Vivaldi: I tormenti d'amore. Vivaldi Magnifico

Far removed from the splendour of opera, Vivaldi's secular cantatas offer an intimate glimpse into the salons and courts of early 18th-century Italy. Mostly composed in Mantua, in the circle of Prince Philipp of Hesse-Darmstadt, they evoke a pastoral Arcadia inhabited by shepherds and nymphs, where Thyrsis, Chloris and Dorilla love, betray and pine away. Nature mirrors their passions: storms embody the turmoil of the heart, dawn heralds hope, and woods and caves shelter lovers' confidences.
Beneath the apparent simplicity of these stories, Vivaldi reveals a remarkable freedom of expression. Recitatives and arias unfold as miniature operatic scenes, where virtuosity and emotion take turns. A master of musical rhetoric, Vivaldi transforms every word into a gesture: silences become sighs, appoggiaturas, tears. Brought to life by Théo Imart's voice, these cantatas reveal an intimate and theatrical Vivaldi, capable of capturing the heart's most secret movements.