MUSIC Vivaldi—His Music And His Influence

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28802, 24 January 1959, Page 3

MUSIC Vivaldi —His Music And His Influence

[Reviewed by

J.A.R.J

Vivaldi, Genius of the Baroque. By Marc Pincherle (translated by Christopher Hatch). Gollancz. 278 pp. The author of this important book is a French' ! musicdlbgist whose .life’s work has been the study of baroque music particularly that of stringed instruments. A previous volume on Corelli is accepted as authoritative and it seems probable that this present study of Vivaldi will ocpupy a similar position immediately. Its form is tripartite. It begins and ends with shorter sections, one biographical, the other a study of the influence exerted by Vivaldi, which in itself is as cogent a commentary on the interaction of personal styles in the eighteenth century as one would find anywhere. 'Between them there is a 150-page essay on the music, the forms used, the style, the developments of older ideas and the innovations. An excellent index and a bibliography follow, the latter showing the acute paucity of material in the English language on this composer. Antonio Vivaldi’s life was a full one and not without its vivid and original touches. The Red Priest, as he came to be known, really was an ordained priest His brushes with the Papal Nuncio and the Inquisition did take place, although Mr Pincherle has to disabuse our minds of certain of the apocrypha which have grown up as a result. The prodigious quantity of music and the speed with which he composed it are likely to call for a reassessment of other composers on that score. Vivaldi, amongst other things, wrote as many concertos as Schubert wrote songs. But it is in less spectacular matters of Vivaldi’s career and output that facts and opinions ol great importance emerge. The author holds the composer in high regard; he forcefully rejects the contrary opinions of men like Dallapiccola and, therefore, it might be imagined that this study is an essay of vindication and justification. Viewed in this light one might expect that objective judgment would become clouded by missionary zeal. If at all, this is only slightly so. Mr Pincherle who shows that his knowledge oi the music Is exhaustive and intimate. is unafraid of the lapses in style and taste when they de occur. That they are rare is part of his case. Then he points to, the wide diversity of the music in melody, texture, design and orchestral colour—a consideratior not generally appreciated. In all the hundreds of concertos there was bound to be some fixation ol form but for all that, it is the variety which strikes us. Furthermore, Vivaldi’s chronic tendency to experimentation proves him tc be not a man “responsible for one concerto written 600 times over” as his critics would have us believe. The existence of concertos foi flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piccolo, mandolin, trumpet and chahuneau lead one to hope foi their eventual performance. Tc leave the fruits of Malapiero*Senc Pincherle’s research unrealised would be sheer sisyphism. - One strange fact emerges with regard to the composer’s choice of key. Quite (dearly his preference was not for the keys which are based on the open strings. C major occurs 80 times to A major’! 29. The author describes this ai astounding and so it will be t<

!. those who fancy that open string d playing was a common feature oJ I- technique in those days. All string playerg and conducLt tors of orchestral' music .must And . this book to theit craft Musical quotations ar« e numerous and generaliy accurate i- (On page ISOrjtbens.ls a mistaken 5 Gin bar lof the B flat Concerto) The system of nomenclature is efs fective even with its clumsy, bui it necessary, procedure of combining ,t the various cataloguing systemt of the Dresden library, ftncherle’s a own collection and that of Antonie Fanna. is Vivaldi in recent" times, has bes, come something of a best-seller a with his concerto sequence, “The y Seasons." There are now probis ably 20 recorded performances •- available. It would be a pity li e further possibilities, as evidenced d in this volume, were to be overn looked by orchestras, conductors e listeners and recording companies ’, ' ■ - ■ IS ' ■'* '* Speech Spoken Words: A Guide' t< Everyday Speech. By A. Musgrave Horner. Phoenia House. 12ft pp. a This book on the art of gooc speech should do something tod wards rehabilitating a study which 1. has become too much neglected The oldtime elocutionist with hit e sentimental recitation is stil is enough with us to nourish ar ■- understandable prejudice agains , e speech training. It was once thought that an artificial art ol ® speaking would carry over intc 5* daily life and improve speech 5 “ there. Mr Horner favours ar 11 opposite approach. By beginning >r with everyday speech and im,s proving that, a sound foundatior is laid for developing the highei “J arts of speech where necessarj d later on. Even from a most narrowly ie practical point of view we mus 1 h sympathise with a desire to imie prove speech. How much time is :e wasted at railway ticket offices, or it telephones or in shops by havinj y to repeat unclear speech? Mi d Horner estimates that in a lift it time a speaker will utter certair e speech sounds up to two or three d hundred million times and sugis gests that it is therefore worth e, getting them right. The book is clearly arranger [. (though an index would still have n been useful) to cover the chiel o aspects of speech; phonetics j g modulation, technique and public ts speaking. Some background : c material Is a little superficial d Phoneticians do not generally be- “ lieve that dialect and language differences can be explained bj , reference to climate. After all ® Finnish is among the most vocalic >r languages and the warm sun ol l “ Australia has not produced more r * open vowel sounds in the English 6 spoken there. One might doubt 10 too, that good speech directly pro l ® duces good writing. Mr Horne] himself demonstrates in hi; > writing a virtu' which is i speaker's virtue, an engaging con versational style. But there are other virtues special to writtei language such as close packet thought which yields up furthei < meaning as we think around it This Mr Homer lacks. Unless w< £ read lightly we pause and wish t< 2 make qualifications or objection: to his more general remarks. Bu a the writer enters fully into hi subject in detail, he speaks witl h authority and from experience * We come to trusf his judgemen and respect his enthusiasm. I 'h might have been interesting t C have had a brief list of sug *8 gestions for further reading, a is some reliable guidance seems de to sirable in this subject