Concerts & Tickets

Programme note

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in D major RV 208 ‘Grosso Mogul’ (c. 1716)

Allegro
Grave
Allegro

Although Vivaldi’s 500 instrumental concertos include some 37 for bassoon, four for the mandolin and at least one for the ‘flautino’ or flageolet (a member of the flute family, similar to a recorder), nearly half of the total are for solo violin. The violin was Vivaldi’s own instrument but it was also the one taught to the largest number of girls at the Ospedale della Pietô in Venice, where he worked from 1703 to 1740. Most of these concertos were written expressly for his pupils, so the virtuosic nature of the music gives us some idea of the high standards these outstanding young musicians attained under his tuition. Writing after hearing one of the Ospedale’s concerts during a visit to Italy, French writer Charles de Brosses wrote: ‘The Ospedali have the best music here... Indeed they sing like angels, play the violin, flute, organ, oboe, cello, bassoon... The performances are entirely their own and each concert is composed of about forty girls... There is nothing so charming as to see a young and pretty nun in her white robe, with a sprig of pomegranate blossoms over her ear, leading the orchestra and bearing time with all the grace and precision imaginable.’

But de Brosses’ characterisation of these ‘charming’ performances may not be entirely accurate. It is more likely that Vivaldi’s performances were noisy affairs, with a house full of shouting, clapping and stamping listeners, who responded with applause to each virtuosic solo and every return of a well-known melody. It is for this reason that Vivaldi’s concertos are built upon tonal routines and repetitive forms: every build-up of harmonic tension brings with it a satisfying sense of release, and every divergence from the melodic patterning brings the possibility of startling the listener. In turn, each return of the principle theme reorients the listener and re-establishes a sense of comfort and stability. It is a formula, and one which works. Through his extensive development of the concerto form, Vivaldi was instrumental in establishing the three-movement plan (fast-slow-fast) as the recognised concerto model and making extensive use of the ritornello procedure (the return of a principle theme) during the outer movements. His emphasis upon close thematic unity and vibrant rhythms also came to be widely emulated.

The Concerto in D major RV 208 ‘Grosso Mogul’ was written during Vivaldi’s time at the Ospedale, but the origins of its title remain unclear and it is unlikely that Vivaldi gave it its name. It is a striking concerto in many respects, not least because Vivaldi composed his own cadenzas for the first and third movements, when it was far more common for performers to improvise these themselves. The concerto also includes a highly-unusual slow movement consisting of a series of recitative-like passages for the solo violin, which leaps and dances above sustained continuo chords. Here, Vivaldi commands his soloist to ‘speak’ instead of sing, in an innovative gesture that would have shocked and delighted his audiences as much as the dazzling outer movements.

© Jo Kirkbride

Programme note

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Suite from Les Paladins (1760)

Though he lived to the ripe age of 81 and composed prolifically in his final years, Rameau’s operatic oeuvre is not is vast as it might have been – had he been brave enough to consider it earlier in his career. As he later admitted: ‘I have attended the theatre since I was 12, yet I first worked for the Opera only at 50, and even then I did not think myself capable.’ Rameau did not begin writing opera – the genre for which he is best-known today – until 1733, and spent most of his early career working as an organist and violinist, composing only occasionally and receiving relatively little recognition for his works. Little is known about this early period of his life, though it appears he held organist posts in Lyon, Clermont and Dijon. As a result, the few early works that survive are largely for church purposes – a handful of motets and cantatas, and a number of canons for mixed voices. A notable exception, his first book of works for harpsichord, Pièces de clavecin, was written as early as 1706 and marks Rameau out alongside François Couperin as one of the masters of harpsichord music in the early 18th century. 

After a rather unremarkable early career, punctuated only by the publication of his compositional treatise, Traité de l'harmonie, in 1722, the response when Rameau finally premiered his first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie, in October 1733, was dramatic. It was quickly hailed as the most important opera since the death of Rameau’s predecessor, Jean-Baptiste Lully, and was admired for its harmonic innovation and melodic originality. But its intensely dramatic style also alienated others, who found the music over-complex, unnatural and misshapen. This was the first of his operas to divide the public, in what would become a protracted battle between the ‘Lullistes’ (the traditionalists and Lully devotees) and the ‘Ramistes’ (Rameau’s supporters who favoured his contemporary style). Though the dispute gradually subsided during the 1740s and Rameau was eventually embraced as a court composer and given a royal pension, controversy was never far away and his works remained continually at risk of criticism for their relentless adventurousness.

To our ears today, these works appear firmly rooted in the French tradition, but for Rameau’s contemporaries they often broke with recognised musical customs. His comic opera, Les Paladins, though it includes elements of face and knockabout comedy, was criticised for mixing this with serious elements more befitting of a Tragédie. The libretto is based on a fable by La Fontaine and blends reality with the surreal as a young knight, Atis, struggles to free a young Italian girl, Argie, from captivity and win her hand. Several disguises later, and with the help of the fairy Manto, Atis is successful and manages to outwit her gaoler and claim his prize. Though Rameau was well into his seventies when he wrote it, Les Paladins contains some of his most adventurous orchestration and even incorporates new musical fashions, with a boldness of style and attention to detail more befitting of a composer in the throes of youth.

© Jo Kirkbride