1 00:00:02,740 --> 00:00:04,740 (KEYBOARDS) 2 00:00:09,540 --> 00:00:11,540 We rockers love to show off. 3 00:00:11,540 --> 00:00:14,100 Flamboyance is in our blood. 4 00:00:14,100 --> 00:00:18,220 But the idea of the crowd-pleasing frontman 5 00:00:18,220 --> 00:00:20,300 is older than you might think. 6 00:00:20,300 --> 00:00:23,980 Starting well before I played in '70s supergroups, 7 00:00:23,980 --> 00:00:27,300 even before Elvis swivelled a hip. 8 00:00:29,340 --> 00:00:33,300 That's because I believe the founding father of modern rock 9 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:35,340 lived nearly 300 years ago. 10 00:00:35,340 --> 00:00:37,420 And there is a very good chance 11 00:00:37,420 --> 00:00:40,460 that you've got his most famous album in your pocket. 12 00:00:40,460 --> 00:00:42,740 RINGTONE: # The Four Seasons Excuse me. 13 00:00:45,020 --> 00:00:47,020 Hello. 14 00:00:47,020 --> 00:00:49,100 That music is The Four Seasons 15 00:00:49,100 --> 00:00:52,140 and the genius who wrote it was Antonio Vivaldi. 16 00:00:52,140 --> 00:00:56,220 Composer of a masterpiece truly avant garde in its day, 17 00:00:56,220 --> 00:00:59,940 one that is still the most recorded classical work ever. 18 00:01:01,180 --> 00:01:04,460 You can feel the power of certain compositions. 19 00:01:04,460 --> 00:01:08,380 This one is phenomenonally powerful. 20 00:01:08,380 --> 00:01:12,220 He was also a violinist of such exceptional talent 21 00:01:12,220 --> 00:01:15,060 that he became the biggest star Europe had known. 22 00:01:15,060 --> 00:01:17,980 I think of him like Hendrix, visionary 23 00:01:17,980 --> 00:01:20,060 and a great instrumentalist. 24 00:01:20,060 --> 00:01:22,140 I'd have him in the band. 25 00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:24,500 He's in our band first. I booked him first. 26 00:01:25,980 --> 00:01:28,860 So why after becoming such a phenomenon 27 00:01:28,860 --> 00:01:32,060 did Vivaldi and his music virtually disappear 28 00:01:32,060 --> 00:01:34,980 for almost 200 years after he died? 29 00:01:36,380 --> 00:01:41,140 The answers lie at the heart of one of Europe's great musical cities. 30 00:01:42,020 --> 00:01:44,060 Here I'll turn detective 31 00:01:44,060 --> 00:01:46,460 to discover how this 18th-century priest 32 00:01:46,460 --> 00:01:49,820 became THE trailblazing god of rock, 33 00:01:49,820 --> 00:01:52,620 writer of the ultimate concept album. 34 00:01:52,620 --> 00:01:55,740 I've never even seen some of these instruments before. 35 00:01:58,060 --> 00:02:02,060 I'm travelling back in time to discover the truth behind Vivaldi 36 00:02:02,060 --> 00:02:04,940 and the mystery of The Four Seasons. 37 00:02:04,940 --> 00:02:06,940 # VIVALDI: The Four Seasons 38 00:02:33,780 --> 00:02:35,780 You may not know this about me 39 00:02:35,780 --> 00:02:37,820 but before I was a Grumpy Old Man, 40 00:02:37,820 --> 00:02:39,900 before Yes, huge stadium tours 41 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:42,540 and multi-platinum selling solo albums, 42 00:02:42,540 --> 00:02:45,940 I was just a long-haired teenager studying here 43 00:02:45,940 --> 00:02:48,220 at the Royal College of Music in London. 44 00:02:49,300 --> 00:02:52,540 Back then, I was never allowed to play on this stage. 45 00:02:52,540 --> 00:02:54,780 That was just a dream. 46 00:02:56,940 --> 00:02:58,940 Like my hope that one day 47 00:02:58,940 --> 00:03:01,460 before I ran away to become a rocker that is, 48 00:03:01,460 --> 00:03:04,180 I would write music that would become timeless. 49 00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:06,260 Classic. 50 00:03:06,260 --> 00:03:10,340 And I'd play in a way that had fans on their feet clamouring for more. 51 00:03:11,420 --> 00:03:14,980 Basically I wanted to follow in Vivaldi's footsteps. 52 00:03:17,820 --> 00:03:19,860 I'd like to read you a quote. 53 00:03:19,860 --> 00:03:24,580 It was written in 1715 by Zacharias von Uffenbach, 54 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:26,660 a German traveller and scholar 55 00:03:26,660 --> 00:03:30,420 who had just been to see a concert in one of the many theatres in Venice. 56 00:03:31,460 --> 00:03:33,700 He wrote, "Towards the end, Vivaldi 57 00:03:33,700 --> 00:03:36,220 played a solo accompaniment admirably, 58 00:03:36,220 --> 00:03:39,540 adding at the end a free fantasy which quite frightened me 59 00:03:39,540 --> 00:03:41,860 for it is scarcely possible that anyone 60 00:03:41,860 --> 00:03:43,860 ever played or will play in this way, 61 00:03:43,860 --> 00:03:47,300 for he placed his fingers but a hair's breadth from the bridge 62 00:03:47,300 --> 00:03:49,620 so that there was barely room for the bow, 63 00:03:49,620 --> 00:03:51,660 doing all this on four strings 64 00:03:51,660 --> 00:03:54,340 with imitations and incredible speed." 65 00:03:55,940 --> 00:03:59,260 Uffenbach had just seen the first-ever rock star 66 00:03:59,260 --> 00:04:01,580 doing what few other musicians would do 67 00:04:01,580 --> 00:04:03,740 for many hundreds of years to come. 68 00:04:03,740 --> 00:04:08,100 He'd just witnessed and heard the incredible genius 69 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:10,060 of Antonio Vivaldi, 70 00:04:10,060 --> 00:04:13,060 writer of the great Baroque classic 71 00:04:13,060 --> 00:04:15,060 The Four Seasons. 72 00:04:17,780 --> 00:04:19,820 Written in 1723, 73 00:04:19,820 --> 00:04:23,740 it's still the most recorded classical piece of all time. 74 00:04:23,740 --> 00:04:27,340 One that is now so impossible to escape, 75 00:04:27,340 --> 00:04:29,860 that it's become loved and loathed 76 00:04:29,860 --> 00:04:31,860 in equal measure. 77 00:04:33,860 --> 00:04:35,900 But to dismiss it 78 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:39,220 is to ignore just how revolutionary this masterpiece is. 79 00:04:39,220 --> 00:04:41,940 Because it helped to define the modern concerta 80 00:04:41,940 --> 00:04:45,140 and was at the forefront of a truly radical idea 81 00:04:45,140 --> 00:04:48,300 that music could tell the listener a story 82 00:04:48,300 --> 00:04:50,300 without the use of words. 83 00:04:51,860 --> 00:04:53,860 But don't just take it from me. 84 00:04:53,860 --> 00:04:55,940 I'm off to ask someone who plays it, 85 00:04:55,940 --> 00:04:59,100 one of our most gifted and in-demand young violinists, 86 00:04:59,100 --> 00:05:02,100 the Scottish virtuoso Nicola Benedetti. 87 00:05:04,100 --> 00:05:07,100 I think they are one of the greatest works of art 88 00:05:07,100 --> 00:05:09,620 of our entire body of classical music. 89 00:05:09,620 --> 00:05:12,980 I don't even have any time 90 00:05:12,980 --> 00:05:16,180 for cynicism towards these four concertos. 91 00:05:16,180 --> 00:05:19,780 That the core subject of every single movement 92 00:05:19,780 --> 00:05:24,260 is something that is so definitive, so strong, so loveable. 93 00:05:24,260 --> 00:05:26,820 What I think is a work of art with it is the fact 94 00:05:26,820 --> 00:05:29,420 that there is a severe degree of difficulty... 95 00:05:29,420 --> 00:05:31,500 in the playing. 96 00:05:31,500 --> 00:05:34,500 But to a listener it doesn't sound like that all the time. 97 00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:36,540 It is extremely challenging. 98 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:38,620 A violinist wants to be challenged, 99 00:05:38,620 --> 00:05:41,340 we want to be able to play something that's hard 100 00:05:41,340 --> 00:05:43,860 and you can really get your teeth stuck into. 101 00:05:43,860 --> 00:05:46,260 An audience also wants to see you go through that. 102 00:05:46,260 --> 00:05:48,980 They want to see you tackle these things, overcome them 103 00:05:48,980 --> 00:05:51,140 and get to the end of something impossible 104 00:05:51,140 --> 00:05:53,220 and at the end of the Summer Concerto, 105 00:05:53,220 --> 00:05:55,180 everyone is almost like, "Oh, wow." 106 00:05:55,180 --> 00:05:58,300 He was an amazing player himself. A phenomenal player. 107 00:05:58,300 --> 00:06:00,380 He had to be to write this. 108 00:06:00,380 --> 00:06:03,700 I've always considered it a wonderful showing-off piece. 109 00:06:03,700 --> 00:06:05,780 Oh, it is. 110 00:06:05,780 --> 00:06:09,500 There's absolutely no question about that. In the Summer Concerto 111 00:06:09,500 --> 00:06:11,540 which is, 112 00:06:11,540 --> 00:06:13,540 this place is the first kind of... 113 00:06:14,380 --> 00:06:17,300 ..really consistent fast... 114 00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:19,340 especially with the right hand, 115 00:06:19,340 --> 00:06:21,340 fast playing that you hear. 116 00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:36,940 You're playing this suddenly very fiery virtuosic playing. 117 00:06:38,260 --> 00:06:41,900 And throughout the Summer Concerto, the whole thing is like... 118 00:06:41,900 --> 00:06:44,820 By the end of it your arms... It's flat out. 119 00:06:44,820 --> 00:06:46,980 I always before the Autumn Concerto, 120 00:06:46,980 --> 00:06:50,100 I'm almost just like somehow trying to create an excuse 121 00:06:50,100 --> 00:06:52,140 to give myself just five minutes 122 00:06:52,140 --> 00:06:54,220 to let my right arm just come down. 123 00:06:54,220 --> 00:06:56,860 There is no turning back, there's no respite, 124 00:06:56,860 --> 00:07:00,380 or any little stepping stone to rest on for a couple of minutes. 125 00:07:00,380 --> 00:07:02,460 Exactly. 126 00:07:02,460 --> 00:07:05,380 It must be pretty exciting for audiences. I'm sure. 127 00:07:05,380 --> 00:07:08,820 And Vivaldi being the wild personality that he was 128 00:07:08,820 --> 00:07:10,900 I'm sure 129 00:07:10,900 --> 00:07:13,660 reacted to that hugely and played up to it 130 00:07:13,660 --> 00:07:17,060 and tried to manipulate it and saw it as a challenge. 131 00:07:17,060 --> 00:07:21,100 Just think of the mastery of this 132 00:07:21,100 --> 00:07:23,620 and just the level of complications 133 00:07:23,620 --> 00:07:27,460 in being able to write something like this. Just phenomenal. 134 00:07:27,460 --> 00:07:30,580 He really became a household name. 135 00:07:30,580 --> 00:07:34,980 And I can only imagine what... the impact it had 136 00:07:34,980 --> 00:07:37,100 on the people that were there and then. 137 00:07:38,140 --> 00:07:40,180 All of this begs the question 138 00:07:40,180 --> 00:07:43,140 if Vivaldi was the superstar of his day, 139 00:07:43,140 --> 00:07:45,220 an adored genius, 140 00:07:45,220 --> 00:07:47,660 who wrote the 18th-century's biggest hit 141 00:07:47,660 --> 00:07:51,660 why did he and his masterwork largely disappear after he died? 142 00:07:51,660 --> 00:07:53,740 To solve these mysteries 143 00:07:53,740 --> 00:07:56,180 I have to travel back to where it all began. 144 00:07:56,180 --> 00:07:59,940 To a city that was once one of the most debauched on the planet. 145 00:07:59,940 --> 00:08:03,620 Well, where else would you expect to find a rock god? 146 00:08:11,380 --> 00:08:15,900 Venice is one of the most beautiful and bizarre cities in the world. 147 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:19,300 Built completely on stilts in the middle of a lagoon, 148 00:08:19,300 --> 00:08:21,820 and sinking slowly but surely, 149 00:08:21,820 --> 00:08:23,820 year after year. 150 00:08:35,180 --> 00:08:38,020 It's been a tourist mecca for centuries. 151 00:08:42,860 --> 00:08:46,220 But though you could take home anything from a carnival mask 152 00:08:46,220 --> 00:08:48,260 to a miniature gondola, 153 00:08:48,260 --> 00:08:50,340 the one thing you can't buy 154 00:08:50,340 --> 00:08:52,420 is an image of Venice's most famous son. 155 00:08:58,460 --> 00:09:02,820 So much of Vivaldi's story is still shrouded in myth and legend 156 00:09:02,820 --> 00:09:04,900 and what little we do know 157 00:09:04,900 --> 00:09:07,820 is still the subject of much conjecture and debate. 158 00:09:07,820 --> 00:09:11,620 In fact, the experts can't even seem to agree on what he looked like. 159 00:09:11,620 --> 00:09:14,260 We do know he had flaming red hair 160 00:09:14,260 --> 00:09:17,220 earning him the nickname "Il Prete Rosso". 161 00:09:17,220 --> 00:09:19,220 "The Red Priest." 162 00:09:20,100 --> 00:09:23,020 But the best known and most reproduced image of him 163 00:09:23,020 --> 00:09:25,060 is dismissed by most experts 164 00:09:25,060 --> 00:09:27,060 as probably not him at all. 165 00:09:29,060 --> 00:09:31,580 We know this engraving is him. 166 00:09:31,580 --> 00:09:34,620 It was supposedly made for an early published version 167 00:09:34,620 --> 00:09:36,860 of The Four Seasons. 168 00:09:37,860 --> 00:09:40,020 But the best likeness is this one. 169 00:09:40,020 --> 00:09:42,420 Done by a caricature artist. 170 00:09:47,460 --> 00:09:49,420 You like it? Yeah. 171 00:09:49,420 --> 00:09:51,500 It's very clever. 172 00:09:51,500 --> 00:09:54,660 Then again they can make you look like anyone, can't they? 173 00:10:02,980 --> 00:10:08,140 Wow. What we definitely do know about Antonio Lucia Vivaldi 174 00:10:08,140 --> 00:10:11,220 is that he was born on March 4th, 1678, 175 00:10:11,220 --> 00:10:13,780 here in Bragora in an unknown house 176 00:10:13,780 --> 00:10:15,820 somewhere on this square. 177 00:10:15,820 --> 00:10:17,900 Legend has it 178 00:10:17,900 --> 00:10:20,460 that his birth coincided with an earthquake 179 00:10:20,460 --> 00:10:22,980 although no record of one has ever been found. 180 00:10:22,980 --> 00:10:24,900 Born prematurely, allegedly 181 00:10:24,900 --> 00:10:29,300 just seven months after his parents' marriage... (CLEARS THROAT) 182 00:10:29,300 --> 00:10:31,500 he was immediately baptised by a midwife 183 00:10:31,500 --> 00:10:34,020 for fear he might die. 184 00:10:36,580 --> 00:10:39,900 We know this thanks to a rare and important document 185 00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:42,540 discovered just 50-odd years ago 186 00:10:42,540 --> 00:10:44,580 in the nearby church. 187 00:10:44,580 --> 00:10:46,620 The current parish priest 188 00:10:46,620 --> 00:10:48,660 Don Giovanni 189 00:10:48,660 --> 00:10:50,700 has agreed to show it to me. 190 00:10:50,700 --> 00:10:52,700 (SPEAKS ITALIAN) 191 00:11:36,980 --> 00:11:40,260 I just think how wonderful it is that things survive 192 00:11:40,260 --> 00:11:42,340 centuries and centuries. 193 00:11:42,340 --> 00:11:45,340 And at the time the person who wrote that in that book 194 00:11:45,340 --> 00:11:47,420 would have absolutely no idea 195 00:11:47,420 --> 00:11:50,860 what an important document that would turn out to be... 196 00:11:51,940 --> 00:11:54,420 ..so many hundreds of years later. 197 00:11:55,420 --> 00:11:57,380 That is really quite special. 198 00:11:58,380 --> 00:12:01,980 I just think it's fantastic. I love looking at things like that. 199 00:12:01,980 --> 00:12:04,300 That is just amazing. I have to ask you, 200 00:12:04,300 --> 00:12:06,180 do you like Vivaldi's music? 201 00:12:22,220 --> 00:12:25,700 There is no official monument to Vivaldi anywhere in Venice 202 00:12:25,700 --> 00:12:27,780 but here in this little church 203 00:12:27,780 --> 00:12:32,820 I stumbled across one admirer who has created her own special tribute. 204 00:13:14,300 --> 00:13:17,060 Brigitte Tireque fell in love with Vivaldi 205 00:13:17,060 --> 00:13:19,100 during a holiday in Venice. 206 00:13:19,100 --> 00:13:21,140 She moved here nine years ago 207 00:13:21,140 --> 00:13:23,180 and now makes a daily pilgrimage 208 00:13:23,180 --> 00:13:25,180 to worship at her shrine. 209 00:13:26,340 --> 00:13:28,540 What was it you loved about Vivaldi? 210 00:13:28,540 --> 00:13:30,540 (SPEAKS FRENCH) 211 00:14:02,660 --> 00:14:05,780 The flowers came first? You brought flowers first? Yes. 212 00:14:06,660 --> 00:14:09,380 And then the bust you had, yeah? 213 00:14:09,380 --> 00:14:11,380 (SPEAKS FRENCH) 214 00:14:17,740 --> 00:14:19,740 Oh, from the caricature, yes. 215 00:14:19,740 --> 00:14:21,780 I think it's lovely what you do. 216 00:14:21,780 --> 00:14:23,820 It's fantastic. 217 00:14:23,820 --> 00:14:25,860 It's important. 218 00:14:25,860 --> 00:14:28,900 Music, composers and music 219 00:14:28,900 --> 00:14:30,900 need people like you. 220 00:14:31,780 --> 00:14:34,300 You must be a very wealthy lady 221 00:14:34,300 --> 00:14:37,140 to be able to bring all these flowers and do the bust. 222 00:14:37,140 --> 00:14:39,140 (LAUGHS) 223 00:14:40,220 --> 00:14:42,180 Oh. 224 00:14:59,220 --> 00:15:01,260 Oh. 225 00:15:01,260 --> 00:15:04,100 Well, I hope the florist gives you a very good deal. 226 00:15:06,140 --> 00:15:08,300 To her, and in fact to a lot of people, 227 00:15:08,300 --> 00:15:10,260 he's still alive. 228 00:15:10,260 --> 00:15:13,260 If somebody's music still lives, then to some extent 229 00:15:13,260 --> 00:15:15,340 they are still living as well. 230 00:15:15,340 --> 00:15:17,780 And the mere fact she cares that much to do it 231 00:15:17,780 --> 00:15:21,780 that pleases many thousands of people who come to see the church as well 232 00:15:21,780 --> 00:15:24,180 I think it's pretty amazing. 233 00:15:24,180 --> 00:15:26,460 Can't imagine anyone doing that for me. 234 00:15:34,380 --> 00:15:36,900 The church would turn out to play a vital role 235 00:15:36,900 --> 00:15:39,020 in the making of Antonio Vivaldi. 236 00:15:39,020 --> 00:15:42,780 But it was his father who first nurtured his talent. 237 00:15:44,820 --> 00:15:49,060 A barber turned violinist in the orchestra of St Mark's Cathedral, 238 00:15:49,060 --> 00:15:52,180 he eventually gave it up to manage his son 239 00:15:52,180 --> 00:15:54,260 who by his teens 240 00:15:54,260 --> 00:15:58,340 was already a master of both the violin and the harpsichord. 241 00:16:00,740 --> 00:16:02,780 But in the 18th century 242 00:16:02,780 --> 00:16:06,820 musicians were just jobbing tradesmen not high-earning celebrities. 243 00:16:11,460 --> 00:16:13,460 So at 15, 244 00:16:13,460 --> 00:16:15,860 young Antonio joined the priesthood. 245 00:16:28,580 --> 00:16:30,580 After a decade's training 246 00:16:30,580 --> 00:16:32,660 he was ordained in 1703. 247 00:16:32,660 --> 00:16:36,340 But within a year, asked to be excused from saying mass, 248 00:16:36,340 --> 00:16:39,660 blaming the illness which had dogged him from birth. 249 00:16:39,660 --> 00:16:41,700 (SPEAKS ITALIAN) 250 00:16:41,700 --> 00:16:43,780 Far from being reprimanded 251 00:16:43,780 --> 00:16:45,900 he was allowed to continue as a priest. 252 00:16:49,300 --> 00:16:51,300 Vivaldi was lucky 253 00:16:51,300 --> 00:16:53,380 to live at a time and in a place 254 00:16:53,380 --> 00:16:56,900 where the Church was willing to indulge his true calling. 255 00:16:59,300 --> 00:17:01,940 When Vivaldi lived and worked in Venice, 256 00:17:01,940 --> 00:17:05,580 it truly was THE musical centre of Europe. 257 00:17:05,580 --> 00:17:08,860 In the 18th century it was awash with the stuff. 258 00:17:08,860 --> 00:17:12,220 Nietzsche the philosopher was once know to have commented, 259 00:17:12,220 --> 00:17:14,940 "When I search for a word to replace that of music, 260 00:17:14,940 --> 00:17:17,340 I can think only of Venice." 261 00:17:21,060 --> 00:17:24,820 Back then, gondoliers sang as they cruised the canals. 262 00:17:24,820 --> 00:17:26,900 There was daily singing in churches 263 00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:30,980 and music was celebrated in concerts both public and private. 264 00:17:32,620 --> 00:17:35,780 The musical fashion was for experimentation 265 00:17:35,780 --> 00:17:38,460 creating a need for completely new instruments. 266 00:17:39,660 --> 00:17:42,660 I've never even seen some of these instruments before. 267 00:17:49,020 --> 00:17:50,980 This is my sweet shop. 268 00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:55,140 This is... Oh, wow, look at that. 269 00:17:55,140 --> 00:17:58,380 That is a work of art as well. Look at that. 270 00:18:03,020 --> 00:18:04,980 (CHUCKLES) 271 00:18:07,140 --> 00:18:09,060 (PLAYS) 272 00:18:12,860 --> 00:18:14,820 I want one. 273 00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:18,020 This is an education. 274 00:18:18,020 --> 00:18:21,780 They say that music is the world's longest apprenticeship course. 275 00:18:21,780 --> 00:18:24,340 Oh, is that true. At 65 I'm still learning. 276 00:18:26,220 --> 00:18:28,260 Whilst still a priest, 277 00:18:28,260 --> 00:18:31,260 Vivaldi was now free to pursue his musical dream 278 00:18:31,260 --> 00:18:33,300 as both ambitious composer 279 00:18:33,300 --> 00:18:35,340 and star violinist. 280 00:18:35,340 --> 00:18:37,380 His playing was so exceptional 281 00:18:37,380 --> 00:18:39,460 the one guide book of the time 282 00:18:39,460 --> 00:18:43,060 even listed him as the must-see attraction in Venice. 283 00:18:44,340 --> 00:18:47,820 And it wasn't long before this extraordinary talent 284 00:18:47,820 --> 00:18:51,100 brought him a new job offer, one that would change his life 285 00:18:51,100 --> 00:18:53,100 and music forever. 286 00:18:55,420 --> 00:18:57,460 To find out more, 287 00:18:57,460 --> 00:19:00,900 I've come to meet another woman who fell in love with Vivaldi. 288 00:19:02,020 --> 00:19:06,540 For almost 20 years, Micky White worked as a Wimbledon photographer. 289 00:19:06,540 --> 00:19:08,620 Now she lives in Venice 290 00:19:08,620 --> 00:19:13,780 investigating Vivaldi's association with a truly amazing institution. 291 00:19:15,340 --> 00:19:18,460 When he was 25 just after he'd been ordained, 292 00:19:18,460 --> 00:19:22,100 he went to the Pieta 293 00:19:22,100 --> 00:19:24,140 to be the violin teacher. 294 00:19:24,140 --> 00:19:26,620 What exactly was the Pieta? 295 00:19:26,620 --> 00:19:29,300 The Pieta was an institution 296 00:19:29,300 --> 00:19:31,340 for abandoned children. 297 00:19:31,340 --> 00:19:34,380 The majority of children 298 00:19:34,380 --> 00:19:37,300 that were left, were due to prostitution. 299 00:19:37,300 --> 00:19:41,660 So before the Pieta, 300 00:19:41,660 --> 00:19:44,060 what would have happened to these children? 301 00:19:44,060 --> 00:19:46,140 Chucked in the canal. 302 00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:48,180 Oh, you're joking. No. 303 00:19:48,180 --> 00:19:53,700 You see, the Pieta was founded by a Franciscan. 304 00:19:54,620 --> 00:20:00,020 Who was so appalled at seeing babies floating in the canal 305 00:20:00,020 --> 00:20:04,380 that he founded a home for abandoned children. 306 00:20:05,580 --> 00:20:10,020 It was one of the four institutions set up by the state 307 00:20:10,020 --> 00:20:12,820 and all these ospedali did music. 308 00:20:12,820 --> 00:20:15,420 They all had their own musicians. 309 00:20:15,420 --> 00:20:17,980 But the interesting thing was 310 00:20:17,980 --> 00:20:20,940 that it was only the women that did music. 311 00:20:20,940 --> 00:20:22,980 The men did not do music. 312 00:20:22,980 --> 00:20:25,020 They would perform 313 00:20:25,020 --> 00:20:28,220 primarily for the church. 314 00:20:28,220 --> 00:20:31,740 Then they would do concerts in the music room 315 00:20:31,740 --> 00:20:34,700 for visiting nobles 316 00:20:34,700 --> 00:20:36,740 from Italy 317 00:20:36,740 --> 00:20:38,820 and Europe. 318 00:20:38,820 --> 00:20:41,980 We know that some of these girls were very fine players. 319 00:20:41,980 --> 00:20:45,420 How good actually were they? I think they were exceptional. 320 00:20:45,420 --> 00:20:48,940 And in fact, the Pieta got a reputation 321 00:20:48,940 --> 00:20:54,380 for being the best ospedale for music in Venice. 322 00:21:01,180 --> 00:21:04,660 But those who came expecting to be close up and personal 323 00:21:04,660 --> 00:21:08,020 with a bevy of beautiful players were often disappointed. 324 00:21:08,020 --> 00:21:11,780 The audience were only ever treated to a tantalising glimpse 325 00:21:11,780 --> 00:21:13,820 of these young virtuosos. 326 00:21:13,820 --> 00:21:16,420 That's because, when they performed, 327 00:21:16,420 --> 00:21:20,220 they were hidden behind grilles very similar to the ones here. 328 00:21:20,220 --> 00:21:23,460 It's also likely that they would be very modestly dressed 329 00:21:23,460 --> 00:21:26,780 in probably black and white with veils covering their hair. 330 00:21:26,780 --> 00:21:28,780 What a tease. 331 00:21:34,340 --> 00:21:36,380 In fact, 332 00:21:36,380 --> 00:21:39,300 far from being the nubile young group of folklore, 333 00:21:39,300 --> 00:21:42,660 the women of the orchestra ranged in age from 11 to 75 334 00:21:42,660 --> 00:21:46,980 many staying on to play music at the Pieta their entire lives. 335 00:22:00,540 --> 00:22:02,700 The space they played in wasn't huge. 336 00:22:02,700 --> 00:22:05,940 Just imagine 30 to 40 of those women, 337 00:22:05,940 --> 00:22:09,140 players and singers all crammed onto a balcony 338 00:22:09,140 --> 00:22:11,220 often smaller than this. 339 00:22:11,220 --> 00:22:14,980 And playing alongside them their fiery-red-haired maestro 340 00:22:14,980 --> 00:22:17,060 pushing his violin to the limit. 341 00:22:17,060 --> 00:22:20,660 And encouraging them to improvise and perform free-form solos 342 00:22:20,660 --> 00:22:22,660 just like he did. 343 00:22:24,340 --> 00:22:26,980 He was an unusual person. 344 00:22:26,980 --> 00:22:30,260 I think the first thing that would come into mind 345 00:22:30,260 --> 00:22:32,260 would be "wild guy". 346 00:22:33,780 --> 00:22:35,780 He knew how to entertain. 347 00:22:35,780 --> 00:22:40,460 One visitor went to this concert 348 00:22:40,460 --> 00:22:42,540 which was in a church 349 00:22:42,540 --> 00:22:48,380 and "Don Antonio Vivaldi, famous composer and player, 350 00:22:48,380 --> 00:22:51,260 was prevailed upon to play during vespers 351 00:22:51,260 --> 00:22:53,620 in the above-mentioned church, 352 00:22:53,620 --> 00:22:56,700 which was so packed with people 353 00:22:56,700 --> 00:22:59,380 that scuffles broke out." 354 00:22:59,380 --> 00:23:03,380 In fact it says, (SPEAKS ITALIAN). 355 00:23:03,380 --> 00:23:05,380 They fainted. 356 00:23:06,780 --> 00:23:08,820 They fainted. 357 00:23:08,820 --> 00:23:12,060 How would you compare that with things that have happened 358 00:23:12,060 --> 00:23:14,180 in the 20th century and 21st century? 359 00:23:14,180 --> 00:23:16,220 With popular music and rock bands. 360 00:23:16,220 --> 00:23:18,300 It's the same. 361 00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:21,060 It's the same. See, I think he started it. 362 00:23:21,060 --> 00:23:23,140 Absolutely. 363 00:23:23,140 --> 00:23:26,060 Vivaldi mania. Vivaldi mania, I like that. 364 00:23:28,980 --> 00:23:33,540 Vivaldi's talent and flair would bring him enormous fame and success. 365 00:23:33,540 --> 00:23:36,740 But his rebellious streak would also attract enemies 366 00:23:36,740 --> 00:23:39,780 and sow the seeds of his eventual destruction. 367 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,040 By the early 1700s 368 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,560 Vivaldi was filling Venice with exciting new music 369 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,920 creating not just instrumental pieces but dozens of operas, oratorios 370 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:00,920 and sacred works, too. 371 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,640 He was writing two concertos a month for his all-girl band 372 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,800 and beginning to find his true calling as a composer. 373 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,640 Having a private orchestra with which to experiment 374 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,560 enabled him to develop a unique and challenging style 375 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:21,600 one that would go on 376 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:23,600 to change the face of music. 377 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:32,560 Isn't it lovely how great composers of the day like Vivaldi 378 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,720 helped young musicians come through. 379 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:36,800 For example, 9:00pm tonight, 380 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,200 Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, and the support act, W A Mozart. 381 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,440 Doesn't get any better than that, does it? 382 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,800 Vivaldi's revolutionary vision was that the music itself 383 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:53,880 should tell a story. 384 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:57,120 The players would paint pictures with their instruments 385 00:24:57,120 --> 00:24:59,760 and the listeners could follow them like a plot. 386 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,040 This reached its peak with a masterwork 387 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,120 written when he was 45 388 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:08,440 and at the height of his creative powers. 389 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,200 It features 12 concertos 390 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:16,560 he grandly named, "The contest between harmony and invention." 391 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,000 Four of them tower above the others. 392 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:23,760 We know them of course 393 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:25,840 as The Four Seasons. 394 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,320 Hello, lovely to see you. Lovely to see you. 395 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,320 Come on over. 396 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:35,040 To find out more about what inspired 397 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,080 the most famous of his 500 or so concertos, 398 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,680 I've come to the Venice Conservatoire 399 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,600 to meet musician and Vivaldi scholar Susan Orlando. 400 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:49,280 He lived in the city here in Venice. 401 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:54,000 What would he know about the countryside and the seasons? 402 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:59,720 What is certain is that he went and worked in the court in Mantua 403 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,440 a few years before The Four Seasons was published. 404 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,000 And if you think about him coming from Venice 405 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,320 where there are very few trees, if any, 406 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,280 there is no grass, 407 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,120 you don't hear the lovely twitter of birds in Venice very much. 408 00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:15,920 And so there might be an argument 409 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,760 that The Four Seasons was an inspiration 410 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:20,800 that came to him 411 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,480 when he spent this time in Mantua. 412 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,560 It's something that the listener 413 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,280 can immediately latch onto. It's something that they can work with 414 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,360 to form their own pictures. 415 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:36,880 I think it's part of... the secret of Vivaldi 416 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:38,920 and why his music works so well 417 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,920 is that somehow Vivaldi knew how... 418 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,920 He had the keys to writing a kind of music 419 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,080 that speaks immediately to the listener, 420 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,280 it touches your emotion immediately. 421 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,640 And you can then listen to it millions of times 422 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,720 and you never get tired of it. 423 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,240 I've often told this story. Twice I've had people at my house. 424 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,920 Once was an electrician and another time a plumber or something. 425 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,000 Where they were working away. 426 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,720 In the background Vivaldi's music was playing. 427 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,880 And two separate times these people came to me and said, 428 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:14,640 "Lady, I don't listen to classical music, but this stuff is great." 429 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,600 I'd like to think that he knew how good he was. 430 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,680 I'm sure he knew how good he was. 431 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,920 I have no doubt that he knew exactly how good he was. 432 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,000 That, as you said to me earlier, 433 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,880 in a way, Vivaldi was a kind of a rock star. 434 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,200 Because he played in such an exceptional way, 435 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,280 very extravagant. 436 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,320 He would have been conducting from his violin as well. 437 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:38,920 So he could really show off, move around 438 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,360 and improvise all his cadences. 439 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:44,360 And this meant that people started talking about him 440 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:46,800 and created a star. 441 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,160 But for someone as famous as Vivaldi, 442 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,800 18th-century Venice wasn't always an easy or safe place to be. 443 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:02,400 The city was a hotbed of intrigue and innuendo 444 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,720 and her citizens were well aware that the state kept its eye on them. 445 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,280 Along every canal, 446 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,800 around every corner loitered an army of spies and informants, 447 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,920 eager to report any salacious titbit. 448 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,200 Especially about celebrities. 449 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,600 In a strange way, I know what it feels like to be spied on. 450 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,320 It's not very nice. Sometimes it's your fault. 451 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:35,080 I was spied on between marriages by the press and the media 452 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,880 which I suppose is fine. It's their job, it's what they do. 453 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,680 But it is a very, very weird feeling 454 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,400 to know, that even if you are innocent on something, 455 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,520 every corner you go round there's likely to be somebody there 456 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,360 either pouncing out to ask you a question or accuse you of something. 457 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:53,840 But back then it must have been really horrendous 458 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:56,200 cos it was the authorities that did the spying. 459 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,200 And pretty nasty if you got caught. 460 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:05,400 The cause of Vivaldi's problems was inevitably for a rock star 461 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,400 the whiff of a sex scandal. 462 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,360 Some rumourmongers now began questioning 463 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:16,760 how the Red Priest could possibly resist his talented young charges. 464 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,840 When he was 58 during a trip to Mantua, 465 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,760 Vivaldi met a talented young singer named Anna Giro 466 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,080 some 40-odd years his junior. 467 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:29,920 She quickly became something of a muse and travelling companion. 468 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,960 And if the gossip is to be believed, a hell of a lot more. 469 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,400 Vivaldi adamantly denied wrongdoing 470 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,520 claiming Anna was merely his prodigy 471 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:41,520 and a help to a sick man. 472 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:44,360 But I'm off to meet someone 473 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,800 who presents an altogether different picture. 474 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,560 For 60 years, Dr Virgilio Boccardi 475 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,960 has lived on the very square where Vivaldi was born. 476 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,080 An award-winning journalist, writer and film maker, 477 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:02,120 he wrote a book outlining his investigation into the Red Priest. 478 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,160 (SPEAKS ITALIAN) 479 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,720 So was he... 480 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,480 a happy man in himself, do you think? 481 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:41,840 And as through much of his life, 482 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:45,000 money would soon become a serious problem. 483 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,640 Vivaldi had enjoyed almost 40 years on and off at the Pieta 484 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:51,640 while travelling around Europe. 485 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:54,760 But by the mid 1730s 486 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,880 his bosses had tired of his frequent absences 487 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,040 and seeing the decline of their once-great orchestra, 488 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,680 they cut the Red Priest loose for good. 489 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,960 Suddenly, the star once feted by cardinals and kings, 490 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,600 was in dire financial straits. 491 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,280 Nobody really knows why for sure 492 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:27,480 but in 1740, it seems that Vivaldi decided to start afresh. 493 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,800 He left this house on the Grand Canal, 494 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,200 his last-known residence in Venice, 495 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,240 to travel to Vienna, 496 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,920 possibly in search of a new patron. 497 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,440 But once there, the prince that he had pinned some of his hopes on 498 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,480 died 499 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,480 and work never materialised. 500 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,400 A year later, 501 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:52,880 he was dead, aged 63, 502 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,400 of an unknown illness recorded simply as an internal inflammation. 503 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,720 With little more ceremony than a peal of bells, 504 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,760 he was buried in obscurity 505 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:07,760 in Vienna's Hospital Cemetery. 506 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,600 Almost immediately, 507 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,360 Vivaldi and his work disappeared. 508 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,880 His revolutionary music was out of fashion 509 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:26,960 overshadowed by a trend for a new and much simpler style. 510 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:31,640 I can sympathise. 511 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:34,240 It must have been the 18th-century equivalent 512 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,240 of punk sweeping away prog rock. 513 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:41,760 But it was worse for Vivaldi. 514 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,920 There was no recording industry to keep his music alive 515 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,640 and often there would be only one hand-written copy 516 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:49,640 of the piece of music. 517 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,800 Which perhaps explains why there is no complete original manuscript 518 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,520 of The Four Seasons in existence. 519 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,160 There is one copy in the world. 520 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:04,120 But it isn't, as you might expect, in Italy. 521 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,760 In fact, it's right under our noses 522 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:12,760 here in the UK. 523 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:18,880 Hidden deep in the vaults of Manchester Central Library. 524 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,880 Roz Edwards, the curator of the music collection, 525 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:24,880 has agreed to show me. 526 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,560 Ooh. 527 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,320 Gosh, this is... This is absolutely brilliant. 528 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,360 So, how much of The Four Seasons have you got? 529 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:39,080 We've got all four parts of all four of the concertos. 530 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,080 Have you really? Yes. 531 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:43,120 That is Spring. 532 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,720 It's been beautifully copied out. 533 00:34:45,720 --> 00:34:47,800 It has, hasn't it? 534 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,160 It would have been written by a copyist. 535 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,200 Because it's so neat and tidy, 536 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,240 we think it was written 537 00:34:54,240 --> 00:34:56,280 for a special commission. 538 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,360 How would this compare 539 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,200 to what we know as The Four Seasons today? 540 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:04,200 It's similar in most cases 541 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:07,440 but there are one or two passages that are different. 542 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,840 What really makes these concertos unique 543 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,960 is that each season features a set of instructions 544 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:16,040 in the form of sonnets, 545 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,960 likely to have been written by Vivaldi himself. 546 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,560 The sonnets were sort of indicating 547 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,800 what the music was about. 548 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,560 For both the player and the audience. 549 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,120 So in their mind, the listener would know... 550 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:34,800 Because they could follow the music through via the poem. 551 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:39,200 Some of what he wrote was very specific to the text of the music. 552 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,240 So he'll have written, "Dogs are barking." 553 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:44,320 "Thunder and lightning." 554 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:47,800 But he also wrote sort of lines that indicated some sort of mood 555 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:51,360 like "soporific summer heat." 556 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:55,000 It really was a concept album. 557 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,560 Yes. Well, without the recording. 558 00:35:57,560 --> 00:35:59,640 Yes. 559 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,600 Had never been done before. No, not to my knowledge. 560 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,920 it just shows what is possibly still out there, doesn't it? 561 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:09,560 Yes. I'm gonna go to every car boot sale this year. 562 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,880 And buy every piece of music I can find. 563 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:15,680 This is astonishing. 564 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:19,640 Seeing these books is a revelation, 565 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:23,200 because they've confirmed for me something I've long suspected. 566 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:27,320 The Four Seasons isn't just a work of genius. 567 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,800 It's also a blueprint for the kind of music I play. 568 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,160 Seeing this evokes so many things. 569 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,400 The fact that it's 300 years old. 570 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:46,880 I've always said there's a great connection 571 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,360 between the Baroque period and shall we say 572 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,400 the '70s in particular, 573 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,480 the late '60s and the '70s 574 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,360 in modern-day rock music or popular music. 575 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:00,040 Because it has that same formula. 576 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,160 It's complicated but sounds simple. 577 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,240 And there is an art to playing it. 578 00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:09,480 And I can't help but think the guy who maybe did these pages indeed 579 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:12,560 sort of written them out and gone home to his missus... 580 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:14,600 "What did you do today, dear?" 581 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,680 "Oh, I copied some Vivaldi parts. 582 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,280 It's all right, he's playing it next Sunday." 583 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,280 How wonderful is that? 584 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,520 I'm now more convinced than ever 585 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,800 that The Four Seasons really was the first concept album. 586 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,800 But what do my fellow rockers think? 587 00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:36,000 I've come to test my theory on a pioneer of the form, 588 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,240 one of the founders of prog super band Genesis. 589 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:41,760 The guitarist Mike Rutherford. 590 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:44,920 What would you consider 591 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,480 the definition of a concept album really to be? 592 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:49,520 I suppose an album 593 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,360 where musical freedom was required 594 00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:54,440 and a story really. 595 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,800 Has to have a start, a middle, a finish, an end, and a purpose. 596 00:37:57,800 --> 00:37:59,920 And the purpose and the story would be 597 00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:03,000 to help the musician or to help the listener or...both? 598 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,080 Kind of both really. 599 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:08,600 Almost more to make the body work, get across to the audience. 600 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,960 You need words to tell the story, the music to follow the words. 601 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,520 It's a great platform to work from because you're free in between. 602 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,240 That's how I felt it with us, in my case, Genesis. 603 00:38:18,240 --> 00:38:20,320 It was just a kind of freedom. 604 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,320 It was a chance to write whatever the hell you wanted. 605 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:25,400 It's the way to present drama. 606 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,880 Cos songs, pop songs and hit songs are a certain sort of thing, 607 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:30,960 but the longer pieces 608 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,840 you can, as you did yourself, you can create a drama 609 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:35,920 and a mood and atmosphere. 610 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:38,560 If you made a list of the great concept albums, 611 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:43,680 would you say that The Four Seasons would actually slot in 612 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,440 and go, "Yeah, that comes under that category"? 613 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:50,080 Yeah, 100%. It's a fabulous concept, idea. It's so simple, isn't it? 614 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:54,200 It's a simple idea, something that people can recognise. Great tunes. 615 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,200 You should be able to just sort of... 616 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:58,280 say one sentence 617 00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:00,400 and everyone gets what it's all about. 618 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,440 In this case, the title tells you. 619 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:04,520 You're suddenly drawn in. 620 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:07,920 Before you even hear the music you imagine things visually. 621 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:09,960 Would you like to think 622 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,760 that maybe in 200 years' time... 623 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:18,800 ..that the concepts you put together with Genesis, 624 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:23,200 would you like to think that they could happily sit alongside 625 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,520 stuff like Vivaldi's Four Seasons? 626 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,840 Good question. Wonderful thought. 627 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,560 I think he'd have been an interesting character. 628 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:33,640 I'd have him in the band. 629 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,000 He's in our band first. I booked him first. 630 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,520 But still there are questions to be answered. 631 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,480 How did this prototype rock finally dig its way out of obscurity? 632 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:47,520 And once rediscovered, 633 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:49,600 what was it about The Four Seasons 634 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,920 that made it the classic we now all know and love? 635 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,800 It might be impossible to believe now 636 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:09,880 but until the late 1920s, 637 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,800 Antonio Vivaldi was virtually unheard of. 638 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:17,480 Known really only for the influence he had on other composers like Bach. 639 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,880 What really put him and The Four Seasons back on the musical map 640 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,800 was the birth of the recording industry. 641 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,160 The arrival of the LP in the 1940s 642 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:32,520 meant that millions of people everywhere around the world 643 00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:35,880 could hear this exciting new music for the very first time. 644 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:39,240 This was largely thanks not to a European 645 00:40:39,240 --> 00:40:42,000 but to an American violinist and concert master 646 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,080 more known for his work in Hollywood. 647 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,560 Louis Kaufman played solo violin 648 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,640 on close to 500 iconic movie soundtracks 649 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:56,640 including Gone With The Wind. 650 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,760 His 1947 album of The Four Seasons 651 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,840 kickstarted the modern Vivaldi revival 652 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,680 spawning over 1,000 different recordings. 653 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,760 But it was Nigel Kennedy's version in 1989 654 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:18,360 that propelled Vivaldi into the charts 655 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,320 thanks to the full pop marketing treatment. 656 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:31,480 ..one of the biggest-selling classical albums of all time... 657 00:41:35,240 --> 00:41:37,240 With anything this popular 658 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:39,320 comes the inevitable backlash. 659 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:41,840 And that has left lovers of The Four Seasons 660 00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:44,160 searching for ways to put a new spin on it. 661 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,160 I'm off to meet one of them. 662 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,880 Max Richter is a genre-hopping British composer 663 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,360 who has given the Seasons a 21st-century makeover. 664 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:56,400 Complete with its own app. 665 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,800 I had this weird experience of like 666 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,280 falling in love with this music when I was a kid 667 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,120 and then as I sort of got older 668 00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:07,560 I just became aware of hearing it all the time. 669 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,080 But on telly, on jingles, adverts. 670 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,120 In the shopping centre. 671 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,200 I started to kind of hate it. 672 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,800 So really I just sort of set out on this journey 673 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:19,640 to try and rediscover the original. 674 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:21,680 And just starting to kind of... 675 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,080 try to encounter it...afresh. 676 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:28,400 So what is it you've actually done with The Four Seasons then? 677 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,040 In a way it's like a remix, but not made in the computer or studio. 678 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,600 It's a remix of the actual dots on the page. 679 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:36,680 Done with a pencil. 680 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:46,040 It's almost like a co-write. 681 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:48,080 It's a collaborative project 682 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,160 except I've only got the score. 683 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:52,800 I haven't got him on the phone or sitting in the studio. 684 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:56,120 One of the things that drew me to Vivaldi 685 00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:58,800 was the fact that I felt there was a natural overlap 686 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:02,120 between what I naturally do and Vivaldi's music. 687 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,280 Cos actually in a way, Vivaldi's music was very modern. 688 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,400 It looks very contemporary on the page weirdly enough. 689 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:10,520 His music is really modular, chunky. 690 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:12,600 It's sort of pattern music. 691 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:16,000 Those of us who work with computers in recording 692 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:19,720 are very familiar with this idea, that way of structuring music. 693 00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:23,160 Dance music is all made like that. Electronic music mostly. 694 00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:26,200 So I felt there was a sympathy there anyway. 695 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:28,240 So if... 696 00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:30,280 if he were alive today 697 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:32,360 what do you think he would say? 698 00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,320 The first person to rework The Four Seasons was him. 699 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:37,360 Him? He repurposed it 700 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:39,960 and mashed it up for all sorts of other things. 701 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,080 And composers have always done that. 702 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:44,160 That is part of what composers do. 703 00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:47,600 Yeah. I don't think he would have a problem with it actually. 704 00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:49,760 I think he would be like, really fine. 705 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,720 In fact, I think Vivaldi would positively love it, 706 00:43:53,720 --> 00:43:56,320 that almost 300 years after his death, 707 00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:58,360 his music lives on. 708 00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:00,520 Not just in its more traditional form 709 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:03,600 but in ways he surely could never have imagined. 710 00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:23,640 Back on the outskirts of Venice 711 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:26,640 I've come to meet Croatian musician Mistheria, 712 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,880 founder of a global gathering of players and arrangers 713 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:33,600 who go by the name of the Vivaldi Metal Project. 714 00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:38,160 What sort of gave you the idea 715 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:41,240 that you could actually do a metal version of the music? 716 00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:43,240 I think Vivaldi 717 00:44:43,240 --> 00:44:47,440 worked most of his music under The Four Seasons 718 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:52,080 with the same approach as today metal music. 719 00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:54,120 He was a real rock star. 720 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,200 And not just because he was normal, 721 00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:59,360 but because his music was really rock. 722 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:03,040 In the way he keeps a rhythm going. 723 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:06,840 He was always searching for the best melodies. 724 00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,800 And understandable, harmonies. 725 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:11,880 I agree. 726 00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,160 I think that his audiences, for the first time, 727 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:17,640 we would have audiences sitting, going... 728 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:19,680 Yeah, that's the way. 729 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:21,760 For the first time. 730 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:25,240 Which is not dissimilar to as we have with metal. 731 00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:27,320 It's exaggerated the same way. 732 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:31,720 I'm guessing you haven't taken Vivaldi's music note for note? 733 00:45:31,720 --> 00:45:34,480 My idea was not to do it notes by notes. 734 00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:38,320 But I want to keep the energy of the Vivaldi music. 735 00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,960 What we are trying to avoid of course, violins. 736 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:44,440 Doing what is in the original because I could not do better... 737 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,480 Absolutely. 738 00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:48,520 So it's useless. 739 00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:50,560 I started to work on the summer 740 00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:53,120 and especially the third movement. 741 00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:55,760 I started with drums 742 00:45:55,760 --> 00:46:00,320 and some guitar that I named Inferno. 743 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:03,520 (GUITAR ROCK) 744 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,120 Yeah. 745 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:14,480 Antonio would be proud of you. 746 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,600 OK. I hope so. 747 00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:21,120 I want to give also some epicness 748 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:23,160 so I add 749 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,200 some choir... 750 00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:27,200 (CHOIR VOCALISES) 751 00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:30,560 (PIANO) 752 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:35,440 That really is good. 753 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:38,440 I'm more and more convinced, 754 00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:41,760 the more I'm on this journey of Vivaldi and The Four Seasons 755 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:43,840 that this is the route 756 00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:45,840 that he would have taken. Wow. 757 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:47,880 I'm now even more convinced. 758 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:49,920 So he was a metal guy? 759 00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:51,960 Maybe... 760 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:54,400 Maybe in his own way he was. 761 00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:56,400 (HEAVY METAL/CLASSICAL) 762 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:10,440 More than anything, what I've come to realise 763 00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:12,520 is that just like the music I write, 764 00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:16,000 The Four Seasons was all about making people feel good. 765 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:18,840 And Vivaldi was the first great frontman, 766 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:20,920 an 18th-century rock god. 767 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:24,160 In fact, the more I've learned about the Red Priest, 768 00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:28,720 the more I know I owe him a huge debt of musical gratitude. 769 00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:31,040 And so I'm going to show my appreciation 770 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:32,960 in the best way I know how. 771 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,160 By performing, ladies and gentlemen, 772 00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:37,800 a prog rock version of the main themes 773 00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:39,800 from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. 774 00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:43,800 subtitles by Deluxe 775 00:48:57,240 --> 00:48:59,240 Sorry, Antonio.