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We almost leave the strings aside for a moment.
Why 'almost' ? Well, the two little pieces for organ known as RV746 turn out to be based on Vivaldi's Manchester Sonata for Strings No 6 in A major RV758. First, this is Nicholas Anderson explaining the 'Manchester Sonatas' in an article for The Gramophone: Vivaldi scholar, Michael Talbot by chance discovered these 12 violin sonatas in Manchester's Central Music Library. It was an important find not just because the music is by Vivaldi but because it is, for the most part, excellent music. It seems likely that the composer presented the sonatas for violin and continuo to the great Roman patron of the arts, Cardinal Ottoboni during the 1720s. When Ottoboni died in 1740 he was so much in debt that his library of music had to be sold. Some of it, including this collection, was bought by an English traveller, Edward Holdsworth who passed it on to Charles Jennens, librettist of Messiah and other Handel oratorios. Thence, via Heneage Finch, Third Earl of Aylesford and the Handel scholar, Newman Flower, they were eventually bought at auction by Manchester's Central Music Library in the mid-1960s. |
Here are two little pieces for organ, a Largo and an Andante Due pezzi per organo RV746 5m10 Two pieces for organ in A major arranged from Manchester Sonata for Violin No 6 in A major RV758 Largo Andante organist: Angelo Silvio Rosati |
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All right string lovers, the teasing is over. I should warn you, though, that you are not going to have it all your own way in this selection. You see, several of Vivaldi's string works also appear in versions he wrote for oboe or for flute. We shall listen to one of those later. First, we shall consider his wonderfully titled Opus 8, Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione - The Contest between Harmony and Invention. Take it easy. Some are already guessing where this is going and they are going to feel teased again. That is because the first four of these twelve violin concertos do indeed form the famous Le quattro stagione. But you know them so well ! At the end of today's selection, I will offer a performance of the Four Seasons. For now I want to bring you two of the other concertos in this set. Their titles are equally descriptive, and Vivaldi's music does not deceive. I am sure you will enjoy the many familiar features in the concertos: La caccia, and La tempesta di mare. |
Concerto for violin & strings in Bb major RV362
La caccia The hunt 8m20 from Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione Op8 No10 (1723) The Contest between Harmony and Invention Giuliano Carmignola, with the Venice Baroque Orchestra Concerto for violin & strings in Eb major RV253
La tempesta di mare The sea tempest 8m45 from Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione Op 8 No 5 |
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Sinfonia for strings and basso continuo in C major RV 111
from the opera Gustino 6m30 I (Allegro) cadenza: A. Vivaldi - F. Ammetto (from incomplete RV 775) II Without tempo indication III Allegro Fabrizio Ammetto violin L'Orfeo Ensemble di Spoleto / Fabrizio Ammetto, conductor Vedrò con mio diletto RV 717 (1724) 5m20 from the opera Giustino (also known as Anastasio) Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor Ensemble Matheu, director Jean-Christophe Spinosi |
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We now move to the other end of Vivaldi's opera output. Catone in Utica, or Cato in Utica, is an Italian libretto by Pietro Metastasio. Between 1727 and 1791 Metastasio's libretto was used for operas by 20 different composers, including Giacomelli, Handel (1732 in London) and Johann Christian "the London" Bach (Milan in 1758, London probably in 1764).
The story: It is 46 BC. The Roman empire has crumbled to the point where only a small conclave exists on the coast of North Africa, at Utica, led by Cato the Younger. Caesar approaches, Cato's forces engage, and Caesar is triumphant, having his men slaughter any survivor. On hearing of the losses Cato commits suicide. Metastasio surrounds this story from Plutarch with plenty of love and intrigue. This, after all, is opera! So we come to Emilia (Pompeo's widow) who sings this aria, Nella foresta, In the forest: |
Nella foresta - In the forest 6m40 aria from the opera Catone in Utica, Act 3, Scene 9, RV705 Loriana Castellano, mezzo Modo Antiquo baroque orchestra Federico Maria Sardelli, conductor Festival Opera Barga 2019 |
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We next come to a short look at Vivaldi's sacred works. Of his three settings of Beatus vir, the opening of Psalm 112 (and also of Psalm 1) RV599 is lost, RV597 is fairly well known, and so I have chosen to air the beautiful, though less frequently heard, RV598.
Here Vivaldi was in good company. 17th and 18th century Italian composers set Psalm 112 at least 81 times. You may be wondering why the setting is marked as both Psalm 112 and 111. The 150 poems of the Psalms were not presented with their numbers. Those were added later, and there were two systems. While the Hebrew system was adopted by the non-conformist bibles of Luther and Coverdale, the Catholic Church adopted the Greek version, and later moved to the Hebrew roots but felt unable to re-number such popular poems as the Psalms. You can read a great deal more here, although for me, it hardly clarified matters! |
Beatus vir 8m10 (Psalm 111, now Ps 112, Blessed is the man) RV598 (1713-1719) Maria Zempleni, soprano • Klara Takacs, contralto Budapesti Madrigálkórus Budapest Madrigal Choir, Ferenc Szakeres |
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Et in terra pax hominibus 4m05 And on earth peace to all people from Gloria RV589 (1716?) Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor |
Et in terra pax hominibus 5m30 -56m30 And on earth peace to all people from Gloria RV588 Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor |
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