Vivaldi -
2 Concerti for Viola D’Amore, strings and Cembalo Performed by the London Chamber Orchestra
Intro
Dear God – I am in a meeting at work and I wish I could just staple my dick to this table and walk away.
Don’t these people know I was just wooed by the Red Priest?
So, Antonio Vivaldi
- Vivaldi was born in Venice in the late 1600s. This makes him a Venetian, not an Italian. More to follow on that.
- He was a sickly child
- His father taught him violin
- He went into the priesthood, but stepped down because he could not give sermons due to “tightness in the chest.”
- His priesthood, plus his red hair, earned him the moniker, “The Red Priest”
- He taught music at an orphanage for much of his life.
- He died completely unknown and impoverished and his works were lost for about 200 years after his death. They were rediscovered in the 1920s.
- His most famous work is “The Four Seasons” - “Le Quattro Stagioni”
Historical Context
By the time Vivaldi was born, the Venetian Republic was already over 500 years old. Conservatively, that’s twice as old as the American democratic republic is today. Which, I hate to say it, is about to celebrate its 250 year anniversary next year, while under the reign of Donald J. Trump, the 47th president of the United States.
Coincidentally, the highest leader of the Venetian Republic was called the Doge, pronounced the exact same way as the “Department of Government Efficiency” acronym, and the meme coin, hawked by Elon Musk.
Benito Mussolini is incorrectly attributed with the quote, “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” This is circulating all over the internet and there is no evidence that he said anything close to it. Which is a shame, because I was hoping to make some grand, albeit tenuous connections between the Venetian Doge, D.O.G.E., corporate power, and the increasingly fascistic political order taking shape in America.
Instead I’ll say this, though it was a very stable, seemingly prosperous place to live at the time, the Venetian Republic was essentially ruled by an entrenched and immovable elite class - an oligarchy.
Oligarchy became a buzzword during the 2024 election cycle and its aftermath - used typically by the left to describe Trumpism. I think the term plutocracy is a more accurate description for what’s taking shape here, in America, today.
Anyway, back to Venice. The patrician class had permanent electoral status in the administrative state. Meaning, when your great grandfather’s great grandfather founded a very successful trading port on the Damaltian coast and you didn’t fuck up the family business, then you too would have been on the council. You inherited both business and political status directly through your ascendants. Then you could vote for, or even potentially become, the Doge.
The Doge was elected into a lifetime appointment by that elite class.
The Doge, then, the closest thing to our “President”, was not elected via direct democracy and could not be recalled through any contest by the people. And while every cynical impulse within me wants to say that American democracy is actually an illusion and that the elite actually own and operate the entire political machine and always have - that is just not the facts.
Sure, democracy here is easily manipulated. Power is consolidated, voting rights are stripped from many citizens, citizenship itself is elusive for many, and voting power, if you have it, is diluted through gerrymandering. Our democracy is constantly being antagonized by capitalism, bigotry, and the propensity to consolidate wealth and power into greedy capitalist bigots.
Look, it’s totally fucked. But there is still this core idea. This shaky foundation of government by the people and for the people. An egalitarian notion, that I, in all my cynicism, admire. I choose to believe that this directly democratic foundation is genuine, and not simply a collective delusion or manipulative gaslighting from the ruling class.
A myth, maybe, but myths believed are no less real than history told. Jesus, if anything, myths and even outright lies are more real to most people than are histories and theories.
The Recording
Background
I don’t know much about the soloist, Renzo Sabatini. But this work is incredible. Each Concerto is only about 12 minutes long and consists of three movements in which a soloist plays off of a backing orchestra. At its core every concerto follows a ‘Fast-Slow-Fast’ structure. The slower second movement is preceded by an allegro 1st movement, and followed by an even faster third movement.
This ‘Fast-Slow-Fast’ reminds me of the ‘Loud-Quiet-Loud’ formula of bands like Pixies and Nirvana. Apparently Vivaldi was unusual among his contemporaries for the attention he paid to the second movement; they were not just throwaway sections for him. I really loved the second movements in both of these works.
This work was written around 1717 when Vivaldi was about 39 years old. The backing orchestra is composed of several string players, plus a cembalo, which is just a harpsichord. The soloist is playing a Viola d’Amore - an instrument unique for containing passive, resonant, strings that I’d never heard of before. Very cool.
My Review
Here are some of my listening notes
Side A, in D minor:
1st Movement
Very happy, bordering on playful. Playing with tempo, becoming mournful, desirous, asking for affection.
2nd Movement
More mournful, more aching desire, goosebumps. Taken down to the foundation, brought back to the first storey
3rd Movement
Brought back to life immediately, like a splash of cool water. Obsessively major key sounding. Pacing from one end of a stage to the next. Tighter and tighter circles before finally giving up and laying down.
Side B, in A minor:
1st Movement
Shakes you awake. Emphatic. In 3; allegro; Beautifully phrased 16th note arpeggios.
More flowing, excellent driving beat, especially with no drum to back it up.
2nd Movement
A slow, swinging 4 beat in triple feel. Wistful, plaintive. Beautiful harmony in the orchestra.
3rd Movement
Forceful, almost angry, then switched to happy. I am somehow disappointed by this.
Forceful response is back. It feels like a conversation in which the orchestra is upset. The soloist initially assumes nothing is wrong. Eventually the orchestra breaks through the soloist’s veneer of happiness. They begin to meet in the middle. The solo takes on more of the angst in the orchestra, while the tone of the orchestra softens.
Rating
How the fuck do I rank something like this? I was incredibly moved by this entire process, including but not limited to the music. I loved this piece and I can’t stand the harpsichord. I came here to say “fuck you,” to the harpsichord, I stayed to say “fuck me, please,” to the viola d’amore.
Fuck all of you ranklist, slave to a number, compare every little fucking thing based on your solipsistic objectification of the world, dipshits. Fuck your obsessive need to put a relative value on everything. It’s pathetic. Why can’t you just appreciate a thing for what it is?
Why denigrate yourself by pretending that your appraisal of a piece of art won’t itself change over time? Our minds are plastic, our narratives shift. You know better than that.
You might come to love a thing you once hated, like Pearl Jam or sushi. You might come to hate a thing you once loved, like your children or Pearl Jam.
Nothing is static. All is in a never-ending cycle of change. You are just perpetuating the wheel of karmic suffering. Suffering is attachment. Suffering is fear of and resistance to the undeniable nature of an ever-changing universe.
Fine, two stars.
**
Additional Resources:
Antonio Vivaldi | Viola d’amore Concerto in D Minor RV 393 | Allegro | Jesenka Balic Zunic Kore
Venetian Language | Can Portuguese, Romanian and French speakers understand it?
“Venetians” by Paul Strathern
“Tides of History” Podcast, Season 3, Episodes 21 & 27
Austin American Statesman, “What’s the difference between plutocracy and oligarchy? Here’s what they mean,” Jan. 22, 2025