Thread: Lost Vivaldi flute concerto discovered

This was in the Guardian today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010...overy-scotland

That's great news for all those people that got tired with his 500 already known concertos. They will finally have some variety.

Originally Posted by Aramis

That's great news for all those people that got tired with his 500 already known concertos. They will finally have some variety.

"This concerto referred to India, or the Mogul empire, and was written as part of quartet some scholars suggest was the geographical equivalent to Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. The other three pieces, La Francia, La Spagna and L'Inghilterro, remain lost."

So there could be three more out there somewhere....

Even though I strongly disagree that all of Vivaldi's concertos are the same. I must admit, this is more or less the equivalent to hearing about the discovery of a lost Telemann cantata.

Originally Posted by Aramis

That's great news for all those people that got tired with his 500 already known concertos. They will finally have some variety.

The reason why these folks wrote so many were because each performance was very often a unique one off performance. A concerto was often tailored for a particular one off performance for a particular soloist, or written for an employer/patron at such occasions. This week's concert will feature this new concerto and when next week comes, there will be another new concerto. This was their music making business back then. Church cantatas by J. S. Bach for example also had this function and he had to write cycles to fill up his church calender year.

Of course, it's very tempting to assess these from a post Romantic and modern viewpoint where composers no longer wrote music with such functions in mind. One or two violin concertos for a soloist (if there was one in mind who was not the composer) for a particular grand concert, and of course the materials were very different.

You are a music student, I'm surprised they don't teach these perspectives to you. (Music is a hobby of mine, my profession is something else). Three hundred years later, I hope posterity then will rediscover Aramis' works and have it performed, let alone recorded.

Originally Posted by Aramis
That's great news for all those people that got tired with his 500 already known concertos. They will finally have some variety.

Lol. Cheeky. And I rather like this one too.

Well.. I could see how this could be news if (1) the discovered piece is very good in quality and (2) it's true that it's part of a 4-piece set. Then there might be an ongoing search for the remaining pieces. However, if either of the above two are not true, then yes, this is about as exciting as finding a lost Sammartini symphony.

This is good news. And I'm not at all tired of Vivaldi's known concertos. More. More! Telemann and Sammartini would be cool too.

I prefer the idea of Indiana Jones hunting lost score rather than a pathetic bone.

It's just the latest example of the fact that once a historical artist has established a strong reputation for quality then any previously undiscovered work by that artist will be virtually guaranteed a strong interest no matter how good it may be. Merely because it is a work by that artist gives it value, regardless of intrinsic quality. A couple of years ago there was a story going around about a newly discovered work by Mozart, which attracted similar attention even though it was a very minor piece. Similarly, if a work which was once thought to be by a famous artist is recognised to have been wrongly attributed to that artist then its value becomes decimated, with Mozart's Symphony No 37 being a prime example (a work by Michael Haydn).

Originally Posted by HarpsichordConcerto

You are a music student, I'm surprised they don't teach these perspectives to you. (Music is a hobby of mine, my profession is something else). Three hundred years later, I hope posterity then will rediscover Aramis' works and have it performed, let alone recorded.

Boulez was all about perspective. The Sex Pistols were all about perspective.

Plenty of musicians have opinions I disagree with, but what difference does that make as long as I enjoy the music. Even if I don't like their music what difference does it make (I'm not referring specifically to any of the above mentioned artists or Aramis here).

Music students learn to make music how, not how to apotheosise dead dudes.

Of course, it's very tempting to assess these from a post Romantic and modern viewpoint where composers no longer wrote music with such functions in mind. One or two violin concertos for a soloist (if there was one in mind who was not the composer) for a particular grand concert, and of course the materials were very different.

Is that the same way you assess works by Stockhausen and Cage? You alter your viewpoint and expectations according to the period the work was written. Therefore, it would be misguided of me to accuse you of lacking perspective when judging their musical contributions. Thanks for clearing that up.

Originally Posted by jurianbai

I prefer the idea of Indiana Jones hunting lost score rather than a pathetic bone

Yeah. **** the missing link. Another sheet of paper with lines and dots on it is much more interesting to the general public.

The reason why these folks wrote so many were because each performance was very often a unique one off performance. A concerto was often tailored for a particular one off performance for a particular soloist, or written for an employer/patron at such occasions. This week's concert will feature this new concerto and when next week comes, there will be another new concerto. This was their music making business back then. Church cantatas by J. S. Bach for example also had this function and he had to write cycles to fill up his church calender year.

I know thing or two about it but it doesn't change my point, which is: why make sensation about this concerto if even people that enjoy baroque music didn't hear all of those that were known before? And even this couple of freaks that have all probably can't remember single theme from most of them. Some time ago there was big sensation around new discovered aria written by Mozart. When I hear about it on TV I felt like asking those excited people if they already know all Mozart's vocal music.