Preview of Apollo's Fire
Want to go for Baroque? Try Apollo's Fire
We caught up with Apollo's Fire music director and founder Jeannette Sorrell last week for a few minutes on the phone to ask about the language used to describe this week's concert series: "Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' Rediscovered." Why "rediscovered" in the title? "I would just say if people think they know the 'Four Seasons' already, they might not, " Sorrell said. "We try to really bring to life all the different elements that Vivaldi indicated in the score--the barking dog and the rain on the roof. We're not trying to make it pretty; we're trying to tell a story with it. We have some plucked instruments, baroque harp, guitar and theorobo. Those instruments bring some extra color that people might not have heard."
And what, we asked was meant by the Apollo's Fire prepared press release statement that they would "shake the dust off beloved pieces" by "hit pop, rock n' roll" composer Antonio Vivaldi? Does she think the 18th-century Venetian composer would be a candidate for Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Sorrell laughed, but pointed out that the bouncy feeling one gets after listening to a Vivaldi concerto (with its sprightly plucked strings, fast pace, and exuberant airs) can feel a lot like the high after a pop concert "Rock n' roll music is energizing, with a lot about communication between performers and audience; there's a very earthy and kind of driving approach and typically the harmonies are very simple." Yes, we agree that makes sense. Anyone who's been to an Apollo's Fire performance has seen and heard the same kind of intense, physical (even sweaty) earthiness, and infectious energy from the ensemble.
So why did Vivaldi write "Four Seasons" that way? She's got a simple explanation: "I think what it's all about is that Vivaldi was writing the concertos to be performed by teenage girls." She looked closely at his other scores, read histories of Venice's Ospedale della Pietà (the orphanage where Vivaldi taught), and talked to other musicologists before she came to this conclusion. "What I see is that it's only in his concertos that he has this kind of rock and roll quality; whereas in other types of music [operas and works written for liturgical services], he writes in a much more serious way. I think he was writing to appeal to teenagers because those were the girls who were playing the pieces."
Why all-girl orchestras? "The girls, many [of them] were illegitimate; they didn't know their parentage." Abandoned at birth, the girls lived in a very competitive atmosphere at the Ospedale della Pietà, Sorrell said. "There were basically various levels [of placement]; the most talented would get into the orchestra." There was plenty of incentive to practice because the musician's life was a far better one than that of the soap-makers in the basement who had to stand over steaming iron pots all day.
"Music was their only [sure] hope of having a decent life," she said, for these young women known only by the instruments they played. "They had names like Anna Maria dal Violin or Bernadina dal Violoncello."
The teens had one other escape. Eighteenth-century Venice was an "anything goes" tourist destination (like Las Vegas). The girls played public concerts every Sunday. Wealthy men, often tourists, would hear them and sometimes a marriage proposal would be forthcoming, said Sorrell. It was a more difficult choice for the young women than might be imagined however; no matter how tempting it would be to be a wife, they were required to pay a high price. They were forced to sign a contract vowing that they would never play music again. "When you think about it, music had been their entire life up until this time, they were very serious musicians." Many refused to leave. "We know that the very finest performers, the ones Vivaldi dedicated [some of] his work to, never left."
Featured soloists in the Four Seasons are Julie Andrijeski (Spring), Miho Hashizume (Autumn), Cynthia Roberts (Winter), and Sorrell performing her harpsichord transcription of the Summer Concerto. The program also includes the Concerto for Two Cellos and the fiery La Follia, a rockin' and rollin' showpiece for the whole orchestra. Soloists in the Concerto for Two Cellos are René Schiffer and Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann.
Performances will be at Fairlawn Lutheran Church [Fairlawn] at 7:30PM on Thursday, February 21; at St. Paul's Episcopal Church [Cleveland Heights] at 8PM on Friday & Saturday, February 22-23 ; at 4PM at Rocky River Presbyterian Church [Rocky River ]on Sunday, February 24, and at 7:30PM in Christ Presbyterian Church [Canton]] on Monday, February 25.
For tickets, call the Apollo's Fire box office at (216) 320-0012 or (800)314-2535. Hear more about those teem age rockers at the Apollo's Fire family concert, "Vivaldi & His Orphan Girls," at 3PM Saturday (Feb. 23) at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights Tickets are $5
From Cool Cleveland contributor Laura Kennelly lkennellyATgmail.com