Page 104 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 5.14
Portrait of a violinist and composer believed by some to be the musician Antonio Vivaldi
emphasizes abrupt contrasts within a unity of mood, just as striking change be- tween the zones of light and darkness (see, for example, Figure 5.3) often char- acterizes a Baroque painting.
A concerto (from the Latin concertare, “to strive together”) is a musical composition marked by a friendly contest or competition between a soloist and an orchestra. When only one soloist confronts the orchestra, the work is a solo concerto. When a small group of soloists works together, performing as a unit against the full orchestra, the piece is called a concerto grosso. In a concerto grosso the smaller group of two, three, or four soloists form the con- certino (“little concert”), and it does battle with the larger group, the core or- chestra, which is called the concerto grosso (“big concert”). Playing together, the two groups constitute the full orchestra, called the tutti (meaning “all” or “everybody”). The contrast between full group and soloists was desirable, said a contemporary, “so that the ear might be astonished by the alternation of loud and soft . . . as the eye is dazzled by the alternation of light and shade.”
As written by Vivaldi and Bach, the solo concerto and the concerto grosso usually have three movements: fast-slow-fast. The fast first movement is invari- ably composed in ritornello form, a structure popularized by Vivaldi. (The Italian word ritornello means “return” or “refrain.”) In ritornello form, all or part of the main theme—the ritornello—returns again and again, played by the tutti, or full orchestra. In most ways, then, ritornello form is identical to rondo form. But the concerto grosso has the additional element of a contrast between the many (tutti) and the few (concertino). Indeed, much of the excitement of a Baroque concerto comes from the tension between the tutti’s reaffirming ritornello (home) and the soloists’ flights of fancy (away). Needless to say, we always end back home.
The popularity of the concerto grosso peaked about 1730 and then all but ended around the time of Bach’s death (1750). But the solo concerto continued to be cultivated during the Classical and Romantic periods, becoming increas- ingly a showcase in which a single soloist could display his or her technical mas- tery of an instrument.
No composer was more influential, and certainly none more prolific, in the creation of the Baroque concerto than Antonio Vivaldi (Figure 5.14). Vivaldi—like Barbara Strozzi, a native of Venice—was the son of a barber and part-time musician at the basilica of Saint Mark. Young Vivaldi’s proximity to Saint Mark’s naturally brought him into contact with the clergy. Although he became a skilled performer on the violin, he also entered Holy Orders, ultimately being ordained a priest. For much of his career, Vivaldi served as music director of the Ospedale della Pietà (Hospice of Mercy), an orphanage and convent dedicated to the care and education of young women (Figure 5.15). Vivaldi’s life, however, was by no means confined to the realm of the spirit. He concertized on the violin throughout Europe; he wrote and produced nearly fifty operas, which brought him a great deal of money; and he lived for fifteen years with an Italian opera star. The worldly pursuits of il prete rosso (“the red-haired priest”) eventually provoked a response from the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1737, Vivaldi was forbidden to practice his musical artistry in
82 chapter five baroque art and music
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