La Serenissima | Vivaldi & Italian Baroque
@laserenissimauk.bsky.social
đ„British ambassadors for Vivaldi & Italian baroque music đ”'They really put the rock into baroque' @classicfm đż Exclusive content over on Patreon!
Does this strike terror into your heart? đ± It should. Guillemain's music, wrote Adrian in the booklet notes, "should strike terror into the heart of any mortal player". This sonata is officially a harpsichord piece, virtuosic in the extreme, and the violin accompaniment is fiendish too.
Telemann wrote around 600 orchestral suites. We'd wager you've never heard this one (unless you've been paying close attention đ). Adrian's latest deep-dive is now live on Patreon: Telemann's Ouverture-Suite in A minor, a tour of Europe in eight dances.
THE BIG CONCERT đ We didnât come up with the name. The eighteenth century did. Concerto grosso, literally âbig concertâ. The blockbuster form of the baroque era: a small group of soloists against the full band, and everyone showing off their fast notes.
Somebody had to cut these notes into a copper plate, one by one, backwards. That somebody was Louise Roussel, one of the finest music engravers in Paris. She was working in the trade years before she met Leclair, and she engraved his sonatas in 1728. In 1730, reader, she married him.
Pop us a message and weâll add you to our mailing list so you donât miss the next one! Or head over to our website to sign up there đ #LaSerenissima #AdrianChandler #ItalianBaroque #Vivaldi #VivaldiSummer
Meet Jean-Marie Leclair, one half of the legendary 1728 duel at Kassel that gave Hellâs Angels its name. He came to the violin sideways (he arrived in Paris as a ballet master), and you can hear it: elegance, poise, not a hair out of place.
A year on from a successful shoulder surgery & celebrating with a slightly risky walk đ A beautiful week in Wales with the family & feeling very grateful: to the medical team who patched me up & to all of you for sticking with us â€ïž Have a great summer. See you for more music in the autumn. Adrian
Sea, sand, sun... and ice? The finale of Vivaldi's Winter opens with small, careful steps out onto the ice. It doesn't last. Slip, fall, up, run, and the whole sheet gives way underneath. The opening of that third movement, live at The Tung Auditorium in Liverpool.
In 1610 Monteverdi published his Vespers & dedicated it to the Pope. 3 years later, Venice gave him the top job at St Mark's. Draw your own conclusions. Tomorrow we perform it at @gloucestercathedral.org.uk for @threechoirs.bsky.social, 7.30pm. Tickets: https://3choirs.org/events/monteverdi-vespers/
No, the new album has nothing to do with Satanism (we've had the email). Why Hell's Angels, then? Two duelling violinists in 1728, a rejected title, & some actual bikers in Gloucester. Adrian explains all. Coming soon on Signum Classics.
When you're a Venetian nobleman, you can afford to take a few financial risks. Marcello didn't take just one here, but two. This piece comes from a collection for cello or viola da gamba (the printed music allows either đ). A bold choice for an Italian in the 1730s, by which time the viol had...
Winter is the Season nobody warns you about. Spring dances, Summer storms, but L'Inverno turns inward: a frozen Veneto in sound, and a hard look at what old age means. The last of the four, and the most personal. Adrian's own translation of the sonnet is now on our Patreon. #Vivaldi #FourSeasons
THE BIG Concert is coming. That's literally what "concerto grosso" means & the baroque era did big concerts properly. Picture a small band of soloists going head-to-head with a full ensemble: call & response, light & shade, drama built into the music itself. The 18thC answer to surround sound.
Just in time for the next heatwave, Winter is now live on Patreon! Vivaldi's L'Inverno is the last of the Four Seasons Concertos. Where Spring dances and Summer storms, Winter turns inward; literal depiction of a frozen Veneto and a reflection on what it means to reach old age.
Questionable timing? Perhaps. But hear us out. This is the 2nd movement of Winter, where Vivaldi's sonnet tells us to sit contentedly by the hearth while everyone else gets soaked in the rain outside. Swap the hearth for a fan and the rain for a 30-degree heatwave, and it's practically topical.
Dropping Vivaldi's Winter in the middle of a heatwave here in the UK felt... unkind. So we've waited for the weather to come to its senses, and our next Patreon video lands next week âïž Which means there's still time to sign up and catch up with Spring, Summer, Autumn and Adrian's very first Q&A.
Out today! đż The first single from our upcoming album, Hell's Angels đïž This is the opening of the finale of Vivaldi's Sonata in G major for violin, cello and continuo, RV 820; one of his earliest works.
Kettledrums, kettlebells. Tomato, tomahto if you're a timpanist in the 1740s. Most composers see a pair of timpani and think: lovely, that'll do. Christoph Graupner saw a pair of timpani and thought: more. His Sinfonia in F (GWV 566) hands a single player six kettledrums, and asks them to cover...
48ish hours of travel, one soaring gothic church, and a programme worth every mile. Huge thanks to Summerwinds Festival, Munster and Tabea Debus for bringing us to MĂŒnster to open the festival â Fasch, Heinichen, Montanari, Valentini and Vivaldi, with a Telemann encore for the road.
You asked, Adrian answered. In our first Q&A exclusively for Patreon, Ade sat down with Sarah to tackle all those burning questions you sent in. Like his favourite Vivaldi violin concerto. Or his favourite 35 đ Full Q&A on Patreon now đ»
We think Ade's remembered where his passport is! đ We're off to Germany this week with the wonderful Tabea Debus for our first gig abroad in recent memory đ”đ« We'll be at the Apostelkirche in MĂŒnster this Friday (19 June, 8pm) for Summerwinds MĂŒnsterland â a programme of baroque splendore...
Italian baroque music doesn't play itself. We're recruiting the players who can. La Serenissima's Emerging Artist Chairs are open for 2026. We're looking for period string players with real fire in the fingers. There's a chance for up to four players to join us for our autumn concerts...
