Winter - Vienna

Donald tries to piece together the last days of Antonio Vivaldi from the limited trail left to us by history.

As performer, composer, impresario, musical director, and teacher, Antonio Vivaldi was a key figure in the musical life of Baroque Italy. Thanks to his set of Concertos “The Four Seasons”, he remains one of the most famous and best loved composers today. This week, Donald Macleod puts these four celebrated concertos front and centre as he also explores the four seasons of Vivaldi’s own life, lingering a little in his summer. We'll follow him from the start of his musical story, teaching at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, through his time as an opera composer, catering to the crowds who swarmed to Venice during carnival season, to his successes away from Venice. Vivaldi had many highs in his career, however he also had some difficult low points, finding himself embroiled in scandal and accused of immoral behaviour, before dying in poverty in a foreign city – his star having fallen from favour.

With his career on the wane, the 62-year-old Antonio Vivaldi left his native city of Venice for the final time – presumably to try and forge a career elsewhere. In Friday’s episode, Donald tries to piece together the last days of the composer from the limited trail left to us by history.

Catone in Utica, RV705 – “Se mai senti spirarti sul volto”
Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano (Cesare)
Ensemble Matheus
Jean-Christophe Spinosi, conductor

Lauda Jerusalem, RV609
Jennifer Smith, soprano
Wally Staempfli, soprano
Lausanne Vocal Ensemble
Lausanne Instrumental Ensemble
Michel Corboz, conductor

Concerto for Viola d’amore, lute, and Orchestra RV 540 - III. Allegro
Fabio Biondi, viola d’amore and director
Giangiacomo Pinardi, lute
Europa Galante

Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630
Simone Kermes, soprano
Venice Baroque Orchestra
Andrea Marcon, conductor

Violin Concerto in F minor, RV 297 Op.8 no. 4 “Winter”
Francesca Vicari, violin
Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor