The Glory of Venice

The Glory of Venice: Caldara, Lotti, Vivaldi

The extraordinary music of Venetians Lotti, Caldara and Vivaldi influenced some the most important composers of the 18th century: Bach, Haendel, Mozart.

To the ones familiar with Mozart's Requiem, to listen to Antonio Lotti's Requiem written in 1704 (so, before Mozart was born) will be an experience – making one wonder why we do not hear more Lotti in our concert halls. Mozart employ's one of Lotti's Dies irae themes  twice in the Requiem: in the Kyrie and in the " cum sanctis tuis" part of the Communio.

Bach admired so much Vivaldi's music that he made arrangements of several of his works.  Bach admired the music of Antonio Caldara as well, and arranged the Suscepit Israel movement (BWV 1082) from the Magnificat in C major, which he had copied in the early 1740s.

It is interesting to note how Stravinsky refered to Vivaldi and Caldara: «Vivaldi is greatly overrated […],  Caldara, I respect».

Ensemble PHOENIX on early instruments
The Madrigal Singers directed by Itay Berckovich

Soloist singers: Monica Schwartz, Rona Shrira, Yonathan Suissa, Hagai Berenson
Violin solo: Noam Schuss
Conductor, musical director: Myrna Herzog

With the support of  

Istituto Italiano di Cultura Haifa

Istituto Italiano di Cultura Tel Aviv

Reviews

"In The Glory of Venice. Dr. Myrna Herzog and the musicians joining her in this concert paid homage to the golden age of Venice, shedding light on its wealth of sacred and popular music, in performance that was enlightened, exciting and masterful."
Read Pamela Hickman's full review here.