Vivaldi: The Four Seasons and Other Concertos, Op. 8 9780521404990

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CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOKS

j

V

^fC

THE FOUR SEASONS AND OTHER CONCERTOS, L

EVERE

OP. 8

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

Copley Square

CAMBRIDGE MUSIC HANDBOOKS Vivaldi: The

Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

CAMBRIDGE MUSIC HANDBOOKS general editor

Rushton

Julian

Cambridge Music Handbooks provide

accessible introductions to major

musical works, written by the most informed commentators in the

With the concert-goer, performer and student

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mind, the books

in

present essential information on the historical and musical context, the

composition, and the performance and reception history of each work, or group of works, as well as critical discussion of the music.

Other published

Bach:

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Concertos Malcolm boyd

B Minor john butt

Beethoven: Missa solemnis William drabkin

Symphony No. 9 Nicholas cook Violin Concerto anthony pople

Beethoven: Berg: Berlioz:

Romeo

et Juliette

julian rushton

The Four Ballades Debussy: La mer simon

Chopin:

jim

samson

trezise

Handel: Messiah donald burrows

Haydn: The Creation Nicholas temperley Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 50 w. dean sutcliffe Janacek: Glagolitic Mass paul wingfield

Mahler:

Symphony No.

3

peter franklin

Mendelssohn: The Hebrides and other overtures Mozart:

The

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Pictures at

R.

larry todd

Symphony elaine sisman an Exhibition michael russ

Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire Jonathan dunsby Schubert: Die schone Miillerin susan youens

Schumann: Sibelius:

Fantasie, Op. 17 Nicholas

Symphony No.

5

marston

james hepokoski

Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

john Williamson

Stravinsky: Oedipus rex Stephen

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Verdi: Requiem david rosen

Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

Vivaldi: The

* Paul Everett

H Cambridge UNIVERSITY PRESS

Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge

The

Pitt Building,

40 West 20th

Trumpington

Street,

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Street,

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York,

Cambridge CB2 1RP 10011-4211,

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10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia

©

Cambridge University Press 1996 First published 1996

Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge

A

catalogue record for this book

is

available

Library of Congress cataloguing

from

the British Library

in publication

data

Everett, Paul. Vivaldi,

The Four p.

Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8 / Paul Everett

cm. - (Cambridge Music Handbooks)

Includes bibliographical references (p.

ISBN 1.

521 40499

1

(hardback)

Vivaldi, Antonio, 1678-1741. I.

- ISBN

Cimento deirarmonia

Tide.

II.

Series.

ML410.V82E84 1996 CIP

784.2 72-dc20 95-18173

ISBN ISBN

and index.

)

521 40692 7 (paperback)

521 40499

1

M

hardback

521 40692 7 paperback

AH

e delPinventione.

To Marg

and Martin

Contents

List

page

of illustrations

Preface List

1

xi

of abbreviations

One

collection,

xiv

two Vivaldis

2 Origin and motivation

Old and new

7

texts

11

grand idea

An abundance The focal date 3 Ritornello

15 or a dearth of titles?

18

19

forms

26

The initial ritornello The framework

26

Variation and denouement

36

33

Tonal schemes

39

Episodes

46

4 Expression and meaning

The

5

1

7

Multiform patronage

A

ix

50

soloist's contribution

53

Thematic and figurative correlations Accompaniments and harmony

54

Metrical and tonal parameters

57

The

slow movements

56

60

Songs without words

62

vn

Contents

6 The Four Seasons

67

Musical principles

67

The programme The English connection

70

Spring's raptures

80

Summer's Autumn's

ruin

82

revels

85

77

Winter's reconciliation

87

Notes

91

Select bibliography

98

Index

100

Vlll

Illustrations

1

L'estate p. 6

(Summer,

RV

315), first

movement, bars 52-120;

of the principal violin part of the

first

edition of

(Le Cene, Amsterdam). London, British Library, 2

Uinverno (Winter,

RV

297), finale, bars 89-153.

page 12

Op. 8

g.33.c.

Non-

13

autograph Venetian manuscript: Manchester, Central Library, 3

La

MS

580 Ct51

caccia (The

Hunt,

(vol. I

RV

f.

30r).

362), first

movement, bars 1-25.

22

Autograph: Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria,

Giordano

These pages

29,

f.

245r.

are reproduced by kind permission of the libraries concerned.

IX

Preface

Considerable significance has attached

to

Antonio Vivaldi's opera ottava, the

eighth set of his instrumental pieces to be published during his lifetime.

landmark

well as being cited as a

Seasons alone have borne and

in the history of

still

As

programme music, The Four

bear heavy responsibility as the composer's

most well-known, most admired and most frequently performed works. For

many

people, the very

name

to the exclusion of all else.

advantages:

a

'Vivaldi'

is

synonymous with The Four Seasons

The phenomenon

of the Seasons has had

guaranteed audience for concerts,

reliable

a

its

market for

recordings, and a high public profile that has underpinned the rapid progress, since the 1940s, of research into and performance of the rest of the composer's

music.

From

those advantages (for which the present writer

continue to be reaped. life,

works and

lay primarily in

most

grateful) series

The disadvantage was that knowledge of the composer's

stylistic

development, even among musicians whose interests

Baroque repertory, remained scant and

with a Seasons-heavy

is

Cambridge Handbooks'

benefits such as a niche for Vivaldi in the

That

tilt.

tilt is

no longer

performers and musicologists are demonstrating

distinctly

as steep as a

much

it

unbalanced

was,

now

that

greater appreciation

of the wide variety in style and function of Vivaldi's concertos and beginning to grasp the

breadth of his whole output.

In the past, a concentration on Op. 8 in critical literature was inevitable.

Before research began in earnest on the huge number of extant autograph

manuscripts (preserved mainly Vivaldi's concertos

was

in

Turin and Dresden),

1

knowledge of

largely confined to the collections printed in the

eighteenth century, from which Op. 8 stands out as the composer's most idiosyncratic compilation.

Even

known from manuscript sources, so, to the special

but

many

on Op. 8

other concertos had

scholars continued to

nature of The Four Seasons

to rely heavily

Vivaldi's

after

for another

- but

draw

become

attention, rightly

they also had

little

option

important reason. Since virtually

manuscripts bear no date and seemed to be undatable,

XI

all

the

Preface

publication-date of Op. 8 (1725) remained the only terminus ante quern for his

maturity in concerto composition and his use of allusive

That

no longer

limitation

exists;

approximate dating of many of the

manuscripts has recently been found

For

illuminating.

and

reason,

this

titles.

be both possible and immensely

to

recognition of other advances in

in

scholarship that bear on Vivaldi's status today, the time evaluation of Op. 8 in a way that

We

past.

are

now

is

not shackled to conclusions drawn in the

Any

to assess the significance of its richly varied music.

cannot address Op. 8 in isolation as

this

cocooned by virtue of collection

ripe for a re-

better placed than ever before to locate the collection in a

broad context and attempt to do

is

is

first

its

publication.

Somewhat

if its

music were

inconveniently, the

not a single, integrated conception but rather a selection of

common

individual compositions that are as likely to have points in

with

concertos outside the set as they are likely to relate to each other. Ultimately, a

account of the actions and thoughts of composers,

full

especially those born over three centuries ago, cannot be

book

raises as

many

questions as

it

made.

The

present

provides answers, and gaps in the evidence

currently available keep certain conclusions at the level of hypothesis. Vivaldi's

methods and motivations

in concerto-design, allusive labelling

and

the packaging of works in sets will continue to be pondered, and the collection's

title,

'The Trial of Harmony and Invention',

of the programme-note writer's

For

their kind assistance

I

skill that it

thank

Roger-Claude Travers, Carlo

many

Vitali,

translating Italian texts and Antonio

will

remain the

and colleagues, particularly

friends

Yolanda Plumley, Mark

Fanna

Chu

several years,

son,

and

to

Rushton

who have supported me and

and an apology. This book

A

for his

Michael Talbot for

is

his

generous advice.

suffered while

I

worked,

earliest edition

I

To my

all

wife and

owe both thanks

note on editions and recordings

be published

of Op.

8,

in

some

exist,

respects.

but

it

New

1996 by Ricordi (Milan); based on the

they will also record the variants of the manuscripts

preserved in Manchester (see

almost

am

dedicated to them, with love.

said that their texts are invariably inaccurate in

critical editions will

I

encouragement and patience over

Various modern editions of The Four Seasons (Op. 8 Nos. 1-4)

must be

for

for granting access to the archive

of the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi (Fondazione Cini, Venice). especially indebted to Julian

trial

has always been.

p. 11).

Op. 8 Nos. 5-12 are

far less accessible,

being available only in the editions prepared by Gian Francesco

xn

Preface

xVLalipiero

in

and Angelo Ephrikian, published

1947-50.

By

as separate

volumes by Ricordi

much

today's editorial standards, these texts leave

to

be

desired, though they are serviceable if one ignores their invented double bass

Ricordi

(Incorrect

parts.

readings

that

impinge on our discussion are

The

explained, as they arise, in the notes at the end of the book.) solution for readers requiring

all

twelve concertos of Op. 8

Ricordi editions in miniature score: two volumes,

from Novello. (See the note on bar numbers,

Britain

The

PR

earliest edition of

Op. 8 (Amsterdam, 1725)

by Alamire (Peer, Belgium,

1990).

is

is

cheapest

to obtain the

1235-6, available in

p. xiv.)

published in facsimile

In separate parts,

is

it

of interest

particularly to performers.

Since a regularly updated Vivaldi discography

Chapter

1,

note

2), it will suffice to

is

published elsewhere (see

recommend some outstanding recordings

issued in recent years. Undoubtedly the best interpretation of Op. 8 in entirety

is

that of

Monica Huggett Kraemer

directed by Nicholas

(violin)

with

(1990: Virgin

The Raglan Baroque

VCD

790803-2). Excellent

performances of The Four Seasons alone include those by Jeanne Lamon

and director) with Tafelmusik (1992: Sony with

The Taverner Players

directed by

CD SK

its

Players

(violin

48307); various soloists

Andrew Parrott (1990: EMI CD CDC Simon Standage (violin) with

7 54208-2); and, playing the Manchester texts,

The

English Concert directed by Trevor Pinnock (1981:

Archiv

DG

2534.003).

The

bulk of them, constituting Vivaldi's

his death in 1741,

Turin,

was the

in

1927-30.

first

own

collection that

remained

in his possession until

was recovered from private ownership and acquired by the National Library,

Marc

major study

Pincherle's Antonio Vivaldi et la musique tnstrumentale (Paris, 1948)

to benefit

from access

to

them.

The

full

extent of their riches

evident only in the 1970s following the cataloguing work of Peter

Xlll

Ryom

became

(see p. xiv).

Abbreviations

RV

'Repertoire

Repertoire

Vivaldi':

des

work-numbers

CEuvres

d 'Antonio

as

given

Vivaldi.

in

Les

Ryom,

P.

compositions

instrumental (Copenhagen, 1986) and -for vocal compositions the

same

writer's Verzeichnis der

Werke Antonio

Vivaldis: kleine

Ausgabe (Leipzig, 1974; 2nd edn, 1979).

IS V

Informazioni e studi vivaldiani, annual bulletin of the Istituto Italiano

Antonio Vivaldi (Fondazione Cini, Venice), published

by Ricordi (Milan, 1980-).

Library sigla

D-Dlb

Dresden, Sachsische Landesbibliothek

D-SWl

Schwerin, Mecklenburgische Landesbibliothek

F-Pn

Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale

GB-Mp

Manchester, Central Library, Henry Watson Music Library

I-Gi(l)

Genoa,

I-Tn

Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria

S-L

Lund, Universitetsbiblioteket

Istituto Musicale, Biblioteca del

Liceo Musicale 'Paganini'

Bar references

The Ricordi

editions (to which,

it is

bars continuously through the three is

assumed, most readers

movements of a

taken into account in the present book.

finale', for

example, refers to the

Thus

as 144-59.

xiv

number

concerto. This difficulty

'bars

finale's actual bars

will refer)

63-78/144-59

in the

63-78 reckoned by Ricordi

One

The

popularity of Le quattro staggioni {The Four Seasons)

bounds. Having reached itself

a kind of critical mass,

every year or

two.

found

their

traditions have

of

two Vivaldis

collection,

'classical pops',

of the Seasons by

but not

knows no

still

now seems

it

to

reproduce

Other compositions from Western art-music

way to

popular culture and to the dubious status

to

such

many persons

a

The

widespread extent.

easy acceptance

not devotees of classical music can in part be

attributed to the timelessness and appeal of the music

itself,

but causes other

than the excellence of Vivaldi's conception must be acknowledged. Credit for creating a Vivaldi

phenomenon

and the recording industry

in

our generation

is

as to musicians, concert

due

as

much

to the

media

promoters and musicolo-

gists.

Snatches of the Seasons are indelibly etched on the consciousness of whole populations across the world, thanks largely to the commercial astuteness of directors of advertising

who

hear in the music a heady mix of outdoor

freshness, nostalgia for times past and an Italian modishness that for

marketing purposes as claiming that the product

is

made

in

as

is

potent

Milan. This

awareness of 'Vivaldi' - as opposed to a familiarity, shared by relatively few people,

with a range of Vivaldi's works

astonishing proliferation of

of recorded

LP

interpretations

appeared on 78-rpm records

CD

and

issued in

- was made

since

1942,

by the

inevitable

recordings of the Seasons.

The

tally

Bernardino Molinari's version

now

over 200,

1

is

evidence of the

extraordinary value, artistic and financial, placed on these works by performers

and record companies

alike.

That

modern-instrument ensembles and their

proliferation

their recording

peaked

in the 1980s as

managers strove

to retain

market share against the highly successful encroachment of original-

instrument versions.

From

1987 to 1990, recordings of the Seasons in one form

or another, including arrangements and re-releases, appeared at an average rate of nineteen per year.

Because

it

pays dividends, the tradition

entrenched: since the 1950s virtually every solo every orchestra have aspired to issue

at least

1

violinist,

is

well

every conductor and

one recording both

as

evidence

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

of their respective interpretative

and as

skills

a

mark of professional

status.

Others, over the years, have climbed upon the Seasons' bandwagon with

recorded performances of arranged versions, for combinations ranging from

odd (trombone and

the mildly

to the vividly esoteric (six koto

and orchestra;

violin

There

are, then,

etc.).

strings, brass quintet, flute

and accordion,

etc.)

-a Japanese type of psaltery; three synthesizers,

2

two Vivaldis with

distinct audiences.

One

is

the Vivaldi of

popular and somewhat mythical conception, based exclusively on exposure to

The Four Seasons and the treatment of those works either as

game by

a

for 'creative' arrangement.

other

is

test pieces or fair

the true Vivaldi revealed only

wider range of his works - including the Seasons, which deservedly occupy

a central is

The

and significant

position.

The problem

of reconciling the two Vivaldis

the underlying theme of the present book.

presents the problem in a nutshell since

it

The Op.

8 collection itself

juxtaposes the Seasons with eight

other concertos with which only a small minority of potential readers will be

And

familiar.

yet

it

conveniently offers

the

solution,

too,

because an

understanding of either one of these sub-sets informs an understanding of the other

- and

Was

it

neither can properly be understood in isolation.

ever thus? In a way, yes

making the Seasons stand

apart, in

concertos including his own.

when

for special attention

It is

his

-

for Vivaldi himself

was responsible for

both presentation and substance, from other hardly surprising that they were singled out

music came

to

be rescued from oblivion - a

process that began only in the present century.

3

The modern tendency

for

performers to arrange the music in personalized interpretations was set in

motion by those who championed the rediscovery invention of

some kind of performance

practice

itself,

was

partly because the

justified in the

absence

of knowledge of the actual practices of the past, and partly because the functions of transcription and freely creative performance were inseparably

entangled in the minds of influential Fritz Kreisler.

4

The

earliest

artists

such as Ottorino Respighi and

'modern' editions (from 1908) of works by

Vivaldi, with their invented harmonies, orchestrations and piano accompani-

ments, set in train in the in the

house

a tradition

of less-than-faithful transcription that persisted

style of Ricordi of Milan.

5

Traces of

it

have come down

to

us

Opere strumentali (Ricordi, 1947-72), which for hundreds of works

remains the only edition available today. 6 In

some

uncannily

respects, twentieth-century attitudes towards the Seasons to

pick

historical trend

up where eighteenth-century

tradition

left

seem

off.

The

towards the insulation of these works from the rest of Vivaldi's

output began as soon as the music entered the public domain with the

first

One

collection,

two Vivaldis

publication of Op. 8 by the firm of Michel-Charles

(We

1725).

Chapter

leave description of the print

was not long,

2.) It

itself,

Le Cene (Amsterdam,

and of other sources,

either, before the Seasons

came

to

regularly to be

treated as test pieces by leading violinists and appropriated for arrangement

by those succumbing developments

to

Vivaldi fever. All these factors are clear from

France where there was

in

a substantial following for Vivaldi,

from the 1730s, of the fashionable craze for

especially at the height,

Italian

7 instrumental music.

Op.

and the Seasons

8,

much

in particular, did

France but did not actually create

it.

A

few months before Op. 8 was

first

enhance Vivaldi's fame

in

published compliment, quoted below,

strongly hints that his reputation, in Paris at a

to

least,

was already remarkably high

December

advertised in

much

for this are not entirely clear but probably have

to

1725.

8

The reasons

do with the success

of his earlier publications in northern Europe and his indirect association with the French

crown

via the occasional patronage of Jacques- Vincent Languet,

comte de Gergy, from 1723 the French Ambassador

to Venice.

9

In October

1725 the Mercure de France reported extensively on the entertainment given at the (5

ambassador's residence on 12 September

a serenata

(RV

habile compositeur qui soit a

Venice'.

of the marriage

and Princess Maria Leszczyhska,

Venise

was played

at the

is

-

most accomplished composer

'the

also implicit in the fact that

nobility.

11

in

was by then

at the

known performances of

earliest

Vivaldi's

narrowing of focus: The Four Seasons as a

Summer (4-5 phase there

is

for the roll

set (7

in Parisian musical

music

in that series

a

life.

show

12

a

February 1728); Spring and

April 1728); Spring alone (21 February 1729). After that

work -

initial

gap of seven years before the next recorded appearance of a

a lull,

one supposes, before the Vivaldi cult was revitalized by

publications, discussed below.

appearance

it,

Concert Spirituel show that Spring

becoming the most admired concerto

fast

La primavera

This performance, however, was

probably more a response to public fashion than a catalyst for

and frequency of works performed

Vivaldi

which

French monarch's court on 25 November 1730 by

band containing members of the

The

at

687, 'Dall'eccelsa mia reggia') by Vivaldi, leplus

10

Royal approval of Vivaldi {Spring) a

XV

September) between Louis

was performed

in celebration

at the

Summer, Autumn and Winter make no further

Concert Spirituel; Spring

is

the work played on eleven out

of the sixteen pertinent occasions during the period 1736-63, with one outing for

La

tempesta di mare (Op. 8 No. 5) in 1749 and four unidentified Vivaldi

concertos making up the remainder. These details show too that Spring was the recurring vehicle for the virtuosity of

many

of the foremost violinists of

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

the age, both French and Italian, including Jean-Pierre

Giovanni Battista Somis of Turin) who

first

The

Ferrari,

who had both

(a pupil

of

1728 and

in

Andre-Noel Pagin and

1729, Pierre Gavinies at the age of thirteen (1741), and

Domenico

Guignon

championed the work

studied under Tartini.

Seasons, particularly Spring, also loom large in the sphere of Parisian

Copies of Op. 8 and Vivaldi's other collections printed in

publishing.

Amsterdam were imported and sold by Jean-Pan taleon Le Clerc Vaine, who from 1733 was Le Cene's official agent in Paris. Between 1736 and 1740, his younger brother, Charles-Nicolas Le Clerc

le cadet,

published his

own

freshly

engraved editions of several of the Amsterdam collections (including Op. in 1739) having received a royal licence to do

followed in the 1740s. In the face of the

in

which the name

was the richest prize. Two methods - one - were adopted by Nicolas Chedeville (1705-

Recent research has established that

II pastor fido, a set

published as the 'Op. 13' of Vivaldi,

is

by Chedeville with the complicity of

his cousin

whose imprint and

Parisian

on an evidently lucrative

'Vivaldi'

deceitful, the other legitimate 82).

in

8,

and various reprintings

Le Clerc monopoly, other

musicians sought different means of cashing

market

so,

of six sonatas

a clever musical forgery perpetrated

Jean-Noel Marchand, under

licence the collection appeared in

around 1737. 13 In a

further attempt to reap Vivaldian dividends while promoting his instrument

- under

(the musette), Chedeville published

printems ou

saisons

les

amusantes:

his

own name and

'Concertos d'Antonio Vivaldy' set for

musettes and hurdy-gurdies with accompanying parts for continuo (1739).

The

- Le

licence

collection contains six

violin, flute

and

three-movement arrangements

based variously on whole concertos and reordered movements from Op. Chedeville's motivation adaptation.

He

may be

was evidently

With

Winter.

was pressed into service

By omitting movements of Winter,

Martin'.

exaggerate the positive, pleasurable

Autumn and

the slow

Op. 8 No. 6

(Pleasure)

similar logic, the whole of

for the fifth paraphrase, 'Les plaisirs

entirely reference to Vivaldi's

de

Summer and

la

Saint-

the fast

the arranger scrupulously avoided their uncomfortable

themes of anxiety, destruction and carefree impression of Pete') with

14

inferred from his choice of passages for

at pains to

aspects of the year by utilizing Vivaldi's Spring,

movement of

8.

summer-time

movements from Nos.

chilling cold. Instead, he fashioned a

for the second

work ('Les

plaisirs

de

12 and 10 (The Hunt), and cobbled together

'La moisson' (Harvest) and 'L'hiver' (Winter) in a nondescript way by selecting

from Nos.

7,

8 and

9.

In giving pride of place to Spring and the joys

in Vivaldi's conceptions while suppressing other elements, Chedeville's reflects the general

French attitude and

parallels the public focus

work

of the

One

Concert Spirituel.

It

agrees, moreover, with his natural inclinations: his

compositions (ceuvres

published

two Vivaldis

collection,

have

1-9)

titles

combine words such as 'amusement' or 'amusante',

own

almost invariably

that

'galanterie'

and 'champetre'.

In siphoning off the part of Vivaldi's music that was the closest to French

time when the gout champetre was in vogue, Chedeville

sensibilities at a

claimed

as

it

French repertory.

Although the precedent was

a

weak one, other peculiarly French arrange-

ments of Spring eventually followed: Michel Corrette's motet, Laudate

Dominum

de

coelis

(1765), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's facile version, in

major, for unaccompanied flute (1775).

more

interesting (despite

its

15

Of the

two, Corrette's

is

by

appallingly contrived word-setting) and an

advance on Chedeville's simplistic approach, for

it

contains original melodies

that interlace with Vivaldi's parts, vivid orchestrations (with horns)

solo-vocal

movements

that

D

far the

and two

were freshly composed.

In contrast, hardly any reflections of the popularity of the Seasons emanated

from

Italy.

Doubtless the works came to be known and performed there

widely, for in 1761 Carlo Goldoni singled

them out as

Vivaldi's principal claim

to fame:

This most famous

violinist, this

man famous

for his instrumental works, especially

those entitled the Four Seasons, also composed operas; and however

claimed that his counterpoint was defective and that he did not

much

connoisseurs

set basses properly,

he made his parts melodious, and his operas were most often successful. 16

But

left in

ignorance of actual performances, one wonders

even the slightest impact years of existence.

There

in the is a

composer's

the Seasons

danger, of course, of reading too

and the paucity of surviving

lack of information

if

own environment Italian

much

in any case,

it is

exceedingly rare for the concertos played in

at private concerts quite unlike the public

precisely

identified

in

into the

manuscripts of the

music. Performance materials and documentary evidence become all;

made

in their early

lost, after

Italy, typically

Concert Spirituel, ever to be

contemporary accounts.

Nevertheless,

it

just

is

conceivable that Vivaldi kept the Seasons under wraps, regarding them as usable only by those consumers, whether private ones or his public north of the Alps,

who would relish

their special format.

in the face of the satirical attacks, directed at

Venetian opera, in Benedetto Marcello's

pamphlet scorns, among other elements (winds, storms, fogs, tigers,

etc.).

It

things,

ice, etc.)

Did he perhaps suppress them

him and others responsible

// teatro alia

moda of 1720?

for

The

the over-use in arias of Nature's

and inhabitants (various birds,

might not be purely coincidental that the

5

17

insects,

sole surviving

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

Venetian manuscript of the Seasons, apparently notated as possessed by the

Roman court of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni

late as 1726,

was

together with other

Vivaldi concertos carefully selected, by the composer himself, for their individual qualities (see p. 19). Vivaldi tended to promote his music on a tactical

basis;

the discernment with which he released particular works,

packaging them for distinct purposes, should not be underestimated.

Origin and motivation

The

of Op.

earliest edition

was published

December,

in

8,

entitled // cimento

deWarmonia

Amsterdam - probably towards

was advertised. Printed from engraved 1

it

clear appearance that a style

more

Plate

1).

we

handsome but

publication

tions, the twelve

2

As

plates, the

is

particularly graced, however,

is

customary

Le Cene:

by the portrait

La Cave, reproduced on

many

for

the cover

eighteenth-century collec-

works are divided between two volumes or 'books': Libro

primo (Nos. 1-6), produced from plates numbered (Nos. 7-12, plate-number 521).

It is

'520',

and Libro secondo

equally typical that the music

not in score but in separate instrumental partbooks, each with page; the principal violin part of the epistle, as

music has the

performance purposes (see

ideal for

of Vivaldi engraved by Francois Morellon of the present book.

deWinventione,

associate with the firm of Michel-Charles

utilitarian than

The

e

the end of 1725 when, in

expected

in a first edition.

first

volume

These

is

its

presented

own

title-

also contains a dedicatory

texts are

shown

in transcription,

with English translation, overleaf. 3 Transcriptions of the sonnets for The Four Seasons are given in Chapter

6.

Multiform patronage

Many the

details

remain

to

be discovered about Vivaldi's service

Bohemian count Wenzel von Morzin

1737):

Chamberlain

to the

or, in

to the dedicatee,

Czech, Vaclav Morzin (1676—

Habsburg emperor Charles VI, and

distant cousin

4

of the Morzins familiar to us as Haydn's patrons. Op. 8 reveals that Vivaldi acted as the count's maestro di musica in Italia; in this capacity he appears to

have been commissioned on an occasional basis mail, in

much

Wilhelm

II

the

same way

as Luigi Boccherini

of Prussia from his base in Spain.

learn that this relationship had existed for

mid- 17 10s? - and his 'most

that The

to

send fresh compositions by

would

From

'many

later

supply Friedrich

the dedicatory letter

years'

- perhaps from

we the

Four Seasons had been received by the count and

accomplished orchestra' some time ago.

We know the identity

of only

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

CIMENTO DELL' ARMONIA

IL

E DELL' INVENTIONE

CONCERTI a

4 e

5

Consacrati

ALL ILLUSTRISSIMO SIGNORE //

Signor Venceslao Conte di Marzin, Signore Ereditario

di Hohenelbe, et

Lomniz,

Kaunitz, Doubek,

Tschista, Krzinetz,

Sowoluska, Cameriere Attuale,

e Consigliere di

S.M.C.C.

DA Maestro

D.

ANTONIO VIVALDI

in Italia dell' Illustris:""'

Signor Conte Sudetto,

Maestro de' Concerti del Pio Ospitale e

della Pieta in Venetia,

Maestro di Capella da Camera di S. A. S.

Signor

il

Principe Filippo Langravio d'Hassia Darmistath.

OPERA OTTAVA Libro Primo

A AMSTERDAM Spesa

dt

MICHELE CARLO LE CENE Libraro.

N.° 520

ILLUSTRISSIMO SIGNORE Pensando

fra

di servire a

me

stesso

lungo corso de gl'anni, ne' quali godo

V. S. ILL:™ in qualita

che non per anco e

al

le

di

Maestro /

ho / datto un saggio

che ho / risolto di stampare

Suplico non meravigliarsi se

di

della

Musica

in Italia,

il

/ segnalatissimo onore

ho arossito

profonda veneratione che

le

nel considerare

professo;

presente volume per umiliarlo a piedi di V. S. ILL:

il

tra questi pochi, e deboli

Concerti / V. S.

ILL:™

queste / accresciute, oltre

che in esse

si

li

ILL: ma acrid ,

si

le

giungerano,

come

tempo il

le sa

compatire.

Valore della di

lei

La soma

la

quale V. S. ILL:

Intelligenza, che / V. S.

povere fatiche / giunte che siano nelle di altro

non mi

resta

lei

S.

ILL:™

ma

ILL: ma possiede

ma

le

cose,

mie deboleze

/ sino da tanto nella

Musica le

et

mie

stimatissime mani goderano quel / risalto, che 3

che suplicare / V. S. ILL:™ per

Generosissimo patrocinio / e perche giammai mi tolga L'onore

DI V.

,

non mi estendo

Virtuosissima / Orchestra mi farano sempre vive[r] sicuro, che

non meritano. Onde lei

/ nuove. Quivi

/ compiaccia guardare con occhio di bonta le

perche / crederei di offendere L'innata Gentilezza con

ma

/ le

Stesse pure essendo

Sonetti con una distintissima dichiaratione di tutte /

spiegano, sono certo, che

a suplicare V. S.

Modo che siano le

[.]

trovera

quattro stagioni sino da tanto tempo compatite / dalla Generosa Bonta di V. S. ILL. creda, che ho stimato bene / stamparle perche ad ogni

Ond'

ma

di

la

continuatione del di

sempre piu rassegnarmi.

Humilissimo Devotissimo Obligatissimo Servitore

ANTONIO VIVALDI

Origin and motivation

THE TRIAL OF HARMONY AND INVENTION CONCERTOS 4 and

in

5

parts

Dedicated

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORD Lord Wenzel Count von Morzin, Hereditary Lord of Hohen Elbe, Lomnitz,

Kaunitz, Doubek,

Tschista, Krzinetz,

and Sowoluska, Current Chamberlain and Counsellor of His Caesarian and Catholic Majesty

BY DON ANTONIO VIVALDI Maestro

in Italy

of the Most

Aforementioned Lord Count,

Illustrious

Concert Master of the Pto Ospedale delta Pietd

and Director of Chamber Music

to

m

Venice,

His Most Serene Highness

Prince Philip, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

EIGHTH WORK Book One

AMSTERDAM At

the expense

of MICHEL

CHARLES LE CENE

Bookseller.

No. 520

MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORD Thinking

to

myself of the many years during which

I

have enjoyed the most signal honour

of serving Your Most Illustrious Lordship as Music Master in reflected that

I

blushed when

I

have not yet given you a demonstration of the profound veneration that

I

profess towards you; wherefore

present

it

at the feet

I

Italy,

I

resolved to print the present volume in order

humbly

of Your Most Illustrious Lordship. Pray do not be surprised

these few and feeble concertos,

Your Most

Illustrious

if,

to

among

Lordship finds the Four Seasons which

have so long enjoyed the indulgence of Your Most Illustrious Lordship's kind generosity, but believe that

same,

I

I

have considered

it

fitting to print

them because, while they may be the

have added to them, besides the sonnets, a very clear statement of all the things that

unfold in them, so that

I

am

sure that they will appear

new

to you.

I

will

because

I

Illustrious

not venture to

my

weaknesses

believe that this would be to offend the innate kindness with which

Your Most

beseech Your Most Illustrious Lordship to look with a benevolent eye on

Lordship has

for so long

deigned to show them indulgence.

The supreme

understanding of music which Your Most Illustrious Lordship possesses and the merit of

your most accomplished orchestra

humble

efforts,

will

always allow

they do not deserve. Therefore, nothing remains for

Lordship

me

to live in the certainty that

having reached your most esteemed hands,

to continue

will

my

enjoy that eminence which

me but to beseech Your Most Illustrious me of the honour

your most generous patronage and never deprive

of owning myself to be

YOUR MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORDSHIP'S

Most Humble, Most Devoted, Most Obliged Servant

ANTONIO VIVALDI

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

one other work intended concerto

RV

and presumably sent

for

dates from the early or mid-1720s.

s

Other pieces were evidently

before and after the publication of Op. Vivaldi concertos to Prince

and records

bassoon

to the count: the

496. Its autograph score, inscribed 'Ma[rchese]: de' Marzin',

exist, in the

8.

The count

sent,

Anton Ulrich von Sachsen-Meiningen

Morzin family

archive, of

both

passed on copies of seven

payments made

in 1723,

6

to Vivaldi

during the period 1724-8. 7

Another of the composer's

mentioned on the

titles

capella da camera, relates to his residence in

title-page, maestro di

Mantua from 1718

service of Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt (1671-1736),

1720 in the

to

from 1714 the

Imperial governor of the former independent duchy. Vivaldi's responsibility

was

for secular

music including opera;

as

we

some of

will see,

the concertos

included in Op. 8 appear to have been composed during the period of this

appointment.

From

continued to

cite

The

death.

Mantua

in absentia,

whom

are thus

and

on title-pages and other documents until the prince's

Habsburg empire

he was able

to

meet

many

in Vivaldi's career; the next concerto

would publish, Op. 9

collection that he

We

1720, he retained his position at

patronage of Morzin and Prince Philip are just two of

contacts with the

himself,

it

was dedicated

in 1727,

to

Charles VI

September 1728. 8

in

reminded of the multifarious nature of Vivaldi's

activity

and

the adroitness with which he juggled fresh opportunities, including the chance to publish, as

and when they

His long association with Venice's

arose.

Ospedale della Pieta was intermittent, varying

in its

commitments and of

a

kind that often permitted him to undertake other work. Recent research has

shown

that

many

sacred and instrumental pieces formerly presumed to have

been written for that institution were destined

for patrons

and customers

elsewhere, often outside the Venetian state. In the period that concerns us, Vivaldi's

1716,

most recent position

must have lapsed on

to use the title (as

his

at the Pieta, as maestro de' concern

appointment

He

to

from

May

Mantua although he continued

known to have acted for the Pieta when he was contracted - this time as an outsider, not teacher - to supply, and (when in Venice) rehearse, two

Op. 8 shows).

is

not

again until July 1723,

an

official

new

maestro or

concertos per month. 9

Under

this

arrangement, which seems

lasted until 1735, over 140 concertos were delivered

might naturally expect some of the works written

in the early 1720s,

for that purpose or for other reasons, to appear in

no means averse story,

to reusing his pieces.

and very probably have

little

The

to

have

10 by August 1729. One

Op.

8,

whether

for Vivaldi

contents of Op. 8

tell

was by

a different

or no connection with the repertory of the

Pieta.

10

Origin and motivation

Old and new In his letter of dedication, Vivaldi

Four Seasons, for

in reoffering

is at

texts

pains to justify the inclusion of The

music that Morzin already possessed he risked

incurring the patron's displeasure. In mitigation of his impertinence, he alludes to

improvements

in presentation:

the sonnets, a very clear statement of that

am

I

assumed

new

sure that they will appear

to

mean

all

'.

.

I

.

have added to them, besides

the things that unfold in them, so to

you\ This has sometimes been

that the sonnets themselves, with their attendant cue-letters

that enable cross-reference to particular passages,

Op.

8,

but this

is

were added especially for

uncertain. Vivaldi's additions were perhaps

more than

little

cosmetic: the quotation of the sonnets' lines at the appropriate points in the music, and various extra explanatory captions that appear here and there. Plate

1

illustrates these features.

Seasons as a

set,

might be the

The

only surviving manuscripts of The Four

preserved in Manchester (cited in Table

original system.

and the cue-letters appear

The

1,

between sonnet and music,

functional; the print's captions add

purpose of using cue-letters

The Manchester

show what

sonnets are included with their cue-letters,

music but

at their respective locations in the

without any verbal quotations or other captions: see Plate for cross-reference

below),

little

this

is

2.

As an apparatus

uncomplicated and

fully

of significance and undermine the

in the first place.

manuscripts

may be

trusted for adjudication

on

this

and

other textual points. Although they are non-autograph copies, their particular

combination of scribal hands and music-papers leaves that the

from

his

composer ordered them

own

scores,

now

lost.

to

little

room

as published.

11

doubt

be made and that they were copied directly

Seemingly written out

in

1726 for presentation

in that year to Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, they postdate the

Op. 8 but accurately transmit

for

a text that is older than the

appearance of

retouched version

In stark contrast, the only other extant manuscripts of any of

the Seasons offer texts either derived from a printed edition (the Paris

manuscript of Spring, based on the Le Clerc print) or ones that are hopelessly corrupt (the

Lund and Genoa

copies of

Summer)} 1

Various clues convince us that the Le Cene edition provides authentic versions of the twelve works, whether revised or not.

the six parts, for instance, follows Vivaldi's

mention the

cello specifically):

own

The nomenclature

of

(except that he would rarely

Violino principale (principal violin),

Violino

primo, Violino secondo, Alto viola and, in two copies, Organo e violoncello (basso

continuo and

cello,

print provides

all

with figured-bass notation).

13

With two bass

the materials necessary for performance.

11

The

parts, the

intended

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

^ctpstv

Plate

1

Vestate {Summer,

RV

the principal violin part of the

London,

315), first

first

inter*. Canto. La..

movement, bars 52-120;

edition of

Op.

8 (Le Cene,

British Library, g.33.c.

12

p.

6 of

Amsterdam).

Origin and motivation

iMNMNW 5

~

s

^siMSt..... ^

^^^;m«m:tftfe^

Plate 2

L'inverno {Winter,

RV

297), finale, bars 89-153.

Venetian manuscript: Manchester, Central Library,

ensemble

is

...

therefore small, limited to the

MS

Non-autograph

580 Ct51

number of

players

(vol. I

f.

30r).

who can

sit

or

stand around the non-solo parts as given: neither a medium-sized orchestra in the late eighteenth-century sense, nor necessarily only

although this can work well. 'tutti'

markings, dynamics,

The

text

trills

is

largely accurate;

one player per its

part,

various 'solo' and

and occasional abbreviated notations are

consistent with those that appear regularly throughout Vivaldi's manuscript scores. It

is

possible, however, that the figures in the organo parts

or at least filled out to

- an

become

a

continuous

editorial intervention that a publisher

The

series,

by someone

might

typically

in

were added,

Amsterdam

make. 14

Le Clerc is in effect not Amsterdam print, its musical

edition of Op. 8 published in Paris in 1739 by

a distinct

source

at all;

text duplicates the

having been based on the

readings of

Le Cene, including 13

incorrect ones.

The

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

Table

Key

Title

Vol.

1:

La primavera

E major

1

Manuscript concordances

Identity

RV

Manchester: copy,

269

3

Paris: copy, 5 parts

(Spring) 2:

5 parts

G

L 'estate

minor

RV

Manchester: copy,

315

5 parts "

Genoa: copy,

(Summer)

Lund: copy, 3:

Vautunno

5 parts

5 parts

e

major

RV

293

Manchester: copy, 5 parts f

F minor

RV

297

Manchester: copy,

major

RV

253

F

(Autumn) 4:

L'inverno

5 parts g

(Winter) 5:

La di

6:

tempest a

El>

Dresden: autograph, Organo

mare

part

h

(The Storm

Dresden: copy, 10 parts'

at Sea)

Manchester: copy,

// piacere

C

major

RV

180

D

minor

RV

242 k

5 parts'

(Pleasure)

II

Dresden: autograph, score (first

10:

La

caccia

only)

G

minor

RV

332 m

Turin: autograph, score"

D

minor

RV RV

236

Turin: autograph, score

454 (oboe)

RV

362

B\>

major

(violin)

(The Hunt)

Turin: autograph, score

Dresden: copy,

D

11:

movement

major

RV

5 parts 0, "

210

Turin: autograph, score

1

Schwerin: copy, 6 parts s

C

12:

Notes

to

major

RV RV

178 (violin)

449 (oboe)

Table J:

MS

a

GB-Mp,

b

F-Pn, D. 8077.

c

GB-Mp,

MS

580 Ct51

580

Q51

(9).

(10).

14

none

1

Origin and motivation

dedicatory epistle was omitted, naturally enough, but

it is

curious that only

the viola part gives the lines of the Seasons' sonnets as captions above the music

-

procedure that applies

a

Le Cene

to all the

parts. It is

worth noting here

movement

that the delightful obbligato cello part belonging to the slow

Winter (see Example 25a) became detached and lost from the organo violoncello parts in

printed on a loose live

most extant copies of both editions simply because

leaf.

15

it.

A Vivaldi intended

- all

cries out for explanation to

grand idea

content of Op. 8 as a whole, summarized in Table

Whether or not

The Four Seasons

e

was

Consequently, most modern editions, recordings and

performances also lack

The

it

of

it

be enigmatic,

to

more

the

its

most perplexing.

peculiar complexion

so because of the significance attached

development

as a notable

1, is

programmatic composition.

in

Purely in terms of Vivaldi's career, Op. 8 represents a significant milestone:

composer. Music bearing such heavy

his arrival at full maturity as a concerto historical responsibilities deserves to set's

complexion seem capable of being explained.

The did or

date of publication, 1725,

why and when

he did

it.

tells

We

composed the music and compiled that period. finalized

Notes

be dated accurately; only then might the

to

One

a year or so before the date of issue, allowing for

(cont.):

d

I-Gt(l), SS.A.2.10.

e

S-L, Wenster,

f

GB-Mp, GB-Mp,

Lit. L, 14.

MS 580 Q51 MS 580Q51

(11). (12).

g h

D-Dlb, Mus. 2389-0-62.

i

D-Dlb, Mus. 2389-0-62.

MS 580Q51

j

GB-Mp,

k

Also published as the

(13).

first

concerto in Select

Collected from the Works of Antonio Vivaldi 1

D-Dlb, Mus. 2389-0-44.

m

Also published as the second concerto

n

I-Tn, Giordano 30,

o

I-Tn, Foa 32,

p

I-Tn, Giordano 29,

q

D-Dlb, Mus. 2389-0-63.

ff.

when he

the set, and evidence of his thinking during

naturally presumes that the contents of a publication were

by the composer

Table I

us virtually nothing about what Vivaldi seek instead the date, or dates,

ff.

r

I-Tn, Giordano 30,

s

D-SWl, Mus.

ff.

Harmony .

.

.

(Walsh

.

&

.

XII

inscription: 'fatto p(er) in Select

Concertos

M:°

Pisendel'.

Harmony: see note

Autograph

inscription: 'Con:

10

k.

p(er) Haubois'.

245-53.

184-206 and Giordano 29,

5586.

15

f.

304.

.

.

.

Hare, London, 1730).

2-11.

41-50. ff.

Autograph

.

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

the time

took for the publisher to receive and process the music.

it

and allowing

basis,

some unforeseen

also for

might conservatively estimate despatched

one looks

further,

Vivaldi

exemplar

its

to

Amsterdam

collection

To

1724 or 1723.

this

and

refine the date

Or

the music especially for Op. 8?

tion-dates, besides Vivaldi's

some

in

the

method and nature of the compilation

to the

compose much of

itself.

Did

did he simply

Evidence of the works' approximate composi-

select existing compositions?

for

defined

Vivaldi

that

On

delays in the route to press, one

own admission

that

The Four Seasons had existed

time, leaves us in no doubt that the latter procedure applied either

totally or in large

measure; other collections show this to be the composer's

customary method. Op. 8 therefore cannot be regarded an anthology; to see in

one might expect

it

anything other than

as

the kind of collective integrity or musical unity that

of, say, a

nineteenth-century song-cycle

to indulge in

is

wishful thinking.

Op. 8

nevertheless a special case. Lacking the typical features of a

is

up anthology,

it

shows evidence of

a

new way of thinking on

When compiling a set out of works of distinct origins, can do sort

is

to

match examples

that

for instance

-

so that a virtue

is

the best that a

complement each other

works into sequence according

to a musical criterion

made of

made-

Vivaldi's part.

composer

in

some way, or

-

their tonic keys,

diversity. Vivaldi's

Op.

to

3, L'estro

armonico (1711), shows an imaginative arrangement by both key and scoring that

was novel

for

its

time.

Op. 8

less consistently

is

organized in that the

concertos from No. 5 onwards lack an evident pattern, but

an advance on those of to

all

eighteenth-century collections until then.

high incidence of concertos with special

matching had

some cerebral -

intellectual appeal as

titles is

its basis;

its

disposition

and innovatory

earlier Vivaldi collections,

The impression

created by the

that the process of mixing

the result

is

is

in relation

and

a compilation with

at least

implied collective integrity. Because Vivaldi apparently indulged

in

as

opposed

to musical

-

logic,

one cannot assume, as one might

for other anthologies, that he selected only very recent compositions that

would show the world the in

Op. 8 were doubtless picked

The Storm

most progressive

state of his art.

its

Some works

for that reason, but several could not

at Sea, for instance, dates back probably to

included as No. 5 not for to

latest,

modernity but for

its

have been.

1716-17 and was surely

value as a good companion

The Four Seasons.

The weakness

in Vivaldi's

scheme

is

obvious in the difference between the

two volumes. Whatever idea he presumably had works

as the facets of a single concept

volume has

a

clear

for presenting unrelated

was not carried through.

The

first

semblance of unity forged by an exclusive use of

16

Origin and motivation

characterized concertos: taking his cue from The Four Seasons, Vivaldi added

The Storm at Sea and Pleasure.

volume

II is far less

position as

No.

10,

The

convincing. The Hunt, placed in a seemingly insignificant

was perhaps no more selected

Did

of the volume's other five works.

through the project and resort it

be

that,

to picking

works indiscriminately? Or could

although he would have preferred

look to the

title

maintain a consistent approach,

to

titles to

draw upon

names

stravaganza ('Extravagance', Op.

-

for other concerto collections

armonico ('Harmonic Inspiration' or 'Harmonic Whim', Op.

-

at that

time?

of the collection for enlightenment, admittedly without

great confidence. Vivaldi's

1727)

any

as a special case than

Vivaldi abandon his idea halfway

he simply had no other concertos with special

We

same general concept within

hint of the

4,

c.

La

1714);

cetra

L'estro

La

1711);

3,

('The Cither', Op.

9,

are striking and memorable, but they are far from meaningful in

relation to the music.

The composer's motive

them

in selecting

born not of pretentiousness but of an intuitive

surely one

is

feel for successful

marketing.

name stood

In the competitive world of concerto publishing a set with a

a

greater chance of attracting attention than one advertised simply as 'Concerti'; a title full of tantalizing

promise had the additional advantage of implying that

the music was extraordinary and well worth buying and playing. Vivaldi's

He

policy should not be dismissed as merely a commercial ploy, however.

deserves credit for understanding, more than his rivals did, that concertos

needed

new and

to find a

concerts of

all

attractive identity as multi-purpose repertory for

kinds, public or private,

courtly and sacred functions.

There

is

now

that they

had shed their former

probably no better explanation than this

many

for Vivaldi's experiments in the genre over

years,

and

not only some of the fruits of his search for methods but uncertainty about the 'II

it

is

a

more meaningful

apparently alludes to a compositional approach.

or not the allusion has substance in relation to the music judge, for the wording

'Harmony'

to

is,

perhaps, his

way forward.

cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione'

the others in that

Op. 8 we see

in

also,

still

smacks of 'handy

the eighteenth-century

composition: a rational, acquired

art.

is

more

title

Whether

difficult to

label' as well as 'artistic

mind, the traditional

'Invention'

is

than

theme'. craft

the un-learnt

of

human

imagination with which 'harmony' can be transformed. Vivaldi had evidently latched on to a real distinction between the two concepts that

evidence in Op.

8.

might be tempted creative forces,

But much depends on the meaning of

certainly in

cimento'.

One

if

two

Invention in allegorical personification, are at

war

to translate

Harmony and

'II

is

it

rather too freely as 'the contest', as

with each other for supremacy in music.

17

It is

most doubtful

that Vivaldi

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

intended such a dramatic vision or meant that harmony and invention oppose

and ultimately exclude each English word

More accurately, 'il cimento' equates to the trial for quality - in this case a test of both

other.

'assay': a test or

harmony and

invention, which are complementary and can coexist.

balance, then,

we might acknowledge

Vivaldi chose

it.

test.

Third,

some substance

First, there is

it

as a reflection of his

served as good publicity by implying that his music passes

it is

perhaps an afterthought nevertheless, possibly chosen to

justify the selection of

both characterized and non-characterized concertos

when the former type composer sensed was

preferred and to disguise whatever failure the

is

implicit in that

An abundance The

to

On

and why

title

it

thinking. Second,

the

three things about the

compromised

selection.

or a dearth of titles?

argument hinges on whether or not Vivaldi had other

validity of the last

concertos with special

titles at his disposal. If

some were

he not package them into the second volume of Op. 8? This

available,

why

did

puzzling because

is

we now know that he was preoccupied with writing characterized concertos - and with grouping them in sets, too - before and during the time when Op. 8 might be presumed, on the

basis of the date of publication alone, to

have

been assembled.

The

period of that preoccupation begins in the mid-1710s, peaks early in

the 1720s and peters out by the 1730s. The Storm at Sea

published in Op. as

Op. 7 No.

10)

16

// ritiro ('Retiring',

8),

RV 294a,

and 'The Cuckow' (RV 335,

(RV

253, the version

published in 1716 or 1717

first

published in 1717)

probably the earliest surviving examples. The Four Seasons are the

same mid-1 7 10s'

vintage.

Hunt) has been dated

to

The

the year 1720, and for this there

is

are

be of

autograph manuscript of La caccia (The

1718-20. 18

c.

likely to

17

The

next datable group

is

assigned to

evidence of a devotion on Vivaldi's

real

part to the notion of a conceptually related set of violin concertos: // sospetto ('Suspicion',

RV

270),

RV

199),

Lmquietudine ('Anxiety',

whose autograph

music-paper and some special markings,

companion works. 19 In the solo violin concertos

them: ess',

II gardellino

RV

95);

RV 234)

and

draft scores share precisely the

early

// riposo ('Rest',

same

were seemingly

variety of

designed

and mid- 1720s came several others - not

as all

and without necessarily any conceptual links between

('The Goldfinch',

La none

('Night',

RV

RV

90);

La

pastorella

('The Shepherd-

104); Concerto madrigalesco

Concerto alia rustica ('Rustic Concerto',

18

RV

151);

U

(RV

129);

amoroso ('Amorousness',

Origin and motivation

RV

II ritiro (RV 294); // Proteo ossia il mondo al The World Upside-Down', RV 544 and RV 572) and

changed version of

271); a

rovescio ('Proteus, or

Concerto funebre ('Funereal Concerto',

RV

579).

also an aborted plan to write a concerto called

the late

1720s, Vivaldi's interest in

ambivalence

RV

evident:

is

277,

titles

20

La

To

the early 1720s belongs

disunione ('Disunion').

had largely evaporated.

two whose

that remain are

all

imitation of instruments: Conca ('The Conch',

composed di posta

in

c.

1730 during the composer's

('The Post-Horn',

RV

By

Some

untitled in a manuscript collection dated

left

1728, resurfaced in 1729 as II favorito ('The Favourite', Op. 11

extant works,

21

No.

Of

2).

titles

allude to the music's

RV

163), almost certainly

visit to

Bohemia, 22 and

// corneto

363) which has yet to be dated.

A concentration of eight titled works - // Proteo (RV

572), // ritiro (RV 294), (RV 90), La tempesta di mare (RV 253), - among the twelve concerto manuscripts given

II riposo, L'inquietudine, II gardellino

La pastorella and L 'ottavina by Vivaldi

to the

musicians of Ottoboni's court demonstrates the composer's

around 1723-4,

inclination, in

to 'market' his special

wares in combination

with each other. 23 Finally, our review would not be complete without mention

- La

La Spagna, L'Inghilterra and // Gran Mogul (France, Spain, England and India) - that, sadly, are lost and therefore undatable, but whose names alone show again that of four flute concertos with geographical

titles

Francia,

Vivaldi was inclined to fashion sets according to extra-musical criteria.

The Op. 8 samples only

24

focal date

relatively early concertos with titles: the cut-off point lies

around 1718-20.

We

compiled was no

later

are thus led to suspect that the time

than

c.

when Op.

8 was

1720: at least five years before the collection

was

titles

were the

only evidence, such a startling conclusion would seem beyond belief.

We need

published. If the degree to which Vivaldi used concertos with

to

be reasonably confident that the assumption on which that conclusion

based -

that Vivaldi

existed at the time possibility that

-

would have included more is

correct.

ties

it

concertos

after

all,

if

more had

leaves it

open the

stands rather

works without

titles

dispels those uncertain-

supports exactly the same conclusion for dating. Vivaldi's

stock of manuscripts, preserved in Turin,

composed

titled

title,

it.

identity of the collection's

because

collection's

he positively favoured the mixture of works as

than merely settled for

The

The

in the early

is

is

own

particularly rich in concertos

and mid-1 720s; many must be examples provided for

19

The Four Seasons and other concertos, Op. 8

the Pieta from July 1723.

work

for

Op.

8, titled

From

this substantial repertory

he did not draw any

or untitled, but would surely have done so

constructed the collection at a time close to 1725.

between Op. 8 and Vivaldi's manuscripts point with fascinating distinctly earlier date of assembly.

The

loss of

works regrettably means that the picture

RV

178/449 cannot be located

he had

clarity to a

autograph materials for certain will

remain incomplete;

particularly unfortunate that, in the absence of clues

180 and

if

The correlations that do exist

it

from manuscripts,

in a chronological

is

RV

scheme. Discounting

the special case of The Four Seasons, already considered,

us review the

let

evidence work by work.

RV 253, The

La

tempest a di mare

Dresden

parts preserved in

hands of the

violinist

("The Storm

=

at Sea'

are of Venetian provenance;

companions from the Saxon court

Manchester source

25

those in the

Johann Georg Pisendel and another person,

the sole autograph part, were almost certainly written out his

Op. 8 No. 5)

also

visited

as well as

when Pisendel and

The

Venice in 1716-17.

emanates directly from Vivaldi's

own

activities,

belongs to the group of manuscripts given to Ottoboni, mentioned

26

and

earlier,

although the parts for La tempesta di mare were not written out for that purpose.

The second

been assigned that

to the

was employed

was notated on music-paper that has

violin part, in fact,

Mantuan period

1718-20 - exactly the same variety

c.

for the autograph scores of

RV

210,

332 and 362,

concordant with Op. 8 Nos. 11,8 and 10 respectively. 27 Significant differences

between the three surviving

texts (Dresden,

moreover, that the version recorded

Manchester

parts.

28

in

Manchester, Le Cene) suggest,

Op. 8

is

earlier

than that of the

impossible to be certain about this in the absence of

It is

an autograph score that would show the exact nature of textual revisions, but here

we have

the slightest of hints that Vivaldi began to compile Op. 8 a

before the time,

1720, that

c.

we have estimated

RV242 (=Op. The Dresden

autograph draft, containing only the

certainly given to Pisendel (to

and studies with Vivaldi of Op. 8 No. 7

is

whom

in 1716-17.

it is

29

some form before

especially for

Op.

far.

7) first

movement, was almost

inscribed) during his visit to Venice

Although the corresponding movement

a quite different version,

the work existed in

music

8 No.

so

little

c.

8.

20

we may be reasonably sure that may have redrafted the

1720. Vivaldi

Origin and motivation

RV332 (=Op. The Turin

RV

autograph draft

210 and

The

texts

RV

is

8 No. 8)

believed to date from

1718-20,

those of

like

362 {La caccia) and one of the Manchester parts for

RV

253.

of the autograph and the print correspond very closely; the

manuscript's few textual alterations were perhaps

Op.

c.

made

in

connection with

8.

RV 236/ 454

(=Op. 8 No.

9)

The Turin autograph

draft appears to have been created in or very near to

1720: Vivaldi used the

same

opera

La

veritd in cimento

of that year.

30

RV

variety of music-paper for his manuscript of the

RV

739,

first

236/454 might indeed be the

have been composed. Textual clues leave sent to

performed

Amsterdam was copied

directly

little

in

for

doubt that the version

from the Turin

movement,

autumn

in the

of the works in Op. 8 to

last

room

Venice

The

score.

solo part's

is

an error in No. 9

(reproduced in the Ricordi edition too) that stems from the

fact that Vivaldi's

quaver f

notehead

'

in bar

in the

72 of the

first

for instance,

1

autograph, for the correct pitch

gfl

,

is

Some

poorly drawn.

alterations bear witness to Vivaldi's decision to publish the piece as a violin

known today

concerto (the version

as

RV

in

bars 91-101 of the

and replaced by

- both

first

life as

movement, however, the

original solo part

words

'Viol:

the notes and the solo instrument intended for Op.

The Turin autograph 210 and

RV

La

caccia

draft

is

("The Hunt'

=

does not necessarily

mean

is

deleted

Principale'

believed to date from

c.

1718-20,

RV

like

those of

253. It

shows

Op. 8 duplicates the revised readings but

that the changes were

made when

is

might have been written 112/283 of the

not evident from the Turin score. directly into the

exemplar sent

finale as given in the print, for

Turin and Dresden manuscripts. Others

are

first instance.

work

21

Some changes

Amsterdam: bar

example, does not exist

more

by Vivaldi in a further manuscript score, now

to

likely to

lost.

Most

this

Vivaldi compiled

significant variants show, however, that further revision of the

occurred in a way that

454);

8.

the set; they might date from the drafting of the work in the

Some

(RV

Op. 8 No. 10)

332 and one of the Manchester parts for

several alterations to the text.

head of

at the

an oboe concerto

a revised passage together with the

RV 362, RV

His inscription

236).

the manuscript shows that the work began

in the

have been notated

interesting of

all is

>

Cs)

LO

7

c

p

;

> oc

jU

d C 'n

IS

a

5 z \> s*8

k

CJ

V o

.2 X> DO sx „ ,

Storm

La

RV

15, 52, 53, 55,

tempesta di mare (The

at Sea),

RV

'Op.

180, 4, 14, 17, 20, 27, 28, 29,

RV RV RV RV

60-1, 95

RV

242, 4, 14, 20, 27,

28, 29-30, 32, 35, 37, 38, 41,

42, 44, 47, 48, 54, 55, 56, 61, 94

No. 8

in g,

RV

RV

54,62 in d,

23^,

RV

236/454,

No. 10

C, 61

756

in

El>,

61

759

in

BL>,

61

90 in D,

61

// gardellmo, 18, 19,

93

94 in D, 88, 89 95 in D, La pastorella, 98 in F,

104 in

in general,

RV

La

18, 19,

93

tempesta di mare,

g,

La

notte, 18, 51, 58,

RV

23-4 in Bt,

soloist:

34

129 in d, Concerto

madrigalesco, 18, 93

as solo instrument, 14, 15,

RV

e,

in

Concertos without

4, 14, 21,

28-9, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35,

36, 38, 40, 41, 43, 47, 48, 60,

21,

17a in

754

86,93

65, 96

oboe

see Chedeville, Nicolas, //

93

332, 4, 14, 20, 21,

23, 30-1, 36, 37-8, 40, 42, 44,

No. 9

44

Concertos without orchestra:

45, 47, 48, 51, 52, 54, 57, 58,

in d,

cetra, 10, 17, 24,

24

13':

RV RV RV RV

RV

31-2, 33, 34, 35, 38, 41, 42, 44,

No. 7

33

6, 24,

Violin sonatas:

54, 55, 56, 58, 62, 94 in C, // piacere (Pleasure),

stravaganza, 17, 26

Other works:

36, 38-9, 40-1, 42, 45, 51, 52,

No. 6

60

pastor fido

253, 3, 14,

16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 32,

armonico, 16, 17, 26,

3, L'estro

4,

14,

37

94

2,

34, 37,

Uautunno (Autumn),

3, 4,

94

4, 14, 20,

as solo instrument, 14,

Op. Op. Op.

293,

178/449,

Other published collections:

56, 60, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72-3, 76,

3 in F,

55, 56, 60, 61, 65,

RV

30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41,

315, 3,4, 11, 12, 14,45,53,55,

No.

in C,

43, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 61, 63

72-3, 77, 78, 80-2, 85, 88 in g, Vestate

53^,

49,

No. 12

(Spring),

51, 55, 57, 60, 62, 69, 70-1,

No. 2

20,21, 23,

14,

32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 43, 44, 48,

80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 97

No.

D, RV210,

11 in

151 in

G, Concerto

alia rustica,

18,93

La

RV RV

caccia (The Hunt),

362, 4, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21-3,

24, 30, 32-3, 35-6, 37, 38, 43,

156 in

g,

58

163 in Bt, Conca, 19, 94

Violin concertos:

RV

44-5, 46-7, 51, 52-3, 54, 55, 56,

199 in

31,58

58, 61, 63-5, 95

103

c,

Ilsospetto, 18,

23^,

Index

RV RV

234

19,

RV RV RV

RV

208 in D, Grosso Mogul 62, 94

D,

in

6),

33

RV RV

Per

il

RV

23^, 28

239

d (Op. 6 No.

in

246 in 270

95

d,

Vamoroso,

271 in E,

RV RV RV

18, 70,

93

RV

277 in

No.

RV RV

in F, // ritiro

RV RV

G

300 in

(Op. 9 No.

95

10),

335 in A, 'The Cuckoo',

RV

18,

335a in A,

// rosignuolo,

336

in

A, 66, 95

363

in

B\>,

RV RV

93

763

RV RV RV RV RV

Amato

c,

bene, 93

Vottavtna, 19, 93

in A,

Flute concertos: //

Gran Mogul

La Francia La Spagna

RV

428

No.

RV

in

3),

(lost), 19,

(lost), 19,

94

(lost), 19,

94

LTnghilterra

(lost),

D,

19,

94

RV RV

in g,

2), 51, 86,

(Op. 10

// gardellino

te,

64

687, serenata 'Dall'eccelsa

mia

700, opera Arsilda, regina di

702, opera

L 'Atenaide,

96

709, opera Dorilla in Tempe,

711, opera Farnace, 63, 88, 97 717, opera Giustino, 80, 96, 97 718, opera Griselda, 97 729, opera Ottone in villa, 64 735, opera Siroe, re di Persia,

738, opera Tito Manlio, 86, 87 739, opera

La

veritd in

Vivaldi, Giovanni Battista, 94

1),

di

mare

La none (Op.

Walker, Thomas, 91 Walther, Johann Jakob, 50

93 10 No.

White, Harry, 92

93

Winter, see Vivaldi,

489

in F, 61

496

in g, 10, 92, 93

501 in Bl,

La

Op.

8 concertos,

No. 4 Zavateri,

disunione (aborted), 19, 93

Lorenzo Gaetano

Concerto a Tempesta di mare (Op.

none, 51, 93

No.

Other concertos:

La

caro',

cimento, 21

Bassoon concertos:

RV RV RV

661, cantata 'Nel partir da

97

94

433 in F, La tempesta

439

19,

93

(Op. 10 No.

RV

58

g,

578 in g (Op. 3 No. 2), 27 579 in B\>, Concerto funebre,

86-7, 97

// corneto di posta,

391 in b (Op. 9 No. 12), 95

761 in

577 in

il

93

Ponto, 51, 64, 81

19

RV RV RV

// Proteo ossia

al rovescio, 19,

reggia', 3

58, 65, 93

RV RV RV

572 in F,

mio

(Op. 7 No.

10), 18

RV RV

ind (Op. 3 No. 11), 61 in F, La tempesta di mare,

Vocal works:

in F, // ritiro, 19, 93

294a

il

95

93

(Op. 11

e, II favorito

19

2),

294

570

mondo

93

4, 70,

565

// Proteo ossia

al rovescio, 19, 93,

93

in E, // riposo I

S[antissim]o Natale, 18, 19, 23-

RV

544 in F,

mondo

L'inquietudine, 18,

12), 51

Zoppelli, Luca, 95

104

1

I

TOW PUBLIC LIBRARVl