Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi (1680-1741) was a brilliant violinist who dedicated his life to music. His work was spread allover Europe and Bach himself transcribed his compositions to study the harmonies. The director Lina WertmOller has been fascinated by Vivaldi and his attitute towards music: '' You have got to hold your breath, listen religiously ... with closed eyes and an open mind''.
The film is an installment from The Audiovisual Encyclopedia, an encyclopedia of our times. Historical people who were in some way pioneers within their fields are presented in a way which resembles a TVseries. One hundred episodes are planned within the project, all narrated by different directors. The Darwin episode, directed by Peter Greenaway, was screened at the Stockholm International Film Festival in 1992.

COMMENTARY
Vivaldi wrote his music in Venice in the early 18th century, a town characterized by its glorious decadence, its flamboyant architecture and its magnificent parties with accompanying games, music and dance.
Lina Wertmüller's movie on the other hand, is surprisingly low-key. A couple of narrators, a few interiors from Venetian palaces, a few concert recordings, a cat who sneaks around the bridges, provide the visual background of the story. Where are the magnificent parties?The famous women's orchestra? The Pope's court? The bear hunts? Did they ever exist?
And the divided portrait that she draws
of Vivaldi fires the imagination, but it does seem conventional. On the one hand we see the worldly Vivaldi, the Vivaldi of the princes and the parties whose music can be heard in every hotel elevator these days. The Vivaldi who is associated with The Four Seasons, stereotyped and trite in a way which can only equal the humiliation of a person who during his whole life was forced to flatter the authorities with his art in order to survive. That Vivaldi travelled between the courts of Europe with his mythologically inspired operas, his concerts and his virtuoso violin music.
The other Vivaldi was called ''The red priest'', because of his hair color and his original profession. That Vivaldi wrote deeply religious music, oratorios and cantatas, frequently performed by the Venetian women's orchestra, The Choir of Angels. This music is still being discovered. And it is as a humble tribute to this infinitely productive, consumptious and poor Vivaldi that Wertmüller has made an almost ascetic movie.
Cecilia Sjöholm

Manus
Lina Wertmliller: Foto
Carlo Tafani: Musik
Antonio Vivaldi: Talat språk
Italian, English