HMR Project: History of Music & Modern Recording

Antonio Vivaldi's Contest

Birth of Classical Music: Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi

Engraving: François Morellon la Cave 1725

Born on 4 March 1678 in Venice (then a republic apart from Italy), Antonio Vivaldi is probably the brightest star in the baroque constellation excepting J.S. Bach born only seven years later. He composed more than 500 concertos, 230 for violin, the remainder for other instruments. Along with sinfonias he composed around ninety sonatas and above 50 identifiable operas. Giovanni's father had been a barber turned professional musician with whom Vivaldi publicly performed as a child. Early records find Vivaldi the maestro di violino at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice at age 25, an esteemed orphanage and music school where Johann Rosenmüller had taught about twenty years earlier. He was ordained a priest the next year in 1703, acquiring the nickname of "The Red Priest" due that he (and his family) was a flaming redhead. Though Vivaldi remained a priest, it's thought he withdrew from the duties of that station due to severe asthma. But he remained at the Ospedale della Pietà for more than thirty years, eventually to be appointed maestro de concerti in 1716.

Wikipedia has the first edition of Vivaldi's 'Suonate da Camera a Tre', Op 1, published circa 1703. Most sources, however, point to a more reliable edition of 1705. This is a set of twelve violin sonatas which include RV 61-69, 73, 75, 78 and 79. These begin with No.1 that is RV 73 and end with 'La Follia', No.12 that is RV 63. "RV" refers to the Ryom Verseichnis (directory) of Peter Ryom first published in 1973 toward the eventual compiling of more than 800 works. This is a thematic rather than chronological catalog in which RV 1 is a violin sonata in A major composed by 1709 and published as No.6 of Op 2 published in 1709, that is, No.6 of Book 2 of 12 published works (ops). Op numbers for Vivaldi refer to 12 published collections containing 114 works in the Ryom Verseichnis. [See Refs below for a breakdown of the genres in the Ryom directory consisting largely of concertos and sonatas.]

The Ryom Verseichnis is the most thorough and commonly used of numerous Vivaldi catalogues which include the first major directory of Vivaldi that was Mario Rinaldi's 'Catalogo numerico tematico delle compozisioni di Antonio Vivaldi' in 1945, that incomplete, poorly organized using opus numbers, and riddled with error. Rinaldi's are rarely seen "MR" or "RN" numbers. Marc Pincherle's 'Antonio Vivaldi et musique instrumentale' of 1948 was welcomed as more accurate, but was also incomplete. "P" numbers refer to Pincherle. Antonio Fanna's more complete 'Catalogo numerico-tematico delle opere strumentali' arrived in 1968 to which "F" numbers refer. Also seen are tomo (volume) numbers referring to the order in which the Ricordi Edition was published. These are seen variously as "M" numbers which refer to editor, Gian Francesco Malipiero, "R" or "RC" numbers referring to the publisher, Ricordi, or "T" numbers referring to tomo sequence. That is, M, R or T numbers all refer to the same thing that is simply the volume number of the Ricordi Edition. [Ricordi Critical Edition with F and T numbers, given as R numbers at Classical Net and M numbers at David Wells.]

'Suonate da Camera a Tre' Op 1 Antonio Vivaldi

12 trio sonatas for 2 violins and continuo Published poss 1703 / 1705

IMSLP Wikipedia

L'Archicembalo 2021

'Concerto for Two Violins in A Minor' Op 3 No.8 RV 522 Antonio Vivaldi

From 'L'estro armonico' ('The Inspiration Harmonic') that is Op 3 Published 1711

IMSLP Wikipedia

Violins l to r: Aisslinn Nosky / Fiona Hughes

Staunton Music Festival Virginia 18 Aug 2014

The Ryom Verseichnis also includes Vivaldi's operas, the first of which, 'Ottone in villa', RV 729, premiered at the Teatro di Piazza in 1713. To lend some perspective to the supernova that was Vivaldi, probably more so than any composer preceding him, the baroque into which his first works surfaced was now above a century in development, coinciding with opera which first appeared in Italy via Jacopo Peri in 1597. The first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, had opened for business in 1637 in Vivaldi's own Venice once opera ceased to be an entertainment for aristocrats only, inevitable that stage and public should wed toward commercial profits. Be as may, Vivaldi composed over fifty operas for both court and public.

Ottone in 'Ottone in villa' refers to Otho (b 32 - d 69), Roman Emperor (7th) for three months from January to April of 69 until losing in battle to his successor, Vitellius (8th Roman Emperor). Otho was subject to mixed reviews from effeminacy to association with Nero (5th Roman Emperor) to the murder of Galba (6th Roman Emperor upon the suicide of Nero in 68). On the other hand he conceded to Vitellius by taking his own life to save the remainder of his army, having witnessed 40,000 killed at the First Battle of Bedriacum against Vitellius. Vitellius himself remained Emperor only eight months before his execution by Vespasian who would last a decade as 9th Roman Emperor. None of which has anything to do with the imaginary tragic love story of passions stirred to murderous intent in which Vivaldi involves Otho in 'Ottone in villa'.

'Ottone in villa' RV 729 Opera (1st) by Antonio Vivaldi

Premiered at the Teatro delle Grazie on 17 May 1713

Libretto: Domenico Lalli (Sebastiano Biancardi)

Ottone: Sonia Prina Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice / Diego Fasolis 2021

'La Stravaganza' ('The Extraordinary') Op 4 12 concerti for violin by Antonio Vivaldi

Published in Amsterdam in dedication to violin student, Vettor Delfino, in 1716

HOASM IMSLP Wikipedia

L'Arte dell'Arco in Italy 2014

This album: Brilliant Classics Discogs

Vivaldi exchanged Venice for Mantua in 1718, employed as maestro di cappella by Mantua's governor, Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt. Vivaldi composed his 'Concerto in sol maggiore per due mandolini', RV 532, between 1720 and 1724. Between 1721 and 1725 he worked in Milan and Rome before returning to Venice. It was during that period in Italy that he wrote his most famous work, 'The Four Seasons' ('Le quattro stagioni'), in 1723. Those were the first four of twelve concertos titled 'The Contest between Harmony and Invention' ('Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione'), published in 1725 as Op 8. Of the numerous masters of Vivaldi I know not who best fulfills such the contest in the battle of virtuosi stacked below.

'Concerto in sol maggiore per due mandolini' RV 532 in G major Antonio Vivaldi

Composed sometime 1720-24

I Solisti Veneti conducted by Claudio Scimone

Mandolins: Ugo Orlandi / Dorina Frati