Antonio Vivaldi: Vespro a San Marco

Mariana Flores (soprano), Christopher Lowrey (countertenor), Valerio Contaldo (ténor), Alejandro Meerapfel (baritone)

Chœur de Chambre de Namur / Millenium Orchestra

 Musical Direction : Leonardo García Alarcón

Born in Venice in 1678, Antonio Vivaldi learned the violin from his father, who in 1685 was appointed violinist of Saint Mark's Basilica. Little Antonio, a precocious pupil, was very quickly admitted to the Doge's chapel with his father. It was therefore under the mosaics of the cupolas of Saint Mark's Basilica that he made his debut as an instrumentalist. He thus had the opportunity to familiarize himself very early with the most sumptuous liturgy in Venice. Throughout his rich career in opera, and alongside his position as composer and conductor of the Ospedale della Pieta, Vivaldi composed a lot of sacred music whose destination is not specified: but suddenly Of course, the reputation of Priest Roux carried his scores to San Marco…

He wrote a number of Motets for the Office of Vespers, which was one of the most important in Venice, and of which Monteverdi left the first musical masterpiece. Some of these works are traditionally pieces of bravery, such as the Dixit Dominus and the Magnificat, in which Vivaldi shows inventiveness, virtuosity and monumentality: their performers must have been the best in Venice. The organization of the motets presented here thus reconstitutes an office of Vespers as Vivaldi could have presented it in San Marco, for the feast of Saint Mark, Patron Saint of Venice: the sumptuousness of the Venetian ceremonies is heard there with force, in the an echo sent back by the vaults and cupolas of the Basilica, but also by its precious marbles and golden mosaics. Leonardo Garcia Alarcon finds this flamboyance in an extraordinary reconstruction, whose festive dimension is commensurate with the Serenissima ...