Vivaldi

Master Musicians Series

by Michael Talbot

Legend has it that Antonio Vivaldi once stopped in the middle of celebrating Mass to slip into the sacristy and write out a fugue subject that was obsessing him. That story may be apocryphal, but is captures a paradoxical quality in Vivaldi's life. Born in 1678, Vivaldi was the oldest son of a violinist. He was educated for the Church and was ordained in 1703, but soon set aside his priestly functions to work full-time as violin teacher and house composer at a music school for charity pupils. That work, in turn, led Vivaldi to try his hand at composing and producing operas, which were soon performed throughout Italy: and Vivaldi had found his career. Years later, when the Italian audience began to tire of his operas, he set out for Vienna to conquer a new scene. Sadly, instead, he fell sick there and died.

Genres: Music, Biography

285 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 1978

About the author

Michael Talbot is a British musicologist and composer.

Reviews

[Isabella Leake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most recent Vivaldi biography—oddly, since it was first published in 1978, updated (slightly) a few times over the next few decades, and this most recent edition (2000) is already 25 years old. I am surprised that in such a young field as Vivaldi studies a nearly 50-year-old biography remains the most up-to-date! It seems that outright errors were corrected in the text itself, but endnotes were added in the 1990s to deal with more complex reassessments. You can see the author in those notes (also reflected in his more recent Vivaldi Compendium) becoming more charitable over the decades and less likely to assume the worst of Vivaldi. A nice thing to observe! But I think by now the world needs a complete overhaul and expansion of the biography.

Nonetheless, it's a good book, divided as is customary into a "life" section and a "works" section with a chronology, catalogue of works, and other useful materials at the end. Though I found the biography a little underwhelming, I was greatly impressed by the analysis of Vivaldi's music, which occupies three chapters (general characteristics, instrumental music, vocal music). I am beginning to appreciate how musical analysis allows you to see, in concrete terms, how and why something that sounds good really is good. I loved gaining an understanding of what is special about Vivaldi's music, what to listen for, and what works in each genre are most significant. (It should also be noted that I didn't have the background to understand some of the analysis, but I understood enough that it was enriching and exciting to read.)

Though the biography was disappointing in length and scope (I wanted it to be three times longer), it did have many good points: it presented a beautiful picture of 17th-century Venice, provided a good amount of historical context for the political and musical scenes in Italy and Europe more broadly, and deftly dealt with the knowns and unknowns of the composer's life.

I wish Michael Talbot had produced a thoroughly new biography that incorporates (rather than tacks on) all the new Vivaldi scholarship produced in the last 50 years. To some extent the Vivaldi Compendium does this, but that is a book geared toward research, not to leisure reading. So for the time being, this is the best we have, and I'm not sorry to have added it to my library, because I imagine returning to the analysis chapters again and again.

[Drunken_orangetree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written, scholarly, but accessible account of Vivaldi's life and work. Some musical technical language.

[Jude King · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography that is both personal and musical (just like Vivaldi), Michael Talbot brings us the very latest on Vivaldi scholarship and compends it into a contiguous story of his life.

Vivaldi is at once apotheosised as we learn the extant of his musical achievements (recognised during and after his life) and is at the same time made a tangible person like us by exploring his humble origins and little foibles. He is a priest, he is a musician, he is badly tempered and he is a lover and all of these at the same time, in that way Talbot makes Vivaldi as human as the rest of us.

Talbot also takes time to give attention directly to Vivaldi's music specifically in later chapters making this work a very good handbook to all things Vivaldi, thoroughly recommend for anyone interested in him, his music and his life.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography gave me exactly what I was looking for - a readable scholarly rundown of Vivaldi's life and works. It was exactly the right length and level of depth. Talbot's prose was clear and engaging throughout. He especially excelled in preventing the two chapters on Vivaldi's works from becoming tedious laundry lists, instead providing through-lines about the features and development of Vivaldi's music.

[Cormacjosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this one from the college library. Very informative biography.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14822180