by Frank Nowell, Artistic Director
September 2011
The Art of the Violin
“Is it not strange that sheep’s guts should hale souls out of men’s bodies?” —William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
Our opening concert focuses on the sensual sounds and exuberant virtuosity of the violin as captured by three Italian violinist-composers: Corelli, Vivaldi and Locatelli.
Sometimes called the 18th-century Paganini, Pietro Antonio Locatelli raised violin virtuosity to a new level while effectively combining the styles and influences of Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi. His collection L'Arte del Violino (Amsterdam 1733) was a substantial compendium of art and technique — 12 different concertos for violin, strings, and continuo, plus a set of 24 capriccios for unaccompanied violin. The capriccios can be performed by themselves or as extended cadenzas within the concertos, and demonstrate the close connection between improvisation and written-out composition in the Baroque era.
The two Vivaldi concertos on our program are both from the collection L'estro armonico. As a keyboardist I have known and loved these works through Bach's marvelous organ transcriptions, and now look forward to performing them in their original Vivaldi form! Two trio sonatas round out the program — a selection from Corelli's opus 1 and Vivaldi's take on the famous La Follia theme.
I am delighted to feature our leader, Cynthia Miller Freivogel, as soloist in the Locatelli concerto, as well as long-time BCOC violinists, Stacey Brady and Kathleen Leidig, in the Vivaldi double concerto in A minor. For the in D minor triple concerto, Cynthia is joined by Boston-based violinist, Katherine Winterstein, and our principal cellist, Lara Turner, as soloists.
The Art of the Violin Program
Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto in A minor for two violins, strings and continuo
(RV522)
Arcangelo Corelli, Sonata in G major for two violins and continuo (Op. 1
No. 9)
Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Concerto in G minor for violin, strings and
continuo from L’Arte de Violin (Op. 3 No. 6)
Vivaldi, Trio Sonata in D minor La Follia (RV63)
Vivaldi Concerto in D minor for two violins, cello, strings and continuo
(RV565)
