Il teatro alla moda - a TV series set in the first half of the 18 century following the lives of art
Il teatro alla moda - a TV series set in the first half of the 18 century following the lives of artists from the musical period known as opera seria. Act IIVenice, 1720, after a few years of absence Antonio Vivaldi comes back from Mantua to his hometown. The red-haired priest, who is also a skilled violinist and a composer, is not welcomed as warmly as he expected. His operas fail one after another because of the pamphlet titled Il Teatro alla moda that attacks his composing skills. The small opera house that stages his work can’t afford any of the famous singers and the ones he works with are still unbearable. Plagued with increasing breathing problems and bitter due lack of success, Vivaldi comes back to his easygoing, yet not well-paid job as a violin maestro in Ospedale della Pietà. One day an unknown teenager arrives to the Red Priest’s home. The girl introduces herself as Anna Girò and claims that after hearing Vivaldi’s opera in Mantua her biggest dream is to sing only his pieces. Irritated composer wants to get rid of her as quickly as possible, but the girl is so stubborn that he finally capitulates and lets the young singer perform. After a few notes it is clear that Anna can’t sing at all. The cynical man laughs openly at the girl’s lack of talent. Girò, humiliated and offended wants to leave, but Vivaldi’s laugh suddenly turns into a violent cough and the man fells on the floor, suffocating. Thanks to Anna’s older sister, Paolina, his life is saved, yet Anna’s youthful enthusiasm restores his lost faith in music… “To the Music Composers – The modern Music Composer should possess no knowledge about the Rules of good composition, except for some principle of universal practice… He should not understand the numeric Musical Proportions, nor the optimal effect of contrary Motions, or the bad Relation of Tritones and augmented Intervals.” Benedetto Marcello, Il teatro alla moda (The Fashionable Theater) -- source link
#antonio vivaldi#vivaldi#18 century#baroque#anna giro#period drama#perioddramaedit#venice