Classical Music - Corelli Ensemble

Antonio Vivaldi, known as The Red Priest, revolutionized classical music in the Baroque era, rendering more life and melody to the genre, reducing its academic stuffiness and making it appreciable to a wider and less well-versed public. Feted by kings and emperors in his prime, the composer had written over 500 concertos by the time of his untimely death in 1740. By then, however, he had dropped out of royal favour, and was buried in a pauper’s grave in Vienna, far from his Venetian home. Thereafter, though he indirectly influenced Mozart, he was largely forgotten until the 20th century. In 1930 a remarkable discovery was made: over 400 of his manuscripts, including concertos, operas and vocal instrumental pieces unheard for centuries. Now of course the composer is the most popular classical musician in the world. Today’s concert, by the highly rated Corelli Ensemble, will include two of his concertos, ‘The Cuckoo’ and ‘La Tempesta di Mare’ (The Sea Storm).

The ensemble, a small string orchestra with harpsichord and (for one piece) organ will perform two other Baroque concertos: Handel’s ‘The Cuckoo and the Nightingale’ and Bach’s Second Violin Concerto, as well as a couple of other short pieces. “We’re looking to provide a pleasant hour-long concert which is perfect for the family,” says Val Davies, “and particularly perfect for Mothering Sunday. We play 8-10 concerts a year around East Sussex: having concentrated on Alfriston and Uckfield in recent years we are now starting to enjoy playing regular concerts in Lewes.” AG