Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

November Program

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin

CORELLI: Concerto grosso Op. 6, No. 11 in B-flat major
PERGOLESI: Sinfonia in F major
VIVALDI: Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons)
DURANTE: Concerto No. 5 in A major
ZAVATERI: Concerto decimo a Pastorale, Op. 1

Music Director Nicholas McGegan conducts a program that features Antonio Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons). You might think you know everything about this enormously popular work – but be prepared to have your assumptions challenged.

Given Vivaldi’s current renown, it is a surprise to recall that the Venetian composer barely merited a footnote in musical history until 1926, when most of his works were rediscovered. The first recording of The Four Seasons did not appear until 1942. Yet, in the years since, these concertos have become perhaps the best-known work of the entire baroque repertoire, with hundreds of recordings and repeated use in the soundtracks of films and commercials.

The Four Seasons are the first four concertos of Vivaldi’s larger Opus 8 The Encounter of Harmony and Imagination, composed in 1725. Philharmonia Baroque’s historically informed performance will allow you to rediscover Vivaldi’s most dramatic work – a virtuoso tour through the sounds of the seasons, from the birdsong of spring to the jarring winds of winter.

To provide context for Vivaldi, the program includes four other Italian baroque compositions: An elegant concerto from Arcangelo Corelli’s Opus 6 (which Philharmonia Baroque recorded in 1992). Uplifting works by Neapolitan composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and his teacher Francesco Durante. And an airy pastorale for two violins by the Bolognese master Lorenzo Zavateri, a figure often forgotten but well worth knowing.

Join us for an intimate concert of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and other works from a fertile period in the history of chamber music – played on the instruments of the era!

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Program Notes

Nicholas McGegan
Elizabeth Blumenstock
Antonio Vivaldi
Arcangelo Corelli
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Francesco Durante
Lorenzo Gaetano Zavateri