Concertos for Winter
Live Oak Baroque Orchestra's cold-weather program — Vivaldi's L'inverno and La Tempesta di Mare, with Locke, Oswald, Becker, and Simpson.
- 01 “Curtain Tune” from Incidental Music for The Tempest
- 02 I. Allegro non molto
- 03 II. Largo
- 04 III. Allegro
- 05 Introduction & Galliard from Incidental Music for The Tempest
- 06 “The Hawthorn” from Airs for the Seasons: Winter
- 07 I. Presto
- 08 II. Largo
- 09 III. Presto
- 10 Sonata à 5 from Musikalische Frühlings-Früchte (Musical Spring Fruits)
- 11 I. Fancy
- 12 II. Aire
- 13 III. Galliard
- 14 I. Allegro-Adagio spiccato e tutti-Allegro
- 15 II. Largo e spiccato
- 16 III. Allegro
Natural subjects have long been the inspiration for art, poetry, prose, and music. In fact, human interaction with the elements and the environment might very well be characterized as one of the most ancient human experiences. It is not hard to imagine nature or the seasons therefore being the impetus for the earliest forms of artistic expression. The seasons, and their characteristic weather patterns, flora and fauna, and accompanying human endeavors, have been treated to countless portrayals in the arts for thousands of years.
There is perhaps no better medium than music to characterize the visceral experience of a storm, the capriciousness of a blossom, the sweltering of a summer day, or the potential energy of an icicle. The 17th century saw a great outpouring of “programmatic” music.
But, while programmatic technique formed a common thread, it was by no means the only or even the dominant form. The popular Italian and Transalpine Le Quattro Stagioni was typically a much more abstract meeting of sacred and secular themes. Common compositional styles and devices such as imitative or fugal writing certainly stand on their own. Further, the driving force of much of Baroque music was the necessity to “move the affections”—literally, to stir up an emotional response in the listener or the player. In some cases, a program might intensify this goal, whereas in others it might actually get in the way, or even cheapen the affect. In yet other cases, a name implies an affect in a more abstract or subtle sense. Several of the works featured on this disc fall into this category.
Of course, by the 19th century, programmatic themes had become a part of the fabric of music and culture—Berlioz and Wagner, for example, used thematic characters (leitmotif) to express subplots beneath the overt action taking place on stage or in the orchestral texture. While this was not a new practice, by this point it was so much a part of every level of culture—a culture that later spawned Freud—that it also inspired Brahms and Schoenberg as a part of a significant movement against the use of music as secondary to a plot, or as something that is merely representative of tangible actions or thoughts.
It is therefore no surprise that Antonio Vivaldi's ubiquitous Four Seasons–perhaps now the most recognizable piece of classical music in history—is a marker in a fertile continuum of works of this nature, which includes composers from James Oswald to Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert.
It is well known and often referenced that Antonio Lucio Vivaldi spent the great majority of his career teaching at the Conservatorio dell'Ospedale della Pietà, a music school for girls within an orphanage in Venice. He began work at the Ospedale in 1703 and remained under contract with them off and on for the next thirty years. In 1709, the board of directors did not renew his contract, but soon realized that they missed him and brought him back just a year later. By this point, however, Vivaldi's career outside of Venice was blossoming. During the frequent touring demanded of his international career, he was required to write a concerto or major work every two weeks for study and performance at the school by their renowned orchestra, even while his schedule took him away from Venice. Thus, Vivaldi's output includes some 500 concertos! Most of these concertos are the work of a very adept composer doing what he had to do to keep his employer happy. A smaller portion of them, however, were commissioned by courts or patrons throughout Europe for Vivaldi to play himself as his career brought him to numerous international destinations. These are the concertos published in Vivaldi's important collections, such as La Cetra, and Il Cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, and they contain some of his most inventive writing.
In 1718, Vivaldi moved to Mantua, where he was offered an enticing job, and where the surrounding countryside and also a set of paintings by Marco Ricci inspired Le Quattro Stagione, with a programmatic violin concerto for each season that forms the first four concertos (Op. 8 nos. 1-4) in his 1723 publication Il Cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention). Vivaldi likely himself wrote the accompanying sonnets for each concerto.
L'Inverno
Allegro non molto
Aggiacciato tremar trà nevi algenti
Al Severo Spirar d' orrido Vento,
Correr battendo i piedi ogni momento;
E pel Soverchio gel batter i denti;
Largo
Passar al foco i di quieti e contenti
Mentre la pioggia fuor bagna ben cento
Caminar Sopra il giaccio, e à passo lento
Per timor di cader gersene intenti;
Allegro
Gir forte Sdruzziolar, cader à terra
Di nuove ir Sopra 'l giaccio e correr forte
Sin ch' il giaccio si rompe, e si disserra;
Sentir uscir dalle ferrate porte
Sirocco Borea, e tutti i Venti in guerra
Quest' é 'l verno, mà tal, che gioia apporte
Winter
Allegro non molto
Frozen and shivering in the icy snow.
In the strong blasts of a terrible wind
To run stamping one’s feet at every step
With one’s teeth chattering through the cold.
Largo
To spend the quiet and happy days by the fire
Whilst outside the rain soaks everyone.
To walk on the ice with slow steps
And go carefully for fear of falling.
Allegro
To go in haste, slide and fall down:
To go again on the ice and run,
Until the ice cracks and opens.
To hear leaving their iron-gated house
Sirocco, Boreas and all the winds in battle:
This is winter, but it brings joy.
Elizabeth Blumenstock - Widely admired as a Baroque violinist of expressive eloquence and technical sparkle, Elizabeth Blumenstock is a long-time concertmaster, soloist, and leader with the Bay Area's American Bach Soloists and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and is concertmaster of the International Handel Festival in Goettingen, Germany. In Southern California, Ms. Blumenstock is Music Director of the Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival. Her love of chamber music has involved her in several accomplished and interesting smaller ensembles including Musica Pacifica, Galax Quartet, Ensemble Mirable, Live Oak Baroque, the Arcadian Academy, and Trio Galanterie. An enthusiastic teacher, Ms. Blumenstock teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the American Bach Soloists' summer Festival and Academy, and the International Baroque Institute at Longy. Ms. Blumenstock plays a 1660 Andrea Guarneri violin built in Cremona, Italy, on generous loan to her from the Philharmonia Baroque Period Instrument Trust.
Tyler Lewis received his B.A. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while under the instruction of Bettina Mussumeli. Specializing in baroque music, Tyler has appeared in groups such as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, LOBO, Santa Rosa Symphony, Marin Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and has performed at Festival Del Sole in the Napa Valley and St. Paul International Chamber Music Festival. Tyler Lewis has appeared in master classes with Robert Mann, James Greening-Valenzuela, Zaven Melikian and has had solo appearances with Contra Costa Wind Symphony. During the spring, Tyler is an evaluator for the Music Teachers Association of California’s merit program and runs a year round private violin studio located in Santa Rosa, California. With his spare time he enjoys nights under the stars with a telescope, practicing the art of Lapidary, cooking, and racing motorcycles.
Maria Caswell studied violin & Historically Informed Performance at New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a founding member of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. In addition to Philharmonia, Maria has performed with American Bach Soloists, Jubilate, Santa Rosa Symphony, & Magnificat, among others. She is a member of VOT (Very Old Time) Music, a quintet based in Sebastopol, California. In addition she is is an active violin & viola teacher. She lives near the tiny hamlet of Occidental in Sonoma County with her family, two cats, a goat with a Facebook page, & her beloved teapot.
Mary Springfels is former Musician-in-Residence at the Newberry Library where she founded and directed the Newberry Consort. A veteran of the early music movement, she has performed and recorded with such ensembles as the NY Pro Musica, the Waverly Consort, Concert Royal, Sequentia, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, Musica Sacra, the Marlborough Festival, the NYC Opera, and Chicago Opera Theater where she also serves as an artistic advisor. She served as a Senior Lecturer at both the University of Chicago and Northwestern University and is much in demand as a teacher and player in summer festivals throughout the US, among them the San Francisco, Madison, and Amherst Early Music Festivals, and the Conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. In 2004 she delivered the keynote address to the Berkeley Festival and Exhibition for Early Music America. She can be heard on over two dozen recordings, ten of which are critically acclaimed Newberry Consort projects
Phebe Craig - Harpsichordist Phebe Craig spent her student years in Berlin, Brussels, and San Francisco. She has earned a reputation as a versatile chamber musician and recitalist and has performed and recorded with many early music ensembles and soloists. She has appeared at the Carmel Bach Festival, the Regensburg Tage Alter Musik, and early music festivals and events throughout the United States. She has performed with the New York State Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Arcangeli Baroque Strings, and Concerto Amabile. Phebe has produced a series of early music play-along CDs and is co-author of a guide to Baroque dance for musicians (Dance at a Glance). She is on the faculty at the University of California at Davis where she teaches harpsichord and co-directs the UCD Baroque Ensemble, in addition to keyboard proficiency, theory, and ear-training. She has also been director of the Baroque Music and Dance Workshop that is sponsored by the San Francisco Early Music Society.
William Skeen plays principal cello in Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Musica Angelica, Pacific Music Works in Seattle, Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver, and the Bach Collegium of San Diego. In addition to performing with almost every baroque orchestra on the west coast, he is Associate Principal cellist and Viola da Gamba soloist with the Carmel Bach Festival. Mr. Skeen is a sought-after chamber musician. He co-founded the New Esterhazy Quartet, La Monica, and is a member of the 54th Annual Grammy-nominated ensemble, El Mundo. He has performed with the National Symphony of Mexico, the LA Philharmonic, and the Dallas Symphony, and often tours the Americas with Musica Angelica, the Wiener Akademie of Vienna, and actor John Malkovich.
Mr. Skeen is Adjunct Professor of Baroque Cello and Viola da Gamba at The University of Southern California, founder and co-director of the SFEMS Classical Workshop, and is on the faculty of the American Bach Soloists ACADEMY, and the SFEMS Baroque Workshop. William holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, working with Alan Harris, and a Master of Music degree from U.S.C., studying with Ronald Leonard.
Aaron Westman is in demand as both a period violinist and violist. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician with Agave Baroque, American Bach Soloists, El Mundo, Ensemble Mirable, Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, Musica Pacifica, Seicento String Band, Seraphic Fire, and The Vivaldi Project. As a principal player, Aaron works with ABS, Berkeley West Edge Opera, Bach Collegium San Diego, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Musica Angelica, Magnificat, New Hampshire Music Festival, and Pacific Bach Project, and he also performs regularly with Orchester Wiener Akademie and PhilHarmonia Baroque Orchestra.
Aaron co-directs the award winning chamber ensembles Agave Baroque and Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. He has recorded for Hollywood, and on the Dorian/Sono Luminus, VGo Recordings, NCA, and Philharmonia Baroque Productions labels, as well as live on KPFK (Los Angeles), WDAV (North Carolina), BBC, ORF (Austria), and as a soloist on NPR’s Harmonia and Performance Today radio programs. Aaron tours extensively worldwide, including with two projects starring the actor John Malkovich.
Aaron holds a Master of Music from the Indiana University School of Music, where he double-majored in viola performance and early music. His teachers included Stanley Ritchie, Alan de Veritch, Theodore Arm, and Geraldine Walther. For three years, Aaron taught baroque strings at CalArts, near Los Angeles. He is currently Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony’s Young People’s Chamber Orchestra.