Vivaldi & The Concerto for Lute and Strings in D Major RV 93

Vivaldi & The Concerto for Lute and Strings in D Major RV 93

The Largo or 2nd movement from Vivaldi’s Concerto for Lute & Strings is a gem from the Baroque Era and Suzuki Guitar literature. It is perhaps the most playable of the professional concerti and offers young guitarists a means of performance in a larger setting.?There is also a wide net of interpretation, arrangement, and professional performances available for us to study and learn from. ?It’s beautiful simplicity seems to be a calling for artistic interpretation and that Baroque spirit of improvisation and experimentation.?For those non-guitarists out there, the Renaissance and Baroque Lute literature (from Dowland to Bach) is an essential part of the modern repertoire for guitar. In my arrangement, I’ve considered some ornamentation, alternative fingering choices and expanded passages. My offering today is by no means exhaustive, simply an attempt to share some of my favorite ideas and some easily accessible ideas for students and teachers.?

There has been significant intrigue and mythology about the Girl’s orphanage where Vivaldi held his day job as music director. The Ospedale della Pieta “was an orphanage/conservatory in Venice established by the ruling class with the aim of raising girls who would be useful to society from a practical or artistic point of view.”?(Walker, Karla. “Vivaldi’s lesser-known legacy: Female violin virtuosos of the 18th century Venice. Mar. 28, 2015. www.cpr.org/2015/03/28/vivaldis-lesser-known-legacy-female-violin-virtuosos-of-18th-century-venice/)?

Stories I have heard from so called Vivaldi experts are that the orphanage was designed for out of wedlock children from Ruling Class families.?And perhaps the fathers would make their routine trips to see the girl’s performances and offer their generation donations to keep the place running. Another more far fetched story seems to be that girl’s were forced to play behind curtains because of their disabilities or because many were disfigured (to use an antiquated term). Perhaps there is a bit of truth to each claim.

According to Brian Wise, “The Pietà was one of four ospedali grandi in Venice, and home to nearly a thousand students. The boys lived separately in the home and learned a trade. The girls studied music, and the most accomplished were placed in a special class — the figlie di coro, (daughters of the choir) — where they could attain a certain celebrity and, if lucky, marriage offers from the nobility.”?

“The chapel is always full of music lovers,” reported the writer and philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. “Even the singers from the Venetian opera come so as to develop genuine taste in singing based on these excellent models. What grieved me was those accursed grills, which allowed only tones to go through and concealed the angels of loveliness of whom they were worthy.”

Another visitor, the French politician Charles de Brosses, claimed to steal glimpses of the girls through the latticework during or after a performance.?

“There is no instrument, however unwieldy, that can frighten them,” he wrote. “They are cloistered like nuns. It is they alone who perform, and about 40 girls take part in each concert. I vow to you that there is nothing so diverting as the sight of a young and pretty nun in a white habit, with a bunch of pomegranate blossoms over her ear, conducting the orchestra and beating time with all the grace and precision imaginable.”

Public performances took place in chapels and drew travelers from around Europe. Some of the (male) interest was clearly voyeuristic, as the girls performed in galleries, cloaked behind metal grills. (Wise, Brian. “VIVALDI AND LA PIETA.”?www.exploreclassicalmusic.com/vivaldi-and-the-ospedale-della-piet)

Vivaldi composed almost 500 concerti, many of them for his students at the Ospedale Orphanage.?The majority were for violin with exactly ONE written for the Lute.?“Written in the 1730’s, the piece was dedicated to the Bohemian Count Johann Joseph von Wrtby (1669-1734).” (Jaffe, Jane Vial. “Antonio Vivaldi.” www.parlancechamberconcerts.org/parlance-program-notes/guitar-concerto-in-d-major/) The truth is the piece was written during Vivaldi’s time away from the Ospedale but the picture I like to paint for my students, is of that one “cool kid,” who showed up with her lute slung to her back inspiring Vivaldi’s curiosity and the composition.

?Other notable recordings and arrangements:?

The highly and thoroughly ornamented edition by Claude Gagnon, available through Productions d’Oz.?The Sharon Isbin performance on her recordings “Greatest Hits,” and “plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar.” Her performance not only offers some beautiful ornamentation and interpretation, but her light touch gives the impression of floating across the strings.?Lastly if you have any “Yes,” fans in your studio check out the many versions played by prog-rocker Steve Howe, originally from the “The Steve Howe Album.”