Celebrity

Donald Macleod introduces two notorious events: the Venetian debut of the singer with whom Vivaldi became infamously associated, and the publication of The Four Seasons.

1725 was an important year for Vivaldi. He once again took over running the San Angelo Theatre in Venice where he oversaw the debut of a young singer whose name was to become inextricably, and rather scandalously, linked with his. At the same time, his collection of concertos entitled Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione was published. It contained a set of 4 concertos known collectively as The Four Seasons, destined to become one of the most popular works of all time. The set were particularly fashionable in Paris where the young Louis XV insisted upon a command performance of the Spring Concerto at Versailles. Alongside the concerto, which famously evokes the icy blasts of winter, Donald Macleod introduces part of a grand serenata Vivaldi composed as a paean of praise to France, a sonata for cello - an instrument for which Vivaldi had a particular empathy, and an excerpt from one of the operas in which Vivaldi's protégé, Anna Giraud, first tread the boards at the San Angelo Theatre.