Ordained a priest in 1703, "the red priest" Antonio Vivaldi, 25 years old, began that same year his fruitful relations with the Ospedale della Pietà, in Venice, an institution to which he would remain connected, with greater or lesser intensity, during almost 36 years. Appointed at the beginning as "maestro di violino", a couple of years later he assumes the position of "maestro di concerto", which gives him virtually the direction of the Conservatory.
By those years, Venice had four conservatories for women. The most important was the Ospedale della Pietá. A contemporary scholar, Charles de Brosses, writes in his Lettres d'Italie:"The best places to listen to music in this city are the Ospedali, there are four nowadays, all of them for orphaned girls or illegitimate daughters, or indigents, they are brought here at the State's expense and educated exclusively in music..."
So, with a total of almost a thousand girls staying, Vivaldi could choose at will to provide, at the beginning of the 18th century, an orchestra of 70 or 100 members, which according to De Brosses, apart from singing as angels "touch the violin, flute, cello or organ ... with unparalleled grace and precision."
The Four Seasons - Summer
In his series of concertos published in 1724 with the title Il cimento dell armonia e dell'invenzione, (The Contest between Harmony and Invention) maestro Vivaldi would use for the first time in the whole of his work, the imitation of nature, leitmotif of the Illuminist culture. Undeniable proof of this are the first four concerts of Il Cimento..., universally known as The Four Seasons.
Following, the Concerto No. 2, in G minor, subtitled "Summer", in the Trondheim Soloist rendition. On the solo violin, the Norwegian artist Mari Silje Samuelsen.
Movements:
00:00 Allegro non molto
06:06 Adagio
08:12 Presto.
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