Sfivaldi_
ale ieTourSeasons
Library of Congress catalog card number
R65-2298 applies to this record.
STEREO (ae
"360 SOUND’
Stereo
MS 6744
Produced by
John McClure
Notes by IGOR KIPNIS
Among the most flourishing centers of music in Italy during the
late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was Venice, with
its lively operatic productions and four Ospedali. The latter,
which were actually charitable institutions whose responsibility
was the upbringing of orphaned or illegitimate young ladies,
usually served as conservatories of music. Mantained by the
state, the schools were noted all over Europe for their concerts
and the excellent performing standards of their female charges.
While all four vied with each other in musical rivalry, one, per-
haps, stood above the rest—the Conservatorio del’Ospedale della
_ Pieta, of which Don Antonio Vivaldi was maestro di concerti.
On every Sunday or holiday, the elite of Venice, together with
distinguished visitors such as Charles de Brosses (who later was
to become president of the Burgundian parliament), flocked to
one of these concerts. If it was to the Pieta, it was to listen to
the latest of Vivaldi’s concertos, usually a new experiment in
instrumental virtuosity, and to hear, and incidentally to see, the
young performers. “Indeed,” de Brosses wrote, “they sing like
angels, play the violin, flute, organ, oboe, cello and bassoon—in
short no instrument is large enough to frighten them. They are
cloistered like nuns. The performances are entirely their own, and
each concert is composed of about forty girls. I swear that nothing
is more charming than to see a young and pretty nun, dressed in
white, a sprig of pomegranate blossom behind one ear, leading
the orchestra and beating time with all the grace and precision
imaginable.”
Vivaldi, who had achieved the post of maestro di concerti in
1716, had come to the Pieta as a chorus master in 1703, the same
Vivaldi / The Four Seasons
Leonard Bernstein / Members of the New York Philharmonic
John Corigliano/ Violin
year in which he was ordained a priest. For him, Holy Orders
seemed to have been merely an expedient method of gaining
advancement and insuring musical employment. In fact, he ad-
mitted in later life to not having said Mass for twenty-five years.
This matter, however, he blamed on his poor state of health.
But “Il Preto Rosso,” as he was known because of his red hair,
in no way limited his activities when it came to music; if he re-
fused to travel anywhere by foot, this did not restrict him either
from teaching (in 1709, before he was put in charge of the Pieta |
concerts, he was appointed maestro di violino), from turning out
an unusually vast quantity of music even by eighteenth-century
standards, or froni producing his own operas in Venice and
other Italian cities.
concertos such as one finds in the principal published collections:
Op. 3 (“L’Estro Armonico”), Op. 4 (“La Stravaganza’’), and Op. 8
(“Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione’’).
The first grouping of concertos—they were commonly issued
in sets of six or twelve to an opus—had already brought Vivaldi
great renown when they were published in Amsterdam in 1712.
One purchaser of the scores, Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-
Weimar, unwittingly made it possible thereby for one of his
MASTERWORKS
employees to familiarize himself with the Italian concerto style.
The employee, then in his late twenties, was Johann Sebastian
Bach, and he concluded his study of the subject by transcribing
several of the Op. 3 for solo keyboard. By the time that Op. 8
was published, about 1725, Vivaldi’s reputation had grown even
larger, not only for the quality of the music itself, but also for his
innovations in violin technique.
Fanciful titles, such as “Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’In-
ventione” (which may be variously translated as “The Test of
ilarmony and Invention,” “The Contest of Music and Fancy,”
or “The Rivalry Between Technique and Inspiration”), un-
doubtedly added a welcome commercial touch to the publication,
as did the inclusion in Op. 8 of programmatic titles for the first
half-dozen concertos. The first four of these, “The Four Seasons,”
were provided by Vivaldi with descriptive sonnets, written by the
composer or by one of his librettists. From the dedicatory letter
to Count Venceslas Morzin, a Bohemian nobleman stationed in
Italy, one learns that these three-movement concertos had fre-
quently been performed prior to their publication but without any
more specific program than that implied by the main titles.
In addition to appending the sonnets in the printed edition,
Vivaldi also added marginal descriptions at appropriate points
in the score, comments such as “Song of the Birds,” “The Baying
Dog,” “Languor From the Heat,” “The Weeping of the Little
Peasant,” “The Sleeping Drunkard,” “Guns and Hounds,” “The
Fleeing Prey Dies,” “Horrid Wind,” “Running and Stamping
One’s Feet From the Cold,” etc. The sonnets themselves are
given below. I am indebted to Dr. Robert J. Ellrich of the Depart-
ment of Romance Languages at the University of Washington
for his assistance in the translation from the Italian.
Following eighteenth-century traditions, Mr. Bernstein, in this performance, improvises his own continuo part aad conducts from the harpsichord.
I. La Primavera
Giunt’ é la primavera e festosetti—
La salutan gli augei con lieto canto,
E i fonti allo spirar de’ Zeffiretti
Con dolce mormorio scorrono intanto:
Vengon coprendo I’aer di nero amanto
E lampi, e tuoni ad annuntiarla eletti
Indi, tacendo questi, gli augelletti
Tornan di nuovo al lor canoro incanto:
E quindi sul fiorito ameno prato
Al caro mormorio di fronde e piante
Dorme’! caprar col fido can a lato. ———
Di pastoral zampogna al suon festante
Danzan ninfe e pastor nel tetto amato
Di primavera all’apparir brillante.
II. L’Estate
Sotto dura staggion dal sole accesa
Langue l’huom, langue’l gregge,
Ed arde il pino;
Scioglie il cucco la voce, e tosto intesa
Canta la tortorella e’l gardelino.
Zeffiro dolce spira, ma contesa
Muove Borea improviso al suo vicino;
E piange il pastorel, perche sospesa
Teme fiera borasca, e’l suo destino;
Toglie alle membra lasse il suo riposo
Il timore de’ lampi, e tuoni fieri
E de mosche, e mosconi il stuol furioso!
Ah che pur troppo i suoi timor son veri.
Tuona e fulmina il ciel e grandinoso
Tronca il capo alle spiche e a’ grani alteri.
Other albums by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic you will enjoy:
I. Spring
Spring has come, and the birds salute it
joyously with their happy song.
Before the breath of the little Zephyrs
the streams run along, murmuring sweetly.
Covering the air with a black cloak, thunder
and lightning announce the season, and
then, when these have become quiet, the
little birds return once more to their melodious incantation.
On the pleasant, flowered field the goatherd
sleeps to the sweet murmur of the leaves
and plants, his faithful dog at his side.
Nymphs and shepherds dance on the lovely
carpet of shining spring to the gay sound
of rustic bagpipes.
II. Summer
During the oppressive season burned by the
sun, man languishes, the flocks languish,
and the pine tree is scorched. The cuckoo
lifts its voice and one by one the turtle
dove and the goldfinch are heard singing.
Sweet Zephyr breathes, but Boreas suddenly
advances against his neighbor, and the
little shepherd cries because he fears the
fierce, gathering tempest and the results.
Fear of fierce thunder and lightning and of
furious swarms of flies and hornets
rob his tired limbs of rest.
Ah! Unfortunately his fears are borne out.
The sky thunders, and lightning strikes.
- Hail cuts off the heads of the wheat and grain.
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SIDE | VIVALDI: THE FOUR SEASONS, Op. 8 (Arr: Alceo Toni) (Beginning) SIDE il
SPRING ae AUTUMN
20:55
THE CONCERTOS—EDIT. CARISCH—ARE FOLLOWED BY THEIR TIMINGS
Ill. L’Autunno
Celebra il villanel con balli e canti
Del felice raccolto il bel piacere;
E del liquor di Bacco accesi tanti
Finiscono col sonno il lor godere.
Fa ch’ognuno tralasci e balli e canti:
L’aria che temperata da piacere,
E’ la stagion ch’invita tanti e tanti
D’un dolcissimo sonno al bel godere.
I cacciator alla nov’alba a caccia
Con corni, schioppi, e cani escono fuore
Fugge la belva, e seguono la traccia;
Gia sbigottita, e lassa al gran rumore
De’ Schioppi e cani, ferita minaccia
Languida di fuggir, ma oppressa muore.
IV. L’Inverno
Agghiacciato tremar tra nevi algenti
Al severo spirar d’orrido vento,
Correr battendo i piedi ogni momento;
E pel soverchio gel battere i denti;
Passar al foco i di quieti e contenti
Mentre la pioggia fuor bagna bencento as
Camminar sopra il ghiaccio, e a passo lento —_[\'
Per timor di cader, girsene intenti;
Gir forte, sdruciolar, cader a terra,
Di nuovo ir sopra’! ghiaccio e correr forte
Sinch’ il ghiaccio si rompe, e si disserra;
Sentir uscir dalle serrate porte
Siroco, Borea, e tutti i venti in guerra.
Quest’ é’] verno, ma tal, che gioia apporte.
Il. Autumn
The peasant celebrates the rich pleasure of
a good harvest with dance and song;
lit up by the liquor of Bacchus,
they end their festivities with sleep.
The pleasant, temperate air and the season,
which invites all things to enjoy
soft sleep, make everyone leave the
_ dancing and singing.
The hunters at the early dawn go out to the
chase with horns, guns and dogs; the wild
beast flees, and they follow its tracks;
Finally, with sinking heart, worn out by the
great noise of the guns and dogs, the
wounded prey turns in menace; tired of
fleeing but brought low, it dies.
IV. Winter
Trembling, frozen, amidst the icy snow,
to the harsh breath of the horrible wind,
running while stamping feet at every moment,
__ teeth chattering because of the engulfing frost;
Spending quiet, contented days by the fire,
_ while outside the rain drenches everyone;
Walking on the ice with slow step for fear
of falling, going about cautiously;
Running about, sliding, falling to the ground;
again proceeding on the ice and running hard
to the point where the ice breaks and comes apart;
Feeling Sirocco, Boreas, and all the warring
winds burst forth from the iron portals; all
these things are winter, but they do bring joy.
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VIVALDI: THE FOUR SEASONS, Op. 8 (Conclusion)
20:05
® ‘COLUMBIA’, “MASTERWORKS’, (@] MARCAS REG. PRINTED IN U.S.A.
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