Vivaldis Four Seasons, Concerts at St. Charles Church in Vienna

Concert & Orchestra

The Church of St. Charles is one of the most impressive buildings in Vienna. It is a vibrant center of historical performances of Mozart, Vivaldi and Ave Maria with the ORCHESTRA1756 on period instruments. With the exception of Thursdays, we will play in the St. Charles Church with an exceptional orchestra, with soloists also talking to the stage on several concerts. Visiting our concerts will not only be an remarkable experience for you - you will also directly support the important work of the ORCHESTRA 1756.

VIVALDI - The Four Seasons

The St. Charles Church was finished in 1737. Three years later the Venetian priest and composer Antonio Vivaldi moved to Vienna and it is said that he visited this brand new extraordinary sacral building. As nowaday one is still attracted by its architecture, to people of the 18th century the Charles Church must have appeared as strange and exceptionally unique. Vivaldi died in Vienna on July 28th 1741. He was buried just a few meters from Charles Church at “Spitaler God's Acre“. Today there is the building of the Technical University and just a small sign on it reminds us of Vivaldi. The grave and the bones are - like Mozart's - missing. Only a few years before Vivaldi moved to Vienna he composed his most famous work: the “Four Seasons“ - a compilation of four revolutionary concerts for solo violin and string orchestra. Four poems (maybe written by Vivaldi) are the image of the composition which shows us furious thunder storms and flashes, breaking ice and twittering of birds, sleeping shepherds, barking dogs, a band of hunters and many spectacular impressions more...

Important Information

Category 1
Best available Seats at the time of your booking will be assigned to you. You will get your seat numbers at the entrance to the Concert.

Category 2 and 3
Free seating within the booked category.

Indoor Temperature
In St. Charles Church it can be very cold in winter and quite warm in summer – we recommend dressing according to the weather so that you can enjoy the concert comfortably.

Wheelchair users
Due to emergency exit regulations, there is a special booking process for wheelchair users, which we cannot offer online. Please contact us at info@viennaconcerts.com .

Children
Children under 6 are not allowed to attend the concert.

Venue

In 1713 - one year after the last great plague epidemic - Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, pledged to build a church for his namesake patron saint Charles Borromeo, who was revered as a healer for plague sufferers. An architectural competition was announced in which Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach prevailed over Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt (among others). The construction began in 1716. After J.B. Fischer's death in 1723 his son Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach completed the construction in 1737 using partially altered plans. Originally the church had a direct line of sight to the Hofburg and was also - until 1918 - the imperial patron parish church.

Program

Antonio Vivaldi (1678, Venice - 1741, Vienna)

• Four Seasons „Le quattro stagioni“
• Concerto I "la primavera" (Spring) op.8 No.1
• Concerto II "l´estate" (Summer) op.8 No.2
• Concerto III "L´Autunno" (Autumn) op.8 No.3
• Concerto IV "L´Inverno" (Winter) op. 8 No.4

The program is complemented by one or two additional works that change regularly and may feature compositions by renowned composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, W. A. Mozart, J. S. Bach, or Arcangelo Corelli.