Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 during the Baroque era. He was a violinist, teacher and cleric and is today recognized as one of the greatest baroque composers of all time. Many of Vivaldi’s works were written for a female music ensemble at Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage where he worked at as a priest for 39 years of his life.
Part of Vivaldi’s works included 12 sonatas that he wrote for violin and basso continuo. These works would have been performed by small ensembles consisting of the above mentioned instruments, (At that time.) Sonata no.9 consists of four movements the first of which (Preludio) is in this program. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th movements are substantially faster than the 1st movement which is …show more content…
Air Varié
Charles Dancla
Charles Dancla was born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre in France in 1817. Dancla went to study Violin and composition at the Paris Conservatory under the recommendation of violinist Pierre Rode who was very impressed with Dancla’s music.
Dancla composed in the Romantic style and Air Varié is a piece he composed based on a theme by Donizetti. The piece consists of the main theme followed by 2 variations. The piece was written for a solo performer and piano accompaniment and has been played by orchestras as well.
The many evident Romantic Era characteristics of this piece such as the broad range of dynamics, the many sudden tempo changes and the use of many performance directions give the piece a more expressive feel and contrast the first piece well. These pieces played one after the other make the program feel more balanced and …show more content…
These many different playing techniques contribute to making the program more exciting and also in giving it a strong finish.
There are many romantic characteristics that are evident in this piece such as the broad use of dynamics, the speeding up and slowing down of the piece at the performer's discretion and the many different tempo indications and performance directions. This creates the free and flowing mood. These characteristics also contribute to the reason why it is such a great piece to perform. (these additions to the piece create continual excitement.)
The first section is slow, expressive and rich in tonal colour. The second section is at a much faster speed. the fast speed of the piece and the difficult playing techniques employed such as the playing of artificial harmonics express the true virtuosity of the piece and make it one of the most exciting pieces to perform for a solo violinist.
In the second half of both sections the speed of the piece increases and fast detached notes are played by the player to create more movement and excitement in the piece. These fast and detached notes show just how much skill is required to be able to play this piece properly and do justice to the