Music in Country Churches: Crossing Borders

Ouverture-Suite for Strings and Continuo in F major
Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (c. 1690–1758)
‘Paris’ Concerto VI for Strings and Continuo in G minor, RV 154
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
Concerto for Violin, Strings, and Continuo in B flat major, RV 380
Antonio Vivaldi

– Interval –

Concerto for Violin, Strings, and Continuo in G minor, RV 330
Antonio Vivaldi
Ouverture-Suite for Strings and Continuo in A minor, TWV 55.a2
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Antonio Vivaldi’s career resembled that of a modern freelance musician, largely unattached to any one court or institution apart from brief engagements at Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà and Mantua.

This flexibility enabled him to travel extensively, including notable visits to Vienna and possibly Prague, where the precise purpose of his travels remains speculative, though it resulted in a distinctive set of violin concertos. Vivaldi’s international influence reached far beyond Italy, extending across Germany, Scandinavia, England, and notably France, aided perhaps by connections like Cardinal Ottoboni.

Contrasting Vivaldi’s periodic returns to Venice, composers like Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello left Italy permanently, bringing Italian stylistic elements to Germany, notably at the Württemberg court where he combined Italian and French musical tastes. Georg Philipp Telemann, another figure embracing a multicultural “mixed taste,” significantly popularized the French orchestral suite in Germany, creating an enormous repertoire that solidified his status among the baroque period’s most prolific composers.