Lost Vivaldi score unearthed in Scotland
Seven-minute flute piece refers to India
Last Updated: Friday, October 8, 2010 | 2:00 PM ET Comments39Recommend47
CBC News
A lost flute composition by Antonio Vivaldi, the Italian composer behind The Four Seasons, has been discovered in Scotland and will be played in full for the first time in 250 years.
Music historian Andrew Woolley made the find in April while trolling through the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh. His discovery was just made public on Friday.
Il Gran Mogol is one of four national concertos created by Vivaldi in the early 1730s. The manuscripts of the four works disappeared soon after the composer's death in 1741.
Woolley was researching the work of Vivaldi and came upon the score listed in the archive's online catalogue. Upon further investigation, he realized the extraordinary discovery he had made.
"The new concerto is a delightful piece with an exquisite central slow movement," he told The Guardian newspaper.
Cultural tour
Woolley said he believes the score was collected during the 1730s by Lord Robert Kerr, the son of the third Marquis of Lothian, during a cultural tour through continental Europe. Kerr, also a flautist, died in 1746. His family's papers are held at the archives.
The manuscript is estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands.
Woolley said collecting scores was a common thing back in Kerr's time and they were considered souvenirs.
The music expert said the concerto refers to India, or the Mogul empire, and is one in a four-part series that includes La Francia, La Spagna, and L'Inghilterro (France, Spain and England), all of which remain lost.
Il Gran Mogol, a seven-minute piece, is to be played in full in January 2011 in Perth, Scotland. Concerts are also slated for Bury St. Edmonds in eastern England and in London. Dates are to be announced.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/10/08/vivaldi-lost-score.html#ixzz11vDr5Tb3
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