V is for Vivaldi

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! V is for Vivaldi. Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer who lived from 1678 to 1741. Today’s featured video is the first movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn of the Four Seasons). It is performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell on the violin.

Video link: https://youtu.be/WgNngloVB2s

 

   ·   Antonio Vivaldi was taught to play the violin by his father. They toured Venice, performing together.
 

   ·   Vivaldi was ordained as a priest in 1703 and was given the nickname, “il Prete Rosso” (the red priest), due to his curly, red hair (he was wearing a customary wig in the painting).
 

   ·   He wrote over 500 concerti, and 230 of those pieces are for violin. He also wrote pieces for bassoon, mandolin, oboe, recorder, cello, flute, viola d’amore, and lute.
 

   ·   His most popular work is the Four Seasons, which includes four violin concerti, one representing each season. The concertos were innovative because they depicted scenes including flowing creeks, singing birds, barking dogs, storms, frozen landscapes, and winter fires. Vivaldi published the Four Seasons with accompanying sonnets that he may have written himself. Those poems were meant to point out the scenes the listener was to imagine.



View of Venice in 1697

   ·   After his death, many of Vivaldi’s works were locked away or lost until the 20^th century. Alfredo Casella helped in the rediscovery efforts when he organized Vivaldi Week in 1939.

 

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Seasons_(Vivaldi)

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/vivaldi/

 

For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. I couldn’t let the letter V pass by without another Victor Borge video :) In this hilarious sketch I added, he is playing Caro nome from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto with opera singer, Marilyn Mulvey. This one is priceless!
 

 

What is your favorite season of the year? Do you have a favorite season or movement in Vivaldi's Four Seasons (Spring is most often used in movies and media)?