VivaVivaldi

Question 1

MC: Good morning children, this morning we’ve got a special treat for you. Many of you have been to our earlier concerts where we’ve met the strings and met the woodwinds, and met the brass, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a concert where we’ve met a real LIVE composer.

Answer 1

Have any of you met a composer before? What does a composer do? A composer is someone who creates music, usually by writing down notes that musicians can play. And the name of the composer we’re going to meet today is – does anybody know? Antonio Vivaldi.

Question 2

Have any of you met a composer before? What does a composer do? A composer is someone who creates music, usually by writing down notes that musicians can play. And the name of the composer we’re going to meet today is – does anybody know? Antonio Vivaldi.

Answer 2

Now, there’s a big problem with meeting Vivaldi in person, and does anybody know
what that is? Right, Vivaldi lived hundreds of years ago. He was born over 200 years ago in Venice, Italy and lived much of his life there, where he wrote and taught music in an orphanage called Pio Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of Mercy)—La Pieta for short.

Question 3

Now, there’s a big problem with meeting Vivaldi in person, and does anybody know
what that is? Right, Vivaldi lived hundreds of years ago. He was born over 200 years ago in Venice, Italy and lived much of his life there, where he wrote and taught music in an orphanage called Pio Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of Mercy)—La Pieta for short.

Answer 3

Does anybody know what an orphanage is? Hundreds of years ago, life was a lot harder for children and their parents.

Question 4

Does anybody know what an orphanage is? Hundreds of years ago, life was a lot harder for children and their parents.

Answer 4

Many children grew up without a mommy or daddy – why? Sometimes their parents were just too poor to raise them; sometimes they might even die before their children grew up. So people got together to figure out how to care for these poor children, and they came up with the idea of orphanages.

Question 5

Many children grew up without a mommy or daddy – why? Sometimes their parents were just too poor to raise them; sometimes they might even die before their children grew up. So people got together to figure out how to care for these poor children, and they came up with the idea of orphanages.

Answer 5

Now in Venice, Catholic priests and monks and nuns took these children in, and raised them and fed them, and taught them various skills, and if they were lucky, taught them various skills. Then they sent them out into the world when they were adults.

Question 6

Now in Venice, Catholic priests and monks and nuns took these children in, and raised them and fed them, and taught them various skills, and if they were lucky, taught them various skills. Then they sent them out into the world when they were adults.

Answer 6

Many also stayed behind and lived there all their lives there, becoming priests or nuns themselves, and teaching and feeding the new orphans who arrived on their doorstep every day. And there were a lot of them—sometimes 3 or 4 every day, year after year.

Question 7

Many also stayed behind and lived there all their lives there, becoming priests or nuns themselves, and teaching and feeding the new orphans who arrived on their doorstep every day. And there were a lot of them—sometimes 3 or 4 every day, year after year.

Answer 7

How did they get there? Well, some orphanages had a special box on the outside of the building that a mother might leave her baby in. You opened it on the outside, put your baby in, and then someone on the inside would take the baby in and care for it, no questions asked. As I said, it was a difficult life …

Question 8

How did they get there? Well, some orphanages had a special box on the outside of the building that a mother might leave her baby in. You opened it on the outside, put your baby in, and then someone on the inside would take the baby in and care for it, no questions asked. As I said, it was a difficult life …

Answer 8

[Man enters singing the Four Seasons…]

Question 9

[Man enters singing the Four Seasons…]

Answer 9

MC: Oh, here he comes now…

Question 10

MC: Oh, here he comes now…

Answer 10

[singins slowly fades away as he gradually notices the children assembled. A look of shock on his face as he back away. Speaks in an undertone]

Question 11

[singins slowly fades away as he gradually notices the children assembled. A look of shock on his face as he back away. Speaks in an undertone]

Answer 11

V:[to the MC] Excuse me, do you work here?

Question 12

V:[to the MC] Excuse me, do you work here?

Answer 12

MC: Well, actually…

Question 13

MC: Well, actually…

Answer 13

V: Why are all these children here?

Question 14

V: Why are all these children here?

Answer 14

MC: Well, it’s because…

Question 15

MC: Well, it’s because…

Answer 15

V: I see they’re here with their mothers and fathers…have they all been brought here to be left with us at the Orphanage?

Question 16

V: I see they’re here with their mothers and fathers…have they all been brought here to be left with us at the Orphanage?

Answer 16

MC: Well, actually…

Question 17

MC: Well, actually…

Answer 17

V: They look awfully well fed…

Question 18

V: They look awfully well fed…

Answer 18

MC; No, no Monsignor Antonio, these are just children we’ve brought here today to learn more about you and your work here at La Pieta, and maybe hear some wonderful music too.

Question 19

MC; No, no Monsignor Antonio, these are just children we’ve brought here today to learn more about you and your work here at La Pieta, and maybe hear some wonderful music too.

Answer 19

V: So they haven’t come hear to live with us?

Question 20

V: So they haven’t come hear to live with us?

Answer 20

W: No

Question 21

W: No

Answer 21

V: Well, that’s a relief. But…[2 paras]… well that makes me 234 years old. [Looks bewildered.] Wait a minute…. 234 years old, how on earth can that be possible, I don’t feel a day over 50?

Question 22

V: Well, that’s a relief. But…[2 paras]… well that makes me 234 years old. [Looks bewildered.] Wait a minute…. 234 years old, how on earth can that be possible, I don’t feel a day over 50?

Answer 22

MC: Um Signor Vivaldi, you see we had to bring you forward in time a couple hundred years, since these children wanted to know more about you.

Question 23

MC: Um Signor Vivaldi, you see we had to bring you forward in time a couple hundred years, since these children wanted to know more about you.

Answer 23

V: Forward in time, you say? How interesting. But I can go back, right?

Question 24

V: Forward in time, you say? How interesting. But I can go back, right?

Answer 24

MC: Yes, right after this concert

Question 25

MC: Yes, right after this concert

Answer 25

V: Because I have a lot of things to do at the Orphanage, writing music, teaching violin, saying mass. Actually, I was able to stop doing that a few years ago because of my [coughs] poor health, but I still have so much to do.

Question 26

V: Because I have a lot of things to do at the Orphanage, writing music, teaching violin, saying mass. Actually, I was able to stop doing that a few years ago because of my [coughs] poor health, but I still have so much to do.

Answer 26

MC: Yes, that’s ok. [sit down after V starts the next bit—still 2 lines]

Question 27

MC: Yes, that’s ok. [sit down after V starts the next bit—still 2 lines]

Answer 27

V: Well, thank you then for bringing all these children to me. [MC sits down.] Now…[2 paras]…Sometimes we don’t give them last names at all, just first names, and some of them have become big stars throughout Europe with just a single name. Can you imagine that?

Question 28

V: Well, thank you then for bringing all these children to me. [MC sits down.] Now…[2 paras]…
Sometimes we don’t give them last names at all, just first names, and some of them have become big stars throughout Europe with just a single name. Can you imagine that?

Answer 28

MC: Like Madonna, Rihanna?

Question 29

MC: Like Madonna, Rihanna?

Answer 29

V: Madonna—she sounds like a good Catholic girl, does she play the cello too?

Question 30

V: Madonna—she sounds like a good Catholic girl, does she play the cello too?

Answer 30

MC: No, she sings.

Question 31

MC: No, she sings.

Answer 31

V: Madonna del soprano… [1 para]…Now before they play, I think it’s important that we cover them up, don’t you. It’s simply not proper for people to come see girls play music, is it? Back in Venice, we like to cover them up with a large screen so that the audience members won’t be distracted by their beauty. Do we have something like that here?

Question 32

V: Madonna del soprano… [1 para]…Now before they play, I think it’s important that we cover them up, don’t you. It’s simply not proper for people to come see girls play music, is it? Back in Venice, we like to cover them up with a large screen so that the audience members won’t be distracted by their beauty. Do we have something like that here?

Answer 32

MC: Um Monsignor Vivaldi, here in the 21st century we don’t generally cover up performers. I actually think the children here would like to see the girls perform? [I’m done now]