Interpretation of the instrumental concert genre in the works of Antonio Vivaldi. Concertos of Antonio Vivaldi The famous cycle of instrumental concerts by Antonio Vivaldi

"The Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi

Alexander Maikapar

A cycle of four concertos for solo violin and orchestra. Each of the concertos is in three parts and each concert depicts one season. They are part of a collection (Op. 8) entitled “Il Cimento dell"Armonia e dell"Inventione" ("The Controversy between Harmony and Invention").

Full title: “Le quattro stagioni” (“The Four Belts of the Year”).

Red-haired priest

“Prete rosso” (“Red-haired priest”) - this was the nickname given to Antonio Vivaldi in the memoirs of Carlo Goldoni. And indeed, he was both red-haired (“Red” was his father’s nickname) and a priest.

Antonio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678, Venice - July 28, 1741, Vienna) was born into the family of a professional violinist; his father played in St. Mark's Cathedral and also took part in opera productions. Antonio received a church education and was preparing to become a priest: he successively became exorcista (exorcist; 1695), acolythus (receiver; 1696), subdiaconus (protodeacon; 1699), diaconus (deacon; 1700). But soon after he was ordained sacerdos (priest; 1703), which gave him the right to celebrate Mass himself, he refused, citing poor health (he suffered from asthma, the result of a chest injury suffered at birth). In 1703 he was listed as maestro di violino (violin teacher) at the Ospedale delle Pietà. This is one of the Venetian orphanages for orphan girls. With a break of two years, Vivaldi held this post until 1716, when he became maestro de "concerti. Later, being already far from Venice, he maintained his connections with Pieta (at one time he sent two of his new concerts there every month).

Vivaldi's reputation began to grow rapidly with his first publications: trio sonatas (probably 1703-1705), violin sonatas (1709) and especially his 12 concertos "L" estro armonico ("Harmonic Inspiration") Op. 3 (1711). They , containing some of his finest concertos, were published in Amsterdam and widely distributed in northern Europe; this led musicians visiting Venice to look for Vivaldi there, and in some cases order new ones from him, as was, for example, done for the Dresden court Bach liked Vivaldi's concertos so much that he rearranged five concertos of Op. stravaganza" ("Extravagance") Op. 4 (ca. 1712), "Il cimento dell"armonia e dell"inventione" ("The Controversy of Harmony with Invention"), Op. 8 (ca. 1720, including "The Four Seasons") and "La cetra" ("The Lyre"), Op. 9 (1727). It is in the genre of the instrumental concert that Vivaldi’s main achievements and his significance in the history of music lie. He was the first composer to consistently use the ritornello form in fast movements, and this became a model for other composers. The same can be said about the Vivaldian form of the concert as a whole, consisting of three parts: fast - slow - fast. Of his approximately 550 concertos, approximately 350 are for solo instrument and orchestra (over 230 for violin); about 40 doubles (that is, for two soloists), more than 30 for several soloists and almost 60 for an orchestra without soloists. Vivaldi was an original instrumentmaker and wrote several concertos for unusual combinations of instruments, such as the viola d'amour and lute, or for a variety of wind instruments, including the likes of the shawl, clarinet, horn and other rare instruments. He also wrote many recitals for bassoon, cello, oboe and flute. Some of his concerts are program concerts, for example “Storm at Sea” (three concerts have this title), “Hunting”, “Anxiety”, “Rest”, “Night”, “Proteus, or Peace” topsy-turvy." Vivaldi also wrote a lot of vocal - church and secular - music. He is the author (according to various sources) of 50 - 70 operas (about 20 have survived).

Seasons as a theme in art and music

The theme of the seasons has always been popular in art. This is explained by several factors. Firstly, it made it possible to use the means of this particular art to capture events and affairs that are most characteristic of a particular time of year. Secondly, it has always been endowed with a certain philosophical meaning: the change of seasons was considered in the aspect of changing periods of human life, and in this aspect, spring, that is, the awakening of natural forces, personified the beginning and symbolized youth, and winter - the end of the journey - old age. Moreover, life, by analogy with a year, could be divided into four periods (in fairness, it must be said that this division of life in popularity among artists is inferior to the more common division into three stages: youth - maturity - old age), and also - again by analogy with dividing the year into twelve months - into twelve periods (each, as it was believed, of six years).

As for the fine arts, the seasons, or rather the works, that is, the work characteristic of a given month (mainly agricultural), were depicted in a variety of genres - from sculpture (in the portals of Gothic cathedrals, such as in Saint Denis, where we see all twelve months) to schedule. Of the book illustrations of this topic, the most famous is “The Luxurious Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry” (1415 -1416), where twelve miniatures depict scenes from agricultural affairs characteristic of a particular time of year.

A remarkable cycle of the seasons is a series of frescoes in the Salon of the Months in the Palazzo Schifanoia, in the castle of the Dukes d'Este in Ferrara, created by Francesco del Cossa and Cosme (Cosimo) Tura (1456 -1470). The fresco of each month is divided into three registers, corresponding three different figurative systems. Thus, in the middle register of the fresco of each month there is a corresponding sign of the zodiac. Each sign is adjacent to three astrological figures. For example, in “March” next to Capricorn there is a page with a hoop and an arrow in his hands, a seated woman in a red robe and a man in torn clothes; in “April” - Taurus, a young woman with a child, a sitting naked young man with a key in his hands and an old man next to a white horse.

Since it is clear that all these figures mean something, attempts have been made to interpret them. It has been suggested that they are allegorical symbols of an even more fractional division of the year - tens of months.

Standing apart is the famous painting by Sandro Botticelli “Spring” (“La Primavera”) (or “The Kingdom of Flora”; 1477 - 1478; Florence, Uffizi Gallery). Venus stands in the middle of a flowering meadow. She is presented here differently than the ancient masters did: she is depicted as an elegant girl. The tree branches bent over it form something like a triumphal arch. Cupid hovers above her with a bow and arrow. His eyes are blindfolded, symbolizing the blindness of love. The leftmost figure in the picture is Mercury (only assumptions can be made about the meaning of his presence in this scene; one of them is that he, looking up, scatters the clouds with his caduceus). Between Venus and Mercury, a group of three graces is an image that has become a textbook. Flora, the ancient (but always youthful) Italian goddess of flowers, from whom the painting takes its second name, is depicted on the right. Botticelli's picturesque interpretation of her story is noteworthy: the Greek goddess of flowers was Chloris, who married Zephyr, the western spring wind, who gave birth to flowers. The Romans called her Flora. Lucretius’s poem “On the Nature of Things” (5:756 - 739) tells how Flora followed Zephyr in the spring, strewing her path with flowers. Botticelli, however, drew ideas for the depiction of Flora from another source - from Ovid’s “Fast” (5: 193 - 214), which tells the story of Chloris, who was fleeing from Zephyr, who was pursuing her. When Zephyr nevertheless overtook Chloris and took possession of her, flowers fell from her lips, and she turned into Flora. It was this moment that Botticelli depicted, showing two goddesses together: Chloris, from whose lips flowers fall, and Flora, who scatters them herself.

The history of music knows four famous interpretations of the theme of the seasons. These works are called “Seasons”. This is a cycle of concerts by Vivaldi, an oratorio by Haydn (1801), a cycle of piano pieces by P. I. Tchaikovsky (1876), and a ballet by A. K. Glazunov (1899).

Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is one of the most popular works of all time. For many, the very name “Vivaldi” is synonymous with “The Four Seasons” and vice versa (although he wrote a lot of other works). Even in comparison with other concertos of the same opus, these concertos demonstrate Vivaldi's astonishing innovation in the field of the Baroque concerto. Let's take a closer look at each of the four concerts. And from the very beginning I will note that the composer prefaced each of the concerts with a sonnet - a kind of literary program. It is assumed that the author of the poems is Vivaldi himself. So…

"Spring" (La Primavera)

It’s unusually natural to talk about “La Primavera” by Antonio Vivaldi after talking about “La Primavera” by Sandro Botticelli. The sonnet that precedes this concert can almost equally be attributed to a Botticelli painting. This is how it sounds (hereinafter the sonnets are translated by Vladimir Grigoriev):

Spring is coming! And a joyful song

Nature is full. Sun and warmth

Streams are babbling. And holiday news

Zephyr spreads like magic.

Suddenly velvet clouds roll in,

Heavenly thunder sounds like good news.

But the mighty whirlwind quickly dries up,

And the twitter floats again in blue space.

The breath of flowers, the rustle of grass,

Nature is full of dreams.

The shepherd boy is sleeping, tired for the day,

And the dog barks barely audibly.

Shepherd bagpipe sound

The buzzing sound spreads over the meadows,

And the nymphs dancing the magic circle

Spring is colored with wondrous rays.

The concerts of this cycle are so-called program music, that is, music corresponding to a specific, in this case, literary program. In total, Vivaldi can count more than forty program works. But in them their “program” is formulated only in the name, and this can be called a program very conditionally. These are the concerts “The Goldfinch”, “The Cuckoo”, “The Nightingale”, “The Hunt”, “Night” (Vivaldi wrote four concertos for this “program”). In “The Seasons” we are really dealing with a real program: the music exactly follows the images of the poems. The sonnets correspond so well to the musical form of the concerts, one involuntarily suspects whether, on the contrary, sonnets were composed to music that had already been written? The first part of this concert illustrates the first two quatrains, the second part illustrates the third quatrain, and the finale illustrates the last. (The author of the Russian translation, trying to maintain the accuracy of the meaning, which, of course, is very important, especially when it comes to programming, moved away from the sonnet form and translated it, like the others, in four quatrains.)

The first part of the concert opens with an unusually joyful motif, illustrating the rejoicing caused by the arrival of spring - “Spring is coming!”; the whole orchestra plays (tutti). This motive (each time performed by the entire orchestra and soloist), in addition to framing this movement, sounds several more times during the movement, being a kind of refrain, which gives the entire movement a form similar to a rondo. The following are episodes illustrating the following lines of the sonnet. In these cases, three soloists play - the main one (let me remind you that all the concertos in this cycle are written for solo violin and orchestra) and the accompanists of the first and second violin groups; all other participants are silent. Even without the remark available in the score - “Canto de gl" Ucelli" - it is clear that the music, sounding in a high register, depicts here “birds singing” (literal translation of the line of the sonnet: “they joyfully welcome it (spring. - A.M.) birds with their singing”) How wonderfully this is conveyed by the sound of violins!

The next episode (after the refrain) illustrates the words of the sonnet about running streams (literally: “streams run with a sweet murmur in the breath of Zephyr”; compare how Botticelli depicted Zephyr!). And again the refrain. The next episode is thunder ("the sky is covered with blackness, spring announces itself with lightning and thunder"). Vivaldi depicts this natural phenomenon in a highly inventive manner: the thunderclaps are conveyed by the menacing, rapid sound of the entire orchestra playing in unison. Flashes of lightning are heard for the first time by all three violin soloists in sweeping, scale-like passages (it takes enormous skill from all members of the ensemble to achieve perfect precision in the sweeping passages performed simultaneously by three soloists). The following times they are conveyed in passages by the main soloist, their graphics reminiscent of that broken arrow that indicates the danger of high voltage in the electrical network. The thunderstorm is replaced by the music of the refrain - the unclouded joy of the arrival of spring. And again - in the next episode - the birds sing (“Then it (thunder. - A.M.) died down, and the birds began their beautiful singing again”). This is by no means a repetition of the first episode - there is a different birdsong here. I have already said how the first part ends.

Second part (“A Peasant’s Dream”). An example of Vivaldi's amazing wit. Above the accompaniment of the first and second violins and violas (the basses, that is, cellos and double basses, and, consequently, the harpsichord and organ that duplicate them are not played here), hovers the melody of the solo violin. It is she who illustrates the sweet dream of the peasant. Pianissimo sempre (Italian - “very quietly all the time”) all the violins of the orchestra play in a soft dotted rhythm, drawing the rustle of leaves. Vivaldi instructed the violas to depict the barking (or yapping) of a dog guarding the owner’s sleep. All these details of the literary program need to be known to the performers themselves, first of all, and, secondly, to the listeners. Then you will be able to find an interesting color and character of the sound, and in the violas you will hear a harsh “woof-woof”, amusingly contrasting with the melody of the solo violin in the bel canto style, and not the mellifluous “bye-bye”, which in itself is beautiful, but for “ another program."

Third part (“Pastoral Dance”). The mood here is full of energy and cheerfulness. In the literature about Vivaldi one can find the statement that “the main rhythm in this movement is the tread of a fast Siciliana.” I just can’t agree with this statement. This is, of course, a type of gigue, also an ancient dance: in this case it is presented in its French variety and is identified with a canary (a special kind of gigue). It’s amazing how Vivaldi manages to convey so many shades of joy in a small sound space, even a kind of sad joy (in a minor episode)!

"Summer" (L"Estate)

The herd wanders lazily in the fields.

From the heavy, suffocating heat

Everything in nature suffers and dries up,

Every living thing is thirsty.

Coming from the forest. Tender conversation

The goldfinch and the dove lead slowly,

And the space is filled with a warm wind.

Suddenly a passionate and powerful

Borey, exploding the silence and peace.

It’s dark all around, there are clouds of evil midges.

And the shepherd boy, caught in a thunderstorm, cries.

The poor thing freezes with fear:

Lightning strikes, thunder roars,

And he pulls out the ripe ears of corn

The storm is mercilessly all around.

First part. The form of the concerto, which Vivaldi cultivated and brought to perfection, implies that the concerto, as I have already noted, consists of three parts: fast - slow - fast. It was necessary to have the talent and imagination of Vivaldi in order to reflect in the first, that is, fast, part the mood and state of laziness and languor, which are mentioned in the first two quatrains, which are the program of this part. And Vivaldi succeeds brilliantly.

“Exhaustion from the heat” is the composer’s first remark. The music sounds pianissimo (Italian - “very quiet”). Vivaldi makes a small concession to the mood: the tempo of this movement, although Allegro (in this case, this means “fast”), is non molto (“not very”). There are many breaks, “sighs,” and stops in the musical fabric. Next we hear the voices of birds - first the cuckoos. (The history of music knows how many “cuckoos”! Vivaldi himself, as noted above, wrote a separate concerto in which this bird is imitated; for example, Daken’s harpsichord “Cuckoo” is famous). Then the goldfinch (and again, it turns out that Vivaldi has another concert where this bird is depicted). The voices of birds in music - this could be a separate topic for conversation...

And now, the first gust of cold north wind - Boreas, the harbinger of a thunderstorm. It is represented by all the violins of the orchestra (including the soloist), while the violas and basses, according to the stage directions in the score, have “sharp gusts of wind” and simply “different winds.”

But this first impulse passes, and the mood of languor from the heat returns (the refrain of this part, the music with which the concert began). But this too passes: only one solo violin and bass remain (its line is carried out by the cello and accompanying organ, as indicated in the score, although often and even, as a rule, the accompaniment in “The Seasons” is entrusted to the harpsichord). The violin has intonations of complaint. You are not mistaken: this is a “shepherd’s complaint,” Vivaldi explains his intention. And again a gust of wind bursts in.

The second part is wonderfully built on the sharp contrast of the melody, personifying the shepherdess, his fear of the elements of nature, and the menacing rumbles of thunder of the approaching thunderstorm. This is perhaps the most impressive example of dynamic contrast in the music of the pre-Beethoven period - an example that can safely be called symphonic (compare with a similar episode of a thunderstorm in Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony). Vivaldi's remarks alternate here with the categoricalness of the army command: Adagio e piano (Italian - “slow and quiet”) and Presto e forte (Italian - “fast and loud”). And no misunderstandings! The second part ends with calm - the calm before the storm...

The third part. And then the storm breaks out. Streams of water falling from the sky are almost visible. And just as flashes of lightning in “Spring” are conveyed by a melody with a characteristic pattern (see above about this), so here streams of water rush in different directions, depicted by scale-like passages and arpeggias (chords, the sounds of which are played very quickly one after another, and not simultaneously), rushing up and down. The integrity of the entire concert is given by certain features of the composition, which are revealed only by careful listening to the musical fabric of the entire work: for example, in the middle, when fast passages are entrusted to the violas and basses, the violins perform a rhythmic and melodic figure, akin to the episode with “different winds” from the first part . This part (and this concert, but not yet the whole cycle!) ends with a menacing unison of the entire orchestra, leaving the listener in some confusion: what will happen next, after this terrible thunderstorm?..

"Autumn" (L"Autunno)

The peasant harvest festival is noisy.

Fun, laughter, lively songs!

And Bacchus juice, igniting the blood,

It knocks all the weak off their feet, giving them a sweet dream.

And the rest are eager for a continuation,

But I can no longer sing and dance.

And, completing the joy of pleasure,

The night plunges everyone into the deepest sleep.

And in the morning at dawn they gallop towards the forest

Hunters, and with them huntsmen.

And, having found the trail, they unleash a pack of hounds,

They drive the beast excitedly, blowing the horn.

Frightened by the terrible noise,

Wounded, weakening fugitive

He runs stubbornly from the tormenting dogs,

But more often he dies in the end.

First part. Vivaldi is a master of surprises: after a thunderstorm that broke out in the summer, we find ourselves at a cheerful autumn harvest festival. “The dance and song of the peasants,” explains the author’s remark at the beginning of the part. The cheerful mood is conveyed by the rhythm, which, by the way, is reminiscent of the rhythm of the first part of “Spring”. The brightness of the images is given by the use of the echo effect, so beloved not only by Vivaldi, but also by all Baroque composers. This is played by the whole orchestra and the soloist along with it.

Here it is necessary to make a short digression and explain one feature of the instrumental concert of the Baroque era. When I pay attention to the episodes in Vivaldi where the whole orchestra plays, it is understood that the soloist always plays with the orchestra: he is the same participant in this musical community, only with an expanded and virtuoso part. And today this part can be performed by one orchestrator, and tomorrow by another. This is the peculiarity of the baroque instrumental concert. The situation gradually changes in later concerts. In Mozart's piano concertos, the soloist is no longer a member of the orchestra. True, there are still episodes in Mozart’s concertos in which, according to the composer’s plan, the pianist ceases to be a soloist and turns, in essence, into an accompanist for the orchestra, performing on the piano the harmonic framework of what the orchestra is playing. (Our modern solo pianists do not want to fulfill this role, and simply ignore these episodes, allowing the orchestra to play alone). It must be said that Mozart wrote his piano concertos for himself, that is, he performed them himself as both conductor and soloist; For this reason, by the way, a lot of things were not even written down in notes and were improvised right during the performance. Further more. In the concerts of the romantics (Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt), the soloist is a “world star”, he is never “out of the orchestra”, his part never duplicates the orchestral part, but, on the contrary, competes with it. Now the “conflict” and “struggle” of the soloist with the orchestra contains psychological intrigue and, therefore, additional interest for the listener. This is one of the directions in the evolution of the form and genre of the instrumental concert.

But let's return to Vivaldi. The new section of the first part is a funny genre scene: “Tipsick” (or “Intoxicated”). The soloist “pouring” wine in passages flowing from the violin; the melodies in the orchestral parts, with their unsteady gait, depict drunken villagers. Their “speech” becomes intermittent and slurred. In the end, everyone falls asleep (the violin freezes on one sound that lasts five bars!). And all this is depicted by Vivaldi with constant humor and a kind, ironic smile. The first part ends with where it began - the jubilant music of a cheerful celebration.

Second part. But it is still impossible to fight sleep, and besides, night is falling on the ground. The second quatrain of the sonnet tells about this. And a small part, just two pages of the score, depicts with sounds the state of sound sleep and a quiet southern night. The way the parts are performed with string instruments gives a special flavor to the sound: Vivaldi instructs musicians to play with mutes. Everything sounds very mysterious and ghostly. When performing this part, special responsibility falls on the harpsichordist (in our time, I repeat, it is the harpsichordist who is entrusted with the accompaniment part; in Vivaldi, the organ is indicated): his part is not completely written out by the composer, and it is assumed that the harpsichordist improvises it. This improvisation should ideally be congenial to the music of Vivaldi himself. The third part (“Hunting”). The musical and poetic genre caccia (Italian - caccia, “hunt”) was cultivated in Italy back in the 14th - 15th centuries. In vocal kachchas, the text described scenes of hunting and pursuit, and the music depicted horse racing, pursuit, and the sound of hunting horns. These elements are also found in this part of the concert. In the middle of the hunt, the music depicts “a shot and the barking of dogs,” as Vivaldi himself explains this episode.

"Winter" (L"Inverno)

You're shaking, freezing, in the cold snow,

And a wave of north wind rolled in.

The cold makes your teeth chatter as you run,

You beat your feet, you can’t keep warm

How sweet it is in comfort, warmth and silence

Take shelter from bad weather in winter.

Fireplace fire, half asleep mirages.

And frozen souls are full of peace.

In the winter expanse the people rejoice.

He fell, slipped, and rolled again.

And it’s joyful to hear how the ice is cut

Under a sharp skate that is bound with iron.

And in the sky Sirocco and Boreas met,

The battle between them is going on in earnest.

Although the cold and blizzard have not yet given up,

Winter gives us its pleasures.

The concepts that the authors express when referring to the allegory of the seasons can be different, and sometimes even directly opposite. Winter, apparently, is precisely that time of year and that period - if we speak allegorically - of human life, which allows for the most divergent interpretations. If in Schubert’s vocal cycle “Winterreise” this is an extreme degree of pessimism, then in Vivaldi, despite the fact that the natural annual cycle of phenomena is completed, the end of winter is at the same time a harbinger of a new spring. And if Schubert in the last song of the cycle - “The Organ Grinder” - has no hope, then Vivaldi, both in music and in verse, asserts something completely different: “winter gives us its pleasures.” If so, then the dramatic element, which, whatever one may say, is present in winter, is moved away from Vivaldi from the very end of the concert, and the whole cycle ends quite optimistically.

First part. There really is a very chilled (for Italians!) atmosphere here. The stage directions explain that what is depicted here is how teeth are chattering from the cold, feet are stamping, the fierce wind is howling and running to keep warm. For the violinist, the greatest technical difficulties are concentrated in this part. Masterfully played, it flies by as if in one breath.

Second part. Here comes the joys of winter. Complete unity of the soloist and the accompanying orchestra. A wonderful aria flows in the style of bel canto. This movement is extremely popular as an independent, completely finished work, and is often performed as such.

The third part. Again a genre scene: ice skating. And who in Italy knows how, or was able to skate in the time of Vivaldi, when there was no artificial ice? Of course, no one. So Vivaldi depicts - in funny “tumbling” passages of the violin - how one can “easily slip and fall” or how “the ice breaks” (if we literally translate the content of the sonnet). But then a warm southern wind (sirocco) blew - a harbinger of spring. And a confrontation unfolds between him and Borey - a stormy dramatic scene. This is the completion - almost symphonic - of “Winter” and the entire cycle of “The Seasons”.

Original text and first editions of The Seasons

Anyone interested in the history of music and, in particular, the work of Vivaldi, is convinced that “The Four Seasons” was composed in 1725, that is, the same year in which they were published. This date is given by all authoritative music reference books and dictionaries, including the largest - New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. At the very beginning of this article, I indicated another date - 1720. The fact is that new light on the problem of chronology is shed by the research of Paul Everett, who prepared a new edition of The Seasons for the authoritative Italian publishing house Ricordi (Paul Everett. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons and Other Concertos, Op. 8. Cambridge & New York (Cambridge University Press, 1996). And now, when discussing this brilliant work of Vivaldi, it is necessary to take into account the results of the research of this musicologist. And these results precisely made a new edition of these concerts necessary.

A reasonable question arises: can the next edition of such famous works, published many times, bring something new and force us to reconsider our views on this work? The answer to this question must be yes.

Amazingly, until recently there was no modern edition of these most popular concertos that would reliably provide performers with the text of the concerts. This means that most, and perhaps all, interpretations and recordings of these concertos based on existing editions are, to a greater or lesser extent, defective. When it comes to popular classics like The Four Seasons, misreadings or misreadings of the text become enormously influential. After some time, the ear gets used to these mistakes - both the performer and the listener. As a result, such misinterpretation becomes legitimized and sanctified by tradition. Thus, The Seasons is in urgent need of reconstruction - both from the point of view of the text and from the point of view of its interpretation. The analogy with the restoration of old paintings turns out to be very appropriate here. It is necessary to remove layers of dirt and colorless varnish from paintings so that their true colors shine brightly again. The dull appearance of a painting is often not due to the lack of skill of the artist who created it, but the result of time. In the case of "The Four Seasons", this is the result of this music being performed by musicians who do not know the traditions of performance from Vivaldi's time, and making it into something completely different.

Let me give you one example to demonstrate what I mean. In the slow movement of “Spring”, violin parts with dotted rhythms are now played legato (connected), that is, not every bow movement is played with several dotted figures. This is what editors in some publications recommend. This method of execution has now become common and has acquired the status of law. Vivaldi himself did not write any leagues for this figuration that would indicate such a performance. On the contrary, according to the rules for performing Vivaldian time, each dotted figure should be played with a separate bow movement. In this case, the sound picture turns out to be completely different: now we clearly feel the rustling of leaves from the soft breeze.

Even the best editions of the Four Seasons have shortcomings that the most authoritative editors could not avoid, since they are rooted in one common source on which all editions were based - the first edition of Op. 8, published by Michel Le Price in Amsterdam in 1725; "The Seasons" here are Nos. 1 - 4. By the standards of eighteenth-century printing, this text is quite accurate and carefully engraved. The problem is that later editors and publishers had no other text to compare. The most responsible editors consulted the Op. 8, published in Paris by the music publisher Le Clerc in 1739, but since this edition was based on the Amsterdam one, its text was essentially the same, and this comparison was of little value. Editors of past times can be forgiven because they did not know anything about the fact that almost all the surviving copies of the Amsterdam and Paris editions are incomplete. Nowadays, if in the slow movement of the Winter concert you hear a delightful cello solo part recorded in fast notes (which is not, for example, in the Peters edition), know that you are listening to a performance based on another source - handwritten copies preserved in Manchester - an important recently discovered document, about which it is necessary to say in more detail also because there is no mention of it at all in our literature.

There is now no doubt that a special cello part was included in the Op. 8: it was by no means only present in the Manchester version of “The Four Seasons,” as some musicologists thought. Over time, this part disappeared from many copies of the first editions, since for the convenience of the cellist it was printed separately (in this episode the cello part does not duplicate, as in other cases, the lower voice of the organ). Eventually, individual sheets were lost. Almost none of the past editors knew about its existence, which is why it is absent from all modern publications. And as a result, this part is performed without a cello solo. In the light of new textual discoveries, it is no longer possible to consider the Amsterdam edition, in the form in which it has survived to this day, as the only source of the text of The Seasons.

The conclusion that Vivaldi himself, and not a copyist, prepared the text of “The Four Seasons” for printing is confirmed by a comparison of these concertos with others included in this opus and preserved in the form of autographs. They give an idea of the style of Vivaldi's work. When he rewrote his works, he did not simply act as a copyist, but almost always made changes and improvements to the work. This explains the reason for the textual differences between the autographs and the final printed versions. It should be borne in mind that Vivaldi added everything new that came to his mind at the time of making the copy intended for sending to Amsterdam in this copy and did not record it in the one that remained with him.

One more thing to note, since this is a completely new conclusion, is that Vivaldi apparently prepared a copy of Op. 8 and sent her to Amsterdam around 1720! It is amazing that the publication of this opus took place only five years later. It seems that the delay occurred for some reason unknown to us in Amsterdam.

Now, finally, about the Manchester copy of The Four Seasons. This manuscript was written in Venice. However, until recently it was not possible to verify that the Manchester text is the one that the composer himself authorized and which can be considered the original source. After all, this is a manuscript that did not contain Vivaldi’s handwriting in any part and did not provide a clue to its dating. But this uncertainty has now been put to rest thanks to a body of musicological evidence.

One difficulty was that the two scribes who produced the Manchester copy of The Seasons were not believed to be in contact with the composer. Now we can be quite sure that they still had a certain relationship. It is now established that Vivaldi approached one of them with a request to copy the manuscript (kept in Paris) of one of his violin concertos. This copyist is known to specialists as “Copyist No. 4.” He was the composer's constant assistant. It is now believed that it was none other than... Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, Antonio's father. Since Scribe No. 4 worked exclusively for Antonio, the Manchester Scribe's contact with him appears to be tantamount to his contact directly with Antonio.

The second difficulty was that the Manchester copy of The Four Seasons was written on two different types of music paper, with which Vivaldi was not previously thought to have handled. But now it has been proven that it was precisely this kind of paper that Vivaldi used in several other cases. (It is difficult to go into these details here now; Vivaldi used several hundred types of paper to record his works, and further research into the relationship of writing media may shed light on the dating of many of his works.) Thus, this cannot be considered a mere coincidence, and this gives grounds for assertions that the copying of the Manchester manuscript was done at the will of the composer and under his supervision. The final difficulty was the lack of a date for the production of the Manchester copy of The Four Seasons. This copy belongs to a large group of Vivaldian manuscripts, including some autographs, which forms part of the Roman collection of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, and it was reasonable to assume that Vivaldi himself ordered copies of the Four Seasons to be made and gave them to the musicians of the cardinal, famous for his philanthropy. But Vivaldi's contact with Ottoboni and his court was intermittent and limited to the 1720s. While the dating of the Manchester copy of the Four Seasons remained uncertain, it could not theoretically be ruled out that it was made for a different purpose and came into Ottoboni's collection through some other route, and that Vivaldi did not order copies of the concertos at all. And now, a much-needed date update has recently emerged. A comparison of the paper on which the Manchester version of the concertos is written with the Venetian manuscript on which the anonymous cantata "Andromeda liberata" is written gives the right to assert that the Manchester copy was made around September 1726. This dating is quite consistent with other evidence. This year Pietro Ottoboni was in Venice from July to December; in August one of Vivaldi's cantatas was performed in his honor. At some point during this period, the composer was well able to present the cardinal with a copy of The Four Seasons. And thus, the long-considered hypothetical opinion that Vivaldi ordered the production of a Manchester copy of The Four Seasons can now be considered firmly established, since this statement is based on a number of objective facts. Moreover, it follows that this copy was made directly from the versions of the autograph that the composer had. In short - and this is the main conclusion from all that has been said - the Manchester copy was made in time after the Amsterdam edition went out of print, but conveys a version that precedes all published versions.

So, The Four Seasons survives in two main versions - in the Amsterdam edition of Le Price and in the Manchester copy. It is their text that can be considered authentic. But these versions, however, are different, and should not be combined or fused. And this creates a dilemma. Any new critical edition must inevitably favor one version. But still one cannot completely neglect the other. It is most logical to base the modern edition on the classic Amsterdam edition, but at the same time, in a critical commentary, give all the discrepancies regarding the Manchester copy. In this case, everyone who uses such a publication will be able to get a complete picture of the original Vivaldivian text of “The Seasons”. In many episodes where the versions are clearly the same, the Manchester text is often more accurate. But even in this case, there remains a number of controversial places in which Vivaldi’s exact intentions can never be established...

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) is one of the outstanding representatives of the Baroque era. He was born in Venice, where he first studied with his father, a violinist at the Chapel of St. Mark, then improved under Giovanni Legrenzi. He gave many concerts in various European countries and was very enthusiastic about teaching and staging his operas. For a long time he was a violin teacher in one of the Venetian orphanages for orphan girls.

Vivaldi was nicknamed “the red priest” (Prete rosso) for his hair color. Indeed, he combined the profession of a musician with the duties of a clergyman, but was then dismissed for “illegal” behavior during a church service. The composer spent his last years in Vienna, where he died in poverty.

Vivaldi's creative heritage covers more than 700 titles: 465 instrumental concertos (of which fifty are grossi), 76 sonatas (including trio sonatas), about 40 operas (one of his librettists was the famous C. Goldoni), cantata-oratorio works, including spiritual texts. The main historical significance of his work lies in the creation of a solo instrumental concert.

One of the most sensitive artists of his time, Vivaldi was among the first composers to bring open emotionality, passion (affect), and individual lyrical feeling to the forefront in art. Under his undoubted influence, the extremely typical type of baroque music concert for several soloists (concerto grosso) faded into the background in the classical era, giving way to a solo concert. The replacement of a group of soloists with one party was an expression of homophonic tendencies.

It was Vivaldi who developed the structure and thematic theme of the late Baroque recital. Under the influence of the Italian opera overture, he established a three-part concert cycle (fast - slow - fast) and ordered the succession of tutti and solo based on the baroque concert form.

The concert form of the Baroque era was based on the alternation of the ritornello (main theme), repeatedly returned and transposed, with episodes based on new melodic themes, figurative material, or motivic elaboration of the main theme. This principle gave it a resemblance to a rondo. The texture is characterized by contrasts between orchestral tutti and solo, corresponding to the appearance of the ritornello and episodes.

The first parts of Vivaldi's concertos are energetic, assertive, varied in texture and contrasts. The second parts take the listener into the realm of lyrics. Songfulness, endowed with improvisational features, dominates here. The texture is predominantly homophonic. The finales are brilliant, full of energy, and they complete the cycle in a fast, lively movement.

The dynamic 3-movement cyclic form of Vivaldi's concertos expressed the artistic ideals of the art of "well-organized contrast". The logic of their figurative development reveals the influence of the general aesthetic concept of the Baroque era, which divided the human world into three hypostases: Action - Contemplation - Play.

Vivaldi's solo instrumental concert is focused on a small composition of stringed instruments led by a soloist. It can be a cello, viol damour, longitudinal or transverse flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, and even a mandolin or shawl. And yet, most often the violin plays the role of soloist (about 230 concerts). The violin technique of Vivaldi's concertos is varied: rapid passages, arpeggios, tremolo, pizzicato, double notes (up to the most difficult tenth stretches), scordatura, use of the highest register (up to the 12th position).

Vivaldi became famous as an outstanding expert on the orchestra, the inventor of many coloristic effects. Possessing a keen sense of sound color, he freely used many instruments and their combinations. He used oboes, horns, bassoons, trumpets, and cor anglais not as backup voices, but as independent melodic instruments.
Vivaldi's music absorbed elements of colorful Venetian musical folklore, rich in melodious canzonas, barcarolles, and fiery dance rhythms. The composer was especially willing to rely on Siciliana and made extensive use of the 6/8 time signature typical of Italian folk dances. Often using a chord-harmonic structure, he masterfully used polyphonic development techniques.

Releasing his concerts in series of 12 or 6 works, Vivaldi also gave general designations for each series: “Harmonic Inspiration” (op. 3), “Extravagance” (op. 4), “Zither” (op. 9).

Vivaldi can be called the founder of program orchestral music. Most of his concerts have a specific program. For example: “Hunting”, “Storm at Sea”, “Shepherdess”, “Rest”, “Night”, “Favorite”, “Goldfinch”.
Vivaldi's violin concertos very soon became widely known in Western Europe and especially in Germany. The great J. S. Bach, “for pleasure and instruction,” personally arranged nine Vivaldi violin concertos for clavier and organ. Thanks to these musicians, Vivaldi, who had never been to the northern German lands, turned out to be, in the full sense of the word, the “father” of German instrumentalism of the 18th century. Spreading throughout Europe, Vivaldi's concertos served as examples of the concert genre for his contemporaries. Thus, the clavier concerto developed under the undoubted artistic influence of the violin concerto (a convincing example can be served by).

Antonio Vivaldi is an outstanding violinist and composer, one of the brightest representatives of Italian violin art of the 18th century. Unlike Corelli, with his rare focus on a few genres, the composer-violinist Vivaldi, who wrote more than 500 concertos for different compositions and 73 sonatas for various instruments, created 46 operas, 3 oratorios, 56 cantatas, and dozens of cult works. But his favorite genre in his work was undoubtedly the instrumental concert. Moreover, concerti grossi make up only a little more than a tenth of his concerts: he always preferred solo works. More than 344 of them are written for one instrument (with accompaniment) and 81 for two or three instruments. Among the solo concerts there are 220 violin concerts. Possessing a keen sense of sound color, Vivaldi created concerts for a wide variety of compositions.

The concerto genre especially attracted the composer due to the breadth of its impact, accessibility to a large audience, the dynamism of the three-part cycle with a predominance of fast tempos, the striking contrasts of tutti and soli, and the brilliance of virtuosic presentation. The virtuoso instrumental style contributed to the overall brightness of the impressions of the figurative structure of the work. It was in this creative interpretation that the concert at that time was the largest and most accessible of the instrumental genres and remained so until the establishment of the symphony in concert life.

In Vivaldi's work, the concerto for the first time acquired a complete form, realizing the hidden possibilities of the genre. This is especially noticeable in the interpretation of the solo beginning. If in Corelli's Concerto grosso the short solo episodes of a few bars each have a closed character, then in Vivaldi, born of an unlimited flight of imagination, they are structured differently: in a free, close to improvisational presentation of their parts, the virtuoso

nature of tools. Accordingly, the scale of orchestral ritornellos increases, and the whole form acquires a completely new dynamic character, with emphasized functional clarity of harmonies and sharply accentuated rhythms.

As already mentioned, Vivaldi owns a huge number of concertos for various instruments, primarily for the violin. During the composer's lifetime, relatively few of the concertos were published - 9 opuses, of which 5 opuses cover 12 concertos and 4 cover 6. All of them, with the exception of 6 concertos op. 10 for flute and orchestra, intended for one or more violins with accompaniment. Thus, less than 1/5 of the total number of Vivaldi concertos was published, which is explained not only by the underdeveloped music publishing business at that time. Perhaps Vivaldi deliberately did not allow the publication of his most complex and technically successful concerts, trying to keep the secrets of his performing skills secret. (Later, N. Paganini did the same.) It is significant that the vast majority of opuses published by Vivaldi himself (4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12) consist of the easiest violin concertos to perform. The exception is the famous opuses 3 and 8: op. 3 includes Vivaldi's first published and therefore particularly significant concertos, with the dissemination of which he sought to establish his reputation as a composer; from 12 concerts op. 8–7 have program names and occupy a very special place in the composer’s work.

Twelve concertos from op. 3, called by the composer “Harmonic Inspiration” (“L"Estro Armonico”), were undoubtedly widely known long before their publication in Amsterdam (1712). This is confirmed by handwritten copies of individual concerts located in many European cities. Features of style and original “ The two-chord "separation of orchestral parts allows us to date the origin of the cycle's concept to the early 1700s, when Vivaldi played in St. Mark's Cathedral. The orchestral parts of each concert are presented in an 8-voice version - 4 violins, 2 violas, cello and double bass with cymbal ( or organ); thanks to this, the orchestral sonority is divided in due cori (into two choirs), which subsequently occurs extremely rarely in Vivaldi. By creating “two-chorus” compositions in this case, Vivaldi followed a long tradition, which at that time had already completely exhausted itself.

Or. 3 reflects a transitional stage in the development of the instrumental concert, when traditional techniques still coexist with new trends. The entire opus is divided into 3 groups of 4 concerts each according to the number of solo violins used. There are 4 of them in the first group, 2 in the second and one in the third. Concertos for 4 violins, with one exception, were no longer created. This group of concertos, with its small dismemberment of solo sections and tutti, is closest to Corelli's Concerto grosso. Concertos for two violins with more developed ritornellos in the interpretation of the solo beginning are also in many ways reminiscent of Corelli. And only in concerts for one violin do solo episodes receive sufficiently full development.

The best concertos of this opus are among the most frequently performed. These are the concertos in B minor for 4 violins, A minor for 2 and E major for one. Their music was supposed to amaze contemporaries with the novelty of their sense of life, expressed in unusually vivid images. Already today, one of the researchers wrote about the penultimate solo episode from the third part of the double concert in A minor: “It seems that in the luxurious hall of the Baroque era the windows and doors opened, and free nature entered with greeting; the music sounds a proud, majestic pathos, not yet familiar to the 17th century: the exclamation of a citizen of the world.”

Publication op. 3 marked the beginning of Vivaldi's strong contact with Amsterdam publishers, and for less than two decades, until the end of the 1720s, all other lifetime editions of the composer's concertos were published in Amsterdam. Some of these opuses also have titles, although not programmatic in the strict sense of the word, but helping to understand the musical intention of the author. Apparently, they reflect the fascination of composers with figurative associations that was characteristic of that period. So 12 concerts for one violin with op. accompaniment. 4 are called “La Stravaganza”, which can be translated as “eccentricity, strangeness”. This title, perhaps, should have emphasized the extraordinary courage of musical thinking inherent in this opus. 12 concertos for one and two violins with accompaniment from op. 9 have the title “Lyre” (“La Cetra”), which obviously symbolizes the art of music here. Finally, the already mentioned op. 8 with its 7 program concerts is called “An Experience of Harmony and Fantasy” (“II Cimento dell'Armonia e dell" Inventione”), as if the author wanted to warn listeners that this is just a modest attempt, a tentative search in a hitherto unknown area of musical expressiveness .

The publication of the concertos coincided with the heyday of Vivaldi's activity as a virtuoso violinist and leader of the Ospedale orchestra. In his mature years, he was one of the most famous violinists in Europe at that time. The scores published during the musician’s lifetime do not give a complete picture of his amazing performing skills, which played a huge role in the development of violin technique. It is known that in that era there was still a common type of violin with a short neck and a small neck, which did not allow the use of high positions. Judging by the testimony of his contemporaries, Vivaldi possessed a violin with a specially elongated neck, thanks to which he could freely reach the 12th position (in one of the cadenzas of his concerts, the highest note is F sharp of the 4th octave - for comparison, we note that Corelli was limited to using 4 -th and 5th positions).

This is how one of his contemporaries describes the stunning impression of Vivaldi’s performance at the Teatro Sant’Angelo on February 4, 1715: “... accompanying the singer at the end of the performance, Vivaldi excellently performed a solo, which then turned into a Fantasia, which brought me into real horror, because such no one has ever been able or will ever be able to play; With incredible speed, performing something resembling a fugue on all 4 strings, he raised the fingers of his left hand so high on the fingerboard that they were separated from the stand by a distance no greater than the thickness of a straw, and there was no room left for the bow to play on the strings...” .

Despite possible exaggerations, this description seems generally plausible, as confirmed by the surviving cadenzas of Vivaldi (in total, 9 manuscripts of his cadenzas are known). They most fully reveal Vivaldi's amazing technical talent, which allowed him to significantly expand the expressive capabilities of not only the violin, but also other instruments. His music for bowed players inventively uses new technical techniques that became widespread at that time: playing chords with various arpeggiation options, using high positions, bowing effects of staccato, sharp throws, bariolage, etc. His concerts show that he was a violinist with a highly developed bowing a technique that included not only simple and volatile staccato, but also sophisticated arpeggiation techniques with shading that was unusual at that time. Vivaldi's imagination in inventing various options for playing arpeggios seems inexhaustible. It is enough to refer to the 21-bar Larghetto from the second movement of the Concerto in B minor Op. 3, throughout which three types of arpeggios are used simultaneously, alternately coming to the fore.

And yet, the greatest strength of Vivaldi the violinist was, apparently, the extraordinary mobility of his left hand, which knew no restrictions in using any position on the fingerboard.

The peculiarities of Vivaldi's performing style gave the stamp of unique originality to the playing of the Ospedale orchestra, which he led for many years. Vivaldi achieved extraordinary subtlety of dynamic gradations, leaving far behind everything known in this area among his contemporaries. It is also important that the performances of the Ospedale orchestra took place in a church, where the strictest silence reigned, making it possible to distinguish the slightest nuances of sonority. (In the 18th century, orchestral music usually accompanied noisy meals, where there could be no question of attention to detail in the performance.) Vivaldi's manuscripts show an abundance of subtle transitions of sonority shades, which the composer usually did not transfer to printed scores, since at that time such nuances were considered unenforceable. Researchers of Vivaldi's work have established that the full dynamic scale of his works covers 13 (!) gradations of sonority: from pianissimo to fortissimo. The consistent use of such shades actually led to crescendo or diminuendo effects - then completely unknown. (In the 1st half of the 18th century, the change in sonority in strings had a “terrace-like” character, like a multi-manual cymbal or organ.)

After the violin, the cello attracted Vivaldi's greatest attention among the strings. His legacy includes 27 concertos for this instrument with accompaniment. The number is amazing, since at that time the cello was still rarely used as a solo instrument. In the 17th century it was known mainly as a continuo instrument and only at the beginning of the next century it became a soloist. The first cello concertos appeared in the north of Italy, in Bologna, and were undoubtedly familiar to Vivaldi. His numerous concerts testify to a deeply organic understanding of the nature of the instrument and its innovative interpretation. Vivaldi clearly highlights the low tones of the cello, reminiscent of the sound of a bassoon, sometimes limiting the accompaniment to one continuo to enhance the effect. The solo parts of his concerts contain significant technical difficulties, requiring the performer to have great mobility of his left hand.

Gradually, Vivaldi introduced new techniques of violin playing into the cello parts: expanding the number of positions, staccato, bow throws, using non-adjacent strings in rapid movement, etc. The high artistic level of Vivaldi’s cello concertos allows us to rank them among the most outstanding examples of this genre. The composer's work spans two 10-year periods, especially significant for the development of the new instrument, the 10-year anniversary preceding the appearance of Bach's suites for solo cello (1720).

Captivated by new varieties of strings, Vivaldi paid almost no attention to the viol family. The only exception is viola d'amore (lit. - viola of love), for which he wrote six concerts. Vivaldi was undoubtedly attracted by the delicate silvery sound of this instrument, created by the overtones of resonant (aliquot) metal strings stretched under the stand. Viola d'amore is used many times as an indispensable solo instrument in his vocal works (in particular, in one of the best arias of the oratorio "Judith". Vivaldi also owns one concerto for viola d'amore and lute.

Of particular interest are Vivaldi's concertos for wind instruments - wood and brass. Here he was one of the first to turn to new varieties of instruments, laying the foundations of their modern repertoire. By creating music for instruments outside the scope of his own performing practice, Vivaldi discovered inexhaustible inventiveness in the interpretation of their expressive possibilities. Even today, his concertos for winds impose serious technical demands on performers.

The flute is used in a variety of ways in Vivaldi's work. At the beginning of the 18th century, there were two varieties of it - longitudinal and transverse. Vivaldi wrote for both types of instrument. His contribution to the creation of the repertoire for the transverse flute as a solo concert instrument was especially significant. Note that there were practically no concert compositions for her. Flutists often performed works intended for violin or oboe. Vivaldi was one of the first to create concertos for the transverse flute, which revealed new expressive and dynamic possibilities of its sound.

In addition to the two main varieties of the instrument, Vivaldi also wrote for the flautino, a flute apparently similar to the modern piccolo flute. Vivaldi paid great attention to the oboe, which occupied a place of honor in opera orchestras of the 17th century. The oboe was especially often used in “open-air music.” 11 Vivaldi concertos for oboe and orchestra and 3 concertos for two oboes have been preserved. Many of them were published during the composer's lifetime.

In 3 concerts for various instruments (“con molti Istromenti”), Vivaldi used the clarinet, which was then still in the experimental phase of its development. The clarinet is also included in the score of the oratorio “Judith”.

Vivaldi wrote an amazing amount for the bassoon - 37 solo concertos with accompaniment. In addition, the bassoon is used in almost all chamber concerts, in which it is usually combined with the timbre of the cello. The interpretation of the bassoon in Vivaldi concertos is characterized by the frequent use of low, dense registers and rapid staccato, which requires highly developed technique from the performer.

Vivaldi turned to brass instruments much less frequently than to woodwinds, which is explained by the difficulty of using them in a recital at that time. In the 18th century, the brass scale was still limited to natural tones. Therefore, in solo concerts, brass parts usually did not go beyond C and D major, and the necessary tonal contrasts were entrusted to the strings. Vivaldi's Concerto for two trumpets and two concertos for two horns and orchestra show the composer's remarkable ability to compensate for the limitations of the natural scale with the help of frequent imitations, repetitions of sounds, dynamic contrasts and similar techniques.

In December 1736, two Vivaldi concertos for one and two mandolins and orchestra appeared. Thanks to the transparent orchestration with frequent pizzicatos, they achieved an organic unity with the timbre of the solo instruments, full of the enchanting beauty of the sound. The mandolin attracted Vivaldi's attention with its colorful timbre and as an accompaniment instrument. In one of the arias of the oratorio “Judith” the mandolin was used as a mandatory instrument. The parts of two mandolins are included in the score of a concert performed at the Ospedale in 1740.

Among other plucked instruments, Vivaldi used the lute, using it in two of his concerts. (Nowadays, the lute part is usually played on the guitar.)

Being a violinist by vocation, Vivaldi the composer essentially always followed the patterns of the violin cantilena. It is not surprising that he almost never used keyboards as solo instruments, although he invariably retained the continue function for them. An exception is the Concerto in C major for several instruments with two solo cymbals. Vivaldi was very interested in another keyboard instrument - the organ, with its rich palette of colors and sounds. There are six known Vivaldi concertos with solo organ.

Fascinated by the diverse possibilities of the new form of solo concert, Vivaldi sought to use it in works for ensembles of various compositions. He wrote especially a lot for two or more instruments with orchestral accompaniment - a total of 76 of his concerts of this kind are known. Unlike Concerto grosso, with its usual group of three soloists - two violins and basso continuo, these works represent a completely new type of ensemble concert. Their solo sections use groups of instruments that are very diverse in composition and number, including up to ten participants; in development, individual soloists come to the fore or the form of instrumental dialogue dominates.

Vivaldi also repeatedly turned to the type of orchestral concerto, in which tutti sonority predominates, only interspersed with performances by individual soloists. There are 47 works of this kind known, the ideas of which were far ahead of their time. He gave various titles to his orchestral concerts, labeling them as "Sinfonia", "Concerto", "Concerto a quattro" (four-piece) or "Concerto ripieno" (tutti).

The large number of orchestral concerts by Vivaldi indicates his constant interest in this type of genre. Apparently, his work at the Ospedale forced him to often use similar forms of music-making that did not require first-class soloists.

Finally, a special group consists of Vivaldi’s chamber concerts for several soloists without orchestral accompaniment. They use especially ingeniously the possibilities of combining instruments that are different in nature. Among the 15 works of this kind are the already mentioned 4 concertos from op. 10 in the first edition.

The development of the solo concert (primarily the violin concert) is the merit of A. Vivaldi, whose main area of creativity was instrumental music. Among his many concerts, concertos for one or two violins and orchestra occupy a central place.

Vivaldi made important acquisitions in the field of thematic development and compositional form. For the first movements of his concerts, he finally developed and established a form close to the rondo, which was later adopted by I.S. Bach, as well as classical composers.

Vivaldi contributed to the development of virtuoso violin technique, establishing a new, dramatic style of performance. Vivaldi's musical style is distinguished by melodic generosity, dynamic and expressive sound, transparency of orchestral writing, classical harmony combined with emotional richness.

Bibliography

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One of the greatest representatives of the Baroque era, A. Vivaldi went down in the history of musical culture as the creator of the instrumental concert genre, the founder of orchestral program music. Vivaldi's childhood is connected with Venice, where his father worked as a violinist in St. Mark's Cathedral. The family had 6 children, of whom Antonio was the eldest. Almost no details have been preserved about the composer’s childhood. It is only known that he studied the violin and harpsichord.

On September 18, 1693, Vivaldi was tonsured a monk, and on March 23, 1703, he was ordained. At the same time, the young man continued to live at home (presumably due to a serious illness), which gave him the opportunity not to give up his musical studies. Vivaldi was nicknamed the “red monk” for his hair color. It is believed that already in these years he was not too zealous about his duties as a clergyman. Many sources retell a story (possibly apocryphal, but revealing) of how one day during a service the “red-haired monk” hurriedly left the altar to write down a fugue theme that suddenly occurred to him. In any case, Vivaldi's relations with clerical circles continued to strain, and soon he, citing his poor health, publicly refused to celebrate Mass.

Even before his new appointment, Vivaldi had established himself not only as a teacher, but also as a composer (mainly the author of sacred music). In parallel with his work at Pieta, Vivaldi was looking for opportunities to publish his secular works. 12 trio sonatas op. 1 were published in 1706; in 1711 the most famous collection of violin concertos “Harmonic Inspiration” op. 3; in 1714 - another collection called “Extravagance” op. 4. Vivaldi’s violin concertos very soon became widely known in Western Europe and especially in Germany. I. Quantz, I. Mattheson showed great interest in them, the Great J. S. Bach “for pleasure and instruction” personally arranged 9 Vivaldi violin concertos for clavier and organ. During these same years, Vivaldi wrote his first operas “Ottone” (1713), “Orlando” (1714), “Nero” (1715). In 1718-20 he lives in Mantua, where he mainly writes operas for the carnival season, as well as instrumental works for the Mantuan ducal court.

In 1725, one of the composer’s most famous opuses was published, bearing the subtitle “An Experience in Harmony and Invention” (op. 8). Like the previous ones, the collection is composed of violin concertos (there are 12 of them). The first 4 concerts of this opus are named by the composer, respectively, “Spring”, “Summer”, “Autumn” and “Winter”. In modern performing practice, they are often combined into the cycle “Seasons” (there is no such title in the original). Apparently, Vivaldi was not satisfied with the income from the publication of his concerts, and in 1733 he announced to a certain English traveler E. Holdsworth his intention to refuse further publications, since, unlike printed copies, handwritten copies were more expensive. In fact, since then, no new original works by Vivaldi have appeared.

Late 20's - 30's. often called “years of travel” (previously to Vienna and Prague). In August 1735, Vivaldi returned to the post of conductor of the Pieta orchestra, but the management committee did not like his subordinate’s passion for travel, and in 1738 the composer was fired. At the same time, Vivaldi continued to work hard in the opera genre (one of his librettists was the famous C. Goldoni), while he preferred to personally participate in the production. However, Vivaldi’s opera performances were not particularly successful, especially after the composer was deprived of the opportunity to act as director of his operas at the Ferrara theater due to the cardinal’s ban on entering the city (the composer was accused of having a love affair with Anna Giraud, his former student, and refusing "red monk" to serve mass). As a result, the opera premiere in Ferrara was a failure.

In 1740, shortly before his death, Vivaldi went on his last trip to Vienna. The reasons for his sudden departure are unclear. He died in the house of the widow of a Viennese saddler named Waller and was buried in poverty. Soon after his death, the name of the outstanding master was forgotten. Almost 200 years later, in the 20s. XX century Italian musicologist A. Gentili discovered a unique collection of the composer's manuscripts (300 concertos, 19 operas, sacred and secular vocal works). From this time on, a true revival of Vivaldi's former glory begins. The music publishing house Ricordi began publishing the composer's complete works in 1947, and the Philips company recently began implementing an equally grandiose plan - publishing “everything” Vivaldi in recordings. In our country, Vivaldi is one of the most frequently performed and most beloved composers. Vivaldi's creative legacy is great. According to the authoritative thematic-systematic catalog by Peter Riom (international designation - RV), it covers more than 700 titles. The main place in Vivaldi’s work was occupied by the instrumental concerto (about 500 preserved in total). The composer's favorite instrument was the violin (about 230 concerts). In addition, he wrote concertos for two, three and four violins with orchestra and basso continue, concertos for viola d'amore, cello, mandolin, longitudinal and transverse flutes, oboe, bassoon. There are more than 60 concerts for string orchestra and basso continue, sonatas for various instruments. Of more than 40 operas (the authorship of Vivaldi has been accurately established), the scores of only half of them have survived. Less popular (but no less interesting) are his numerous vocal works - cantatas, oratorios, works on spiritual texts (psalms, litanies, “Gloria”, etc.).

Many of Vivaldi's instrumental works have programmatic subtitles. Some of them refer to the first performer (Carbonelli concerto, RV 366), others to the festival during which this or that composition was performed for the first time (“For the Feast of St. Lorenzo”, RV 286). A number of subheadings indicate some unusual detail of performing technique (in the concert entitled “L’ottavina”, RV 763, all solo violins must be played in the upper octave). The most typical titles are those that characterize the prevailing mood - “Rest”, “Anxiety”, “Suspicion” or “Harmonic Inspiration”, “Zither” (the last two are the names of collections of violin concertos). At the same time, even in those works whose titles seem to indicate external pictorial moments (“Storm at Sea”, “Goldfinch”, “Hunting”, etc.), the main thing for the composer always remains the transfer of the general lyrical mood. The score of “The Seasons” is provided with a relatively extensive program. Already during his lifetime, Vivaldi became famous as an outstanding expert on the orchestra, the inventor of many coloristic effects, and he did a lot to develop the technique of playing the violin.

S. Lebedev

The wonderful works of A. Vivaldi have enormous, worldwide fame. Contemporary famous ensembles (Moscow Chamber Orchestra conducted by R. Barshai, “Roman Virtuosi”, etc.) devote evenings to his work and, perhaps, after Bach and Handel, Vivaldi is the most popular composer of the era of musical baroque. These days it seems to have received a second life.

He enjoyed wide fame during his lifetime and was the creator of a solo instrumental concert. The development of this genre in all countries throughout the pre-classical period is associated with the work of Vivaldi. Vivaldi's concertos served as a model for Bach, Locatelli, Tartini, Leclerc, Benda and others. Bach arranged 6 Vivaldi violin concertos for the clavier, made organ concertos out of 2 and reworked one for 4 claviers.

“At the time when Bach was in Weimar, the entire musical world admired the originality of the latter’s concerts (i.e. Vivaldi - L.R.). Bach rearranged Vivaldi's concertos not in order to make them accessible to wider circles, and not in order to learn from them, but only because it gave him pleasure. He undoubtedly benefited from Vivaldi. He learned from him clarity and harmony of construction. perfect violin technique based on melodiousness..."

However, being very popular during the first half of the 18th century, Vivaldi was later almost forgotten. “While after the death of Corelli,” Pencherl writes, “the memory of him became more and more strengthened and embellished over the years, Vivaldi, almost less famous during his lifetime, literally disappeared after a few five years, both materially and spiritually. His creations are removed from programs, even the features of his appearance are erased from memory. There was only speculation about the place and date of his death. For a long time, dictionaries repeat only scant information about him, filled with commonplaces and replete with errors...”

Until recently, Vivaldi was of interest only to historians. In music schools, at the initial stages of training, they studied 1-2 of his concerts. In the middle of the 20th century, attention to his work rapidly increased, and interest in the facts of his biography increased. And yet we still know very little about him.

The ideas about his legacy, most of which remained in obscurity, were completely wrong. Only in 1927-1930, the Turin composer and researcher Alberto Gentili managed to discover about 300 (!) autographs of Vivaldi, which were the property of the Durazzo family and stored in their Genoese villa. Among these manuscripts are 19 operas, an oratorio and several volumes of Vivaldi's church and instrumental works. This collection was founded by Prince Giacomo Durazzo, a philanthropist, since 1764, the Austrian envoy to Venice, where, in addition to political activities, he was engaged in collecting art samples.

According to Vivaldi's will, they were not subject to publication, but Gentili managed to transfer them to the National Library and thereby made them public. The Austrian scientist Walter Collender began studying them, claiming that Vivaldi was several decades ahead of the development of European music in the use of dynamics and purely technical techniques of violin playing.

According to the latest data, it is known that Vivaldi wrote 39 operas, 23 cantatas, 23 symphonies, many church works, 43 arias, 73 sonatas (trio and solo), 40 concerti grossi; 447 solo concertos for a variety of instruments: 221 for violin, 20 for cello, 6 for viola damour, 16 for flute, 11 for oboe, 38 for bassoon, concertos for mandolin, horn, trumpet and for mixed compositions: wooden with violin, for 2 - x violins and lute, 2 flutes, oboe, English horn, 2 trumpets, violin, 2 violas, bow quartet, 2 cymbals, etc.

Vivaldi's exact birthday is unknown. Pencherl gives only an approximate date - somewhat earlier than 1678. His father Giovanni Battista Vivaldi was a violinist in the Ducal Chapel of St. Brand in Venice, and a first-class performer. In all likelihood, the son received his father's violin education, and studied composition with Giovanni Legrenzi, who headed the Venetian violin school in the second half of the 17th century and was an outstanding composer, especially in the field of orchestral music. Apparently from him Vivaldi inherited a passion for experimenting with instrumental compositions.

At a young age, Vivaldi entered the same chapel where his father worked as a leader, and later replaced him in this position.

However, his professional musical career was soon supplemented by a spiritual one - Vivaldi became a priest. This happened on September 18, 1693. Until 1696, he was in the junior clergy, and received full priestly rights on March 23, 1703. “Red-haired priest” - Vivaldi was mockingly called in Venice, and this nickname remained with him throughout his life.

Having received the priesthood, Vivaldi did not stop his musical studies. In general, he was not involved in church service for long - only one year, after which he was forbidden to serve mass. Biographers give a funny explanation for this fact: “One day Vivaldi was celebrating mass, and suddenly the theme of the fugue came to his mind; leaving the altar, he goes to the sacristy to write down this theme, and then returns to the altar. A denunciation followed, but the Inquisition, considering him a musician, that is, as if crazy, limited himself to prohibiting him from serving mass in the future.”

Vivaldi denied such cases and explained the ban on church services due to his painful condition. By 1737, when he was due to arrive in Ferrara to stage one of his operas, the papal nuncio Ruffo banned him from entering the city, citing, among other reasons, that he was not serving mass. Then Vivaldi addressed a letter (November 16, 1737) to his patron Marquis Guido Bentivoglio: “For 25 years now I have not served mass and will never serve it in the future, but not because of a prohibition, as perhaps your Lordship was informed, but as a result my own decision caused by an illness that has oppressed me since the day I was born. When I was ordained a priest, I celebrated Mass for a year or a little over a year, then stopped doing it, forced to leave the altar three times without finishing it due to illness. As a result of this, I almost always live at home and travel only in a carriage or gondola, because I cannot walk due to chest disease, or rather chest tightness. Not a single noble invites me to his house, not even our prince, since everyone knows about my illness. After a meal I can usually go for a walk, but never on foot. This is the reason why I don’t celebrate mass.” The letter is curious in that it contains some everyday details of Vivaldi’s life, which apparently proceeded in isolation within the confines of his own home.

Forced to abandon his church career, Vivaldi in September 1703 entered one of the Venetian conservatories, called the “Musical Seminary of the Hospitable House of Piety”, to the position of “violin maestro”, with a salary of 60 ducats per year. Conservatories in those days were children's shelters (hospitals) attached to churches. In Venice there were four for girls, in Naples four for boys.

The famous French traveler de Brosses left the following description of the Venetian conservatories: “The music of the hospitals here is excellent. There are four of them, and they are filled with illegitimate girls, as well as orphans or those whose parents are unable to raise them. They are raised at the expense of the state and are taught mainly music. They sing like angels, play the violin, flute, organ, oboe, cello, bassoon; in short, there is no such cumbersome instrument that would make them afraid. 40 girls take part in each concert. I swear to you, there is nothing more attractive than to see a young and beautiful nun, in a white robe, with bouquets of pomegranate flowers on her ears, beating time with all grace and precision.”

J.-J. wrote enthusiastically about the music of conservatories (especially at Mendicanti - the church of mendicants). Russo: “On Sundays in the churches of each of these four Scuole, during Vespers, a full choir and orchestra perform motets composed by the greatest composers of Italy, under their personal direction, performed exclusively by young girls, the oldest of whom is not even twenty years old. They are in the stands behind bars. Neither Carrio nor I ever missed these evenings at Mendicanti. But I was driven into despair by these damned bars, which let only sounds through and hid the faces of angels of beauty worthy of these sounds. I was just talking about this. I once said the same thing to M. de Blon.”

De Blon, who belonged to the administration of the conservatory, introduced Rousseau to the singers. “Come here, Sofia,” she was terrible. “Come here, Kattina,” she was crooked in one eye. “Come, Bettina,” her face was disfigured by smallpox.” However, “ugliness does not exclude charm, and they had it,” adds Rousseau.

Having entered the Conservatory of Piety, Vivaldi had the opportunity to work with the full orchestra there (with winds and organ), which was considered the best in Venice.

Venice, its musical and theatrical life and conservatories can be judged by the following heartfelt lines by Romain Rolland: “Venice was at that time the musical capital of Italy. There, during the carnival, there were performances every evening in seven opera houses. Every evening the Academy of Music met, that is, a musical meeting took place, and sometimes there were two or three such meetings per evening. Musical celebrations took place in the churches every day, concerts lasting several hours with the participation of several orchestras, several organs and several overlapping choirs. On Saturdays and Sundays, the famous vespers were served in hospitals, these women's conservatories, where they taught music to orphans, foundling girls, or simply girls with beautiful voices; they gave orchestral and vocal concerts, for which the whole of Venice went crazy...”

By the end of the first year of service, Vivaldi received the title of “maestro of the choir”; his further promotion is not known, what is certain is that he served as a teacher of violin and singing, and also, intermittently, as an orchestra leader and composer.

In 1713, he received leave and, according to a number of biographers, traveled to Darmstadt, where for three years he worked in the chapel of the Duke of Darmstadt. However, Pencherl claims that Vivaldi did not travel to Germany, but worked in Mantua, in the duke’s chapel, not in 1713, but from 1720 to 1723. Pencherl proves this by referring to a letter from Vivaldi, who wrote: “In Mantua I was in the service of the pious Prince of Darmstadt for three years,” and determines the length of his stay there by the fact that the title of maestro of the duke’s chapel appears on the title pages of Vivaldi’s printed works only after 1720 of the year.

From 1713 to 1718, Vivaldi lived in Venice almost continuously. At this time, his operas were staged almost every year, with the first in 1713.

By 1717, Vivaldi's fame had grown enormously. The famous German violinist Johann Georg Pisendel comes to study with him. In general, Vivaldi trained mainly performers for the conservatory orchestra, and not only instrumentalists, but also singers.

Suffice it to say that he was the tutor of such major opera singers as Anna Giraud and Faustina Bodoni. “He prepared a singer named Faustina, who forced her to imitate with her voice everything that could be performed in his time on the violin, flute, and oboe.”

Vivaldi became very friendly with Pisendel. Pencherl gives the following story from I. Giller. One day Pisendel was walking along St. Stamp with “Red-haired priest”. Suddenly he interrupted the conversation and quietly ordered to return home immediately. Once at home, he explained the reason for the sudden return: for a long time, four gatherings followed and watched young Pisendel. Vivaldi inquired whether his student had said any reprehensible words anywhere, and demanded that he not leave the house until he himself clarified the matter. Vivaldi met with the inquisitor and learned that Pisendel had been mistaken for some suspicious person with whom he bore a resemblance.

From 1718 to 1722, Vivaldi is not listed in the documents of the Conservatory of Piety, which confirms the possibility of his departure to Mantua. At the same time, he periodically appeared in his hometown, where his operas continued to be staged. He returned to the conservatory in 1723, but as a famous composer. Under the new conditions, he was obliged to write 2 concerts per month, with a remuneration of sequins per concert, and conduct 3-4 rehearsals for them. In fulfilling these duties, Vivaldi combined them with long and distant trips. “For 14 years now,” Vivaldi wrote in 1737, “I have been traveling with Anna Giraud to numerous cities in Europe. I spent three carnival seasons in Rome because of the opera. I was invited to Vienna." In Rome he is the most popular composer, his operatic style is imitated by everyone. In Venice in 1726, he acts as an orchestra conductor at the Theater of St. Angelo, apparently in 1728, goes to Vienna. Then follow three years devoid of any data. And again, some introductions about the productions of his operas in Venice, Florence, Verona, Ancona shed scant light on the circumstances of his life. In parallel, from 1735 to 1740, his service at the Conservatory of Piety continued.

The exact date of Vivaldi's death is unknown. Most sources indicate the year 1743.

Five portraits of the great composer have survived. The earliest and most reliable, apparently, belongs to P. Ghezzi and dates back to 1723. The “red priest” is depicted chest-deep in profile. The forehead is slightly sloping, long hair is curled, the chin is pointed, the lively gaze is full of will and curiosity.

Vivaldi was very sick. In a letter to the Marquis Guido Bentivolio (November 16, 1737), he writes that he is forced to make his travels accompanied by 4-5 people - and all because of a painful condition. However, illness did not prevent him from being extremely active. He travels endlessly, directs opera productions himself, discusses roles with singers, struggles with their whims, conducts extensive correspondence, conducts orchestras and manages to write an incredible number of works. He is very practical and knows how to organize his own affairs. De Brosse says ironically: “Vivaldi became one of my close friends in order to sell me his concerts at a higher price.” He kowtows to the powers that be, prudently choosing patrons, and is sanctimoniously religious, although he is by no means inclined to deprive himself of worldly pleasures. Being a Catholic priest, and according to the laws of this religion, deprived of the opportunity to marry, he was for many years in a love affair with his pupil, singer Anna Giraud. Their proximity caused Vivaldi great trouble. Thus, the papal legate in Ferrara in 1737 refused Vivaldi entry into the city not only because he was prohibited from performing church services, but largely because of this reprehensible proximity. The famous Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni wrote that Giraud was ugly, but attractive - she had a thin waist, beautiful eyes and hair, a charming mouth, had a weak voice and undoubted stage talent.

The best description of Vivaldi's personality is contained in Goldoni's Memoirs.

One day Goldoni was asked to make some changes to the text of the libretto of the opera “Griselda” with music by Vivaldi, the production of which was being prepared in Venice. For this purpose, he went to Vivaldi’s apartment. The composer received him with a prayer book in his hands, in a room littered with sheet music. He was very surprised that instead of the old librettist Lalli, Goldoni should make the changes.

“I know well, my dear sir, that you have a poetic talent; I watched your “Belisarius”, which I really liked, but this is completely different: you can create a tragedy, an epic poem, if you want, and still not be able to cope with the quatrains to be set to music.
- Give me the pleasure of getting to know your play.
- Please, please, with pleasure. Where did I put “Griselda”? She was here. Deus, in adjutorium meum intende, Domine, Domine, Domine. (God, come to me! Lord, Lord, Lord). She was just at hand. Domine adjuvandum (Lord, help). Ah, here it is, look, sir, this scene between Gualtiere and Griselda, this is a very fascinating, touching scene. The author ended it with a pathetic aria, but Signorina Giraud does not like dull songs, she would like something expressive, exciting, an aria that expresses passion in different ways, for example, words interrupted by sighs, with action, movement. I don't know if you understand me?
- Yes, sir, I already understood, besides, I already had the honor of hearing Signorina Giraud, and I know that her voice is not strong.
- How, sir, do you insult my student? Everything is accessible to her, she sings everything.
- Yes, sir, you are right; give me the book and let me get to work.
- No, sir, I can’t, I need her, I’m very concerned.
- Well, if, sir, you are so busy, then give it to me for one minute and I will satisfy you immediately.
- Immediately?
- Yes, sir, immediately.
The abbot, chuckling, gives me a play, paper and inkwell, again takes up his prayer book and, while walking, reads his psalms and hymns. I read the scene I already knew, remembered the musician’s wishes, and in less than a quarter of an hour I sketched out on paper an aria of 8 verses, divided into two parts. I call my spiritual person and show him my work. Vivaldi reads, his forehead smooths out, he rereads, utters joyful exclamations, throws his missal on the floor and calls Signorina Giraud. She appears; Well, he says, here is a rare person, here is an excellent poet: read this aria; The signor made it without leaving his seat in a quarter of an hour; then turning to me: ah, sir, excuse me. “And he hugs me, swearing that from now on I will be his only poet.”

Pencherl ends his work dedicated to Vivaldi with the following words: “This is how Vivaldi appears to us when we combine all the individual information about him: created from contrasts, weak, sick, and yet alive like gunpowder, ready to get irritated and immediately calm down, move on from the mundane vanity to superstitious piety, stubborn and at the same time accommodating when necessary, a mystic, but ready to come down to earth when it comes to his interests, and not at all a fool when organizing his affairs.”

And how this all fits with his music! In it, the sublime pathos of the church style is combined with the irrepressible ardor of life, the sublime is mixed with the everyday, the abstract with the concrete. His concerts feature stern fugues, mournful majestic adagios and, along with them, songs of ordinary people, lyrics coming from the heart, and cheerful dancing. He writes programmatic works - the famous cycle “The Seasons” and supplies each concert with bucolic stanzas that are frivolous for the abbot:

Spring has arrived, it solemnly announces.
Her merry round dance, and the song resounds in the mountains.
And the stream babbles welcomingly towards her.
Zephyr's wind caresses all nature.

But it suddenly got dark, the lightning sparkled,
The harbinger of spring - thunder swept across the mountains
And soon he fell silent; and the lark's songs,
Sounding out in the blue, they rush through the valleys.

Where the carpet of flowers covers the valley,
Where the tree and the leaf tremble in the breeze,
With the dog at his feet, the shepherd boy dreams.

And again Pan can listen to the magic flute
The nymphs dance again to the sound of it,
Welcoming the Sorceress-Spring.

In "Summer" Vivaldi makes the cuckoo crow, the turtledove coo, the goldfinch chirp; in “Autumn” he begins the concert with a song of villagers returning from the fields. He also creates poetic pictures of nature in other program concerts, such as “Storm at Sea”, “Night”, “Pastoral”. He also has concerts that depict the state of mind: “Suspicion”, “Relaxation”, “Anxiety”. His two concerts on the theme “Night” can be considered the first symphonic nocturnes in world music.

His works amaze with the richness of his imagination. With an orchestra at his disposal, Vivaldi constantly experiments. The solo instruments in his compositions are either severely ascetic or frivolously virtuosic. Motility in some concerts gives way to generous songfulness and melody in others. The colorful effects and play of timbres, such as in the middle movement of the Concerto for three violins with its charming pizzicato sound, are almost “impressionistic”.

Vivaldi created with phenomenal speed: “He is ready to bet that he can compose a concerto with all its parts faster than a scribe can rewrite it,” wrote de Brosses. Perhaps this is where the spontaneity and freshness of Vivaldi’s music stems, which has been delighting listeners for more than two centuries.

L. Raaben, 1967

Works of the outstanding Italian composer and violinist A. Corelli had a huge influence on European instrumental music of the late 17th - first half of the 18th centuries, he is rightfully considered the founder of the Italian violin school. Many of the greatest composers of the subsequent era, including J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel, highly valued Corelli's instrumental works. He proved himself not only as a composer and a wonderful violinist performer, but also as a teacher (the Corelli school includes a whole galaxy of brilliant masters) and conductor (he was the leader of various instrumental ensembles). Corelli's creativity and his diverse activities opened a new page in the history of music and musical genres.

Little is known about Corelli's early life. He received his first music lessons from a priest. After changing several teachers, Corelli finally ends up in Bologna. This city was the birthplace of a number of remarkable Italian composers, and his stay there apparently had a decisive influence on the future fate of the young musician. In Bologna, Corelli studied under the guidance of the famous teacher G. Benvenuti. The fact that already in his youth Corelli achieved outstanding success in the field of violin playing is evidenced by the fact that in 1670, at the age of 17, he was admitted to the famous Bologna Academy. In the 1670s. Corelli moves to Rome. Here he plays in various orchestral and chamber ensembles, leads some ensembles, and becomes a church bandmaster. From Corelli's letters it is known that in 1679 he entered the service of Queen Christina of Sweden. Being an orchestra musician, he is also involved in composition - composing sonatas for his patroness. Corelli's first work (12 church trio sonatas) appeared in 1681. In the mid-1680s. Corelli entered the service of the Roman cardinal P. Ottoboni, where he remained until the end of his life. After 1708, he retired from public speaking and concentrated all his energies on creativity.

Corelli's works are relatively few: in 1685, following his first opus, his chamber trio sonatas op. 2, in 1689 - 12 church trio sonatas op. 3, in 1694 - chamber trio sonatas op. 4, in 1700 - chamber trio sonatas op. 5. Finally, in 1714, after Corelli’s death, his concerti grossi op was published in Amsterdam. 6. These collections, as well as several individual plays, constitute Corelli's legacy. His compositions are intended for bowed string instruments (violin, viola da gamba) with the participation of harpsichord or organ as accompanying instruments.

Corelli's work includes 2 main genres: sonatas and concertos. It was in the work of Corelli that the sonata genre was formed in the form in which it is characteristic of the pre-classical era. Corelli's sonatas are divided into 2 groups: church and chamber. They differ both in the performing composition (in the church sonata the organ accompanies, in the chamber sonata - the harpsichord) and in content (the church sonata is distinguished by its rigor and depth of content, the chamber one is close to the dance suite). The instrumental composition for which such sonatas were composed included 2 melodic voices (2 violins) and accompaniment (organ, harpsichord, viola da gamba). That's why they are called trio sonatas.

Corelli's concerts also became an outstanding phenomenon in this genre. The concerto grosso genre existed long before Corelli. He was one of the forerunners of symphonic music. The idea of the genre was a kind of competition between a group of solo instruments (in Corelli’s concerts this role is played by 2 violins and a cello) with an orchestra: the concert was thus structured as an alternation of solo and tutti. Corelli's 12 concertos, written in the last years of the composer's life, became one of the brightest pages in instrumental music of the early 18th century. They are still perhaps Corelli’s most popular work.

One of the largest representatives of the Baroque era A. Vivaldi entered the history of musical culture as the creator of the instrumental concert genre, the founder of orchestral program music. Vivaldi's childhood is connected with Venice, where his father worked as a violinist in St. Mark's Cathedral. The family had 6 children, of whom Antonio was the eldest. Almost no details have been preserved about the composer’s childhood. It is only known that he studied the violin and harpsichord. On September 18, 1693, Vivaldi was tonsured a monk, and on March 23, 1703, he was ordained. At the same time, the young man continued to live at home (presumably due to a serious illness), which gave him the opportunity not to give up his musical studies. Vivaldi was nicknamed the “red monk” for his hair color. It is believed that already in these years he was not too zealous about his duties as a clergyman. Many sources retell a story (possibly apocryphal, but revealing) of how one day during a service the “red-haired monk” hurriedly left the altar to write down a fugue theme that suddenly occurred to him. In any case, Vivaldi's relations with clerical circles continued to strain, and soon he, citing his poor health, publicly refused to celebrate Mass.

In September 1703, Vivaldi began working as a teacher (maestro di violino) at the Venetian charity orphanage "Pio Ospedale delia Pieta". His duties included teaching the violin and viol d'amore, as well as overseeing the preservation of stringed instruments and purchasing new violins. The “services” in the “Pieta” (they can rightfully be called concerts) were the center of attention of the enlightened Venetian public. For reasons of economy, Vivaldi was fired in 1709, but in 1711-16. reinstated in the same position, and from May 1716 he was already the concertmaster of the Pieta orchestra. Even before his new appointment, Vivaldi had established himself not only as a teacher, but also as a composer (mainly the author of sacred music). In parallel with his work at Pieta, Vivaldi was looking for opportunities to publish his secular works. 12 trio sonatas op. 1 were published in 1706; in 1711 the most famous collection of violin concertos “Harmonic Inspiration” op. 3; in 1714 - another collection called “Extravagance” op. 4. Vivaldi’s violin concertos very soon became widely known in Western Europe and especially in Germany. I. Quantz, I. Mattheson showed great interest in them, the Great J. S. Bach “for pleasure and instruction” personally arranged 9 Vivaldi violin concertos for clavier and organ. During these same years, Vivaldi wrote his first operas “Ottone” (1713), “Orlando” (1714), “Nero” (1715). In 1718-20 he lives in Mantua, where he mainly writes operas for the carnival season, as well as instrumental works for the Mantuan ducal court. In 1725, one of the composer’s most famous opuses was published, bearing the subtitle “An Experience in Harmony and Invention” (op. 8). Like the previous ones, the collection is composed of violin concertos (there are 12 of them). The first 4 concerts of this opus are named by the composer, respectively, “Spring”, “Summer”, “Autumn” and “Winter”. In modern performing practice, they are often combined into the cycle “Seasons” (there is no such title in the original). Apparently, Vivaldi was not satisfied with the income from the publication of his concerts, and in 1733 he announced to a certain English traveler E. Holdsworth his intention to refuse further publications, since, unlike printed copies, handwritten copies were more expensive. In fact, since then, no new original works by Vivaldi have appeared.

Giuseppe Tartini belongs to the luminaries of the Italian violin school of the 18th century, whose art retains its artistic significance to this day. D. Oistrakh

The outstanding Italian composer, teacher, virtuoso violinist and music theorist G. Tartini occupied one of the most important places in the violin culture of Italy in the first half of the 18th century. His art merged traditions coming from A. Corelli, A. Vivaldi, F. Veracini and other great predecessors and contemporaries.

Tartini was born into a family belonging to the noble class. The parents intended their son to become a clergyman. Therefore, he first studied at the parish school in Pirano, and then in Capo d'Istria. There Tartini began playing the violin.

The life of a musician is divided into 2 periods sharply opposed to each other. Fickle, intemperate in character, looking for danger - this is how he is in his youth. Tartini's self-will forced his parents to abandon the idea of sending their son along the spiritual path. He goes to Padua to study law. But Tartini prefers fencing to them, dreaming of being a fencing master. In parallel with fencing, he continues to pursue music more and more purposefully.

A secret marriage to his student, the niece of a prominent clergyman, dramatically changed all of Tartini’s plans. The marriage caused the indignation of his wife’s aristocratic relatives; Tartini was persecuted by Cardinal Cornaro and was forced to go into hiding. His refuge was the Minorite monastery in Assisi.

From this moment on, the second period of Tartini’s life began. The monastery not only sheltered the young rake and became his refuge during the years of exile. Tartini’s moral and spiritual rebirth took place here, and his true development as a composer began here. At the monastery he studied music theory and composition under the guidance of the Czech composer and theorist B. Chernogorsky; He practiced the violin on his own, achieving true perfection in mastering the instrument, which, according to contemporaries, even surpassed the playing of the famous Corelli.

Tartini stayed in the monastery for 2 years, then for another 2 years he played at the opera house in Ancona. There the musician met Veracini, who had a significant influence on his work.

Tartini's exile ended in 1716. From that time until the end of his life, with the exception of short breaks, he lived in Padua, leading the chapel orchestra in the Basilica of St. Antonio and performing as a violinist in various cities of Italy. In 1723, Tartini received an invitation to visit Prague to participate in the musical celebrations on the occasion of the coronation of Charles VI. This visit, however, lasted until 1726: Tartini accepted an offer to take the position of chamber musician in the Prague chapel of Count F. Kinsky.

Returning to Padua (1727), the composer organized a music academy there, devoting much energy to teaching. Contemporaries called him "teacher of nations." Among Tartini's students are such outstanding violinists of the 18th century as P. Nardini, G. Pugnani, D. Ferrari, I. Naumann, P. Lausset, F. Rust and others.

The musician’s contribution to the further development of the art of violin playing was great. He changed the design of the bow, lengthening it. Tartini's own bowing skills and his extraordinary singing on the violin began to be considered exemplary. The composer created a huge number of works. These include numerous trio sonatas, about 125 concertos, 175 sonatas for violin and cymbal. The latter received further genre and stylistic development in Tartini’s work.

The composer's vivid imagery of musical thinking manifested itself in his desire to give his works programmatic subtitles. The sonatas "Abandoned Dido" and "Devil's Trill" became especially famous. The last remarkable Russian music critic V. Odoevsky considered the beginning of a new era in violin art. Along with these works, the monumental cycle “The Art of the Bow” is of great importance. Consisting of 50 variations on the theme of Corelli's gavotte, it is a unique set of technical techniques that has not only pedagogical significance, but also high artistic value. Tartini was one of the inquisitive musician-thinkers of the 18th century; his theoretical views were expressed not only in various treatises on music, but also in correspondence with major musical scientists of that time, being the most valuable documents of his era.

20. Suitability as a principle of musical thinking in music of the 17th-18th centuries. The structure of a classical suite. (Take any suite and disassemble it) ; (Read Yavorsky's work).

Suite (French suite, “sequence”). The name implies a sequence of instrumental pieces (stylized dances) or instrumental fragments from opera, ballet, drama music, etc.