Tag Archives: vivaldi

Vivaldi Opera Andromeda liberata Aria ”Sovente il sole” by Philippe Jaroussky

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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer and violin virtuoso.  He is known by music lovers today for his four violin concertos, ‘The Four Seasons.’ Vivaldi composed 550 concertos.  230 of Vivaldi’s concertos are for the violin.  Vivaldi also composed other works for instruments including 40 violin sonatas, 9 cello sonatas, 10 flute sonatas, 27 trio sonatas, and 22 chamber concertos.  He also composed sacred vocal music and secular vocal music including around 50 operas (20 operas survive).

This recording is of an aria “Sovente il sole” from an opera by Vivaldi entitled Andromeda liberata.  It is sung by Philippe Jaroussky (a French countertenor) and Ensemble Matheus under the direction of Jean-Christophe Spinosi.

 

 

Vivaldi Concerto con molti istromenti in C major, RV558

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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian composer and violin virtuoso.  Today he is best known as the composer of 4 violin concertos called the Four Seasons.

Vivaldi composed around 550 concertos.  About 350 of his concertos are for a solo instrument, and of those roughly 230 are violin concertos.  Vivaldi also composed some interesting concertos for multiple solo instruments with orchestra (about 30), and nearly 60 concertos for orchestra without a solo instrument (the orchestra is the solo instrument).

Here is a recording of one of Vivaldi’s concertos for diverse instruments (a concerto for multiple instruments) played by the famous baroque ensemble Europa Galante.  It  is full of rhythmic drive and it is lively.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Vivaldi Concerto with multiple instruments: