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Vivaldi's Venice
A detailed evocation of Venice and the city's musical culture that inspired Vivaldi. At the time Venice was, uniquely, a city where all classes mingled in their love of music; aristocrats, gondoliers and the workers met to listen to all types of music. All that is known about Vivaldi's life is included, and all the recent discoveries that have been made about that life (as well as details from Vivaldi's contemporaries). The book captures the hedonistic atmosphere of Venice at the time, already an international tourist destination, and how that was reflected by the mysterious Vivaldi in his baroque music (which is still available in a range of recordings).
288 pages, Hardcover
First published November 6, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 4, 2019
I lived in Venice, on the Lido past the Jewish cemetery, near San Nicolo, when I was studying at the Marciana Biblioteca to write my books on Giordano Bruno; but, I did not know much that Barbier argues. First, as we in the US discusses class division, Venice featured a near classlessness for forty days a year or more, during the feste. All classes mixed during these long parties suffused with the best foods, music and dance: “unlike many countries, Venice had no privileged class, keeper of its pleasures, and a working class which received only the leftovers, but a truly unique society which at every level and dozens of times a year participated on an equal footing in the collective festivities which glorified the State” (p.37).
One of the forty feast-days was forty days after Easter, the Feast of the Ascension in May, which unlike most held at San Marco, was at San Nicolo. The Lido san Nicolo was where the Doge yearly married the sea, tossing a gold ring into the waters, from the Bucintoro ceremonial rowed ship that could capsize in a wind. On the occasion, the Doge said, “Desponsamus te, Mare, in signo veri perpetique dominii,” so it was a “marriage” only in sense of male domination. Also since 1180, the Ascension Feast was a huge market day in a dozen languages, selling everything from bergamot and textiles to slaves.
During Carnevale, Venetians and foreigners went to theaters and opera masked, and to church feste as well, such as Carnevale Thursday, the day before Lent, at San Marco in the afternoon. Many poor girls became great singers in the convents, orphanages, the ospedali of Venice, like Pieta, where Vivaldi held a position, perhaps choir master. (Must check, but this book lacks a good index.)
Venice forbid foreigners, even ambassadors, to interact with Venetians (this, too, very interesting in the US where the President invites Russia and Ukraine to interfere in our elections). Baretti wrote, “the Venetian nobles and all their servants are forbidden, by a very strict law [death penalty], to speak or to correspond with foreign visitors residing in Venice on behalf of their sovereigns” (Les Italiens, 1773). Even the bourgeois giving fêtes would refuse nobles via foreign doormen. In fact, foreigners—stranieri — could learn little about the domestic customs of Venetians; these laborious contacts saddened living in La Serenissima.
In music, Venice began opera, and grew it from a privileged form to a popular one, from Monteverdi through to Vivaldi in the 18C, when Neapolitan castrati came to dominate the stage, with rock-star compensation. With them, Neapolitan opera also dominated, from 1725 on (131). Despite this, forty years later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was astonished by the gondoliers’ barcarolles, “I discovered that I had never heard singing before,” though many were composed by the oarsmen themselves (5). But the words were often taken from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, some knowing its large sections, trading sequel stanzas from one boat to another. Goethe also heard Tasso sung on his visit to Venice. Often sung at night, Tasso provided plenty of nocturnal verses, as at the beginning of Canto XII, where those awake do not go to bed like those tired after a day’s work,
“Era la notte, e non prendean ristoro / co’ lo sonno ancora di faticose gente” (Garzanti, 1977 vol 2, 358). Andrew Marvell’s employer, the young Lord Fairfax whose plebeian cavalry defeated King Charles I’s, translated Tasso, like Canto 16, stanza 10, on the wind, “l’aura che rende le alberi fioriti” crafted after the Odyssey, VII, 121ff. The gondoliers had also sung Homer.
Like Van Gogh, Vivaldi died in poverty, in Vienna, partly because his patron Charles VI had died just before he arrived. Also, Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, failed to support him, though he had been on close terms with her through her visit to Venice.
One of the forty feast-days was forty days after Easter, the Feast of the Ascension in May, which unlike most held at San Marco, was at San Nicolo. The Lido san Nicolo was where the Doge yearly married the sea, tossing a gold ring into the waters, from the Bucintoro ceremonial rowed ship that could capsize in a wind. On the occasion, the Doge said, “Desponsamus te, Mare, in signo veri perpetique dominii,” so it was a “marriage” only in sense of male domination. Also since 1180, the Ascension Feast was a huge market day in a dozen languages, selling everything from bergamot and textiles to slaves.
During Carnevale, Venetians and foreigners went to theaters and opera masked, and to church feste as well, such as Carnevale Thursday, the day before Lent, at San Marco in the afternoon. Many poor girls became great singers in the convents, orphanages, the ospedali of Venice, like Pieta, where Vivaldi held a position, perhaps choir master. (Must check, but this book lacks a good index.)
Venice forbid foreigners, even ambassadors, to interact with Venetians (this, too, very interesting in the US where the President invites Russia and Ukraine to interfere in our elections). Baretti wrote, “the Venetian nobles and all their servants are forbidden, by a very strict law [death penalty], to speak or to correspond with foreign visitors residing in Venice on behalf of their sovereigns” (Les Italiens, 1773). Even the bourgeois giving fêtes would refuse nobles via foreign doormen. In fact, foreigners—stranieri — could learn little about the domestic customs of Venetians; these laborious contacts saddened living in La Serenissima.
In music, Venice began opera, and grew it from a privileged form to a popular one, from Monteverdi through to Vivaldi in the 18C, when Neapolitan castrati came to dominate the stage, with rock-star compensation. With them, Neapolitan opera also dominated, from 1725 on (131). Despite this, forty years later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was astonished by the gondoliers’ barcarolles, “I discovered that I had never heard singing before,” though many were composed by the oarsmen themselves (5). But the words were often taken from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, some knowing its large sections, trading sequel stanzas from one boat to another. Goethe also heard Tasso sung on his visit to Venice. Often sung at night, Tasso provided plenty of nocturnal verses, as at the beginning of Canto XII, where those awake do not go to bed like those tired after a day’s work,
“Era la notte, e non prendean ristoro / co’ lo sonno ancora di faticose gente” (Garzanti, 1977 vol 2, 358). Andrew Marvell’s employer, the young Lord Fairfax whose plebeian cavalry defeated King Charles I’s, translated Tasso, like Canto 16, stanza 10, on the wind, “l’aura che rende le alberi fioriti” crafted after the Odyssey, VII, 121ff. The gondoliers had also sung Homer.
Like Van Gogh, Vivaldi died in poverty, in Vienna, partly because his patron Charles VI had died just before he arrived. Also, Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, failed to support him, though he had been on close terms with her through her visit to Venice.
August 10, 2017
По сути это описание определённой эпохи в Венеции с точки зрения именно музыки: какую роль она играла в жизни Республики и её жителей, как она распространялась, что было модно и интересно, как музыку изучали и преподавали. Привязка к Вивальди довольно условная, он скорее использован как "якорь" для привязки конкретного времени. Про него самого новых сведений (да и вообще подробных, коих кстати не так много в принципе) здесь не найти.
И именно как описание эпохи эта книга и интересна. Ведь во многом музыка (и особенно опера) в то время играла роль современного театра, телевизора, концертов и пр. развлечений вместе взятых. И Венеция как один из центров музыкальной жизни даёт довольно полную картину и помогает примерно понять, как же это всё происходило: как воспитывались музыканты, как работали импрессарио, чем зарабатывали композиторы и пр.
С другой стороны интересно узнать саму Тишайшую Республику с ещё одной стороны, ведь музыка играла огромное значения для всех слоёв населения. Именно в Венеции появились первые театры, куда допускали всех без различий по сословиям. Конечно, были разные места за разные деньги, но сам факт того, что в оперные театры ходили ремесленники, гондольеры и прочий "люд" очень показателен.
Книга написана и переведена легко, без излишнего занудства, характерного для чисто исследовательского труда, и при этом с достаточной фактологией для того, чтобы неплохо представить предмет описания.
И именно как описание эпохи эта книга и интересна. Ведь во многом музыка (и особенно опера) в то время играла роль современного театра, телевизора, концертов и пр. развлечений вместе взятых. И Венеция как один из центров музыкальной жизни даёт довольно полную картину и помогает примерно понять, как же это всё происходило: как воспитывались музыканты, как работали импрессарио, чем зарабатывали композиторы и пр.
С другой стороны интересно узнать саму Тишайшую Республику с ещё одной стороны, ведь музыка играла огромное значения для всех слоёв населения. Именно в Венеции появились первые театры, куда допускали всех без различий по сословиям. Конечно, были разные места за разные деньги, но сам факт того, что в оперные театры ходили ремесленники, гондольеры и прочий "люд" очень показателен.
Книга написана и переведена легко, без излишнего занудства, характерного для чисто исследовательского труда, и при этом с достаточной фактологией для того, чтобы неплохо представить предмет описания.
November 10, 2017
An excellent, interesting, and detailed portrait of seventeenth century Venice and where one of its most famous composers fit into the whole. As a fan of "Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery," I could not have found a more delightful way to learn more about the floating city.
May 17, 2018
An overview of everyday life in Venice in the time of Vivaldi, with emphasis on culture and especially music. An easy and pleasant read, with some interesting facts, but lacking in real depth.
May 17, 2012
Vivaldi was a brilliantly innovative composer and performer whose works are filled with sparkling invention that still sounds fresh to us today. Yet he cannot be separated from the centuries-old culture of Venice, which was so distinctive in many ways from the rest of the early 18th-century world. Barber negotiates and elaborates this apparent paradox through a rich analysis of the Venetian musical scene in which the celebrated "Red Priest" lived and worked.
"Vivaldi's Venice" is richly informative, and discusses Vivaldi, his life, and his music within the context of Venice's lavish and unique musical, religious, and civic culture. This is a must-read for all Vivaldi enthusiasts.
"Vivaldi's Venice" is richly informative, and discusses Vivaldi, his life, and his music within the context of Venice's lavish and unique musical, religious, and civic culture. This is a must-read for all Vivaldi enthusiasts.
April 26, 2015
An interesting, readable look at 18th century Venice, through the lens of Vivaldi's life and music. There is a ton of detailed information and detail here that I found very useful.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews