Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1750. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era. The word "baroque" came from the Portuguese word ''barroco'', meaning "misshapen pearl", a negative description of the ornate and heavily ornamented music of this period; later, the name came to be applied also to its architecture. Baroque music forms a major portion of the classical music canon, being widely studied, performed, and listened to. Composers of the baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, Georg Philipp Telemann, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Arcangelo Corelli, Claudio Monteverdi, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Henry Purcell. The baroque period saw the development of functional tonality. During the period, composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques. Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also established opera as a musical genre. Many musical terms and concepts from this era are still in use today.

History of the name

The term "Baroque" is used by music historians generally to describe a broad range of styles from a wide geographic region, mostly in Europe, composed during a period of approximately 150 years. Although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music, in an anonymous, satirical review of the première in October 1733 of Rameau’s ''Hippolyte et Aricie'', printed in the ''Mercure de France'' in May 1734. The critic implied that the novelty in this opera was "du barocque", complaining that the music lacked coherent melody, was filled with unremitting dissonances, constantly changed key and meter, and speedily ran through every compositional device.

The systematic application by historians of the term "baroque" to music of this period is a relatively recent development. It was in 1919 that Curt Sachs was the first to attempt to apply the five characteristics of Heinrich Wölfflin’s theory of the Baroque systematically to music. In English the term only acquired currency in the 1940s, in the writings of Lang and Bukofzer. Indeed, as late as 1960 there was still considerable dispute in academic circles, particularly in France and Britain, whether it was meaningful to lump together music as diverse as that of Jacopo Peri, Domenico Scarlatti and J.S. Bach with a single term; yet the term has become widely used and accepted for this broad range of music. It may be helpful to distinguish it from both the preceding (Renaissance) and following (Classical) periods of musical history.

Aesthetics

Composers associated with the Florentine Camerata like Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini and Claudio Monteverdi, sought to depict human affects in a direct manner expressed by a solo voice. Monteverdi's side of his historic debate with Artusi was published in the foreword to his Fifth Book of Madrigals. Later, the way to view affects became codified, and a main treatise is Mattheson's ''Der vollkommene Kapellmeister'' from 1739.

History

Composers of the Baroque

Early baroque music (1600–1654)

It is conventionally accepted that the division between the Renaissance and the Baroque period began in Italy with the formation of the Florentine Camerata, a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama. In reference to music, their ideals were based on their perception of Classical (especially ancient Greek) musical drama, in which discourse and oration was viewed with much importance. As such, they rejected the complex polyphony of the late Renaissance and sought to revive an ancient Greek form of musical drama known as a monody, which consisted primarily of a simple solo melody alongside by a basic accompaniment. The early realizations of these ideas, including Jacopo Peri's ''Dafne'' and ''L'Euridice'', marked the beginning of opera, which in turn can be considered to have marked the catalyst of Baroque music.

Concerning music theory, the more widespread use of figured bass (also known as "thorough bass") represents the developing importance of harmony as the linear underpinnings of polyphony. Harmony being the end result of counterpoint and figured bass being the representation of harmony commonly employed in musical instruction, the two became seen as two means of perception for the same idea, with harmonic progressions entering the notion of composing, as well as the use of the tritone, which was perceived as unstable, in order to create dissonance because of this very property. Investment in harmony had also existed among certain composers in the Renaissance, notably Carlo Gesualdo; however, the Renaissance is understood to transition into the Baroque period when the use of harmony became directed towards tonality rather than modality. This led to the idea that chords, rather than notes, created the sense of closure, which is one of the fundamental ideas of what came to be known as tonality.

Italy formed one of the cornerstones of the new style, as the papacy—besieged by Reformation but with coffers fattened by the immense revenues flowing in from Habsburg conquest—searched for artistic means to promote faith in the Roman Catholic Church. One of the most important musical centers was Venice, which had both secular and sacred patronage available.

Giovanni Gabrieli became one of the important transitional figures in the emergence of the new style, although his work is largely considered to be in the "High Renaissance" manner. However, his innovations were foundational to the new style. Among these are instrumentation (labeling instruments specifically for specific tasks) and the use of dynamics.

The demands of religion were also to make the text of sacred works clearer, and hence there was pressure to move away from the densely layered polyphony of the Renaissance, to lines which put the words front and center, or had a more limited range of imitation. This created the demand for a more intricate weaving of the vocal line against backdrop, or homophony.

Claudio Monteverdi became the most visible of a generation of composers who felt that there was a secular means to this "modern" approach to harmony and text, and in 1607 his opera ''L'Orfeo'' became the landmark which demonstrated the array of effects and techniques that were associated with this new school, called ''seconda pratica'', to distinguish it from the older style or ''prima pratica''. Monteverdi was a master of both, producing precisely styled madrigals that extended the forms of Luca Marenzio and Giaches de Wert. But it is his pieces in the new style which became the most influential. These included features which are recognizable even to the end of the baroque period, including use of idiomatic writing, virtuoso flourishes, and the use of new techniques.

This musical language proved to be international, as Heinrich Schütz, a German composer who studied in Venice under both Gabrieli and later Monteverdi, used it to the liturgical needs of the Elector of Saxony and served as the choir master in ecreaon.

Middle baroque music (1654–1707)

The rise of the centralized court is one of the economic and political features of what is often labelled the Age of Absolutism, personified by Louis XIV of France. The style of palace, and the court system of manners and arts which he fostered, became the model for the rest of Europe. The realities of rising church and state patronage created the demand for organized public music, as the increasing availability of instruments created the demand for chamber music. This included the availability of keyboard instruments.

The middle Baroque is separated from the early Baroque by the coming of systematic thinking to the new style and a gradual institutionalization of the forms and norms, particularly in opera. As with literature, the printing press and trade created an expanded international audience for works and greater cross-pollination between national centres of musical activity.

The middle Baroque, in music theory, is identified by the increasingly harmonic focus of musical practice and the creation of formal systems of teaching. Music was an art, and it came to be seen as one that should be taught in an orderly manner. This culminated in the later work of Johann Fux in systematizing counterpoint.

One pre-eminent example of a court style composer is Jean-Baptiste Lully. His career rose dramatically when he collaborated with Molière on a series of comédie-ballets, that is, plays with dancing. He used this success to become the sole composer of operas for the king, using not just innovative musical ideas such as the tragédie lyrique, but patents from the king which prevented others from having operas staged. Lully's instinct for providing the material that his monarch desired has been pointed out by almost every biographer, including his rapid shift to church music when the mood at court became more devout. His 13 completed lyric tragedies are based on libretti that focus on the conflicts between the public and private life of the monarch.

Musically, he explored contrast between stately and fully orchestrated sections, and simple recitatives and airs. In no small part, it was his skill in assembling and practicing musicians into an orchestra which was essential to his success and influence. Observers noted the precision and intonation, this in an age where there was no standard for tuning instruments. One essential element was the increased focus on the inner voices of the harmony and the relationship to the soloist. He also established the string-dominated norm for orchestras.

Arcangelo Corelli is remembered as influential for his achievements on the other side of musical technique— as a violinist who organized violin technique and pedagogy— and in purely instrumental music, particularly his advocacy and development of the concerto grosso. Whereas Lully was ensconced at court, Corelli was one of the first composers to publish widely and have his music performed all over Europe. As with Lully's stylization and organization of the opera, the concerto grosso is built on strong contrasts— sections alternate between those played by the full orchestra, and those played by a smaller group. Dynamics were "terraced", that is with a sharp transition from loud to soft and back again. Fast sections and slow sections were juxtaposed against each other. Numbered among his students is Antonio Vivaldi, who later composed hundreds of works based on the principles in Corelli's trio sonatas and concerti.

In England the middle Baroque produced a cometary genius in Henry Purcell, who, despite dying at age 36, produced a profusion of music and was widely recognized in his lifetime. He was familiar with the innovations of Corelli and other Italian style composers; however, his patrons were different, and his musical output was prodigious. Rather than being a painstaking craftsman, Purcell was a fluid composer who was able to shift from simple anthems and useful music such as marches, to grandly scored vocal music and music for the stage. His catalogue runs to over 800 works. He was also one of the first great keyboard composers, whose work still has influence and presence.

In contrast to these composers, Dieterich Buxtehude was not a creature of court but instead was an organist and entrepreneurial presenter of music. Rather than publishing, he relied on performance for his income, and rather than royal patronage, he shuttled between vocal settings for sacred music, and organ music that he performed. His output is not as fabulous or diverse, because he was not constantly being called upon for music to meet an occasion. Buxtehude's employment of contrast was between the free, often improvisatory sections, and more strict sections worked out contrapuntally. This procedure would be highly influential on later composers such as Bach, who took the contrast between free and strict to greater heights.

Late baroque music (1680–1750)

The dividing line between middle and late Baroque is a matter of some debate. Dates for the beginning of "late" baroque style range from 1680 to 1720. In no small part this is because there was not one synchronized transition; different national styles experienced changes at different rates and at different times. Italy is generally regarded as the first country to move to the late baroque style. The important dividing line in most histories of baroque music is the full absorption of tonality as a structuring principle of music. This was particularly evident in the wake of theoretical work by Jean-Philippe Rameau, who replaced Lully as the important French opera composer. At the same time, through the work of Johann Fux, the Renaissance style of polyphony was made the basis for the study of counterpoint. The combination of modal counterpoint with tonal logic of cadences created the sense that there were two styles of composition— the homophonic dominated by vertical considerations and the polyphonic dominated by imitation and contrapuntal considerations.

The forms which had begun to be established in the previous era flourished and were given wider range of diversity; concerto, suite, sonata, concerto grosso, oratorio, opera and ballet all saw a proliferation of national styles and structures. The overall form of pieces was generally simple, with repeated binary forms (AABB), simple three part forms (ABC), and rondeau forms being common. These schematics in turn influenced later composers.

Antonio Vivaldi is a figure who was forgotten in concert music making for much of the 19th century, only to be revived in the 20th century. Born in Venice in 1678, he began as an ordained priest of the Catholic Church but ceased to say Mass by 1703. Around the same time he was appointed ''maestro di violino'' at a Venetian girls' orphanage with which he had a professional relationship until nearly the end of his life. Vivaldi's reputation came not from having an orchestra or court appointment, but from his published works, including trio sonatas, violin sonatas and concerti. They were published in Amsterdam and circulated widely through Europe. It is in these instrumental genres of baroque sonata and baroque concerto, which were still evolving, that Vivaldi's most important contributions were made. He settled on certain patterns, such as a fast-slow-fast three-movement plan for works, and the use of ritornello in the fast movements, and explored the possibilities in hundreds of works— 550 concerti alone. He also used programmatic titles for works, such as his famous "The Four Seasons" violin concerti. Vivaldi's career reflects a growing possibility for a composer to be able to support himself by his publications, tour to promote his own works, and have an independent existence.

Domenico Scarlatti was one of the leading keyboard virtuosi of his day, who took the road of being a royal court musician, first in Portugal and then, starting in 1733, in Madrid, Spain, where he spent the rest of his life. His father, Alessandro Scarlatti, was a member of the Neapolitan School of opera and has been credited with being among its most skilled members. Domenico also wrote operas and church music, but it is the publication of his keyboard works, which spread more widely after his death, which have secured him a lasting place of reputation. Many of these works were written for his own playing but others for his royal patrons. As with his father, his fortunes were closely tied to his ability to secure, and keep, royal favour.

But perhaps the most famous composer to be associated with royal patronage was George Frideric Handel, who was born in Germany, studied for three years in Italy, and went to London in 1711, which was his base of operations for a long and profitable career that included independently produced operas and commissions for nobility. He was constantly searching for successful commercial formulas, in opera, and then in oratorios in English. A continuous worker, Handel borrowed from others and often recycled his own material. He was also known for reworking pieces such as the famous ''Messiah'', which premiered in 1741, for available singers and musicians. Even as his economic circumstances rose and fell with his productions, his reputation, based on published keyboard works, ceremonial music, constant stagings of operas and oratorios and concerti grossi, grew exponentially. By the time of his death, he was regarded as the leading composer in Europe and was studied by later classical-era musicians. Handel, because of his very public ambitions, rested a great deal of his output on melodic resource combined with a rich performance tradition of improvisation and counterpoint. The practice of ornamentation in the Baroque style was at a very high level of development under his direction. He travelled all over Europe to engage singers and learn the music of other composers, and thus he had among the widest acquaintance of other styles of any composer.

Johann Sebastian Bach has, over time, come to be seen as the towering figure of Baroque music, with what Béla Bartók described as "a religion" surrounding him. During the baroque period, he was better known as a teacher, administrator and performer than composer, being less famous than either Handel or Georg Philipp Telemann. Born in Eisenach in 1685 to a musical family, he received an extensive early education and was considered to have an excellent boy soprano voice. He held a variety of posts as an organist, rapidly gaining in fame for his virtuosity and ability. In 1723 he settled at the post which he was associated with for virtually the rest of his life: cantor and director of music for Leipzig. His varied experience allowed him to become the town's leader of music both secular and sacred, teacher of its musicians, and leading musical figure. Bach's musical innovations plumbed the depths and the outer limits of the Baroque homophonic and polyphonic forms. He was a virtual catalogue of every contrapuntal device possible and every acceptable means of creating webs of harmony with the chorale. As a result, his works in the form of the fugue coupled with preludes and toccatas for organ, and the baroque concerto forms, have become fundamental in both performance and theoretical technique. Virtually every instrument and ensemble of the age— except for the theatre genres— is represented copiously in his output. Bach's teachings became prominent in the classical and romantic eras as composers rediscovered the harmonic and melodic subtleties of his works.

Georg Philipp Telemann was the most famous instrumental composer of his time, and massively prolific— even by the standards of an age where composers had to produce large volumes of music. His two most important positions — director of music in Frankfurt in 1712 and in 1721 director of music of the Johanneum in Hamburg — required him to compose vocal and instrumental music for secular and sacred contexts. He composed two complete cantata cycles for Sunday services, as well as sacred oratorios. Telemann also founded a periodical that published new music, much of it by Telemann. This dissemination of music made him a composer with an international audience, as evidenced by his successful trip to Paris in 1731. Some of his finest works were in the 1750s and 1760s, when the Baroque style was being replaced by simpler styles but were popular at the time and afterwards. Among these late works are "Der Tod Jesu" ("The death of Jesus") 1755, "Die Donner-Ode" ("The Ode of Thunder") 1756, "Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu" ("The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus") 1760 and "Der Tag des Gerichts" ("The Day of Judgement") 1762.

Influence on later music

Transition to the Classical era (1740–1780)

The phase between the late Baroque and the early Classical era, with its broad mixture of competing ideas and attempts to unify the different demands of taste, economics and "worldview", goes by many names. It is sometimes called "Galant", "Rococo", or "pre-Classical", or at other times, "early Classical". It is a period where composers still working in the Baroque style were still successful, if sometimes thought of as being more of the past than the present— Bach, Handel and Telemann all composed well beyond the point at which the homophonic style is clearly in the ascendant. Musical culture was caught at a crossroads: the masters of the older style had the technique, but the public hungered for the new. This is one of the reasons Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was held in such high regard: he understood the older forms quite well and knew how to present them in new garb, with an enhanced variety of form; he went far in overhauling the older forms from the Baroque.

The practice of the baroque era was the standard against which new composition was measured, and there came to be a division between sacred works, which held more closely to the Baroque style from secular or "profane" works, which were in the new style.

Especially in the Catholic countries of central Europe, the baroque style continued to be represented in sacred music through the end of the eighteenth century, in much the way that the ''stile antico'' of the Renaissance continued to live in the sacred music of the early 17th century. The masses and oratorios of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, while Classical in their orchestration and ornamentation, have many Baroque features in their underlying contrapuntal and harmonic structure. The decline of the baroque saw various attempts to mix old and new techniques, and many composers who continued to hew to the older forms well into the 1780s. Many cities in Germany continued to maintain performance practices from the Baroque into the 1790s, including Leipzig, where J.S. Bach worked to the end of his life.

In England, the enduring popularity of Handel ensured the success of Charles Avison, William Boyce, and Thomas Arne — among other accomplished imitators — well into the 1780s, who competed alongside Mozart and Bach. In Continental Europe, however, it was considered an old-fashioned way of writing and was a requisite for graduation from the burgeoning number of conservatories of music, and otherwise reserved only for use in sacred works.

After 1760

Because baroque music was the basis for pedagogy, it retained a stylistic influence even after it had ceased to be the dominant style of composing or of music making. Even as Baroque practice fell out of use, it continued to be part of musical notation. In the early 19th century, scores by baroque masters were printed in complete edition, and this led to a renewed interest in the "strict style" of counterpoint, as it was then called. With Felix Mendelssohn's revival of Bach's choral music, the baroque style became an influence through the 19th century as a paragon of academic and formal purity.

In the 20th century, Baroque was named as a period, and its music began to be studied.

There are several instances of contemporary pieces being published as "rediscovered" Baroque masterworks. Some examples of this include a viola concerto written by Henri Casadesus but attributed to Johann Christian Bach, as well as several pieces attributed by Fritz Kreisler to lesser-known figures of the Baroque such as Gaetano Pugnani and Padre Martini. Alessandro Parisotti attributed his aria for voice and piano, "Se tu m'ami", to Pergolesi.

Various works have been labelled "neo-baroque" for a focus on imitative polyphony, including the works of Giacinto Scelsi, Paul Hindemith, Paul Creston and Bohuslav Martinů, even though they are not in the baroque style proper. Musicologists attempted to complete various works from the Baroque, most notably Bach's ‘’The Art of Fugue’’. Composer Peter Schickele parodies classical and baroque styles under the pen name PDQ Bach.

Baroque performance practice had a renewed influence with the rise of "Authentic" or Historically informed performance in the late 20th century. Texts by Johann Joachim Quantz and Leopold Mozart among others, formed the basis for performances which attempted to recover some of the aspects of baroque sound world, including one-on-a-part performance of works by Bach, use of gut strings rather than metal, reconstructed harpsichords, use of older playing techniques and styles. Several popular ensembles adopted some or all of these techniques, including the Anonymous 4, the Academy of Ancient Music, Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, William Christie's Les Arts Florissants, Sigiswald Kuijken's La Petite Bande and others.

Styles and forms

===The Baroque suite=== The Baroque suite was scored with or without soloists.

Overture

The Baroque suite generally began with a French overture ("Ouverture" in French).

Allemande

Often the first dance of an instrumental suite, the allemande was a very popular dance that had its origins in the Renaissance era, when it was more often called the almain. The allemande was played at a moderate tempo and could start on any beat of the bar.

Courante

The courante is a lively, French dance in triple meter. The Italian version is called the corrente.

Sarabande

The sarabande, a Spanish dance, is one of the slowest of the baroque dances. It is also in triple meter and can start on any beat of the bar, although there is an emphasis on the second beat, creating the characteristic 'halting', or iambic rhythm of the sarabande.

Gigue

The gigue is an upbeat and lively baroque dance in compound meter, typically the concluding movement of an instrumental suite. The gigue can start on any beat of the bar and is easily recognized by its rhythmic feel. The gigue originated in the British Isles. Its counterpart in folk music is the jig.

These four dance types make up the majority of 17th century suites; later suites interpolate additional movements between the sarabande and gigue:

Gavotte

The gavotte can be identified by a variety of features; it is in 4/4 time and always starts on the third beat of the bar, although this may sound like the first beat in some cases, as the first and third beats are the strong beats in quadruple time. The gavotte is played at a moderate tempo, although in some cases it may be played faster.

Bourrée

The bourrée is similar to the gavotte as it is in 2/2 time although it starts on the second half of the last beat of the bar, creating a different feel to the dance. The bourrée is commonly played at a moderate tempo, although for some composers, such as Handel, it can be taken at a much faster tempo.

Minuet

The minuet is perhaps the best-known of the baroque dances in triple meter. It can start on any beat of the bar. In some suites there may be a Minuet I and II, played in succession, with the Minuet I repeated.

Passepied

The passepied is a fast dance in binary form and triple meter that originated as a court dance in Brittany. Examples can be found in later suites such as those of Bach and Handel.

Rigaudon

The rigaudon is a lively French dance in duple meter, similar to the bourrée, but rhythmically simpler. It originated as a family of closely related southern-French folk dances, traditionally associated with the provinces of Vavarais, Languedoc, Dauphiné, and Provence.

Baroque versus Renaissance style

Baroque music shares with Renaissance music a heavy use of polyphony and counterpoint. However, its use of these techniques differs from Renaissance music.

These stylistic differences mark the transition from the ''ricercars'', ''fantasias'', and ''canzonas'' of the Renaissance to the fugue, a defining baroque form. Claudio Monteverdi called this newer, looser style the ''seconda pratica'', contrasting it with the ''prima pratica'' that characterized the motets and other sacred choral pieces of high Renaissance masters like Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

There are other, more general differences between baroque and Renaissance style. Baroque music was more often written for virtuoso singers and instrumentalists and is characteristically harder to perform than Renaissance music, although idiomatic instrumental writing was one of the most important innovations of the period. Baroque music employs a great deal of ornamentation, which was often improvised by the performer. Instruments came to play a greater part in baroque music, and a cappella vocal music receded in importance.

Other features

''Basso continuo'' - a kind of continuous accompaniment notated with a new music notation system, figured bass, usually for a sustaining bass instrument and a keyboard instrument

Monody - music for one melodic voice with accompaniment, characteristic of the early 17th century, especially in Italy

Homophony - music with one melodic voice and rhythmically similar accompaniment (this and monody are contrasted with the typical Renaissance texture, polyphony)

Text over music - intelligible text with instrumental accompaniment not overpowering the voice

Vocal soloists

Dramatic musical expression

Dramatic musical forms like opera, ''dramma per musica''

Combined instrumental-vocal forms, such as the oratorio and cantata

New instrumental techniques, like ''tremolo'' and ''pizzicato''

Clear and linear melody

Notes inégales, a technique of playing pairs of notes of equal written length (typically eighth notes) with a "swung" rhythm, alternating longer and shorter values in pairs, the degree of inequality varying according to context. Particularly characteristic of French performance practice.

The aria

The ''ritornello'' aria (repeated short instrumental interruptions of vocal passages)

The concertato style (contrast in sound between orchestra and solo-instruments or small groups of instruments)

Precise instrumental scoring (in the Renaissance, exact instrumentation for ensemble playing was rarely indicated)

Idiomatic instrumental writing: better use of the unique properties of each type of musical instrument

Virtuosic instrumental and vocal writing, with appreciation for virtuosity as such

Ornamentation

Development to modern Western tonality (major and minor scales)

Cadenza- an extended virtuosic section for the soloist usually near the end of a movement of a concerto.

Genres

Baroque composers wrote in many different musical genres. Opera, invented in the transitional period between the late Renaissance and early Baroque, became an important musical form during the Baroque, with the operas of Alessandro Scarlatti, Handel, and others. The oratorio achieved its peak in the work of Bach and Handel; opera and oratorio often used very similar music forms, such as a widespread use of the da capo aria.

In other religious music, the Mass and motet receded slightly in importance, but the cantata flourished in the work of Bach and other Protestant composers. Virtuoso organ music also flourished, with toccatas, fugues, and other works.

Instrumental sonatas and dance suites were written for individual instruments, for chamber groups, and for (small) orchestra. The concerto emerged, both in its form for a single soloist plus orchestra and as the concerto grosso, in which a small group of soloists is contrasted with the full ensemble. The French overture, with its contrasting slow and fast sections, added grandeur to the many courts at which it was performed.

Keyboard works were sometimes written largely for the pleasure and instruction of the performer. These included a series of works by the mature Bach that are widely considered to be the intellectual culmination of the Baroque era: the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, and The Art of Fugue.

Vocal

Opera

* Zarzuela

* Opera seria

* Opera comique

* Opera-ballet

Masque

Oratorio

Passion (music)

Cantata

Mass (music)

Anthem

Monody

Chorale

Instrumental

Chorale composition

Concerto grosso

Fugue

Suite

* Allemande

* Courante

* Sarabande

* Gigue

* Gavotte

* Minuet

Sonata

* Sonata da camera

* Sonata da chiesa

* Trio sonata

Partita

Canzona

Sinfonia

Fantasia

Ricercar

Toccata

Prelude

Chaconne

Passacaglia

Chorale prelude

Stylus fantasticus

See also

Baroque composers

*List of Baroque composers

Baroque instruments

*Baroque guitar

*Baroque trumpet

*Baroque violin

*Baroque cello

*Harpsichord

*Clavichord

*Organ

*Lute

*Oboe da caccia

*Viol

*Recorder

*Traverso

*Viola d'amore

Notes

References

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Further reading

Christensen, Thomas Street, and Peter Dejans. ''Towards Tonality Aspects of Baroque Music Theory''. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2007. ISBN 9789058675873

Cyr, Mary. ''Essays on the Performance of Baroque Music Opera and Chamber Music in France and England''. Variorum collected studies series, 899. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, 2008. ISBN 9780754659266

Foreman, Edward. ''A Bel Canto Method, or, How to Sing Italian Baroque Music Correctly Based on the Primary Sources''. Twentieth century masterworks on singing, v. 12. Minneapolis, Minn: Pro Musica Press, 2006. ISBN 1887117180

Schubert, Peter, and Christoph Neidhöfer. ''Baroque Counterpoint''. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. ISBN 0131834428

Schulenberg, David. ''Music of the Baroque''. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. ISBN 0-19-512232-1

Stauffer, George B. ''The World of Baroque Music New Perspectives''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. ISBN 025334798X Table of Contents

Strunk, Oliver.''Source Readings in Music History. From Classical Antiquity to the Romantic Era.''. London, Faber & Faber, 1952.

External links

Barock Music (webradio)

Pandora Radio: Baroque Period

Handel's Harpsichord Room - free recordings of harpsichord music of the Baroque era

Renaissance & Baroque Music Chronology: Composers

Orpheon Foundation in Vienna, Austria

Music, Affect and Fire: Thesis on Affect Theory with Fire as the special topic

Overview of Baroque Music

Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM), a free, searchable database of worldwide locations for music manuscripts up to ca. 1800

Category:Baroque music Category:The Enlightenment

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Carl Heinrich Graun (7 May 1704, Uebigau-Wahrenbrück – 8 August 1759, Berlin) was a German composer and tenor singer. Along with Johann Adolf Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time.

Biography

Graun was born in Wahrenbrück in Brandenburg. He sang in the chorus of the Dresden opera before moving to Braunschweig, singing there and writing six operas for the company. In 1735 Graun moved to Rheinsberg, after he had written an opera for the crown prince, when marrying Elisabeth Christine in Salzdahlum. He was kapellmeister to Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) from his ascension to the throne in 1740 until Graun's death nineteen years later in Berlin.

Graun wrote a number of operas. His opera ''Cesare e Cleopatra'' inaugurated the opening of the Berlin opera house in 1742. Others, such as ''Montezuma'' (1755), with a libretto by King Frederick. None of his pieces are often performed today, though his passion ''Der Tod Jesu'' (The Death of Jesus, 1755) was frequently given in Germany for many years after his death. His other works include concertos and trio sonatas.

Carl Heinrich Graun was the brother of Johann Gottlieb Graun, also a composer.

Works

Stage works

''Polydorus'' (5 acts, 1726–28)

''Iphigenia in Aulis'' (3 acts 1728)

''Scipio Africanus'' (3 acts, 1732)

''Lo specchio della fedeltà'' (3 acts, 1733)

''Pharao Tubaetes'' (5 acts, 1735)

''Rodelinda, regina de' langobardi'' (3 acts, 1741)

''Cesare e Cleopatra'' (3 acts, 1742)

''Artaserse'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1743)

''Catone in Utica'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1743)

''Alessandro e Poro'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1744)

''Lucio Papirio'' (3 acts, 1744)

''Adriano in Siria'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1746)

''Demofoonte'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1746)

''Cajo Fabricio'' (3 acts, 1746)

''Le feste galanti'' (1747)

''Cinna'' (3 acts, 1748)

''L'Europa galante'' (1748)

''Ifigenia in Aulide'' (3 acts, 1748)

''Angelica e Medoro'' (3 acts, 1749)

''Coriolano'' (3 acts, 1749)

''Fetonte'' (3 acts, 1750)

''Il Mithridate'' (3 acts, 1751)

''L’Armida'' (3 acts, 1751)

''Britannico'' (3 acts, 1751)

''L'Orfeo'' (3 acts, 1752)

''Il giudizio di Paride'' (1 act, 1752)

''Silla'' (3 acts, 1753)

''Semiramide'' (3 acts, 1754)

''Montezuma'' (3 acts, 1755)

''Ezio'', libretto by Metastasio (1755)

''I fratelli nemici'' (3 acts, 1756)

''La Merope'' (3 acts, 1756)

Other works

Te Deum

Der Tod Jesu (1755)

Oratorium in Festum Nativitatis Christi

Osteroratorium

Six Italian Cantatas

Concerto for Horn, Strings and Cembalo D-major

Sinfonia C-major

Concerto for Viola da gamba

Bibliography

John W. Grubbs (1972): The Sacred Choral Music of the Graun Brothers

Notes

Sources

''Graun, Carl Heinrich'' by E Eugene Helm, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7

External links

Category:1704 births Category:1759 deaths Category:People from Uebigau-Wahrenbrück Category:People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Category:General directors of the Berlin State Opera Category:German composers Category:Baroque composers Category:Classical era composers Category:18th-century German people

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Name	Nicola Benedetti
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Nicola Benedetti
Birth date	July 01, 1987
Birth place	West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, United Kingdom
Genre	Classical
Occupation	Violinist
Years active	2005–present
Label	Deutsche GrammophonUniversal Classics and JazzDecca Records
Website	NicolaBenedetti.co.uk }}

Nicola Benedetti (born 1 July 1987) is a Scottish violinist.

Early life and the Yehudi Menuhin School

Nicola Benedetti was born in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire to an Italian father and a Scottish mother. She started to learn the violin at the age of four. By the age of nine, she had already passed the eight grades of musical examinations, and in September 1997 began to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School for young musicians under Lord Menuhin and Natasha Boyarskaya in rural Surrey, England.

At the end of her first year (1998), she played solo in the school's annual concert at Wigmore Hall, and performed in London and Paris as a soloist in Bach's Double Violin Concerto. She played in a memorial concert at Westminster Abbey celebrating the life and work of Yehudi Menuhin.

Career

In 1999, Benedetti performed for the anniversary celebrations at Holyrood Palace with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in the presence of HRH Prince Edward.

In 2000, Benedetti performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Opera.

She played to the Prince again in 2001 when she performed a concerto with the London Mozart Players at St. James's Palace. Subsequent performances followed with the City of London Sinfonia, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, etc.

In August 2002, she won the United Kingdom's Brilliant Prodigy Competition, broadcast by Carlton Television. She left the Menuhin School shortly after, and at the age of 15 began studying privately with Maciej Rakowski, former leader of the English Chamber Orchestra.

"Playing With Passion"

In spring 2003, Benedetti, invited as a soloist by London Symphony Orchestra and produced by Mattel Inc., participated in the recording of the DVD titled "Barbie of Swan Lake" at Abbey Road Studios. In October 2003, as the extra feature on this DVD, "Playing With Passion" was filmed and released by Mattel. BBC Scotland, using this DVD, created a documentary on Benedetti which was broadcast on national television in the U.K. in March 2004.

On December the 14th, 2009 she paid a visit to St Mary's Music School and gave a mini violin masterclass.

BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004

At the age of 16, she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in May 2004, performing Karol Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto, which was not an obvious choice, in the final at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Because of this brilliant victory, she won the music section of the Top Scot award in December 2005.

At the end of 2004, she agreed to a £1m six-album recordings contract with Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Group Classics and Jazz.

Throughout the 2004-2005 season, Benedetti took part in many prestigious engagements, including her solo recital debut at Wigmore Hall, royal events in Holyrood Palace and Windsor Castle for Her Majesty the Queen, and the Opening Ceremony of the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh. Further performances included various joint ones with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and so on.

Practice-a-thon

In 2005 Benedetti undertook a tour of UK schools in conjunction with the CLIC Sargent Cancer Care for Children Practice-a-thon, which aimed to encourage people of all ages to find pleasure in music and pick up their instruments.

Discography and charts

Albums

2005: ''Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1'' (Deutsche Grammophon)

2006: ''Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto'' (Deutsche Grammophon)

2007: ''Vaughan-Williams and Tavener'' (Universal Classics and Jazz)

2009: ''Fantasie'' (Decca Records)

2010: ''Tchaikovsky and Bruch: Violin Concertos'' (Deutsche Grammophon)

UK classical chart performance

{|width="0%" |- valign="top" !align="left"|Album !align="center"|Chart PeakPosition |- |align="left"|Szymanowski/Chausson/Saint-Saens |align="center"|1 (2005) |- |align="left"|Mendelssohn/Mozart/Macmillan |align="center"|2 (2006) |- |align="left"|''Fantasie'' |align="center"|1 (2009) |}

Musical performances

Debut US tour, 2005

On June 2, 2005 Benedetti started her debut US tour with a performance for the exclusive Academy of Achievement Summit at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, where she played the "Meditation" from ''Thaïs''. She resumed her debut US tour on October 1, 2005, opening the 70th anniversary season of the Midland (Michigan) Symphony Orchestra playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, op. 64, followed by recitals at La Jolla's Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, California with the La Jolla Music Society on October 5, 2005, at New York's Merkin Concert Hall of Kaufman Center on November 1, 2005, at the Peace Center Concert Hall, Greenville, South Carolina, with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra on November 5, 2005, and others.

BBC Prom in the Park debut, 2005

On Saturday, 10 September 2005, Benedetti made her "BBC Prom in the Park" debut with the BBC Concert Orchestra in Hyde Park, London.

Performances

Benedetti has played in concerts and recitals at major venues all over the world since her debut. Performances include:

October 11, 2006, Caird Hall, Dundee. Performed Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, replacing previously announced Glazunov's violin concerto, accompanied by Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conducted by Stéphane Denève.

October 13, 2006, Usher Hall, Edinburgh. Same as October 11 performance in Dundee.

October 14, 2006, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Same as October 11 performance in Dundee.

October 28–30, 2006, Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver. Performed Glazunov's violin concerto, accompanied by Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Bramwell Tovey.

December 8, 2006, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Performed with "the Glasgow Hospitals’and Friends choir" for the carol concert organised by children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent, led by conductor Ian McCrorie and supported by the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra.

March 23–24, 2007, Mead Theater of Schuster Center, Dayton, Ohio. Performed Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and MacMillan's ''From Ayrshire'' with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto.

March 31 and April 1, 2007, Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, Iowa. Performed Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and MacMillan's ''From Ayrshire'' with the Des Moines Symphony, conducted by Joseph Giunta.

April 5, 2007, Folly Theater, Kansas City, Missouri. Performed Bach's Partita No. 2 in D minor, Beethoven's Sonata No. 3 in E-flat major, Debussy's Sonata L. 140, Ravel's Sonata in G major.

April 24, 2007, Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany. Made her German debut, performing Bruch's Violin Concerto with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Jakub Hrusa.

January 5, 2008, National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland. Performed Sibelius' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra D minor op. 47 with the National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, conducted by Matthias Bamert.

February 2, 2008, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria. Made her Austrian debut, performing Sibelius' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra D minor op. 47 with Tonkünstler Orchestra, conducted by Kristjan Järvi.

12 September 2009 Scottish Symphony Orchestra at BBC Proms in the Park: Last Night of the Proms, Glasgow Green

Thursday 22 April 2010 Nicola Benedetti launches Proms with performance of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending 11 September 2010 Closes Proms at Caird Hall Dundee Dec 2 2010 75th Anniversary Celebration BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

Honorary degree

On November 27, 2007, Benedetti was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by Glasgow Caledonian University. She is one of the youngest recipients of such an award.

References

External links

IMG ARTISTS LLC

Official website

Official Record Label Website

BBC Classical review of Nicola Benedetti's debut album

Daily Telegraph interview by Julian Lloyd Webber

New Classical Tracks: Nicola Benedetti by Julie Amacher, Minnesota Public Radio May 9, 2006

On-line video interview for Czech TV (5. 12. 2010)

Category:1987 births Category:Child classical musicians Category:Italian British musicians Category:Living people Category:People from North Ayrshire Category:Scottish classical violinists Category:Scottish people of Italian descent Category:People educated at Yehudi Menuhin School

cs:Nicola Benedetti ja:ニコラ・ベネデッティ ru:Бенедетти, Никола

Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 21 August 1933) is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.

She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten. During her career, which spanned the 1950s to the 1980s, she was considered an outstanding singing actress and widely admired for her dramatic intensity, perhaps best represented in her famous portrayal as Dido, the tragic heroine of Berlioz's magnum opus ''Les Troyens''. As a concert performer, Baker was noted for her interpretations of the music of Gustav Mahler and Edward Elgar. David Gutman, writing in the ''Gramophone'', described her performance of Mahler's ''Kindertotenlieder'' as "intimate, almost self-communing."

Biography and career

Early life

Baker was born in Hatfield, South Yorkshire, northern England. Her father was an engineer who sang in a male voice choir. Her brother Peter died when she was ten. Members of her family worked at Bentley pit, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. She attended York College for Girls and then Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Grimsby. In her early years she worked in a bank, transferring to London in 1953 where she trained with Meriel St Clair and Helene Isepp.

Debut

In 1956, she made her stage debut with the Oxford University Opera Club as Miss Róza in Smetana's ''The Secret''. That year, she also made her debut at Glyndebourne. In 1959, she sang Eduige in the Handel Opera Society's ''Rodelinda''; other Handel roles included ''Ariodante'' (1964), of which she later made an outstanding recording with Raymond Leppard, and ''Orlando'' (1966), which she sang at the Barber Institute, Birmingham.

Opera

With the English Opera Group at Aldeburgh, Baker sang Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas'' in 1962, Polly (Benjamin Britten's version of ''The Beggar's Opera'') and Lucretia (in Britten's ''The Rape of Lucretia''). At Glyndebourne she appeared again as Dido (1966) and as Diana/Jupiter in Francesco Cavalli's ''La Calisto'', and Penelope in Monteverdi's ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria''. For Scottish Opera she sang Dorabella in Mozart's ''Così fan tutte'', Dido, Octavian in Richard Strauss's ''Der Rosenkavalier'', the Composer in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' and the role of Orfeo in Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice''. The latter was considered her signature role; she sang it everywhere and a videotaped performance from Glyndbourne is available (see below).

In 1966, Baker made her debut as Hermia at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and went on to sing Berlioz's Dido, Kate in Britten's ''Owen Wingrave'', Mozart's Vitellia and Idamantes, Cressida in William Walton's ''Troilus and Cressida'' and the title role in Gluck's ''Alceste'' (1981) there. For the English National Opera, she sang the title role in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (1971), Charlotte in Massenet's ''Werther'', and the title roles in Donizetti's ''Maria Stuarda'' and Handel's ''Giulio Cesare''.

Oratorio and song

During this same period she made an equally strong impact on audiences in the concert hall, both in oratorio roles and solo recitals. Among her most notable achievements are her recordings of the Angel in Elgar's ''The Dream of Gerontius'', made with Sir John Barbirolli in December 1964 and Sir Simon Rattle over twenty years later; her 1965 performances of Elgar's ''Sea Pictures'' and Mahler's Rückert-Lieder, also recorded with Barbirolli; and, also from 1965, the first commercial recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Christmas oratorio ''Hodie'' under Sir David Willcocks. She performed in 1971 for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston. In 1975 she premièred the solo cantata ''Phaedra'', written for her by Britten; and Dominick Argento's Pulitzer Prize-winning song cycle ''From the Diary of Virginia Woolf'', also written with Baker's voice in mind. She has also been highly praised for her insightful performances of Brahms's ''Alto Rhapsody'', Wagner's ''Wesendonck Lieder'' as well as solo songs from the French, German and English repertoire.

Retirement

Dame Janet Baker's final operatic appearance was as Orfeo in Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'', on 17 July 1982, at Glyndebourne. She published a memoir, ''Full Circle'', in 1982. In 1991, Baker was elected Chancellor of the University of York. She held the position until 2004, when she was succeeded by Greg Dyke. An enthusiastic Patron of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, she gave an address at the closing ceremony of the 2009 event.

Honours and awards

Baker was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1976 and a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 1993. In 1968, she was initiated as an Honorary Member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity by the Alpha Omicron Chapter at Occidental College, CA. She received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize of Denmark in 1979. In 2008, she received the Distinguished Musician Award from the Incorporated Society of Musicians.

Private life

She married (James) Keith Shelley in 1957 in Harrow. Following her retirement as a singer she did perform and record some spoken roles, for example the role of the Narrator in Britten's incidental music for ''The Rescue of Penelope''; in later years, apart from occasional public appearances such as the 2009 Leeds event, she now has "nothing to do with anyone except close friends".

Recordings

Mahler: ''Kindertotenlieder'' with The Hallé Orchestra; John Barbirolli conducting (EMI LP cat. no. ASD 2338; released 1968)

Handel: ''Julius Caesar'' with the English National Opera; Charles Mackerras conducting (Chandos CHAN 3019; recorded 1–7 August 1984; released 1999)

Schubert: ''Lieder''. A double-CD with pianists Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons, containing forty-two songs. EMI classics, 7243 5 69389 2

Gluck: ''Orpheus and Euridice'' at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, conducted by Raymond Leppard. On video. Copyright 1982 by National Video Corporation, Limited.

Mozart: ''La clemenza di Tito'', conducted by Sir Colin Davis. Philips.

Elgar: ''Sea Pictures, Op. 37

Purcell: ''Dido and Aeneas'', conducted by Anthony Lewis, English Chamber Orchestra, The St. Anthony Singers; rec. Oct. 1961; CD booklet notes (c) Alan Blyth 2000; libretto by Nahum Tate; cover photo of Baker as Dido (1966). With Raimund Herincx as Aeneas. Decca Legendary Performances/UMG. SOL 60047.

References

External links

IMDb

Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:People from Doncaster Category:Operatic mezzo-sopranos Category:English opera singers Category:English mezzo-sopranos Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:Chancellors of the University of York Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Category:RCA Victor artists

ca:Janet Baker da:Janet Baker de:Janet Baker es:Janet Baker fr:Janet Baker hy:Ջանեթ Բեյքեր he:ג'נט בייקר no:Janet Baker ru:Бейкер, Дженет fi:Janet Baker sv:Janet Baker

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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