Advent concert - Italian baroque music

This year's Advent concert by the Bern Concert Choir Canto Classico will focus on Italian Baroque music. Concertgoers can look forward to a varied programme featuring solo and choral vocal music and wonderful trumpet music. In the 17th century, Italian Baroque composers were among the leading representatives of their craft far beyond Italy. Prof. Immanuel Richter, one of Switzerland's leading trumpeters, has been engaged as guest soloist.
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678–1741) was a celebrated violin virtuoso and teacher who even inspired Johann Sebastian Bach to arrange his works. His Beatus vir RV 598 in B flat major for soloists, choir and strings will be performed. Like Vivaldi, his contemporary Alessandro Marcello (1684–1750) also came from the lagoon city of Venice. He wrote numerous instrumental works, including several oboe concertos. The Concerto in D minor S.Z. 799 has also become very popular in an arrangement as a trumpet concerto. Francesco Durante (1684–1755) was one of the leading representatives of the Neapolitan school. His wonderful Litanie della Beata Vergine in F minor will be performed. Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690) also had ties to Venice. He came from a family of musicians in Bergamo and initially worked there as an organist before pursuing his career in Venice from 1670 onwards. After holding various positions as maestro da cappella at several ospedali (orphanages for musically gifted girls, comparable to today's conservatories), he became vice-kapellmeister at St Mark's Basilica. Legrenzi composed a solo ‘Dixit Dominus’ in D major (Opera Quinta, Venice 1657). Antonio Lotti (1667–1740) was also a Venetian and a contemporary of Vivaldi. As a boy, he sang in the choir of San Marco and received his training from cathedral choirmaster Giovanni Legrenzi. When the future Elector Friedrich August of Saxony stayed in Venice in 1717, he succeeded in luring Lotti and his wife, the soprano Santa Stella, to the Dresden court with a very generous salary in order to establish Italian opera there. Lotti returned to Venice at the end of 1719. In 1736, he was appointed to the prestigious position of Maestro da Cappella at St Mark's Basilica. He composed the Dresden version of ‘Laudatum Dominum omnes gentes’. Antonio Caldara (1670–1736) was also of Venetian origin. He too received his training from Giovanni Legrenzi. After initial positions in Mantua and Rome, he moved to Vienna in 1716, where he became first vice-kapellmeister at the court of Emperor Charles VI under Johann Joseph Fux. Caldara influenced Viennese musical life with numerous works. In the field of vocal music, he wrote around 80 operas, 43 oratorios and 150 masses, as well as numerous other sacred works, such as the ‘Laudate puer Dominum’ in A minor performed here. Giuseppe Torelli (1659–1709) came from Verona and was trained as a violinist, violist and composer in Bologna by Giacomo Antonio Perti, among others. After rigorous examination, he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna. From 1686, he was a violist in the Bologna orchestra for 12 years. In 1690, he became Kapellmeister of the court orchestra of the Margrave of Ansbach. In 1699 and 1700, he worked in Vienna.