In Vienna in 1771 a young Italian composer also turned to the subject and composed his first major opera for the Burgtheater at the age of twenty. Jean-Baptiste Lully and Christoph Willibald Gluck put the sorceress on the Parisian opera stage, Luigi Cherubini and Gioachino Rossini gave her her Italian form, and Antonín Dvořák wrote his last opera Armida in Czech in 1904 for the Prague National Theater. In Handel's Rinaldo, she is the main female character as well as in Vivaldi's Armida al campo d’Egitto. In Torquato Tasso's knight epic La Gerusalemme liberata, Armida was commissioned by her uncle to prevent the crusaders from conquering Jerusalem with all the magical and female arts at their disposal. Bach was particularly enthused by the manuscript, and his transcriptions for organ have gained popularity on their own merit – his version is also to be found in this edition, a fascinating point of comparison, and a testament to Vivaldi’s reputation in his lifetime.Armida, the beautiful niece of the ruler of Damascus, stimulated the imagination of composers of the 18th century like no other sorceress. He became better known as a composer when Dutch publisher Etienne Roger brought out L’estro armonico in 1711, a hugely popular collection of 12 violin concertos, included on this release in full.
His reputation, however, grew thanks to his instrumental skills rather than his compositions at first as a violinist, he was known for his extraordinary cadenzas and virtuosic playing style.
Vivaldi remained in the post on and off for over 30 years, and was under obligation to compose a new cantata for every feast day. The aim of the foundation was to provide an education and home for orphaned children. Vivaldi composed a large part of his works while working at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, where he was employed as a composer, teacher and violinist.
0 kommentar(er)
