BAROQUE TREASURES - MUSICA SACRA
Hommage à Antonio Vivaldi

FROM ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL VIENNA

Antonio Vivaldi, one of the greatest and most important masters of High Baroque till today, died in Vienna, on July 28, 1741 – only ten months after his arrival in the venerable capital of the Habsburg Empire. At that time, he was 63 years old. It was probably due to the sudden death of Emperor Charles VI that he was neither appointed by the court – even though he did have a certain right to hope for it – nor given work by other potential employers. The blossom of High Baroque was already fading around 1730, and although Vivaldi‘s musical inventiveness had yielded new, unknown nuances, he did not succeed in stepping out of the increasingly rigid musical schemes and conventions of Baroque. The esthetic perception may have changed, but Vivaldi adhered to the ideals of his successful times at the beginning of the 18th century. The inglorious end of a glorious artist and virtuoso came silently, in the streets of a city whose musical life was already marked by the spirit of the pre-classical era. This is what history says. But what, if things had been to develop into a different direction? There were so many options! At this evening concert, we will leisurely dedicate ourselves to playing with our thoughts: to enjoy the fantastic – and also to give this master, at least for one night, the big stage which he had never been able to enter in real life. For our mental historical forgery, we go back to the year 1715. At that time, Vivaldi was actually working as maestro di viola all’inglese at the Venetian Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls, which was famous for its musical excellence. In Vienna, however, Johann Joseph Fux, the outgoing first Kapellmeister (musical director) of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral was appointed Hofkapellmeister at the Emperor’s court. The now vacant position was filled by Georg Reutter (the Elder), a man who actually only gained historical importance through his student Joseph Haydn. May he pardon us for removing him, only for this evening, from the annals of history, and for allowing ourselves to distort the historical facts entirely to our liking. What, if the then 37-year-old “prete rosso“, the red-haired priest Antonio Vivaldi had become Domkapellmeister at Saint Stephen’s Cathedral? Which Venetian splendor would have filled the center of the Habsburg Empire? In this recording, we will dare give an equally speculative answer to this highly hypothetical question. Let us enjoy this wonderful, freely invented masterpiece of sacred representative art, which could actually have been reality, if things had not developed so differently.

WORKS

Antonio Vivaldi:
• Kyrie, RV 587, Nisi Dominus - Psalm, RV 608
• Credo, RV 591
• Sum In Medio Tempestatum - Motette per ogni stagioni, RV 632
• In Turbato Mare Irato, Motette, RV 627

WITH

Mezzo-soprano: Vivica Genaux
Choir: Wiener Kammerchor
Rehearsal: Michael Grohotolsky
Orchestra: Bach Consort Wien
Conducted by: Rubén Dubrovsky

SPECS

Running Time: 74:30
Directed by: Volker Werner
Format: Full HD, 16:9 | Color
Sound: Stereo + Dolby 5.1
Production: SCARLATTI Arts international s.l.
Year: 2015
Distributed by: ORF Enterprise