So-called ‘programme music’ existed before, but it was seen by some as inferior and regressive. Vivaldi had set himself quite a challenge, but he’d also hit upon an idea that a lot of music theorists didn’t like. If you’ve ever wondered how on earth a composer can describe specific human interactions or states of mind, in an orchestral work without recourse to setting words, then you’re thinking on the very same quandary that was occupying the sizeable brain of Antonio Vivaldi in the early 1720s. The crux of the issue was musical ‘description’.
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