Antonio Lucio Vivaldi nicknamed il Prete Rosso ("The
Red Priest") because of his red hair, was an Italian
Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born
in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest
Baroque composers, and his influence during his
lifetime was widespread over Europe. Vivaldi is known
mainly for composing instrumental concertos, especially
for the violin, as well as sacred choral works and over
40 operas. His best known work is a series of violin
concertos known ...(+)
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi nicknamed il Prete Rosso ("The
Red Priest") because of his red hair, was an Italian
Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born
in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest
Baroque composers, and his influence during his
lifetime was widespread over Europe. Vivaldi is known
mainly for composing instrumental concertos, especially
for the violin, as well as sacred choral works and over
40 operas. His best known work is a series of violin
concertos known as The Four Seasons.
"Armida al campo d'Egitto" (RV 699) is a "dramma per
musica", on a libretto by Giovanni Palazzi. It became
one of Vivaldi’s warhorses, frequently being revived
(not always by Vivaldi himself) in one version or
another. The original score, of which only the outer
acts survive complete, was for a production at the
Teatro San Moisé, Venice, in carnival of I718 (RV
699-A). In spring of 1718, Armida was revived at the
Teatro Arciducale, Mantua (Rv 699-1;), as the
first operatic fruit of Vivaldi's appointment to
the Mantuan court; in camival 1719 it travelled to
Lodi; in May 1720, to the Teatro delle Grazie’-‘,
Vicenza (RV 699-c); in carnival 1726, to the Teatro
dell'IncIustria, Ravenna. Its final revival was
at the Teatro Sant'Angelo, Venice, in carnival 1738 (Rv
699-0); for this thoroughly revised version, containing
some material by other composers, only Acts I and III
survive. Palazzi's libretto is noteworthy for its
topicality (in 1718 Venice was still at war with the
Ottomans), its borrowings and paraphrases from Torquato
Tasso's Gerusalemmc libcrata, and its strongly drawn
views of the feminine (the enchantress Armida) and the
oriental (the locale being Gaza).
I created this transcription of the Sinfonia in C Major
for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION