A colorful figure in Baroque Venice who fascinated audiences with his extravagance and virtuoso violin playing, Antonio Vivaldi is one of the most influential musicians of 18th-century Europe.

Born in Venice in 1678, Vivaldi quickly became violin master, choirmaster, and then concert master at the Ospedale della Pietà. There, he explored a wide range of musical activity, demonstrating an incomparable talent—notably in the invention of the solo concerto—that enchanted 18th-century musical Europe and inspired virtually all subsequent composers. His career also flourished in opera, particularly at the Teatro San Angelo in Venice, but also in Mantua, Rome, and Vienna.

The Four Seasons (RV 269, 315, 293, and 297), whose 300th anniversary we celebrate today, played an essential role in the composer’s fame. With its descriptive and imaginative writing, this work anticipates the program music that would prevail among later Romantic-era composers, and even included descriptive sonnets to help illustrate the music for performers and listeners. For violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, it embodies the essence of spirituality, a metaphysical work evoking life and death, with moments of great gentleness as well as extreme violence. Through his interpretation, Mr. de Swarte seeks to capture the drama characteristic of Venetian arts: expressive density, operatic and theatrical emotion, and jubilant energy.

The works complementing The Four Seasons on the program serve to highlight musicians who influenced Vivaldi’s approach and one he in turn inspired.

The transcription of Claudio Monteverdi’s “Adoramus te Christe” is closely linked to Vivaldi’s childhood, when he accompanied his father, a musician in the San Marco orchestra that Monteverdi previously directed. The work also embodies the liturgical vocal style specific to Venice, as well as the city’s theatrical and musical environment. In a way, it represents Vivaldi’s musical DNA, upon which he built his virtuosity, notably through the abundance of repeated notes.

Vivaldi’s Concerto for Strings and Continuo, RV 129, “Concerto madrigalesco,” is composed in the “antico” style. Its presence here establishes an interesting connection between Monteverdi and Uccellini, revealing the extent to which the influences of the masters shaped Vivaldi’s new style.

If Monteverdi marks the beginning of Vivaldi’s musical journey, Marco Uccellini’s Aria sopra “La Bergamasca” reveals the origin of his instrumental repertoire. A pioneer in the art of violin and sonata composition, Uccellini exerted a decisive influence on the young Vivaldi. This dance, based on a popular theme with variations, also celebrated the art of improvisation—an element dear to the Venetians and to the composer throughout his life.

Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Minor for Violin and Continuo, RV 813, was one of his earliest written for the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. All the hallmarks of Vivaldi’s style are already present: joy, virtuosity, theatricality, and exaltation. The popularity of this concerto is also due to J. S. Bach’s masterly transcription for keyboard.

Francesco Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso in D Minor (after Corelli’s Violin Sonata Op. 5, No. 12, “Folia”)—a transcription of Corelli’s treatment of this famous Baroque-era theme—illustrates the lineage of three Italian masters. Corelli, whose groundbreaking Op. 5 (concluding with “Folia” and published in 1700)—was an inspirational figure to the young Vivaldi. And Geminiani’s “Folia,” published in 1729, was almost certainly influenced by the publication of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons just four years prior. It also highlights the particularly lively and joyful spirit inherent to the art of the concerto, which Geminiani had undoubtedly heard in many of Vivaldi’s works.

Vivaldi’s Overture from La fida ninfa, RV 714, evokes the Teatro San Angelo and shows how opera influenced the composer’s instrumental music, offering extraordinary vocality. Opera also enabled him to create dramatic interactions between instruments, where brilliance, spontaneity, sensuality, and seduction blend harmoniously in the soundscape.

Vivaldi’s Grave from Concerto in B-flat Major for Violin, Strings, and Continuo, RV 370, is an unfinished piece, built on a chromatic bass ostinato. Mr. de Swarte has completed it here: a tribute from a young violinist to his illustrious elder.

When published in 1725 nobody could imagine Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons would become perhaps the most frequently heard music of all time. Vivaldi’s singular genius continues to inspire artists the world over, as demonstrated by this concert. As Mr. de Swarte—the great Vivaldi performer and loyal member of Les Arts Florissants—puts it, “For one of the best-known composers in Western music, it is astonishing to realize that there are still so many facets to explore.”

—Frannie Vernaz