''Madvillainy'' (with Madvillain)

2004: ''Venomous Villain'' (as Viktor Vaughn)

2004: ''Mm.. Food''

2005: ''The Mouse and the Mask'' (with DangerDoom)

2006: ''Occult Hymn'' (with DangerDoom)

2009: ''Born Like This'' (as DOOM)

References

External links

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da:MF DOOM de:Daniel Dumile es:MF DOOM fr:MF DOOM it:Daniel Dumile nl:Daniel Dumile no:Daniel Dumile pl:Daniel Dumile pt:MF Doom fi:MF Doom sv:Daniel Dumile tr:MF Doom

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Name	Robert Doisneau
Birth name	Robert Doisneau
Birth date	April 14, 1912
Birth place	Gentilly, Val-de-Marne, Paris
Death date	April 01, 1994
Death place	Montrouge, Paris
Death cause	Acute pancreatitis
Resting place	Raizeux
Nationality	French
Known for	Street photography, Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (''Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville'')
Education	''Ecole Estienne'', graduated 1929, diplomas in engraving and lithography
Occupation	Photographer, engraver
Title	Chevalier of the Order of the Légion d'honneur
Spouse	Pierrette (née Chaumaison)
Children	Annette (b.1942) Francine (b.1947)
Footnotes	}}

Robert Doisneau (April 14, 1912, Gentilly, Val-de-Marne – April 1, 1994) was a French photographer. In the 1930s he used a Leica on the streets of Paris; together with Henri Cartier-Bresson he was a pioneer of photojournalism. He is renowned for his 1950 image ''Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville'' (''Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville''), a photo of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris. Robert Doisneau was appointed a ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the National Order of the ''Légion d'honneur'' in 1984.

Photographic career

Robert Doisneau was known for his modest, playful, and ironic images of amusing juxtapositions, mingling social classes, and eccentrics in contemporary Paris streets and cafes. Influenced by the work of André Kertész, Eugène Atget, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, in over twenty books Doisneau presented a charming vision of human frailty and life as a series of quiet, incongruous moments.

Doisneau's work gives unusual prominence and dignity to children's street culture; returning again and again to the theme of children at play in the city, unfettered by parents. His work treats their play with seriousness and respect. In his honour, and owing to this, there are several ''Ecole Primaire'' (Primary Schools) named after him. An example is at Veretz (Indre-et-Loire).

Robert Doisneau is one of France's best known photographers, for his street photography and the many playful images in everyday French life. His photographs over the course of several decades provide people with a great record of French life. He has published over twenty books with realistic and charming pictures of personal moments in the lives of individuals.

Early life

Doisneau's father, a plumber, died on active service in World War I when Robert was about four. His mother died when he was seven so he was then raised by an unloving aunt.

At thirteen he enrolled at the École Estienne, a craft school where he graduated in 1929 with diplomas in engraving and lithography. Here he had his first contact with the arts, taking classes in Figure drawing and Still life.

When he was 16 he took up amateur photography but was reportedly so shy that he started by photographing cobble-stones before progressing to children and then adults.

At the end of the 1920s Doisneau found work as a draughtsman (lettering artist) in the advertising industry at ''Atelier Ullmann'' (''Ullmann Studio''), a creative graphics studio that specialised in the pharmaceutical industry. Here he took an opportunity to change career by also acting as camera assistant in the studio and then becoming a staff photographer.

Photography in the 1930s

While working at ''Atelier Ullmann'' Doisneau had helped out as a camera assistant and developed into a staff photographer, but in 1931 he left both the studio and advertising, taking a job as an assistant with the modernist photographer André Vigneau.

In 1932 he sold his first photo story to ''Excelsior'' magazine.

In 1934 he began working as an industrial advertising photographer for the Renault car factory at Boulogne-Billancourt. Working at Renault increased Doisneau’s interest in working with photography and people. In 1991 he admitted that the years at the Renault car factory marked “the beginning of his career as a photographer and the end of his youth.” Five years later, in 1939, he was fired for being constantly late. He was forced to try freelance advertising, engraving and postcard photography to earn his living. At that time the French postcard industry was the largest in Europe, postcards served as greetings cards as well as vacation souvenirs.

In 1939 he was hired by Charles Rado of the Rapho photo agency and travelled throughout France in search of picture stories. This is where he took his first professional street photographs.

War service and resistance

Doisneau worked at Rapho until the outbreak of World War II, whereupon he was drafted into the French army as both a soldier and photographer. He was in the army until 1940 and from then until the end of the war in 1945 used his draughtsmanship, lettering artistry and engraving skills to forge passports and identification papers for the French Resistance.

Post-war photography

Some of Doisneau's most memorable photographs were taken after the war. He returned to freelance photography and sold photographs to ''Life'' and other international magazines. He briefly joined the Alliance Photo Agency but rejoined the Rapho agency in 1946 and remained with them throughout his working life, despite receiving an invitation from Henri Cartier-Bresson to join Magnum Photos.

His photographs never ridiculed the subjects; thus he refused to photograph women whose heads had been shaved as punishment for sleeping with Germans.

In 1948 Doisneau was contracted by ''Vogue'' to work as a fashion photographer. The editors believed he would bring a fresh and more casual look the magazine but Doisneau didn’t enjoy photographing beautiful women in elegant surroundings, he preferred street photography. When he could escape from the studio, he photographed ever more in the streets of Paris.

The 1950s were Doisneau's peak but the 1960s were his wilderness years. In the 1970s Europe began to change and editors looked for new reportage that would show the sense of a new social era. All over Europe, the old-style picture magazines were closing as television got the public's attention. Doisneau continued to work, producing children's books, advertising photography and celebrity portraits including Alberto Giacometti, Jean Cocteau, Fernand Léger, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.

Doisneau worked with writers and poets such as Blaise Cendrars and Jacques Prevert, and he credited Prevert with giving him the confidence to photograph the everyday street scenes that most people simply ignored.

Group XV was established in 1946 in Paris to promote photography as art and drawing attention to the preservation of French photographic heritage. Doisneau joined the Group in 1950 and participated alongside Rene-Jacques, Willy Ronis and Pierre Jahan.

''Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville'' (''The Kiss'')

In 1950 he created his most recognizable work for ''Life'' - ''Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville'' (''Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville''), a photo of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris, which became an internationally recognised symbol of young love in Paris. The identity of the couple remained a mystery until 1992.

Jean and Denise Lavergne erroneously believed themselves to be the couple in ''The Kiss'', and when Robert and Annette met them for lunch in the 1980s he "did not want to shatter their dream" so he said nothing. This resulted in them taking him to court for "taking their picture without their knowledge", because under French law an individual owns the rights to their own likeness. The court action forced Doisneau to reveal that he posed the shot using Françoise Delbart and Jacques Carteaud, lovers whom he had just seen kissing but had not initially photographed because of his natural reserve, but he approached them and asked if they would repeat ''le baiser''. He won the court case against the Lavergnes. }}

The couple in ''Le baiser'' were Françoise Delbart, 20, and Jacques Carteaud, 23, both aspiring actors. In 2005 Françoise Bornet (née Delbart) stated that ''"He told us we were charming, and asked if we could kiss again for the camera. We didn't mind. We were used to kissing. We were doing it all the time then, it was delicious. Monsieur Doisneau was adorable, very low key, very relaxed."'' They posed at the Place de la Concorde, the Rue de Rivoli and finally the Hôtel de Ville. The photograph was published in the June 12, 1950, issue of ''Life''. The relationship between Delbart and Carteaud only lasted for nine months. Delbart continued her acting career, but Carteaud gave up acting to become a wine producer.

In 1950 Françoise Bornet was given an original print of the photo, bearing Doisneau's signature and stamp, as part of the payment for her "work", and thus her subsequent attempt at litigation in the 1990s was rejected by the court. In April 2005 she sold the print at auction for 155,000€ to an unidentified Swiss collector via the Paris auctioneers ''Artcurial Briest-Poulain-Le Fur''.

Personal life

In 1936 Doisneau married Pierrette Chaumaison whom he had met in 1934 when she was cycling through a village where he was on holiday. They had two daughters, Annette (b.1942) and Francine (b.1947). Annette worked as his assistant from 1979 until his death.

Pierrette died in 1993 suffering from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Doisneau died six months later, having had a triple heart bypass and suffering from acute pancreatitis. Annette said "We won in the courts, (re: ''The Kiss'') but my father was deeply shocked. He discovered a world of lies, and it hurt him. 'The Kiss' ruined the last years of his life. Add that to my mother suffering from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and I think it's fair to say he died of sadness."

Doisneau was in many ways a shy and humble man, like his photography, still delivering his own work at the height of his fame. He chastised Francine for charging an 'indecent' daily fee of £2,000 for his work on a beer advertising campaign – he wanted only the rate of an "artisan photographer".

He lived in southern Paris (Gentilly, Val-de-Marne, Montrouge and 13th arrondissement of Paris) throughout his life and died in 1994. He is buried in the cemetery at Raizeux beside his wife Pierrette.

Awards and commemoration

Robert Doisneau was appointed a Chevalier of the Order of the Légion d'honneur in 1984.

He won several awards throughout his life, including:

the Balzac Prize in 1986 (Honoré de Balzac)

the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in 1983

the Niépce Prize in 1956 (Nicéphore Niépce)

the Kodak Prize in 1947

A short film, "Le Paris de Robert Doisneau", was made in 1973.

In 1992 the French actress and producer Sabine Azéma made the film ''Bonjour Monsieur Doisneau''.

The Maison de la photographie Robert Doisneau in Gentilly, Val-de-Marne, is a photographic gallery named in his honour.

In honour of his photography of children's street culture, there are several 'Ecole Primaire' (Primary Schools) named after him. An example is at Véretz (Indre-et-Loire).

The photography of Robert Doisneau has had a revival since his death in 1994. Many of his portraits and photos of Paris from the end of World War II through the 1950s have been turned into calendars and postcards and have become icons of French life.

Chronology

1912 Born April 14 in Gentilly, France.

1926–29 Studies at Ecole Estienne in Paris and receives a diploma as an engraver-lithographer.

1930 Draftsman at the Ulman Workshop.

1931 Assistant to André Vigneau.

1932 Images of a flea market are the first photographs sold to the daily publica''tion, L’Excelsior''.

1934-38 Works as an industrial photographer at the Renault factories in Billancourt, France.

1939 Meets the founder of the Rapho agency, Charles Rado. Begins working as a fully independent photographer.

1942 Meets renowned French typographer Maximilien Vox.

1944 Meets French actor Maurice Baquet.

1945 Works for the first time with Pierre Betz, editor for the magazine Le Point (published from 1936 to 1962). Introduced to the Swiss poet and novelist Blaise Cendrars in Aix-en-Provence, France. Meets photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the founding members of the photographic agency Magnum Photos.

1946 Raymond Grosset re-establishes the Rapho, which had closed during World War II. Doisneau would go on to work with the agency for nearly fifty years.Works with the weekly publication, Action. Travels to Yugoslavia.

1947 Receives the ''Kodak Prize''

1947 Introduced to Bordeaux shipper Robert Giraud as well as the French poet Jacques Prévert.

1949-51 Receives contract with ''Vogue'' magazine.

1956 Receives the ''Niepce Prize''.

1960 Visits the United States to work in Hollywood and Palm Springs.

1967 Visits the USSR for the magazine ''Working Life''.

1975 Guest at the Meetings of Arles.

1984 Responsible for the topic of “New Urban Landscapes” for the photographic mission of DATAR.

1983 Receives the ''Grand Prix National de la Photographie''

1983 Introduced to French actress and producer Sabine Azéma, who would later make the film Bonjour Monsieur Doisneau.

1985 Produces portraits of personalities for the magazine Femme.

1986 Meets the French journalist François Canna.

1986 Receives the Balzac Prize

1991 Introduced to the French author Daniel Pennac.

1994 Dies April 1 in Paris.

Exhibitions

1947 Salon de la Photo, Bibliothèque, Paris. 1951 Exhibition with Brassaї, Willy Ronis, and Izis, Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1960 Solo Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Chicago.

1965 Exhibition with Daniel Frasnay, Jean Lattès, Jeanine Niépce, Roger Pic, and Willy Ronis, Six Photographes et Paris, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. Exhibition with Henri Cartier-Bresson and André Vigneau, Musée Réattu, Arles. Solo Exhibition, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Exhibition with D. Brihat, J. P. Sudre, and L. Clergue, Musée Cantini de Marseilles.

1972 Solo Exhibition, International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.

1972 Exhibition with Edouard Boubat, Brassaї, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Izis, and Willy Ronis, French Embassy, Moscow.

1974 Solo Exhibition, University of California at Davis. Solo exhibition, Galerie du Château d’Eau, Toulouse.

1975 Solo Exhibition, Witkin Gallery, New York; Musée Réattu Arts Décoratifs, Nantes; Musée Réattu, Arles.

1975 Solo exhibition, Galerie et Fils, Brussels. Solo exhibition, fnac, Lyons. Group exhibition, Expression de l’humor, Boulogne Billancourt. Solo exhibition, Galerie Neugebauer, Basel.

1976 Exhibition with Brassaї, Cartier-Bresson, Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, Izis, and Marc Riboud, Kraków.

1977 Solo Exhibition, Brussels. Exhibition with Guy la Querrec, Carlos Freire, Claude Raimond-Dityvon, Bernard Descamps, and Jean Lattès, Six Photographes en quête de banlieue, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

1978 Solo Exhibition, Ne Bougeons plus, Galerie Agathe Gaillard, Paris. Solo exhibition, Witkin Gallery, New York. Solo exhibition, Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Charlon-sur-Saône.

1979 Solo Exhibition, Paris, les passants qui passent, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

1980 Solo Exhibition, Amsterdam.

1981 Solo Exhibition, Witkin Gallery, New York.

1982 Solo Exhibition, Portraits, Foundation Nationale de la Photopraphie, Lyons. Solo exhibition, French Embassy, New York. Solo exhibition, Robert Doisneau, Photographe de banlieue, Town Hall, Gentilly.

1982 Solo exhibition of 120 photographs, Palace of Fine Arts, Beijing. Exhibition of portraits, Tokyo. Solo exhibition, Robert Doisneau, Photographie du dimanche, Institut Lumière, Lyon.

1986 Group Exhibition, De Vogue à femme, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles.

1987 Solo Exhibition, St.-Denis, Musée de St.-Denis. Solo exhibition, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.

1988 Solo Exhibition, A Homage to Robert Doisneau, Villa Medicis, Rome.

1989 Solo Exhibition, Doisneau-Renault, Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris.

1990 Solo Exhibition, La Science de Doisneau, Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

1992 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau: A Retrospective, Modern Art Oxford.

1993 The Summerlee Heritage Trust, Coatbridge, Scotland; Royal Festival Hall, London; Manchester City Art Gallery; O Mes da Fotografie Festival, Convento do Beato, Lisbon, Portugal. Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

1994 Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Canada; Galway Arts Centre, Ireland. Solo exhibition, A Homage to Robert Doisneau, Galerie du Château d’Eau à Toulouse. Solo exhibition, Doisneau 40/44, Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Lyon, Lyon, France. Solo exhibition, Robert Doisneau ou la désobéissance, Ecomusée de Fresnais.

1995 Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England; Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland; The Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry.

1996 Solo Exhibition, Montpellier Photo-Visions, Galerie Municipale de la Photographie; Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Daimaru Museum, Osaka, Japan.

2000 Exhibition, Gravités, Paris.

2000 Exhibition, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris. 2002 Exhibition, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile.

2003 Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary. Exhibition, Bucarest, Romania.

2003 Exhibition, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris. 2005 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau from the Fictional to the Real, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York. 2005 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris. 2010 Solo Exhibitions, Robert Doisneau, Du metier a l'oeuvre, Fondation Henri Cartier Bresson, 2, Impasse Lebouis, 75014 Paris. 2010 Group Exhibition, Discoveries, Robert Doisneau, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York. 2010 Solo Exhibition, Robert Doisneau, the fisherman of images, the Space for Art of Caja Madrid Zaragoza, Aranjuez, Madrid. 2011 Group exhibition. Night, Robert Doisneau Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.

Publications

''Paris délivré par son peuple.'' (''From the People of Paris''). - Paris: Braun: c.1944.

''La Banlieue de Paris.'' (''The Suburbs of Paris''). - Text by Blaise Cendrars. Paris: Éditions Pierre Seghers, 1949.

''L'Enfant de Paris.'' (''The Children of Paris''). - Text by Claude Roy. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière, 1951.

''Sortilèges de Paris.'' (''The magic of Paris''). - Text by François Cali. Paris: Arthaud, 1952.

''Les Parisiens tels qu’ils sont.'' (''The Parisians as they are.'') - Text by Robert Giraud and Michel Ragon. Paris: Delpire, 1954.

''Instantanés de Paris.'' (''Snapshots of Paris''). - Preface by Blaise Cendrars. Paris: Arthaud, 1955.

''1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Compter en s’amusant.'' (''Fun Counting''). - Lausanne: La Guilde du Livre, 1955.

* ''1, 2, 3, 4, 5.'' - Text by Arthur Gregor. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1956.

* ''1, 2, 3, 4, 5.'' - Text by Elsie May Harris. London: Nelson, 1962.

''Pour que Paris soit.'' (''This is Paris''). - Text by Elsa Triolet. Paris: Éditions Cercle d’Art, 1956.

''Gosses de Paris.'' (''Children of Paris''). - Text by Jean Dongués. Paris: Éditions Jeheber, 1956.

''Robert Doisneau's Paris: 148 Photographs.'' - Text by Blaise Cendrars. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1956.

* ''Paris Parade: 148 Photographs.'' - London: Thames & Hudson, 1956.

''Le ballet contre l'opéra.'' (''The Ballet and The Opera''). - Souillac, Lot: Mulhouse, 1956.

''A.B.C. du dépannage.'' - N.p.: Société des pétroles Shell Berre, 1958.

''Bistrots.'' (''Bistros''). - Text by Robert Giraud. Le Point: Revue artistique et littéraire, 57. Souillac, Lot: Mulhouse, 1960.

''Palm Springs 1960'' - Robert Doisneau. Flammarion publishing 01/03/2010 EAN: 9782080301291

''Arabie, carrefour des siècles: Album.'' (''Arabia, crossroads of the centuries. An album''). - Text by Jacques Benoist-Méchin. Lausanne: La Guilde du livre, 1961.

''Nicolas Schöffer.'' - Text by Guy Habasque and Jacques Ménétrier. Neuchâtel: Éditions du Griffon, 1962.

''Cognac.'' - Text by Georges Vial. Cognac: Rémy Martin, 1960 (?).

''Cognac.'' - Text by Louise de Vilmorin. Paris: Rémy Martin, 1962.

''Marius, le forestier.'' (''Marius, the forester. The working men''). - Text by Dominique Halévy. Les hommes travaillent. Paris: Éditions Fernand Nathan, 1964.

''Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, André Vigneau: Trois photographes français.'' - Arles: Musée Réattu, 1965.

* ''Catalogue of an exhibition at Musée Réattu of Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and André Vigneau''.

''Épouvantables Épouvantails.'' (''Appalling Scarecrows''). - Paris: Éditions Hors Mesure, 1965.

''Le Royaume d’argot.'' (''The Kingdom of slang''). - Text by Robert Giraud. Paris: Denoël, 1966.

''Catherine la danseuse.'' (''Catherine - the dancer''). - Text by Michèle Manceaux. Paris: Éditions Fernand Nathan, 1966.

''L'École polytechnique.'' (''The Polytechnic''). - Loos-lez-Lille: L. Danel, 1967.

''L'Oeil objectif.'' (''The eye is a lens''). - Marseille: Musée Cantini, 1968.

* ''Catalogue of an exhibition at Musée Cantini by Doisneau, Denis Brihat, Lucien Clergue, and Jean-Pierre Sudre''.

''Le Royaume secret du milieu.'' (''The secret of the middle kingdom'') - Text by Robert Giraud. Paris: Éditions Planète, 1969.

''My Paris''. - Text: Chevalier, Maurice. Macmillan Publishers. New York. 1972

''Le Paris de Robert Doisneau et Max-Pol Fouchet''. - Les éditeurs français réunis. France. 1974

''L’Enfant à la Colombe''. (''The Child of the Dove''). - Text: Sage, James. Editions of the Oak. Paris. La Loire. Denoël. Paris. 1978

''Le Mal de Paris''. (''The Evil of Paris''). - Text: Lépidis, Clément. Arthaud Publications. Paris. Trois Secondes d’éternité. Contrejour. Paris. 1979

''Ballade pour Violoncelle et Chambre Noir''. (A Song for a Cello and a dark room''). - Co-author: Baquet, Maurice. Herscher Editions. Paris. 1980

''Robert Doisneau''. - Text: Chevrier, Jean-François. Belfond Editions. Paris. 1981

''Passages et Galeries du 19ème Siècle''. (''Passages and Galleries of the 19th Century''). - Text: Delvaille, Bernard. Éditions Baslland. Paris. 1982

''Doisneau''. - Photopoche, Centre National de la Photographie. France. 1983

''Paysages, Photographies.'' (''Landscapes''). - (mission photography for DATAR) Éditions Hazan. Paris. 1985

''Un Certain Robert Doisneau''. - Editions of the Oak. Paris. 1986

''Pour saluer Cendrars''. (''In honour of Cendrars''). - Text: Camilly, J. Actes Sud. Arles, France. 1987

''60 portraits d/artists''. (''60 portraits of artists''). - Text: Petit, Jean. Hans Grieshaber Publications. Zürich. 1988

''Doisneau. Quotations by Doisneau collected by Maisonneuve Andre''. - Éditions Hazan. Paris, France. 1988

''Bonjour Monsieur Le Corbusier''. (Hello Mr Le Corbusier''). - Text: Petit, Jean. Hans Grieshaber Publications. Zürich. 1988

''A l’imparfait de l’objectif''. (''The imperfect object''). - Belfond Editions. Paris. 1989

''Les Doigts Pleins d’encre''. (''Fingers full of ink''). - Text: Cavanna. Hoëbeke Editions. Paris. 1989

''La Science de Doisneau''. (''The Science of Robert Doisneau''). - Hoëbeke Editions. Paris. 1990

''Les Auvergnats''. (''People of the Auvergne''). - (with Dubois, Jaques) Nathan Images. Paris. 1990

''Lettres à un Aveugle sur des Photographies de Robert Doisneau''. (''Letters to a blind man about the Photographs of Robert Doisneau''). - Text: Roumette, Sylvain. 1990

''Le Tout sur le tout/Le Temps qu’il fait''. (''All about the weather''). - Paris. 1990

''Le Vin des rues.'' - Text by Robert Giraud. Paris: Denoël, 1990.

''Rue Jacques Prévert''. - Hoëbeke Editions. Paris, France. 1991

''La Compagnie des Zincs''. - Text: Carradec, François Carradec. Seghers. Paris. 1991

''Les Grandes Vacances''. (''Summer vacation''). - Text: Pennac, Daniel. Hoëbeke Editions. Paris. 1992

''Mes gens de Plume''. - Writings by Doisneau collected by Dubois, Y. Éditions La Martinière. France. 1992

''Les Enfants de Germinal''. (The children of Germinal''). - Text: Cavanna. Hoëbeke Editions. Paris. 1993 (See also Germinal (month) - the downfall)

''Doisneau 40/44''. - Text: Ory, Pascal. Hoëbeke Editions. Paris. 1994

''La Vie de Famille''. (''Family life''). - Text: Ory, Pascal. Hoëbeke Editions. Paris. 1994

''Robert Doisneau ou la Vie d’un photographie''. (''Robert Doisneau - the life of a photographer''. - Text: Hamilton, Peter. Hoëbeke Editions. Paris. 1995

''Mes Parisiens''. (''My Parisians''). - Nathan Publications. Paris. 1997

References

External links

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Robert Doisneau

Website of the "Maison de la Photographie Robert-Doisneau"

BBC News report on the auction of ''Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville''

Bruce Silverstein Gallery

Category:1912 births Category:1994 deaths Category:People from Val-de-Marne Category:French photographers Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Street photographers

ca:Robert Doisneau cs:Robert Doisneau de:Robert Doisneau es:Robert Doisneau fr:Robert Doisneau it:Robert Doisneau he:רובר דואנו lt:Robert Doisneau nl:Robert Doisneau ja:ロベール・ドアノー pl:Robert Doisneau pt:Robert Doisneau ru:Дуано, Робер sc:Robert Doisneau sk:Robert Doisneau fi:Robert Doisneau sv:Robert Doisneau tr:Robert Doisneau vi:Robert Doisneau

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741), nicknamed ("The Red Priest") because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe. Vivaldi is known mainly for composing instrumental concertos, especially for the violin, as well as sacred choral works and over 40 operas. His best known work is a series of violin concertos known as ''The Four Seasons''.

Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the ''Ospedale della Pietà'', a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi worked from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some success with stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna hoping for preferment. The Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival, and the composer died a pauper, without a steady source of income.

Though Vivaldi's music was well received during his lifetime, it later declined in popularity until its vigorous revival in the first half of the 20th century. Today, Vivaldi ranks among the most popular and widely recorded Baroque composers.

Childhood

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in Venice, the capital of the Republic of Venice in 1678. He was baptized immediately after his birth at his home by the midwife, which led to the belief that his life was somehow in danger. Though not known for certain, the immediate baptism was most likely due either to his poor health or to an earthquake that shook the city that day. In the trauma of the earthquake, Vivaldi's mother may have dedicated him to the priesthood. Vivaldi's official church baptism (the rites that remained other than the baptism itself) did not take place until two months later.

Vivaldi's parents were Giovanni Battista Vivaldi and Camilla Calicchio, as recorded in the register of San Giovanni in Bragora. Vivaldi had five siblings: Margarita Gabriela, Cecilia Maria, Bonaventura Tomaso, Zanetta Anna, and Francesco Gaetano. Giovanni Battista, a barber before becoming a professional violinist, taught Antonio to play the violin, and then toured Venice playing the violin with his young son. He probably taught him at an early age, judging by Vivaldi's extensive musical knowledge at the age of 24 when he started working at the Ospedale della Pietà. Giovanni Battista was one of the founders of the ''Sovvegno dei musicisti di Santa Cecilia'', an association of musicians. The president of the ''Sovvegno'' was Giovanni Legrenzi, a composer of the early Baroque and ''maestro di cappella'' at St. Mark's Basilica. It is possible that Legrenzi gave the young Antonio his first lessons in composition. The Luxembourg scholar Walter Kolneder has discerned in the early liturgical work ''Laetatus sum'' (RV Anh 31, written in 1691 at the age of 13) the influence of Legrenzi's style. Vivaldi's father may have been a composer himself: in 1689, an opera titled ''La Fedeltà sfortunata'' was composed by a Giovanni Battista Rossi, and this was the name under which Vivaldi's father had joined the Sovvegno di Santa Cecilia: "Rosso" is Italian for "Red", and would have referred to the colour of his hair, a family trait.

Vivaldi's health was problematic. His symptoms, ''strettezza di petto'' ("tightness of the chest"), have been interpreted as a form of asthma. This did not prevent him from learning to play the violin, composing or taking part in musical activities, although it did stop him from playing wind instruments. In 1693, at the age of 15, he began studying to become a priest. He was ordained in 1703, aged 25. He was soon nicknamed ''il Prete Rosso'', "The Red Priest", because of his red hair. Not long after his ordination, in 1704, he was given a reprieve from celebrating the Holy Mass because of his ill health. Vivaldi only said Mass as a priest a few times. He appears to have withdrawn from priestly duties, but he remained a priest.

At the ''Conservatorio dell'Ospedale della Pietà''

In September 1703, Vivaldi became ''maestro di violino'' (master of violin) at an orphanage called the Pio Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of Mercy) in Venice. While Vivaldi is most famous as a composer, he was regarded as an exceptional technical violinist as well. The German architect Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach referred to Vivaldi as "the famous composer and violinist" and said that "Vivaldi played a solo accompaniment excellently, and at the conclusion he added a free fantasy [an improvised cadenza] which absolutely astounded me, for it is hardly possible that anyone has ever played, or ever will play, in such a fashion." Vivaldi was only 25 when he started working at the Ospedale della Pietà. Over the next thirty years he composed most of his major works while working there. There were four similar institutions in Venice; their purpose was to give shelter and education to children who were abandoned or orphaned, or whose families could not support them. They were financed by funds provided by the Republic. The boys learned a trade and had to leave when they reached 15. The girls received a musical education, and the most talented stayed and became members of the Ospedale's renowned orchestra and choir.

Shortly after Vivaldi's appointment, the orphans began to gain appreciation and esteem abroad, too. Vivaldi wrote concertos, cantatas and sacred vocal music for them. These sacred works, which number over 60, are varied: they included solo motets and large-scale choral works for soloists, double chorus, and orchestra. In 1704, the position of teacher of ''viola all'inglese'' was added to his duties as violin instructor. The position of ''maestro di coro'', which was at one time filled by Vivaldi, required a lot of time and work. He had to compose an oratorio or concerto at every feast and teach the orphans both music theory and how to play certain instruments.

His relationship with the board of directors of the Ospedale was often strained. The board had to take a vote every year on whether to keep a teacher. The vote on Vivaldi was seldom unanimous, and went 7 to 6 against him in 1709. After a year as a freelance musician, he was recalled by the Ospedale with a unanimous vote in 1711; clearly during his year's absence the board realized the importance of his role. He became responsible for all of the musical activity of the institution when he was promoted to ''maestro di' concerti'' (music director) in 1716.

In 1705, the first collection (''Connor Cassara'') of his works was published by Giuseppe Sala: his Opus 1 is a collection of 12 sonatas for two violins and basso continuo, in a conventional style. In 1709, a second collection of 12 sonatas for violin and basso continuo appeared, his Opus 2. A real breakthrough as a composer came with his first collection of 12 concerti for one, two, and four violins with strings, ''L'estro armonico'' Opus 3, which was published in Amsterdam in 1711 by Estienne Roger, dedicated to Grand Prince Ferdinand of Tuscany. The prince sponsored many musicians including Alessandro Scarlatti and Handel. He was a musician himself, and Vivaldi probably met him in Venice. ''L'estro armonico'' was a resounding success all over Europe. It was followed in 1714 by ''La stravaganza'' Opus 4, a collection of concerti for solo violin and strings, dedicated to an old violin student of Vivaldi's, the Venetian noble Vettor Dolfin.

In February 1711, Vivaldi and his father traveled to Brescia, where his setting of the Stabat Mater (RV 621) was played as part of a religious festival. The work seems to have been written in haste: the string parts are simple, the music of the first three movements is repeated in the next three, and not all the text is set. Nevertheless, perhaps in part because of the forced essentiality of the music, the work is one of his early masterpieces.

Despite his frequent travels from 1718, the Pietà paid him 2 sequins to write two concerti a month for the orchestra and to rehearse with them at least five times when in Venice. The following year, Vivaldi became the impresario of the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice, where his opera ''Orlando finto pazzo'' (RV 727) was performed. The work was not to the public's taste, and it closed after a couple of weeks, being replaced with a repeat of a different work already given the previous year. In 1715, he presented ''Nerone fatto Cesare'' (RV 724, now lost), with music by seven different composers, of which he was the leader. The opera contained eleven arias, and was a success. In the late season, Vivaldi planned to put on an opera composed entirely by him, ''Arsilda regina di Ponto'' (RV 700), but the state censor blocked the performance. The main character, Arsilda, falls in love with another woman, Lisea, who is pretending to be a man. Vivaldi got the censor to accept the opera the following year, and it was a resounding success.

At this period, the ''Pietà'' commissioned several liturgical works. The most important were two oratorios. ''Moyses Deus Pharaonis'', (RV 643) is lost. The second, ''Juditha triumphans'' (RV 644), celebrates the victory of the Republic of Venice against the Turks and the recapture of the island of Corfù. Composed in 1716, it is one of his sacred masterpieces. All eleven singing parts were performed by girls of the Pietà, both the female and male roles. Many of the arias include parts for solo instruments—recorders, oboes, clarinets, violas d'amore, and mandolins—that showcased the range of talents of the girls.

Also in 1716, Vivaldi wrote and produced two more operas, ''L'incoronazione di Dario'' (RV 719) and ''La costanza trionfante degli amori e degli odi'' (RV 706). The latter was so popular that it performed two years later, re-edited and retitled ''Artabano re dei Parti'' (RV 701, now lost). It was also performed in Prague in 1732. In the following years, Vivaldi wrote several operas that were performed all over Italy.

His progressive operatic style caused him some trouble with more conservative musicians, like Benedetto Marcello, a magistrate and amateur musician who wrote a pamphlet denouncing him and his operas. The pamphlet, ''Il teatro alla moda'', attacks Vivaldi without mentioning him directly. The cover drawing shows a boat (the Sant'Angelo), on the left end of which stands a little angel wearing a priest's hat and playing the violin. The Marcello family claimed ownership of the Teatro Sant'Angelo, and a long legal battle had been fought with the management for its restitution, without success. The obscure writing under the picture mentions non-existent places and names: ''ALDIVIVA'' is an anagram of ''A. Vivaldi''.

In a letter written by Vivaldi to his patron Marchese Bentivoglio, he makes reference to his "94 operas". Only around 50 operas by Vivaldi have been discovered, and no other documentation of the remaining operas exists. Vivaldi may have exaggerated, but it is possible that he did write 94 operas. While Vivaldi certainly composed many operas in his time, he never reached the prominence of other great composers like Alessandro Scarlatti, Leonardo Leo, and Baldassare Galuppi, as evidenced by his inability to keep a production running for any period of time in any major opera house. His most successful operas were ''La constanza trionfante'' and ''Farnace'' which garnered six revivals each.

Mantua and ''The Four Seasons''

In 1717 or 1718, Vivaldi was offered a new prestigious position as ''Maestro di Cappella'' of the court of prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt, governor of Mantua. He moved there for three years and produced several operas, among which was ''Tito Manlio'' (RV 738). In 1721, he was in Milan, where he presented the pastoral drama ''La Silvia'' (RV 734, 9 arias survive). He visited Milan again the following year with the oratorio ''L'adorazione delli tre re magi al bambino Gesù'' (RV 645, also lost). In 1722 he moved to Rome, where he introduced his operas' new style. The new pope Benedict XIII invited Vivaldi to play for him. In 1725, Vivaldi returned to Venice, where he produced four operas in the same year.

During this period Vivaldi wrote the ''Four Seasons'', four violin concertos depicting scenes appropriate for each season. Three of the concerti are of original conception, while the first, "Spring", borrows motifs from a Sinfonia in the first act of his contemporaneous opera "''Il Giustino''". The inspiration for the concertos was probably the countryside around Mantua. They were a revolution in musical conception: in them Vivaldi represented flowing creeks, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized), barking dogs, buzzing mosquitoes, crying shepherds, storms, drunken dancers, silent nights, hunting parties from both the hunters' and the prey's point of view, frozen landscapes, ice-skating children, and warming winter fires. Each concerto is associated with a sonnet, possibly by Vivaldi, describing the scenes depicted in the music. They were published as the first four concertos in a collection of twelve, ''Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione'', Opus 8, published in Amsterdam by Le Cène in 1725.

During his time in Mantua, Vivaldi became acquainted with an aspiring young singer Anna Tessieri Giro who was to become his student, protégée, and favorite prima donna. Anna, along with her older half-sister Paolina, became part of Vivaldi's entourage and regularly accompanied him on his many travels. There was speculation about the nature of Vivaldi's and Giro's relationship, but no evidence to indicate anything beyond friendship and professional collaboration. Although Vivaldi's relationship with Anna Giro was questioned, he adamantly denied any romantic relationship in a letter to his patron Bentivoglio dated 16 November 1737.

Later life and death

During the height of his career, Vivaldi received commissions from European nobility and royalty. The wedding cantata ''Gloria e Imeneo'' (RV 687) was written for the marriage of Louis XV. Vivaldi's Opus 9, ''La Cetra'', was dedicated to Emperor Charles VI. In 1728, Vivaldi met the emperor while he was visiting Trieste to oversee the construction of a new port. Charles admired the music of the Red Priest so much that he is said to have spoken more with the composer during their one meeting than he spoke to his ministers in over two years. He gave Vivaldi the title of knight, a gold medal and an invitation to Vienna. Vivaldi gave Charles a manuscript copy of ''La Cetra'', a set of concerti almost completely different from the set of the same title published as Opus 9. The printing was probably delayed, forcing Vivaldi to gather an improvised collection for the emperor.

Accompanied by his father, Vivaldi traveled to Vienna and Prague in 1730, where his opera ''Farnace'' (RV 711) was presented. Some of his later operas were created in collaboration with two of Italy's major writers of the time. ''L'Olimpiade'' and ''Catone in Utica'' were written by Pietro Metastasio, the major representative of the Arcadian movement and court poet in Vienna. ''La Griselda'' was rewritten by the young Carlo Goldoni from an earlier libretto by Apostolo Zeno.

Like many composers of the time, the final years of Vivaldi's life found him in financial difficulties. His compositions were no longer held in such high esteem as they once were in Venice; changing musical tastes quickly made them outmoded. In response, Vivaldi chose to sell off sizeable numbers of his manuscripts at paltry prices to finance his migration to Vienna. The reasons for Vivaldi's departure from Venice are unclear, but it seems likely that, after the success of his meeting with Emperor Charles VI, he wished to take up the position of a composer in the imperial court. On his way to Vienna, Vivaldi may have stopped in Graz to see Anna Giro. It is also likely that Vivaldi went to Vienna to stage operas, especially since he took up residence near the Kärntnertortheater. Shortly after Vivaldi's arrival in Vienna, Charles VI died, a stroke of bad luck that left the composer without royal protection or a steady source of income. Vivaldi died a pauper not long after the emperor, on the night between 27 and 28 July 1741 at the age of 63, of "internal infection", in a house owned by the widow of a Viennese saddlemaker. On 28 July he was buried in a simple grave at the Hospital Burial Ground in Vienna. Vivaldi's funeral took place at St. Stephen's Cathedral, where the young Joseph Haydn was then a choir boy. The cost of his funeral included a ''Kleingeläut'' (pauper's peal of bells). He was buried next to Karlskirche, in an area now part of the site of the Technical Institute. The house Vivaldi lived in while in Vienna was torn down; the Hotel Sacher is built on part of the site. Memorial plaques have been placed at both locations as well as a Vivaldi "star" in the Viennese Musikmeile and a monument at the Rooseveltplatz.

Only three portraits of Vivaldi are known to survive: an engraving, an ink sketch and an oil painting. The engraving, by Francois Morellon La Cave, was made in 1725 and shows Vivaldi holding a sheet of music. The ink sketch was done by Ghezzi in 1723 and shows only Vivaldi's head and shoulders in profile. The oil painting found in the Liceo Musicale of Bologna gives us possibly the most accurate picture and shows Vivaldi's red hair under his blond wig.

Style and influence

Vivaldi's music was innovative. He brightened the formal and rhythmic structure of the concerto, in which he looked for harmonic contrasts and innovative melodies and themes; many of his compositions are flamboyantly, almost playfully, exuberant.

Johann Sebastian Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias (recalled in his ''St John Passion'', ''St Matthew Passion'', and cantatas). Bach transcribed six of Vivaldi's concerti for solo keyboard, three for organ, and one for four harpsichords, strings, and basso continuo (BWV 1065) based upon the concerto for four violins, two violas, cello, and basso continuo (RV 580).

Posthumous reputation

During his lifetime, Vivaldi's popularity quickly made him famous in other countries, including France where musical taste was less dictated by fashion than elsewhere. This popularity dwindled. After the Baroque period, Vivaldi's published concerti were relatively unknown, and largely ignored, even after Felix Mendelssohn rekindled interest in Bach. Even Vivaldi's most famous work, ''The Four Seasons'', was unknown in its original edition.

In the early 20th century, Fritz Kreisler's Vivaldi-styled concerto (which he passed off as an original Vivaldi work) helped revive Vivaldi's reputation. This spurred the French scholar Marc Pincherle to begin an academic study of Vivaldi's oeuvre. Many Vivaldi manuscripts were rediscovered, and were acquired by the National University of Turin Library with generous sponsorship of Turinese businessmen Roberto Foa and Filippo Giordano, in memory of their sons. This led to renewed interest in Vivaldi by, among others, Mario Rinaldi, Alfredo Casella, Ezra Pound, Olga Rudge, Desmond Chute, Arturo Toscanini, Arnold Schering, and Louis Kaufman. These figures were instrumental in the Vivaldi revival of the 20th century.

In 1926, in a monastery in Piedmont, researchers discovered 14 folios of Vivaldi's work, previously thought lost during the Napoleonic wars. Some volumes in the numbered set were missing; these turned up in the collections of the descendants of the Grand Duke Durazzo who had acquired the monastery complex in the 18th century. The volumes contained 300 concertos, 19 operas and over 100 vocal-instrumental works.

The resurrection of Vivaldi's unpublished works in the 20th century is mostly due to the efforts of Alfredo Casella, who in 1939 organised the historic ''Vivaldi Week'', in which the rediscovered ''Gloria'' (RV 589) and ''l'Olimpiade'' were first revived. Since World War II, Vivaldi's compositions have enjoyed wide success. In 1947, the Venetian businessman Antonio Fanna founded the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi, with the composer Gian Francesco Malipiero as its artistic director, having the purpose of promoting Vivaldi's music and publishing new editions of his works. Historically informed performances seem to have increased Vivaldi's fame further. Unlike many of his contemporaries, whose music is rarely heard outside an academic or special-interest context, Vivaldi is popular among modern audiences.

Recent rediscoveries of works by Vivaldi include two psalm settings of ''Nisi Dominus'' (RV 803, in eight movements) and ''Dixit Dominus'' (RV 807, in eleven movements), identified in 2003 and 2005, respectively, by the Australian scholar Janice Stockigt. Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot called RV 803 "arguably the best nonoperatic work from Vivaldi's pen to come to light since... the 1920s". Vivaldi's lost 1730 opera ''Argippo'' (RV 697) was re-discovered in 2006 by harpsichordist and conductor Ondřej Macek, whose Hofmusici orchestra performed the work at Prague Castle on 3 May 2008, its first performance since 1730.

A movie titled ''Vivaldi, a Prince in Venice'' was completed in 2005 as an Italian-French co-production under the direction of Jean-Louis Guillermou, featuring Stefano Dionisi in the title role and Michel Serrault as the bishop of Venice. In 2005, ABC Radio National commissioned a radio play about Vivaldi, which was written by Sean Riley. The radio play, called "The Angel and the Red Priest", was later adapted into a stage version and performed at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts.

The music of Vivaldi, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Corelli, has been included in the theories of Alfred Tomatis on the effects of music on human behaviour and used in music therapy.

Works

A Vivaldi work is identified by RV number, which refers to its place in the "Ryom-Verzeichnis" or "Répertoire des oeuvres d'Antonio Vivaldi", a catalog created in the 20th century by musicologist Peter Ryom.

''Le quattro stagioni'' (The Four Seasons) of 1723 is his most famous work. It is part of ''Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione'' ("The Contest between Harmony and Invention"). It depicts moods and scenes from each of the four seasons. This work has been described as an outstanding instance of pre-19th Century program music.

Vivaldi wrote more than 500 other concertos. About 350 of these are for solo instrument and strings, of which 230 are for violin, the others being for bassoon, cello, oboe, flute, viola d'amore, recorder, lute, or mandolin. About 40 are for two instruments and strings, and about 30 are for three or more instruments and strings.

As well as about 46 operas, Vivaldi composed a large body of sacred choral music. Other works include sinfonias, about 90 sonatas, and chamber music.

Some sonatas for flute, published as ''Il Pastor Fido'', have been erroneously attributed to Vivaldi, but were composed by Nicolas Chédeville.

Notes

References and further reading

Bukofzer, Manfred (1947). ''Music in the Baroque Era''. New York, W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-09745-5.

Cross, Eric (1984). Review of ''I libretti vivaldiani: recensione e collazione dei testimoni a stampa by Anna Laura Bellina; Bruno Brizi; Maria Grazia Pensa'' in ''Music & Letters'', Vol. 65, No. 1 (Jan., 1984), pp. 62–64

Formichetti, Gianfranco ''Venezia e il prete col violino. Vita di Antonio Vivaldi'', Bompiani (2006), ISBN 88-452-5640-5.

Heller, Karl ''Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice'', Amadeus Press (1997), ISBN 1-57467-015-8

Kolneder, Walter ''Antonio Vivaldi: Documents of His Life and Works'', C F Peters Corp (1983), ISBN 3-7959-0338-6

Barbara Quick, ''Vivaldi's Virgins'' (novel), HarperCollins (2007), ISBN 978-0-06-089052-0.

André Romijn. ''Hidden Harmonies: The Secret Life of Antonio Vivaldi'', 2007 ISBN 978-0-9554100-1-7

Eleanor Selfridge-Field (1994). ''Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi''. New York, Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-28151-5.

Michael Talbot, ''Antonio Vivaldi'', Insel Verlag (1998), ISBN 3-458-33917-5

Michael Talbot: "Antonio Vivaldi", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 26 August 2006), (subscription access)

''Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque'', H. C. Robbins Landon, 1996 University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226468429

Sarah Bruce Kelly: ''The Red Priest's Annina'', 2009 Bel Canto Press, ISBN 978-0-578-02566-7

External links

Catalog of instrumental works

Complete works catalog

Michael Talbot: Recent Vivaldi Discoveries from the online magazine Goldberg.

Antonio Vivaldi by Fréderic Délaméa (Translated by Kirk McElhearn) from Goldberg.

Two Vivaldi biopics may duel at the box office

Vivaldi biography. Free English eBooks: 1. Talbot, M. Vivaldi. 1993; 2. Heller, K. Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice. 1997

project Anima Veneziana (Ryom, Peter. Vivaldi Werkverzeichnis. 1. Auflage. 2007. Breitkopf & Härtel. 664 S., format: JPG)

The Seasons in interactive hypermedia Allegro, Largo, Allegro (Shockwave required) at the BinAural Collaborative Hypertext

Allegro molto from 'Winter' by Vivaldi

Video of ballet to music by Antonio Vivaldi

Informations about the research project on the Saxon court's instrumental music collection in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, in German (open source online publication of all Vivaldi manuscripts from the Pisendel collection)

Category:1678 births Category:1741 deaths Category:17th-century Italian people Category:18th-century Italian people Category:18th-century Austrian people Category:17th-century composers Category:18th-century composers Category:Baroque composers Category:Italian composers Category:Composers for violin Category:Composers for cello Category:Opera composers Category:Italian classical violinists Category:Italian Roman Catholic priests Category:Italian expatriates in Austria Category:People from Venice (city) Category:People from Innere Stadt Category:Austrian composers

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