韋發特既簡介

韋發特Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741) 意大利作曲家和指揮。
生於意大利威尼斯，父親是父為理髮師和業餘小提琴家，早期隨父親學習音樂，後為威尼斯聖馬可教堂樂隊成員。他幼年即顯示音樂才能，被允許頂替父親參加樂隊，因此經常接觸到威尼斯音樂傳統。與此同時又接受教士訓練。十五歲起他開始受教士訓練，十年之後學業完成而成為一名神父，即1703年授職神父，因為頭髮紅色，人們稱他為「紅髮神父」。不久，他轉任威尼斯一間女孤兒院的音樂指導和指揮，任職十五年間，他作了許多協奏曲以供學院的學生演奏。他的創作才華將巴羅克的協奏曲提升至新領域。但他突然決定放棄神職生涯而還俗。

雖然韋發第的專長在作曲及音樂表演方面，但他幾乎終生獻身於威尼斯的孤兒附屬女子音樂院，教導那些年輕孤女，在當時這樣的孤兒真是滿街都是。這個音樂院，正是當時音樂界的明日之星，但顯然在取向上有些偏頗，他們只向韋發第及其他幾位音樂老師學習弦樂器。自此，這些年輕學生時常開高水準的音樂會，而使威尼斯成為音樂重鎮，許多人慕名而來。在籌備及規畫這些音樂會方面，韋發第扮演了一個重要的角色，並培育出不少知名的作曲家和音樂家。

韋發第後期因經常赴各地演出和指揮，使該院逐漸對他不滿，並對他進行了約束，其音樂也漸漸失去威尼斯人的歡迎。失望之餘他赴維也納投奔查理六世，但查理不久便去世，奧國陷入繼承王位的戰爭，再次的打擊使他一病不起，終於到達維也納一年後便病逝他鄉。

韋發特是小提琴家兼作曲家，一生作43部歌劇，音樂品質雖高，但其中朗誦調過多，劇本也嫌沉悶，不為現代人歡迎。其宗教音樂(清唱劇、讚歌等)顯示了高超的威尼斯複調傳統 ，但也多不為世人所知。最受人歡迎的還是器樂作品，計有450多首協奏曲和73首奏鳴曲，其中96首協奏曲和42首奏鳴曲在生前即已出版。後來其音樂漸被遺忘，到19世紀中，人們發現巴哈曾採用其協奏曲作為作曲資料，才恢復了對他的作品的興趣。

其中很多是獨奏協奏曲(Solo Concerto)，而小提琴協奏曲「四季」(The Four Seasons)便是他最受世人愛戴白不朽名曲。「四季」共有「春」、「夏」、「秋」、「冬」四首協奏曲，各具快、慢、快三個樂章。這是一套寫給獨奏小提琴、弦樂隊和古鍵琴的協奏曲，樂譜上有詩句標明音樂所描寫的內容。

‧巴羅克樂期偉大的意大利作曲家和小提琴家
‧建立協奏曲快、慢、快三個樂章的形式

http://www.cbt.edu.hk/~ccp/music02/vivaldi.htm
http://www.ccckyc.edu.hk/subject/music/main21.html
ttc.edu.hk/education/music/Vivaldi.ppt

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678, Venice – July 28 (or 27), 1741, Vienna), nicknamed Il Prete Rosso ("The Red Priest"), was a Venetian priest and baroque music composer, as well as a famous violinist

Style and influence

Most of Vivaldi's repertoire was rediscovered only in the first half of the 20th century in Turin and Genoa and was published in the second half. Vivaldi's music is innovative, breaking a consolidated tradition in schemes; he gave brightness to the formal and the rhythmic structure of the concerto, repeatedly looking for harmonic contrasts and invented innovative melodies and themes. Moreover, Vivaldi was able to compose non-academic music, particularly meant to be appreciated by the wide public and not only by an intellectual minority. The joyful appearance of his music reveals in this regard a transmissible joy of composing. These are among the causes of the vast popularity of his music. This popularity soon made him famous in other countries such as France which was, at the time, very independent concerning its musical taste.

Vivaldi is considered one of the composers who brought Baroque Music (with its typical contrast among heavy sonorities) to evolve into a classical style. Johann Sebastian Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias (recalled in his Johannes Passion, Matthäuspassion, and cantatas). Bach transcribed a number of Vivaldi's concertos for solo keyboard, along with a number for orchestra, including the famous Concerto for Four Violins and Violoncello, Strings and Continuo (RV 580).

Vivaldi remained unknown for his published concerti, and largely ignored, even after the resurgence of interest in Bach, pioneered by Mendelssohn. Even his most famous work, The Four Seasons, was unknown in its original edition. In the early 20th century Fritz Kreisler's concerto in the style of Vivaldi, which he passed off as an original Vivaldi work but which was actually by Kreisler, helped revive Vivaldi's fortunes. This impelled the French scholar Marc Pincherle to begin academic work on Vivaldi's oeuvre. The discovery of many Vivaldi manuscripts and their acquisition by the National University of Turin Library, with the generous sponsorship of Roberto Foa and Filippo Giordano (in memory of their sons, respectively, Mauro and Renzo), led to renewed interest in Vivaldi. People like Marc Pincherle, Mario Rinaldi, Alfredo Cassela, Ezra Pound, Olga Rudge, Arturo Toscanini and Louis Kaufman were instrumental in the Vivaldi revival of the 20th century. The resurrection of Vivaldi's unpublished works in the 20th century is mostly thanks to the efforts of Alfredo Casella, who in 1939 organised the now historic Vivaldi Week, in which the rediscovered Gloria in excelsis (RV 589) was first heard again. Since World War II Vivaldi's compositions have enjoyed almost universal success, and the advent of historically informed performances has only increased his fame. In 1947, the Venetian businessman Antonio Fanna founded the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi, with the composer Gian Francesco Malipiero as its artistic director, with the purpose of promoting Vivaldi's music and publishing new editions of his works.

A movie titled Vivaldi, a prince in Venice was completed in 2005 as an Italian-French coproduction, under the direction of Jean-Louis Guillermou, featuring Stefano Dionisi in the title role and Michel Serrault as the bishop of Venice. Another film inspired by the life of the composer is in a preproduction state: it has the working title Vivaldi, is produced and directed by Boris Damast, and is slated to have Joseph Fiennes in the title role.

Vivaldi's music, together with that of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Corelli, has been included in the theories of Alfred Tomatis on the effects of music on human behaviour, and used in music therapy.