VIVALDI L ESTRO ARMONICO OP.3, NO.4: CONCERTO FOR FOUR VIOLINS IN E MINOR, RV 550 Andante Allegro assai Adagio Allegro

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1 saturday 28 january 2012 Northern sinfonia Hall one, The Sage Gateshead Programme Notes VIVALDI L ESTRO ARMONICO: CONCERTO FOR FOUR VIOLINS IN E MINOR, OP.3 ALLEGRI MISERERE MEI, DEUS PACHELBEL CANON GIBBONS THE SILVER SWAN INTERVAL VIVALDI OSTRO PICTA, ARMATA SPINA VIVALDI GLORIA CONCERTO GROSSO This was an early form of concerto, at its height in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in which a small group of musicians referred to as a concertino or concertante play in alternation, contrast and combination with the larger body of the orchestra, known as the ripieno. RITORNELLO Italian for little return, in which the orchestra picks up the soloist s previous musical statement before returning it. VIVALDI L ESTRO ARMONICO OP.3, NO.4: CONCERTO FOR FOUR VIOLINS IN E MINOR, RV 550 Andante assai Adagio His appointment as a master of music at Venice s Ospedale della Pietà in 1703 opened up a world of opportunity to the recently ordained Antonio Vivaldi. The Pietà was an institution for orphaned and homeless girls which, for many of the youngsters, also acted as a conservatory to develop their musical education. Vivaldi or the Red Priest, as he was nicknamed, in reference to the russet colouring of his hair found himself in charge of a skilful and versatile group of players and singers. Although initially engaged to teach violin, he was soon given responsibility for orchestral and choral direction, the composition of works for performance at the Pietà, as well as buying and maintaining the musical instruments. Under Vivaldi s supervision this figlie di coro section of the orphanage - proficient in an unusually wide range of instruments - was able to extend its considerable reputation across Europe. The girls played for the Venetian nobility and for honoured foreign guests. One impressed visitor to the Pietà, the French scholar and historian Charles de Brosses, wrote home in the late 1730s that the girls were trained solely to excel in music. What is more, they sing like angels and play the violin, the recorder, the organ, the oboe, the cello and bassoon in short, there is no instrument, however unwieldy, that can frighten them. As the young musicians reputation grew so did Vivaldi s proficiency in composing for the instruments tailored to the skills available to him, dramatically demonstrating an appreciation of the capabilities, and limits, of the individual instruments as well as an ability to engage them in dialogue, in imitation and in contrast. Here we are presented with the many inventive strokes Vivaldi used to transform the concerto grosso form, in particular the rhythmic, sweeping drive of the opening movements, the song-like charm of the slow middle sections and the energetic finales. Then there is the recurring refrain, known as a ritornello, for the full orchestra in the faster outer movements very much a Vivaldi trademark. The dynamics of sudden changes of pace and expressiveness in the music were also new. De Brosses was astonished by the art of increasing or diminishing the sound, which I could term the art of nuances and shading which he encountered for the first time in the Venetian s concertos.

2 CORELLI Arcangelo Corelli ( ) was Italy s most influential violinist and composer of the Baroque period. Born at Fusignano, near Ravenna, as a composer he more or less confined himself to solo and trio sonatas and concerti grossi, but of these he proved an enduring master. ANDANTE Flowing along. RV550 The number preceded by these initials, standing for Ryom Verzeichnis (Ryom Catalogue), refers to the modern cataloguing of the composer s works by the Danish musicologist Peter Ryom. His Verzeichnis der Werke Antonio Vivaldis, which included recent discoveries, was compiled in 1974 and revised in lavished praise Pope Clement XIV also made the young Mozart a Knight of the Golden Spur, an order of chivalry recognising contributions to the glory of the Catholic Church. Martini The Italian musician ( ) ran a composition school in Bologna, and Johann Christian Bach was one of his students. He also owned a massive library of musical literature, estimated by Burney to include 17,000 volumes. Vivaldi s first published collection of concertos pre-dates that which included The Four Seasons by fourteen years. Entitled L estro armonico roughly translated as the harmonic whim or inspiration the dozen short works shook the musical world when they came out in 1711, even though that world was more confined to cities of northern Europe, and especially of Germany, than to Vivaldi s Venetian homeland. Even so, it is believed manuscripts of the concertos were in circulation among enthusiasts across Europe several years before they reached the printer. These concertos introduced a passionate intensity the form had lacked under the more courtly and buttoned-up approach of composers such as Corelli, who had nevertheless been a great influence on Vivaldi. There are four each for solo violin, two and four violins, and they particularly fascinated the young Johann Sebastian Bach. A sense of dramatic events to come pervades the orchestra s Andante opening bars of the fourth concerto, RV 550, with the violin soloists harmonising with that mood in succession. This solemn gravity is immediately dispersed by the assai, which drives forward at a hectic pace. There is the briefest of moments for contemplation in the following Adagio before the bursts in for a robust finale. ALLEGRI MISERERE MEI, DEUS A certain teenager by the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on tour in Italy with his father, must have been shaking in his shoes as he waited to be hauled before the Pope to answer for an outrageous crime. Days earlier, back home in Salzburg, the fourteen-year-old s horrified mother feared for her talented boy s soul after husband Leopold wrote: You have often heard of the famous Miserere in Rome, which is so greatly prized that the performers are forbidden on pain of excommunication to take away a single part of it, copy it or to give it to anyone. But we have it already. Wolfgang has written it down. For many years Gregorio Allegri s Miserere mei, Deus, a setting of Psalm 51, had been jealously guarded by the Vatican and sung in the Sistine Chapel only twice a year during Holy Week. In reality three copies existed in 1770, the year of the Mozarts visit: one in the keeping of the King of Portugal, another held by Italian composer and music theorist Padre Giovanni Martini, and the third locked away in Vienna s imperial library. Even so, the papal authorities weren t going to discourage the widespread popular belief that excommunication from the Catholic Church was the penalty for anyone bold or foolish enough to spirit away this transcendent music to anywhere beyond the chapel s walls. It certainly took some nerve for Wolfgang to do what he did. Accompanied by his father, he attended the Wednesday Holy Week service and, after hearing the Miserere, returned to their lodgings and wrote down the music from memory. He then decided some final touches were needed. We don t know whether Wolfgang was advised to keep it under your hat but that s exactly what he did on returning for the Good Friday rendition, sneakily extracting his rolledup manuscript from his headgear and jotting down a few amendments. Word of his brazen stunt soon got out, and the youngster was summoned to appear before Pope Clement XIV. In the event, to the surprise of many and very much to the relief of the Mozart family Wolfgang was commended rather than condemned. The pontiff lavished praise on his musical genius and congratulated him on his audacious enterprise. That August, Leopold travelled with his son to Bologna for some tuition from Padre Martini and it was there that they were introduced to the English music historian Charles Burney. From this point on, the Miserere mei, Deus broke free from its Vatican confines. Burney obtained a copy either of the one in Martini s possession or Wolfgang s transcription and published it in London in The Vatican ban was subsequently lifted. After first hearing the Miserere, Leopold Mozart acutely observed that the manner of performance contributes more to its effect than the composition itself. The elaborate ornamentations to the piece never written down but passed on over the years from choir members to their successors were what made it so prized and jealously protected by the Vatican. Although Wolfgang s bootleg manuscript of a live performance must have included these artistic extras, they were not reproduced

3 various composers Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt made theirs in the early 1830s, and the Roman priest Pietro Alfieri published an edition in 1840 which purported to be the closest to Sistine Chapel performance practice. Tenebrae In Latin, shadows or darkness. in Burney s published version. Other transcriptions by various composers followed with their own embellishments, and the fame of Miserere mei, Deus spread across Europe. In the 1960s Worcester Cathedral organist and choirmaster Sir Ivor Atkins edited a version of the Miserere in English that took into account Burney s and Mendelssohn s transcriptions, and which made the work a popular classic. Allegri s serene setting of Psalm 51 richly deserves its legendary reputation. It was composed in the 1630s for two choirs set apart one of five and one of four voices. The five-voice choir sing the basic original chant while the smaller ensemble add their ornamented form of commentary including the celebrated part for soprano voice which soars spinetinglingly to a top C. The choirs take it in turn to sing the nineteen verses, with both joining together at the end. It was originally intended for the final ceremony in the first lesson of the Tenebrae service. In Rome the practice was that twenty-seven candles would be extinguished one by one, symbolising the darkening of the light of Christ. At the final candle the Pope would kneel before the altar while the Miserere was sung. ALLEGRI MISERERE MEI, DEUS Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam. Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam. Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me. Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra me est semper. Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris. Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum: et in peccatis concepit me mater mea. Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti: incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi. Asperges me hysopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor. Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam: et exsultabunt ossa humiliata. Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis: et omnes iniquitates meas dele. Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis. Ne proiicias me a facie tua: et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me. Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me. Docebo iniquos vias tuas: et impii ad te convertentur. Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae: et exsultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam. Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam. Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis. Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum, et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies. Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion: ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem. Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta: tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos. ALLEGRI MISERERE MEI, DEUS Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me. But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds. Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit. Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness. Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall show Thy praise. For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt offerings. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise. O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young calves upon Thine altar.

4 PACHELBEL CANON IN D basso ostinato In which a bass instrument repeats a musical phrase. Johann Pachelbel, born and buried in Nuremberg, was a highly regarded organist and a prolific composer who was a great influence upon his younger German contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach. He was also for a time tutor to Bach s elder brother, Johann Christoph. Pachelbel was deputy organist at St Stephen s Cathedral in Vienna from and held other such posts in Eisenach, Erfurt and Stuttgart. His church music, much of it written for the Lutheran ritual, is at long last winning the attention of scholars and is due for a revival, but Pachelbel s reputation with the music-lover at large firmly rests with the sublime Canon in D sometimes performed with a Gigue originally for three violins and basso ostinato. It presents no fewer than twenty-eight variations with the violins playing the canon a contrapuntal form in which the same melody is played by the instrumental voices, but with each beginning slightly after the preceding one in two-bar sections. The Canon in D became a popular hit in 1980 after its theme was used by Robert Redford in Ordinary People, his first film as a director and which starred Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore. It is also played a lot at weddings. madrigal From the old Italian matricale, meaning pastoral in the mother-tongue, these were first sung in Italy towards the end of the thirteenth century and arrived in England through Italian musicians appointed to the court of Elizabeth I. Madrigal texts draw upon amorous, satirical or allegorical subjects. GIBBONS THE SILVER SWAN The myth that mute swans only sing in the moment before their death inspired Orlando Gibbons to compose this, possibly the most famous English madrigal. He sang in the Choir of King s College, Cambridge between , and was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal by James I where he served as organist until his death through apoplexy at the age of 41. One of the greatest and most versatile of the early English composers, he wrote several madrigals, many keyboard works, as many as thirty fantasias for viols and a number of verse anthems. The Silver Swan appeared in 1612 in his only published collection, The First Set of Madrigals and Mottets, apt for Viols and Voyces. GIBBONS THE SILVER SWAN The silver swan, who, living, had no note, When Death approached, unlocked her silent throat. Leaning her breast upon the reedy shore, Thus sang her first and last, and sang no more: Farewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes! More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.

5 motet A short choral work, usually in Latin, for church performance. In many ways it is the sacred equivalent of the secular madrigal and usually though not in this case performed without musical accompaniment. recitative Declamatory speech-like singing used in opera or oratorio where it helps to move the story along. VIVALDI OSTRO PICTA, ARMATA SPINA, RV 642 Recitativo Antonio Vivaldi wrote this motet-like piece with the intention of it being heard in advance of a performance of his Gloria RV 589. This musical appetizer Introduzione al Gloria, as he termed it takes the form of two arias either side of a recitative section, for soprano, strings and continuo, together serving as a prelude to the main work s liturgical text. This vivacious music, thought to date from about 1715, also hints at the Venetians new appetite for opera, which Vivaldi was swift to satisfy. The content is devout enough contrasting the transient beauty of the wild rose against the everlasting glory of the Virgin Mary but its joyful expression is very much of this world. VIVALDI OSTRO PICTA, ARMATA SPINA Ostro picta armata spina summo manet quae superba floruit pulchra vaga rosa. Jam declinans vespertina pallet, languet, velut herba nec odora, nec Formosa. Ostro picta armata spina, etc. Recitativo Sic transit vana, et brevis originem suam traxit ex alto, non fluxa, sed aeterna, et quae sanctorum est gloria divina semper crescit eundo. Virgo in Maria electa omnipotentis Filii typus humilitatis dum hodie visitatur humilis, pura, et pia mage exaltatur. Linguis favete, omnes silete voces prophanae, et tantum resonet Pax in terra, et in Coelo Gloria. Jam fausti diei tam magnae rei currat festivitas, laeta solemnitas, atque memoria. Linguis favete, etc. VIVALDI OSTRO PICTA, ARMATA SPINA Crimson-dyed and armed with thorns, Greater than all in pride and beauty, Bloomed the wild rose. But now at day s decline She pales and languishes, like any weed, Bereft of scent and beauty. Crimson-dyed and armed with thorns, etc. Recitativo So passes the vain and short-lived glory of this world: but having its source in Heaven, where the holy ones are, not fleeting but eternal, the divine glory diminishes not. The Virgin Mary, chosen one of the almighty Son, pattern of humility, because of this day s visitation will, in her humility and purity and holiness, be exalted. Let all tongues be silent, and be silent all profane voices; let only this resound, Peace on earth and glory in Heaven. Now let this happy day, this great event, pass with rejoicing, solemn celebration, and remembrance. Let all tongues be silent, etc.

6 VIVALDI GLORIA IN D MAJOR, RV 589 : Gloria in excelsis Deo (Chorus) Andante: Et in terra pax (Chorus) : Laudamus te (Soprano & Mezzo Soprano) Adagio: Gratias agimus tibi (Chorus) : Propter magnam gloriam (Chorus) Largo: Domine Deus (Soprano) : Domine, Fili unigenite (Chorus) Adagio: Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (Mezzo Soprano & Chorus) Adagio: Qui tollis peccata mundi (Chorus) : Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (Mezzo Soprano) : Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Chorus) : Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus) Ordinary The rule, or book, setting out the unvarying parts of the Roman Catholic service, especially those forming a Mass to be sung. fugue A highly complex musical form in which two or more imitating voices, vocal or instrumental, are constructed around a single theme before they begin to overlap and transform the music through elaboration. version Turin-born Alfredo Casella ( ), who pioneered the revival of interest in Baroque music in Italy, made cuts to three sections of the Gloria and vamped up the orchestration. Antonio Vivaldi was very lucky to have such a proficient group of young musicians under his charge at the Pietà orphanage. This gave him plenty of scope to experiment with new influences and extend his musical horizons, while at the same time being comfortable in the knowledge that his talented girls could meet most of the challenges. Settings of the Latin Mass by composers had become more extensive towards the end of the seventeenth century, and by Vivaldi s time the sections of the Ordinary were taking on individual characteristics as far as scoring, tonality, tempo and mood were concerned. In this same period the first operas were beginning to gain popularity. Audiences were becoming more attuned to hearing expressive music that was very different from the formal plainchant and unaccompanied polyphony they were accustomed to in church. Vivaldi had his finger on this pulse and was soon to become one of opera s pioneering figures. The Gloria, catalogued RV 589 the later of two he composed in the key of D major around 1715 reflects this new vitality as well as presenting the composer with a golden opportunity to indulge in some fugal exercises. After its first performances, the Gloria was lost for more than two hundred years. The manuscript was rediscovered in the late 1920s, stuffed into a forgotten pile of Vivaldi scores, and was first revived by the Italian composer Alfredo Casella in a version he freely admitted to be an elaboration. This was performed during a week-long Vivaldi celebration in Siena in September 1939, but it was only in 1957 that the fully restored original was published and performed. Vivaldi s Gloria in D, RV 589 opens with a rousing instrumental which gives prominence to trumpet figures amid the energetic strings and winds before the chorus enter with their joyful proclamation. A very different mood prevails in the extensive and sombre Et in terra pax for the chorus. Peace on earth seems a very bleak prospect. As Casella commented while working on his version: Contrary to what the words might lead one to expect, it is a piece suffused with profound sadness. Our spirits are restored in the Laudamus te as the soprano and mezzo soprano soloists revel in a charming duet accompanied by violin, viola and continuo that would not be out of place in the opera house. Some decorum is restored in the short Gratias agimus tibi for the chorus, which serves as a prelude to Propter magnam gloriam in which Vivaldi indulges his passionate interest in the fugue. The mezzo soprano and the chorus engage in responses in the Domine Deus, a lyrical aria in the style of a siciliana a sedate, swaying dance much used in Baroque music to depict melancholy moods, usually in a pastoral setting. Here Vivaldi offers the option of violin or oboe to accompany the soloist s song. Vivaldi adopts the fashionable French style of rhythm to propel the Domine, Fili unigenite forward. The mood is more measured in the Domine Deus, Agnus Dei for the mezzo soprano and chorus, a dialogue reflecting the call-and-response pattern within the Catholic service. Casella said this section reminded him of the finale to Beethoven s Ninth Symphony. The voices of the chorus are in step with each other in the sombre Qui tollis peccata mundi before the Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris follows, an aria for the mezzo soprano, delivering her prayer for the sins of the world to be taken away. The chorus is now able to rejoice in the Quoniam tu solus sanctus as a simplified version of the opening orchestral movement of the Gloria sweeps in. The music is triumphant in the joyful closing movement, Cum Sancto Spiritu, and the trumpet returns for some spirited flourishes. The splendour is enhanced by another showcase for Vivaldi s fugal expertise.

7 VIVALDI GLORIA Gloria in excelsis Deo Et in terra pax hominibus Bonae voluntatis Laudamus te, benedicimus te, Adoramus te, glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi Propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, Miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, Miserere nobis. Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus. Tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe. Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. VIVALDI GLORIA Glory be to God on high And on earth peace, Goodwill towards men. We praise Thee, we bless Thee We worship Thee, we glorify Thee. We give thanks to Thee for Thy great Glory. O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty. O Lord the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Thou that takest away the sins of the World, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For Thou art holy, Thou only art the Lord, Thou only, O Jesus Christ, art Most High. With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.