“Sacred Italian splendors” - Gervais

Gervais and Vivaldi at the height of their glory! In Italy at the beginning of the 18th century, Antonio Vivaldi was at the height of his career. Like G. Carissimi, C. Monteverdi or A. Caldara, he earned his place among the great masters of Italian polyphony by producing a remarkable sacred work. He is distinguished by the dramatic force of his cantatas and motets given in the church of Santa Maria della Pace in Brescia and at the Ospedale della Pietâ in Venice. At the same time, in the footsteps of J.B. Lully, Charles-Hubert Gervais, superintendent and master of music at the Royal Chapel of Louis XV, composed grande motets for choir and orchestra. His work is similar to his Italian counterpart, whom he admires through the staging of psalms in the form of “sung mini-dramas where the oppositions of style and character refer to a conception similar to the oratorio.”