Concerto ripiento C major RV114
Cantate " Cessate, omai cessate" RV 684
Sonata a quatro "Al Santo Sepolcro" RV130
Introduzione al miserere "Filiae Maestae Jerusalem" RV638
Statbat Mater RV621
(TOTAL TIME 52:02)
Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini
Until large quantities of sacred vocal music originating from his personal archive unexpectedly came to light in the late 1920s, few peole took seriously as a particioant in this branch of activity. Only two or three works of this kind were known to survive from his pen; he had never been made maestro di cappella of nay institution; his penchant for exhibitionism in his sonatas and concertos seemed at variance with ecclesiastical sobriety; and his bad reputation within the church (as a priest who no longer said Mass and was reputed to cohabit with opera singer) hinted at disaffection with religion itself.
All these negative factors were in time shown to be misconceptions oroversimplifications. It is true that rather little of Vivaldi's church music propagate outside Venice during his lifetime, but its acceptance into the repertoires of churches in cities as distant as Dresden and Plague proved that in somequarters, at least, its standing was high. Despite never himself a maestro di cappella - it was singers or keyboard plaers rather than violinists who were normally named for such role.
Vivaldi play a main role to supply sacred vocal composition to the Ospedale della Pieta The Venetian institution for foundlings that he also worked as director of instrumental music) from 1713 through 1718, during the absence on leave of the official choirmaster. Subsequently his reputation take him into many commissions from churches not only inside Venice but also it's outside. and Pieta Request him for his services again during at least one later interregnum between choirmasters in 1739. He turned the exuberance of his sacred vocal works, helping to lay the foundations of the "symphonic" style that we admire so much in the Masses of Hydn and Mozart.
Eventually new biographical discoveries established that Vivaldi, even if certainly not of saintly character, was devoted almost to the point of obsession to his religious belief. The main reason why he refused to say Mass was due to not laziness or indifference but his asthma.
Of his 50-odd surviving sacred vocal compositions, which include sections of the Mass, psalms, antiphons, hymns and solo motets, the Stabat Mater RV 621 is the earliest to which we can assume a date. It was written as a hymn to be sung at the feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 18 March 1712 at the church of the Oratorian Order in Brescia. Vivaldi's other hymns are all strictly strophic; the Stabat Mater conforms to this pattern only to the extent of retexting movements 1-3 to make nos. 4-6. Movements 7 and 8, and also the concluding "Amen" in fugal style, are completely independent. Throughout this powerful work the composer maintains a gloomy, claustrophobic atmosphere entirely in keeping with the sorrowful spirit of the text. The radiant major chord ending the "Amen" offers a final, consolatory glimpse of Paradise.
Andreas Scholl began his musical training as a member of the Kiedriche Chorbuben, a boys's choir with a 650 year-old choral tradition.
From 1987 to 1993 he was a pupil of Richard Levitt and rene Jacobs at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis(Diploma in Early Music). He had already popped up in numerous concerts and on a good number of recordings. Andreas Scholl has been engaged to appear in the Festivals of Versailles, Ambronay, Saintes and Munich. In 1992 he was awarded the prizeds of the Council of Europe and of the Foundation Claude Nicolas Ledoux.
In addition he is a prizewinner of the Ernst Goehner Foundation and of the Migros Association.
