Vivaldi's Salterio

The baroque salterio disappeared completely from our concert life for a long time and is only gradually being rediscovered. In 18th-century Italy, on the other hand, the instrument was widespread and especially popular among female nobles and in women's convents. One of the leading salterio virtuosos and researchers of today is the Austrian Franziska Fleischanderl. On her latest CD, she explores the salterio in Vivaldi's music. Evidence shows that during Vivaldi's time at the "Ospedale della Pietà", the famous Venetian school for orphan girls, two salterios were purchased and later Fulgenzio Perotti was hired specifically as a teacher for the salterio. So we can assume that the virtuoso girls, who were "not afraid of any instrument", also interpreted the maestro's works on the salterio, even if Vivaldi did not dedicate any pieces directly to this instrument at first. Franziska Fleischanderl has searched for concerti in Vivaldi's great oeuvre that are particularly suitable for her instrument and thus demonstrates the various playing techniques of the salterio in the most virtuosic way.