All language subtitles for Now Hear This PBS Vivaldi Something Completely Different EN

-Wow.

I'm Scott Yoo.

Join me in Italy to discover
the secrets

behind one of the greatest
pieces of music ever written...

What? I thought
that Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"

didn't have a manuscript.

♪♪

Oh, it's different.

...from the ancient songs
that inspired it...

to the many composers
that it then inspired.

So Bach was a Vivaldi admirer?

Cheers.

I'll take in
the famous landscapes

and food of Italy...

I've never had
anything this good.

-This is the art of being
a Southern Italian.

-...meeting renowned musicians,
singers, and violin makers.

This is very special.

They don't make them
like this anymore. Do they?

-Genius is genius.

-Along the way,
I'll learn how Vivaldi

gathered the sounds
of his country...

That's like a bagpipe.

...and captured
in his masterpiece.

I get the chills reading
Vivaldi's handwriting.

Then I'll hear and play
some of his other great works,

which were nearly lost
to history.

-It's rock 'n' roll, like Elvis.
-Really?

-Yes.

-Next on "Great Performances,"

an episode from the new music
series "Now Hear This."

♪♪

♪♪

-Wow.

[ Choir singing
in foreign language ]

♪♪

Venice -- Antonio Vivaldi
was born here

in this amazing city on the sea

before Beethoven,
before Mozart, even before Bach.

Though he wrote more
than 500 works,

he's most famous for one,
"The Four Seasons."

I was here to get to know it
in all new ways,

and I'd start by looking at
something completely different.

Less than a month ago,

a new Vivaldi work
was discovered.

Grazie, Signore.

[ Choir continues singing ]

♪♪

♪♪

What you're seeing
is not just the first time

this piece has been filmed,

but the first time
in 3 centuries

it's even been heard.

300 years after his death,

a sold-out crowd is here
for a Vivaldi premiere.

How could that be?

Well, Vivaldi was only
recently discovered.

Nearly all his music was lost,
but that's a story for later.

[ Choir singing ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Applause ]

Vivaldi wrote many religious
works like this one.

That's at least partly
because he began his life

not as a composer,
but as a priest.

♪♪

I wanted to know more about
Vivaldi's sacred music,

and for that,
I had to go to church.

♪♪

♪♪

My friend, Margherita Gianola,

is the organist at one of
the oldest churches in Venice.

Basilica dei Frari
was built in the 1300s.

When Vivaldi was here,
it was already 3 centuries old.

Most of his sacred music
was lost for centuries,

but the few who do know it
say it's as profound

as the religious music of Bach.

♪♪

Margherita.

How are you? I'll come around.

Hi, Margherita.
-Ciao, Scott.

-How are you?
-Well, thank you, and you?

-I was listening to you play
as I walked in.

Is that Vivaldi?

-Vivaldi, but Vivaldi has
written nothing for organ,

but this is Vivaldi
because it is the transcription

by Johann Sebastian Bach.

-Okay. Now I understand.

-He liked very much music
by Vivaldi.

-So Bach was a Vivaldi admirer.

-Yes, an admirer.

-I just arrived
in Venice today, actually.

This is my first time here,

and I came to Venice to research
the Vivaldi "Four Seasons."

-Si, yes.

-That was written here
in Venice, I assume.

-No, no, no.

He wrote them
when he was in Mantua.

-Okay.
-It is in the countryside.

-So I came to Venice
to study "The Four Seasons,"

and what I learned
is I have to go

to the countryside...
-Yes, really.

-...to find out
about "The Four Seasons."

-But "Four Seasons" is the most
recorded work in the world.

-Mm. I'm not surprised.

And this instrument
that you're playing here --

tell me about this instrument.

It looks very old.

-Yes, here
in the Church of Frari,

we have three organs,
but it is the oldest in Venice.

It was built in 1732.

-Oh, my God.
-That is to say,

before the death of Vivaldi.
-Vivaldi, right.

-Because he died in 1741.
-Wow.

-And we have the keyboard,
the original keyboard.

It is very small.
-Oh, my God.

-Look at -- and Vivaldi
has written some pieces

for organ and the violin
and orchestra string.

We can play the second movement,
where the orchestra don't play.

We can play together
if you like.

-Great, I'd love to do that.
Okay. Let me get my violin.

♪♪

♪♪

Imagine Vivaldi as a boy,
being taught by his father,

a violinist
in the church orchestra.

What music do you think
he first learned?

It must have been the hymns.

♪♪

Imagine a teenage Vivaldi

training for the priesthood
for 10 years,

and listening that whole time

to the beautiful, simple,
vocal music of the church.

♪♪

♪♪

When I was playing this music,
something came to me.

The singing melodies like this
one that he's famous for

came not from Vivaldi
the composer,

but from Vivaldi the priest.

♪♪

You can hear
his religious training

in almost everything else
he wrote.

In understanding
"The Four Seasons,"

this was my first clue.

♪♪

The next day,
I was off to the countryside

to look for more clues,

and there's no
Italian countryside

that quite compares to Tuscany.

♪♪

I went there to meet my friends
from Duo Baldo

at their favorite restaurant,
Villa Conti.

Part of what makes them
Italy's best musical comedians

is that they're true experts
in Italian music.

-We took the liberty
of ordering you something.

-Excuse me.
-Oh, fantastic. Oh, my God.

Look at it.
-This is...

-Enjoy.
-...Italian antipasto.

-Yeah.
-Wow.

-Scott.
-Cheers.

-It's always great
to see you, man.

-Cheers.
-To Vivaldi.

-That's right.
-To Vivaldi.

♪♪

-This antipasto is just like
what you eat in the States

except that
each individual piece

is the best
you've ever had, right?

-Yes.
-It's incredible.

-Incredible. Each is so unique
and so different from...

-Oh! I've never had
anything this good.

-This is the art of being
a Southern Italian.

-Mm-hmm, you're lucky.
-Oh.

-Il prima, cavatelli al pesto.

-Wow.

-So these
are cavatelli with pesto.

-Pesto alla Genovese.
-And it's fresh-made pasta.

-Buon appetito.

-Buon appetito. Grazie.

♪♪

-Mmm.
-This is fantastic.

So light.
-Yeah, and so light.

-It's so tasty.
-Well, the secret

to Italian cooking
is really the simplicity,

but the base products have to be
such a certain quality.

-Well, it's like a violin --
it's just spruce, maple,

some ebony, some glue,
and what's in that varnish?

-That's it.
-Yeah, what's in that varnish?

-That's it, nothing.
-A little imagination.

I came to talk to Aldo
about something Vivaldi did

that was
completely revolutionary.

He based "The Four Seasons"
on poetry

that describes
the Italian countryside,

writing the music
to mimic the sounds of nature.

-He loved opera very much,

and this is like an instrumental
opera in four acts.

-Beautiful.
-Right.

-So let's start
from the beginning.

"Giunt' è la primavera,"
spring has arrived,

so it's just...How do you
say -- "la presentazione"?

-Yeah, the presentation.
-Presentation.

-It sort of...
-But then it comes down

on something specific --
"e festosetti --

La Salutan gl' Augei
con lieto canto" --

and joyfully,
the birds greet her, the spring,

with glad song,

and you can see here
in the score,

he describes the birds.
-Those -- The trilling --

-They're singing.
-The trilling violins.

-Yeah.
-Right.

-Right, and the little scales.

And then, "E i fonti
allo Spirar de' Zeffiretti

con dolce mormorio
Scorrono intanto,"

and the streams,

a zephyr's breath flow forth,

and here you have a section.

You see this...
-This movement.

-...these notes going
just like the river flows.

"Vengon' coprendo
l' aer di nero amanto,

e lampi,
e tuoni ad annuntiarla eletti,"

and now there come
the thunder and lightning,

and the music also
reflects it with this...

-Thundering tremolos.
-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Notes and this scale
going upwards.

[ Trilling ]

-[ Laughs ]

-Why are you laughing?

And then, at the end of this...

-Thunder and lightning.
-Spring storm system.

-...spring storm, yeah...
-Mm-hmm.

-...the birds come back
to their enchanted singing.

-Singing.
-That's the first movement?

-That's the first movement.
-Okay.

♪♪

-Second movement, the "Largo" --

"E quindi sul
fiorito ameno prato

al caro mormorio
di fronde e piante --

dorme 'l caprar col fido
can' à lato."

On the...

-[ Speaking Italian ]

-Yeah, the flowered fields.

-Yeah, on flowered fields...
-Landscape.

-...sleeps the goatherd

with his trusted dog.

We have the -- the dog barking,
a viola.

-Can you sing that, Aldo?
It's a great line.

-[ Bleating ]
-[ Laughs ]

-It's beautiful.
-I know.

[ Dog barks ]

♪♪

-Aldo, could you tell
the shepherd it's incredible?

But his dog barks
the same C-sharp

that the piece starts with.

-That's amazing.
-Yeah.

-[ Speaking Italian ]

♪♪

-[ Laughs ]

-That's fantastic. Good dog.

♪♪

-And then it says,
"Scioglie il Cucco la Voce,"

the cuckoo sings,
and inside the musical figure,

there is the...

-Cuckoo.
-...the cuckoo, the third,

the minor third.

Cuckoo, cuckoo.

-I asked our engineer
to record some sounds.

-Over this way?
-Yeah, and, like, you know,

like, sticking --
sticking your boom in there

and then seeing
if we can get a cuckoo.

-Yeah.
[ Birds chirping ]

-You know,
one of the things I think

is kind of cool about this piece

is that it's virtuosic,
but it's -- it's...

The passage is describing

a very sort of primitive animal,
this cuckoo, right?

-Yeah.
-And it's just two notes...

[ Notes play ]

...but he adds enough notes,
enough other notes

to make it sound cool, right?
-Right.

♪♪

And then you have...

♪♪

Then you have...

♪♪

And then I have...

♪♪

♪♪

Then we have together...

[ Orchestra plays ]

♪♪

Like Aldo said, with the poems
as their story line,

"The Four Seasons"
are an instrumental opera,

and Vivaldi's instrument
was the violin.

He was the greatest player
of his time.

To push the instrument
into new territory

as he did
with "The Four Seasons,"

first, the violin had to be
capable of going there.

Luckily, Vivaldi was alive
at the same time

as Antonio Stradivari,
the Great Stradivarius.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Bell tolling ]
To find out more, I went to see

one of Italy's best modern
violin makers, Igor Moroder.

As an apprentice, Igor trained
under a master famous

for being able
to adjust the violin

to produce its best sound.

Now he's the master himself,
and I needed a little work done.

Hi, Igor.
-Hi. Good morning, Scott.

-How are you?
-Fine.

-Thanks for seeing me.

-Please, come in.
-Thank you.

-How do you do?
-I'm doing great.

My violin spent
a little time outside.

So it needs to be adjusted,
I think.

-Yeah, yeah.
-Would you mind?

-I try it,
and then I tell you more.

Hmm, great.

-So, do you need to move
the post around?

What do you think?

-Let's try.

♪♪

-Inside the violin,
the sound post,

a wooden dowel held in place
by pressure only,

allows the front and back
of the violin

to communicate with each other.

A long plane flight
or change in humidity

can cause the post to shift.

An expert who knows just
how to move it,

sometimes by less
than a millimeter,

can make a very noticeable
difference in the sound.

[ Notes play ]

♪♪

-Over here, a string...
-There are not --

There are very few people
who can do this right.

♪♪

-It's singing more this way.
Yeah.

That's the right place
for me, just...

-Wow. Can I try it?
-Yeah, please.

♪♪

♪♪

-Wow.
-Mm. It's a bit more round.

-Fantastic.
-It's -- It's...

-I don't think this violin
has sounded better.

It's really a great adjustment.
Thank you.

-[ Chuckles ] Yes.

-You know, Igor, when Brahms
was writing his first symphony,

he said that it was
very difficult for him

because Beethoven was
looking over his shoulder.

-Now, you're here in Italy,
and you're making violins.

Is it difficult having
Guarneri del Gesu and Stradivari

looking over your shoulder?
-Of course.

-Do you feel pressure?
-Nobody is able to make today

a violin with such sound
qualities like they could.

Stradivari was born after
five generations

of violin-making tradition
in Cremona.

Okay?

The genius of Stradivarius
was he concentrated

the common experience made
in generations in one man,

but the violin making died
in Italy

in the first years
of the 19th century,

so nobody knows today exactly
what they did in former times,

and if you see here, for
instance, that's interesting --

I show you something.

After everything is finished,

the neck has been fitted
in the box and then varnished,

and the varnish,
that's the real nightmare.

You put a varnish on today

which has been cooked
10 years before

because varnish has to season
like an old wine.

-Varnish before you apply it
has to be seasoned?

-Yes. I use varnish I cooked
20 years ago in '96...

-Oh, my God.
-...when I was younger.

Now, this varnish, when I put it
on a violin today,

maybe I have to wait
another 10 or 20 years

to say if this varnish
is good or not.

Hmm? That means this time lag
is 30, 40 years.

-Wow.
-A life is not enough

to become
a good violin maker, no way.

-Right.
-Yeah.

Maybe if all my knowledge,
my researches, could be given

in one step
to a young violin maker,

he will maybe reach
to a higher level

than I could
during a whole lifetime.

You see? Could be.

♪♪

-The transfer of knowledge
from master to apprentice

over generations

is what made Stradivari great
and how Igor learned his craft,

but that system mostly died
when Napoleon invaded Italy.

In Stradivari's hometown
of Cremona,

they're trying to rebuild it.

There are now
200 violin makers here.

Many came from other countries
to learn and never left.

Brad and I were here
to play their violins.

I've played new fiddles
from Washington state

and Michigan and New York,

but I've never actually
gotten to play

a new fiddle from Cremona.

This is kind of exciting.

-Oh, very exciting.

♪♪

[ Scraping ]

[ Scraping continues ]

♪♪

♪♪

-I have one of these,
but it's for working on my car.

-Yes?
-[ Laughing ] Yeah.

How many weeks away is she away
from having a finished violin?

[ Both speaking Italian ]

-Two weeks.
-Two. Two.

-Mm.
-It's a lot of work.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

All these makers were
once apprentices

training with masters.

They're now the third generation
since the violin-building school

was reborn here in the 1930s.

♪♪

Where did you get all this wood?

-Some parts --
I went to Northern Italy

to get this spruce

because it's the best one
of the world.

-Northern Italy's spruce
is the best?

-Yeah, yeah, and in the city,
I can get everything I want.

-May I touch this?
-Yeah, yeah.

-So this piece here is 1980.
-Yeah, yeah.

-This is spruce from 1980.

-Yeah, about
40 years old already.

-It's amazing.
-Yes.

-So will you make a violin
out of this at some point?

-Yeah, next violin,
I will use this piece.

-Uh-huh.
-And then here,

the maple like this,

I find them in 2015,
but it was already 30 years old.

-Wow, that's really impressive.

♪♪

♪♪

Luca Salvadori is recognized
as one of the best makers

in Cremona.

♪♪

♪♪

That sound is just fabulous.

I mean, it feels like
an old instrument.

-Thank you.
-How did you do that?

-[ Laughs ]
-[ Chuckles ]

-Many things.
[ Both laugh ]

-Did you learn that here
in Cremona?

-Yeah.
-Uh-huh.

It's extraordinary,
but this is very special.

♪♪

How much is this instrument?

-The price?
-Yes.

-30,000 Euro.
-Okay.

-13, tredici?
-No, not 13.

-Trenta?
-Trenta.

-Trenta?
-Si, signore.

♪♪

-If you want something good,
you have to pay.

My last stop was
a husband-and-wife team.

He's from Mexico
and specializes in cellos.

She's from Switzerland
and is known for violins.

[ Scraping ]

It's difficult.
It's -- It's -- It's --

You have to use a lot of force.

-You have to find
the right angle.

-The right angle, right.

-Yes.

[ Scraping lightly ]

-Okay.

[ Laughs ]

These are probably similar tools
to what Stradivari used

when he was making violins.

-Yes.
-It's not that much

different, right?
-No, not much.

-No.
-No.

-Are made better, but are
the same kind of tools,

the gouge, the chisels, knives.

-One thing that Stradivari
has on you is just time.

-Yes.

-He has 250 years
of an advantage.

-Yes.
-Yeah.

These are all
high-level builders,

but are any of them
the next Stradivari?

We'll know in 40 years

once their violins have had time
to mature.

If not them,

maybe their students
or their students' students.

For now, I wanted to play
the same Vivaldi movement

on the four different violins
that I tried.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Bell tolling ]

[ Choir singing ]

♪♪

If Stradivari had built
and Vivaldi had played,

say, the oboe,

orchestras today
might look very different.

Instead, together,
they made the violin

the leading instrument
of classical music

and changed the direction
of music forever.

The violin has always been
a part of my life.

I started playing when I was 3,

so it's easy even for me
to forget

that it didn't always exist.

♪♪

♪♪

Before Stradivari,
instruments were more primitive,

and the human voice was still
the most capable of them all.

♪♪

♪♪

In the medieval town of Siena,

I was headed
to the Accademia Chigiana,

the most celebrated music
conservatory in all of Italy.

I was here to listen
to the early music

that Vivaldi must have heard
and been influenced by.

[ Choir singing ]

♪♪

Joining me
was the famous countertenor

Alessandro Carmignani,

along with Antonio Artese,

the musicologist
and jazz pianist.

♪♪

♪♪

-Bravo, that was great.
[ Applause ]

Bravo.

[ Applause continues ]

[ Note plays ]

-Mm.

♪♪

-This instrument,
the hurdy-gurdy,

is part early violin,
part early keyboard,

and part alley cat.

I think we can all be happy that
something better came along.

♪♪

[ Conversing
in foreign language ]

[ Rhythmic percussion plays ]

[ Rhythmic percussion
continues ]

-[ Singing in Italian ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Antonio was going to walk me
through the transition

from early music to Vivaldi
and onward, all the way to jazz.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Antonio Artese, thank you
so much for being here with me.

-Thank you.
-It's really great...

I mean, this is just
a gorgeous room.

-Absolutely. And a gorgeous...
-You like this piano?

-What's the story
behind this piano?

-You know what this piano is?

Well, I can play some hint,
a musical hint for you.

[ Soft piano music plays ]

♪♪

-Are you kidding?
-Yeah.

-This is Liszt's piano?
-That's Liszt's piano.

-Holy [bleep].

Oh, oops. I'm sorry.
[ Laughter ]

-All right.

-Antonio, you took us all
the way to 20th-century jazz,

which just blows my mind,

but how do we get
from Renaissance music

to the baroque?

Was it the improvement
in technology of instruments

that led composers to write
more instrumental music,

or did the interest
in instrumental music

force makers like Stradivari
and Guarneri del Gesu

to make better instruments?
What came first?

-Well, it happened that,
you know, first of all,

I mean, the instruments
were a little more...

The technology came, you know,
and helped us, you know,

so I think that
the technology evolved,

the instruments evolve,

and the capacity
and the invention

and the visions of the composers
merged into that kind of,

you know, ability that
the instruments have.

-What you're saying is that,
I mean [sighs]

guys like
the Amati family, Stradivari,

they're making
these great instruments,

and they're inspiring
in some ways people like Vivaldi

and other baroque composers
to write instrumental music...

-Absolutely.

-...because the technology
is there.

-Absolutely.
Because they sound good,

and the technology was...
-Because they sound good.

-Yeah, and then they were able
to envision the sound.

They were able to envision --
You know, Vivaldi is so visual.

It's like a, you know,
constant soundtrack...

-Right.
-...if we look at it, you know?

He looks...
I mean, he was in this world,

and everything was
so natural to him.

We don't have, you know,
the mental depth

of the counterpoint
that Bach elaborated.

Bach was very fond
of Vivaldi, obviously.

I think the genius of Vivaldi
is in taking a melody

and very fresh, very inventive,
with an incredible amount

of variations
and giving us the freshness,

I mean,
to kind of approach it...

Allows us to enjoy the music.

Okay, so here's the Vivaldi
melody "La Follia."

The Sonata number one,
opus one, number 12.

♪♪

-But what if Bach wrote that?

What would that sound like?
-Oh, it'd sound like this.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Did you just make that up
on the spot?

-Oh, yeah. That's totally
an improvisation from me.

-[ Laughs ] Good for you.

I wish I had
that kind of a mind.

-Thank you.

-So obviously Bach had
a huge influence on...

-On anyone.
-...Mozart.

-Yeah.
-He had an influence

on Beethoven and Brahms,

Mendelssohn, Schumann,

so there kind of is a link

from Vivaldi
to all of those composers.

-Yeah, I mean, you know,
obviously,

I compare this to the DNA.

You know, you have a cell of DNA
you bring always with you --

with your change,
I mean, obviously,

I mean,
you morph into something else,

but you still keep the kind of
original freshness and pattern

that characterize
your inner thing,

so, for instance,

this theme can be interpreted
in a different way,

so let's say that Mozart
was writing, you know,

was maybe a variation on them.

♪♪

♪♪

-Beautiful.

What about Beethoven?

-Ah, that's a difficult one.
-[ Laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-How many composers
do you have in you?

-Oh. [ Chuckles ]
I don't know,

but we can try
some Romantic stuff.

♪♪

-[ Laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

Okay. If we skip over
the 12 tone

and the Second Viennese School
[laughs]

what about like someone
like Bill Evans?

♪♪

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

So, Vivaldi inspired Bach,

who inspired everyone
after that.

Maybe this is why Vivaldi sounds
so good to us to this day.

He's always been with us
in other music,

and I think we can recognize it
whenever we hear him,

but we almost didn't hear him.

♪♪

100 years ago,
Vivaldi was all but forgotten

because most of his music
had been lost.

Then, one day, in 1926,

a priest brought a box
to the Turin Library.

In it was the greatest musical
discovery of the 20th century.

♪♪

-Hey, Scott.
-Hey, Brad. How are you doing?

-We have something to show you.

-Oh, I can't wait.
-Hi. Ana.

-Ana.
-Benvenuto.

-Franca. Benvenuto.
-Franca.

-Franco.
-Franco.

-Scott, Ana, and Franca

are the curators
of this collection.

-Okay.
-They're responsible

for all of Vivaldi's
manuscripts.

-Oh.

-And 92%
of Vivaldi's manuscripts

are in this room.

-92%?
-92%.

-92% of Vivaldi's music
is in this room?

-Maybe more than 92%.

-Oh, my God.
-Yes.

-Oh, my God.

Franca, what are you
showing me here?

-"Il Giustino."
-What?

I thought that Vivaldi's
"Four Seasons"

didn't have a manuscript.

-Yeah, the manuscript of
"The Four Seasons" is lost.

-Okay.
-But if you see...

-Oh, this is
a little different.

-Yes, because he uses
in the "Giustino" and opera...

-Uh-huh.
-...the beginning of the spring.

-Oh, wait. Let me try this.
I want to try this a little bit.

Wow.

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, it's different.

[ Laughter ]

♪♪

♪♪

That's amazing. That's amazing.
That's great.

It's beautiful.

It's...

It's -- I get the chills

playing Vivaldi's music
reading Vivaldi's handwriting.

That's amazing.

The discovery
of these manuscripts,

over 90%
of Vivaldi's life's work,

made him the household name
you know today.

It included dozens of operas.

Vivaldi's operas sometimes
borrowed melodies

from his other music.

Are there other things
I can see here?

Are there violin concertos,
for example?

-Yes. Do you like "L'Amoroso"?

-Oh, that's my favorite one.

[ Laughter ]

♪♪

[ Conversation in Italian ]

-When I was 4 years old, I used
to climb up my parents' dresser

to play their record
of "L'Amoroso,"

the love concerto.

They weren't musicians,
but they loved music.

More than "The Four Seasons,"

it's the piece from Vivaldi
that I've loved most.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Wow.

♪♪

When the priest brought
this collection to Turin,

it had been donated
to his church,

and he had no idea
of what it was.

Luckily, the library did.

Raise money for his church.
-Yes.

-Sure.

-Mm-hmm.
-Great.

-Importance...
to keep them together.

-So, in the case
of this collection,

if it were a different priest,

we may not be looking
at these books right now.

-Yes, yes.

-[ Speaking Italian ]

-I kind of understand.
-They consider their library

as sort of the new home
of Vivaldi.

-Well, you are the guardian
of Vivaldi's music.

-Yes.

-If the priest had sold
this collection to music dealers

as he planned,

they would have divided it and
sold it to private collectors,

and Vivaldi's music,
like "L'Amoroso,"

may never have been discovered.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Vehicle approaching ]

♪♪

♪♪

In nearby Bergamo, Igor found me
a Stradivari violin to play.

It's owned by a Swiss bank

and is now for sale
for $15 million.

The mayor wanted to bring it
to me himself

to play
at the Church of San Pietro.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Signore, buon giorno.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Looks very nice, huh?
-Yeah, looks...

-In very, very good
condition, too, no?

-Well preserved.
-Yeah.

♪♪

Let's try if it works and...

♪♪

Good.
-Feels good?

-Yeah.

♪♪

-Mm.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

That's...
-That's...

-There's nothing like a Strad.

-You hear the quality
of this incredible violin.

-They don't make them like this
anymore, do they?

-No, no way.

Genius is genius.

-He was the best in 1714.
-Yes.

-He was the best
in 1737, when he died,

and he's still the best.

-And he will stay the best.

-I think I'd like to play
a couple of notes on this.

-Yeah, yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Playing this Vivaldi melody
on a violin like this

in a place like this,

and it hit me again --

Vivaldi was not just a composer.

He was a deeply religious man

elevating his instrument
to touch the divine.

♪♪

[ Wind whooshing ]

My last stop was back to Venice

to better understand
the other side of Vivaldi,

his opera,

with one
of Italy's best sopranos,

Maria Luigia Borsi.

The aria I wanted to play
is from another opera

inspired by "The Four Seasons,"

this time,
the first movement of "Winter."

So, Vivaldi was from Venice.

-Yes, right.
-But he saw this.

He saw that.
-Yes.

-He saw that.
-That's amazing.

Yes.
-It's amazing.

Of course, as a violinist,
I know about,

you know, "The Four Seasons"
and violin concertos,

but how many operas
did he write?

-Vivaldi wrote a lot
of opera, 94 opera.

-That's a lot.
-Yeah, that's a lot --

it's true.
-Wow.

-But they have discovered
just 40, 50...

-So less than half?
-Half, half, just half.

-94 operas?
-Yes.

-And we only know
about 40 of them.

-Yes, just 40,
and one was discovered in 2008.

-Really?
-Yes, and another in 2012.

-Really?
-Yeah.

-So they're finding
these things all the time.

-Yeah.
-That's strange.

We could find one next week.
-Maybe. Yes.

-That's crazy.
And we have 50 more to go.

Hopefully -- Hopefully,
they'll find some of these...

Do you sing
any of them yourself?

-No, not really, not really.
-Do you sing any of the arias?

-Just arias, yes,
some, of course,

I sang some arias from...

-Have you ever sang that really
pretty aria from "Farnace"?

-Yes.

-Would you like
to play it with us?

-Why not?
-Yeah. Let's do it.

-It's a very good -- beautiful.
-It's awesome.

-Oh, so modern.
-What do you mean by modern?

-I think it's very modern
because, mm,

because of the feeling.

-Sort of the pain in the music?
-Yes, the pain...

-The sadness?
-...but also the rebellions.

-Uh-huh.
-I can hear the...

I can feel the rebellion
in this kind of music,

the fire in some way.

That's why I think
it's rock and...

-It's what? It's rock?

-Rock, rock, yes.
-Rock 'n' roll?

-Rock 'n' roll, like Elvis.
-Really?

-Yes.
[ Both laugh ]

Yes, because
you can hear the heart,

the beat of the heart...

-The heart.
-[ Breathing rhythmically ]

-Also, the intensity.

-Well, that sounds like a role
you would typically sing.

-Yes, yes, yeah.
-Well, let's go do it.

-Yes. Let's go.
-Okay. [ Laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-[ Singing in Italian ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

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-With this, my understanding
of "The Four Seasons"

snapped into focus.

Its melodies are inspired
by the church,

yet delivered
with opera-like drama.

"The Four Seasons" is Vivaldi's
two opposing musical passions,

the church and the opera,

brought together
by his virtuosity.

It's a sacred instrumental opera
with the violin as the star.

I'm Scott Yoo, and I hope
you can now hear this.

-To order "Now Hear This" on DVD
or the companion CD,

visit shopPBS
or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

This program is also available
on Amazon Prime Video.

♪♪

♪♪

To find out more about this

and other "Great Performances"
programs,

visit pbs.org/greatperformances,

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and follow us on Twitter.

♪♪

♪♪

-Next time on
"Great Performances,"

come with me to meet the
greatest musician of all time,

Johann Sebastian Bach.

-This is him.
-Definitely.

-His violin music

is some of the most difficult
in existence.

I have to make pretzels
out of my fingers.

To play it, I'll need
to understand his personality.

-This is a riddle.

You need to figure out
what it means.

-What I discover along the way

will change my mind
about Bach forever.

Next time
on "Great Performances,"

another episode
of "Now Hear This."