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Antonio Vivaldi and the Musical
Environment of Venice During the
Early Eighteenth Century (ca. 1700–
1741)
Christian Kaltwasser
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Antonio Vivaldi and the Musical Environment of
Venice During the Early Eighteenth Century!
(ca. 1700–1741)!
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Presented to Dr. Keller Coker
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by Christian Kaltwasser
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http://kaltwassermusic.com
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June 1, 2015
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MUS 680: Contemporary Topics in Musicology (Musical Environments)
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Kaltwasser !2
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Many treatises on the history and arts of Venice lament the loss resulting from the
capitulation of the last doge to Napoleon’s forces in May 1797, when many records and
manuscripts from its institutions were lost. Yet, fortunate discoveries have since filled in much
detail and have allowed re-evaluation of the Republic of Venice’s role in history and culture by
historians working since the mid-1800s. Antonio Vivaldi, now one of the most famous and wellregarded composers of the Baroque as well as of Venice, was for some time remembered mainly
as a composer who was famous in his own time, and as an important influence on J.S. Bach’s
keyboard style.1 Many of his works had continued to be known and performed in new
arrangements during the latter eighteenth century, but most of his large opus was known only by
title, until manuscripts saved in a cabinet in Dresden were uncovered around 1860.2 A prolific
and innovative composer, Vivaldi in fact made major and lasting contributions to instrumental
music that helped shape the orchestra itself. This essay will examine how the unique
environment of his native Venice shaped his work and thus his impact.
Located on lagoons sheltered from Adriatic storms by a series of sand bars called lidi, the
area that became Venice during the Middle Ages was a literal backwater during Roman times. It
was a place where the elites of nearby cities such as Padua and Aquileia came for summer
retreats.3 The city formed out of a confederation of many smaller, independent communities
1
Karl Heller, Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice, translated by David Marinelli (Portland, OR: Amadeus
Press, 1997), 12.
2
Heller, 11–3.
3
Frederick C. Lane, Venice: A Maritime Republic (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973), 2.
Kaltwasser !3
located on the lagoon.4 The first doge, Orso, was elected in 726 C.E.5 Venice subsequently grew
as a political and shipping power in Europe due to the value of the spice trade with the Levant. In
1000 C.E., Doge Pietro Orseolo II rooted out pirates along the Dalmatian coast, extending
Venetian hegemony along the length of the Adriatic.6 Venice participated in the Crusades,
becoming an imperial power in the Greek-speaking Mediterranean, and gaining exclusive trading
rights in the port towns of the Levant.7
Its geographic situation and history made the community and cultural formation of
Venice unique among major European cities. By 1200, Venice comprised approximately 60
diverse but socially integrated parishes, most located on separate islands of the lagoon. Even as it
grew in population, there were not separate slums and rich neighborhoods. Different classes lived
in close proximity, and neighborhoods retained a spirit of community, each with its own patron
saint, bell tower, local customs, and festivals.8
Due to its position on the margins of Italy and Western Europe, Venice and its landward
Italian territories, the Veneto, were part of Latin Christendom, but also had extensive maritime
contact with the Byzantine Empire, Greek-speaking and Slavic lands, the Ottoman Empire, and
the Levant.9 Well before the turn of the eighteenth century, Venice was a large and cosmopolitan
city. Due to its contacts with the Levant and Greek-speaking areas of the Mediterranean, there
4
Lane, 11.
5
Mario Brunetti, et al. Venice, translated by James Emmons (New York: Skira, Inc., 1956), 11.
6
Brunetti, 12.
7
Brunetti, 13.
8
Lane, 11–12.
9
William H. McNeill, Venice: The Hinge of Europe 1081–1797 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974),
xvi–xvii.
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were established Greek and Jewish communities in the city.10 In 1696, although it had declined
in population, it was still about 140,000 strong, about three times the size of Hamburg at the
time.11 Its trade relationships with mainland Europe brought in different musical and artistic
influences at different times. For instance, Venice had extensive trade contact with the Low
Countries during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Flemish art and music became popular
there as a result. The first three Maestri di Capella at St. Mark’s Basilica, the chapel of the doge,
were from the Netherlands: Petrus de Fossis (1491–1537), Adriaan Willaert (1527–63), and
Cipriano de Rore (1563–4).12 Also of cultural and intellectual import, Crete, a possession of
Venice, became the main center of Greek cultural life following the fall of Constantinople in
1453. In the early sixteenth century, many scholars moved from Crete to Venice.13 Due to its
contact with Greek-speaking areas, well-developed printing facilities, and the scholarly traditions
of Veneto Padua, Venice became the premier center for Hellenistic studies and the printing of
classical texts during the early sixteenth century.14
However, between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, Venice shifted from being a
Mediterranean sea power toward more a North Italian regional force.15 It lost its dominance in
trade with the Orient as early as the sixteenth century due to expansion of oceanic trade routes by
the Portuguese and Dutch. During the seventeenth century, Venice lost important possessions in
10
McNeill, xvi.
11
Heller, 22.
12
Oliver Logan, Culture and Society in Venice 1470–1790: The Renaissance and its Heritage (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1972), 40.
13
Logan, 39.
14
Logan, 47.
15
Logan, 38.
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the Eastern Mediterranean, including Crete in 1669. In 1718, the Peace of Passarowitz forced
Venice to cede its non-Italian possessions to Austria.16 The Republic would never again be a
first-tier power in Europe.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the population of Venice fluctuated
between 100,000 and 160,000 in the city itself.17 Plague was a periodic threat, and had killed off
roughly one third of the population during each of two severe epidemics in 1575–77 and 1630–
31.18 During the period from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth, the birth rate within
Venice never exceeded its death rate, particularly due to infant mortality, and so immigration was
encouraged, mainly coming from the Italian mainland, and was important for maintaining the
viability of the city. This in-migration fed a shift in the true economic base of Venice from
predominantly maritime shipping, to skilled crafts.19 Government regulations and guild
involvement pushed the improvement of quality in craft goods, and success in this area led
Venice to become a major center of industry in Italy.20 Also, due to its position relative to trade
between Italian and German states, there was a considerable presence of German merchants in
Venice starting in the fifteenth century. An influx of German print tradesmen during the 1470s
led to printing becoming an important skilled industry in Venice.21 Notably, it was in Venice that
16
Heller, 20–1.
17
Lane, 20–1.
18
Lane, 19.
19
Lane, 20.
20
Lane, 320–1.
21
Logan, 40.
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Claudio Monteverdi had the score of his groundbreaking early opera L’Orfeo printed, while he
was still serving the duke of Mantua.22
An important center for music and music training in Venice was St. Mark’s Basilica. Its
Maestri di Capella and organists were involved in writing works performed in church services
throughout the city as well as for public festivals.23 Organists’ salaries at St. Mark’s tended to not
keep pace with inflation, so they often took outside work, or even left for better-paying positions
in other cities, such as Vienna.24
Outside of the court and the church, an important sector of music activity in Venice was
its charitable institutions, which, like similar entities in other cities existed for the aid of many
needy groups, particularly abandoned and orphaned children. The four Venetian ospedali, or
conservatories, were unique in having all-female choirs, a phenomenon otherwise limited to
convents. These cori existed for performance of religious music. However, the girls of the
ospedali were giving public performances of oratorios and orchestral music starting in the
seventeenth century.25 These concerts helped provide financial support to the institutions. In fact,
some of the girls who showed great talent were taught by the best music instructors of Italy.26
During the decades of Venice’s faded mercantile empire and status as a declining
economic power, first-rate artists such as Antonio Vivaldi, Carlo Goldoni, and Giambattista
22
Thomas Forrest Kelly, First Nights: Five Musical Premieres (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), 29.
23
Logan, 257.
24
Logan, 261.
25
Barbara Garvey Jackson, “Musical Women of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” in Karen Pendle, ed.
Women and Music: A History, 2nd ed. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001), 100.
26
Percy A. Scholes, ed., Dr. Burney’s Musical Tours in Europe (London: Oxford University Press, 1959), quoted in
Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents, 2nd ed. (Belmont, CA:
Schirmer, 2008), 189.
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Tiepolo were looking beyond Venice for their patronage. However, patronage from outside the
city was not new in itself, as it may in some cases be attributable to individuals of extraordinary
renown. For instance, later publications of renowned singer and vocal composer Barbara Strozzi
(1617–ca. 1664) had been dedicated to noble patrons both within Venice and beyond the Alps.
Her work was reaching a broad audience, and being included in contemporary collections.27
However, with its shrinking and threatened trade interests, the elites of Venice were increasingly
invested in finance and speculation. The noble class itself was contracting in size, and some
families with hereditary titles were in fact indigent.28 Venetian masters such as Tiepolo (1696–
1770) were taking their skills abroad and doing some of their best work in foreign courts.29
Meanwhile, aristocratic travelers seeking culture and amusements flocked to Venice for its
renowned arts and pleasures, such as opera and the Carnival.30 During the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, Venice was part of “the Grand Tour,” considered part of a gentleman’s
education.31 Venice at the start of the eighteenth century was still seen as a great symbol of
artistic culture and political power, but perhaps with a self-consciousness of its wane. In this
context, visual artists such as Canaletto (1697–1768) and his student, Guardi (1712–93) were
making their living as painters of Venetian cityscapes for the tourist trade.32
Eighteenth century Venice boasted a richness of artistic and cultural accomplishments in
the visual arts, drama, Carnival, and particularly in music. The theater and music of Venice were
27
Jackson, 106.
28
Logan, 273.
29
McNeill, 228.
30
Heller, 22.
31
Lane, 431.
32
McNeill, 228.
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major draws to tourism. Since Monteverdi came to St. Mark’s in 1613, Venice became a leader in
opera. The first public opera house opened in the city in 1637, and it was the world capital of
opera during the seventeenth century.33 At the same time, one motivation for training the girls of
the ospedali in music was that performances by the children had proved to encourage
almsgiving. Outside of Venice, such institutions gave musical training only to boys.34 Gambling
halls surpassed the theaters in popularity during the eighteenth century, and coffee houses were
also important centers of socializing and entertainment.35 Through the eighteenth century, public
concerts and published printed music increased as amateurs from the growing middle class
became a larger group able to afford to attend, buy instruments, and pay for music lessons.36
Playing of instruments was important in the Venetian music tradition. At the time of
Willaert, Venetian music was characterized by madrigals and playing of lute and viola. The
practice of combining instruments and voices during church services began in Venice and spread
across Europe.37 Also, the organ was an influence on Venetian music brought from the Byzantine
tradition, and Venice was a major center for the manufacture of organs from the sixteenth
century.38 In both large-scale vocal music of opera and instrumental music of the concerto, the
paying public’s tastes seemed to direct practices toward the dramatic spectacle and virtuosic
soloists. Elaborate scenic art and machinery were valued over music or text in the operas of the
seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Venetian masters of scene painting and artistic
33
Lane 431–2.
34
Jackson, 112.
35
Lane, 433.
36
Jackson, 101.
37
Jackson, 97.
38
Logan, 256–7.
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engineering took their skills to the greater courts of Europe.39 Meanwhile, during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, the female opera singer became an important performance career for
women. The technically-skilled soprano or mezzo-soprano was favored in most solo vocal music
at this time. Despite being banned from the stage in the Papal states, and competition from
castrati singers, female opera singers flourished across Europe.40
At the start of the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment was in an early stage and
beginning to influence the arts in Venice. Landscape painter Luca Carlevan (b. 1663, Udine; d.
1730, Venice) brought mathematically based realism and lighting to scenes documenting
pageants, festivals, and receptions of honored persons.41 Native Venetian Antonio Canaletto
(1697–1768) used the camera obscura to help compose and bring realism to his works. Visual
artists like Canaletto were casting off stereotypical scenes like those used in theater sets,
expanding a sense of light and perspective based on the interaction of natural elements and
monumental architecture.42 Around 1730, the work of Canaletto in particular incorporated
tremendous attention to detail and realism, such that in the case of his use of shadow it is
possible to calculate the time of day and day of the year from a scene based on how the shadows
fall.43 Other Venetian artists were combining real and fictitious elements. For instance, Marco
Ricci (b. 1676, Belluno; d. 1729, Venice) tended to paint imaginary landscapes that incorporate
classical ruins.44 Over time, the painters of eighteenth-century Venice were more and more
39
Lane, 432.
40
Jackson, 97.
41
Brunetti, 69–70.
42
Brunetti, 71–3.
43
Brunetti, 80-1.
44
Brunetti, 85.
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inspired by naturalistic subjects and philosophy to capture striking and expansive city views, as
well as spontaneous and humanistic depictions of daily life.45
The Enlightenment brought new approaches to the stage as well. Venetian librettist Carlo
Goldoni began his career as a librettist and playwright by working with actors from commedia
dell’arte troupes. He began writing dialect comedies in the 1730s.46 Goldoni later would become
a major innovator of opera buffa during the 1750s, when he introduced the setting of action to
music, not merely sentiment. The main focus of opera buffa, which originated in Naples around
1706 and then spread north to Rome and Venice, was the impish treatment of human foibles in a
realistic, contemporary setting. In La buona figliuola (1757), Goldoni began to mix comic and
sentimental elements, dispensing with the designation of roles as either serious or comic.47
Goldoni was close friends with genre painter Pietro Longhi (1702–1785), who depicted scenes
from everyday life in Venice.48 Both were attentive and clever observers of Venetian society and
reflected their observations in their respective media. Whereas Goldoni’s work is more bitingly
satirical, Longhi’s depictions reflect discretion and indulgent irony.49 An illustration of Longhi’s
incorporation of social criticism into his work is the picture The Concert (completed ca. 1740) in
which a tonsured monk is shown as part of a group playing cards.50
45
Brunetti, 105.
46
Logan, 277.
47
Piero Weiss and Julian Budden, “Opera Buffa,” The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley
Sadie, 3:685–8 (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 686–7.
48
Brunetti, 99–102.
49
Brunetti, 102.
50
Brunetti, 100, 102.
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The late seventeenth century was a pivotal period in the development of European
instrumental art music, as the concept of the orchestra was beginning to take definite shape, and
instrumental writing was becoming more independent from vocal music. With its important
tradition of instrumental music, Venetian composers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth
century made important contributions to the concerto genre. There was not, as yet, a definite
concept of large-scale orchestra scoring as differentiated from chamber performance.51 Late 17th
century performances for major occasions or prestigious academies could involve upward of 80
or 100 players, such as one directed by Arcangelo Corelli in 1689, in which the typical practice
involved scaling a performance by doubling on each part to produce a more or less musically
balanced result.52 Notable Venetian contributors to the concerto form were Tomaso Albinoni
(1671–1750) and Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741). Albinoni's second opus, published in 1700,
includes six sinfonies, and six concertos scored for two violins, alto, tenor, violoncello, and bass.
These were originally issued without solo parts marked, but solo and tutti markings were later
added to the Amsterdam edition by Estienne Roger. These were the first concertos known in
northern Europe, and were copied by J.S. Bach and Johann Gottfried Walter.53 Albinoni was also
a successful and widely-performed opera composer who is noted for his lyrical and dynamic
melodies.54
51
Simon Harris, “Lully, Corelli, Muffat and the Eighteenth-Century Orchestral String Body,” Music & Letters 54,
no. 2 (Spr. 1973), 197.
52
Frederick Hammond, liner notes to Arcangelo Corelli, Concerti Grossi Op. 6, 7–12, Nicholas McGegan and
Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra, Harmonia Mundi HMU 907015, compact disc, 1990.
53
George J. Buelow, A History of Baroque Music (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004), 467.
54
Buelow, 468.
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Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678, the first son of a barberturned-violinist and a tailor’s daughter. He first learned violin from his father. Vivaldi entered the
priesthood, being fully ordained in 1703, but a chronic health problem interfered with his ability
to sing mass.55 That September he was hired to teach violin to the orphan girls of one of the four
ospedali, the Pio Ospedale della Pietà. The Pietà was a prominent venue for public concerts. His
employment at the Pietà continued, with few interruptions, for many years (he did not receive the
required votes from the governing congregazione and briefly lost the post twice, in 1709 and
1716).56 Outside of his duties for the Pietà, Vivaldi offered music lessons, and wrote new
concertos to order for private clients, including visiting amateur performers. He also composed
and staged his own popular operas, completing 42 over the course of his career.57 He managed
the St. Angelo theater where he staged his own operas as impresario, himself directing and
performing on violin. Contemporary accounts of his playing style note his technical prowess and
employment of the colors of the instrument, as well as his ability to improvise cadenzas with
great showmanship.58 Vivaldi wrote the music for two Goldoni librettos in 1735.59 Another
colorful but unflattering account of Vivaldi comes from Goldoni’s 1787 Mémoires. The latter
55
Michael Talbot, Vivaldi, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 31.
56
Heller, 53.
57
Lane, 432.
58
Eberhard Preussner, Die musikalischen Reisen des Herrn von Uffenbach (Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, 1949),
translated by Piero Weiss, quoted in Piero Weiss & Richard Taruskin, “A Traveler’s impressions of Vivaldi,” Music
in the Western World: A History in Documents, 2nd ed, (Belmont, CA: Schirmer, 2008), 200.
59
Heller, 326.
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caricatures “the red priest” and lightly dismisses him as “an excellent violinist and middling
composer.”60
For some time at the height of his career, Vivaldi traveled often and widely. Despite the
limitations of his chronic illness, he managed to maintain a very active career as virtuoso violin
performer, teacher, composer, and opera impresario.61 In 1718, Vivaldi brought a new opera to
Mantua, and stayed until 1720, writing three more operas for performance in the carnival
seasons. He also spent some years having his operas performed in Rome during 1723 and 1724.
Still, from 1723 until 1729 Vivaldi was hired to compose two concertos per month for the Pietà,
achieving a recorded total of 140 concertos.62
Vivaldi’s third opus, L’estro armonico (“harmonic inspiration/fire”) established him as
the premier Italian concerto composer. It was dedicated to Prince Ferdinand III of Tuscany, and
published in Amsterdam in 1711 by Estienne Roger, one of the leading non-Italian music
publishers.63 Roger’s publishing house continued to print first editions of Vivaldi’s subsequent
works through his final opus, number 12, in 1729.64
Over the course of his career, Vivaldi wrote approximately 500 concertos, scored for a
large variety of instruments and ensemble combinations, including solo concertos, double
concertos, chamber concertos for three to six soloists with continuo, concertos for two string
60
Carlo Goldoni, Mémoires (Paris, 1787), quoted in Karl Heller, Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice,
translated by David Marinelli (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1997), 269.
61
Talbot, Vivaldi, 42–43.
62
Michael Talbot, “Vivaldi, Antonio,” New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., edited by Stanley
Sadie and John Tyrrell, 26:817ff, (London: Macmillan, 2001), 819.
63
Heller, 57.
64
Heller, 58 and Talbot, Vivaldi, 177.
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orchestras and one or more soloists, and ensemble concertos for more than two soloists.65 The
bulk of his concertos were scored for one violin soloist and string orchestra, but he also wrote
solo concertos for wind instruments such as flute or oboe, and for violoncello and even viola
d’amore soloists. Although he died a pauper and his music lay forgotten for many years, the
esteem in which Vivaldi’s violin concertos were held during his career is attested to by the fact
that J.S. Bach studied and transcribed a number of them for keyboard.66
Vivaldi’s concertos established dramatic conflict in instrumental works, anticipating in a
sense the narrative sonata-allegro form. His programmatic concertos in particular, such as his
most famous works, The Four Seasons, bring the drama of miniature operas to purely
instrumental music. These and three other program pieces were published in 1725 in his eighth
opus. The “Winter” concerto in f minor, the fourth of the collection, is scored for solo violin and
four-part orchestra with basso continuo (see Table for formal analysis).
Vivaldi’s instrumental writing style of applying expressive figurations to harmonic
musical phrases established an orchestra timbral palette that anticipated the basic sound form of
the symphony. Excellent examples of such figurations are to be found in the “Storm at Sea”
concerto (op. 8 no. 5) wherein Vivaldi animates a cadential 6-4 chord through a suspension to a
perfect authentic cadence at the beginning of measure 15 (Fig. A). The feeling of waves at sea is
clearly evoked. In a passage from the first movement of “Winter” from The Four Seasons, a
falling-fifth harmonic sequence is colorfully animated from F minor, to Bb minor, Eb, Ab, Db,
and G half-diminished, to return to F minor in the subsequent measure (Table, Fig. B). In the last
65
Buelow, 469.
66
Talbot, Vivaldi, 3.
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movement of “Winter,” a dramatically angular solo violin figure moves in stepwise sequence
over an actively animated G pedal point (Fig. C). These are not singable melodies in any sense,
but pure illustration of experiences through sound and rhythm textures.
The influence of Vivaldi’s instrumental style was so strong that even established
composers in mid-career such as Dall’Abaco and Albinoni were obliged to modify their style to
accommodate.67 The solo concerto was, at the time of Vivaldi’s early to middle career, a new
performance genre whose development can be attributed largely to him. His use in the allegro
movements of soloist against orchestra interplay with developmental episodes and purposeful
modulations following the form, normalized ritornello as an orchestral movement form and
foreshadowed later eighteenth century practices such as sonata form.68
The extent to which Vivaldi was a rare individual or a product of his Venetian musical
environment can be gauged by comparing him to successful contemporaries. A close
contemporary of Vivaldi was Antonio Lotti (b. Hanover, 1666; d. Venice, 1740). Unlike Vivaldi,
Lotti’s career was relatively linear. He spent the majority of his career progressing as a singer,
organist, and finally Maestri di Capella for St. Mark’s Basilica. When he ascended to the latter
appointment in 1731, he became eligible for an annual salary of 400 ducats.69 This happened to
be the same as Claudio Monteverdi received in 1616, so he certainly sought outside work.70 Like
Vivaldi, he also wrote music for the ospedali, specifically composing choral works and oratorios
for the Ospedale degli Incurabili. Although not as prolific or widely-traveled, Lotti also
67
Talbot, “Vivaldi, Antonio,” 823.
68
Heller, 274.
69
Sven Hansell and Olga Termini, “Lotti, Antonio,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.,
edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, 15 (New York: Macmillan, 2001), 211.
70
Logan, 261.
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composed and staged numerous operas in Venice starting in 1693, and relocated to Dresden from
1717 to 1719 where he produced two operas with librettist Antonio Maria Luchini and one with
Stefano Benedetto Pallavicini. However, as successful as he was, Lotti was not an influencer so
much as an assimilator of the styles of his time. Lotti is noted for adapting his composing to the
pre-classical tastes, and his work successfully bridged the late Baroque and Neoclassical periods.
(A famous student of Lotti was Domenico Alberti, the namesake of Alberti bass.)71
In conclusion, the situation of Venice in the early decades of the eighteenth century
provided for musicians there specific opportunities, as well as challenges. Patronage by court and
church were declining, leading top artists and musicians to seek outside work in other cities and
to sell their services to visiting elites. Through the development of the instrumental concerto, the
orchestra was taking shape as an important musical platform via experimentation and innovation.
Burgeoning rationalistic sensibilities were leading the arts in new directions of naturalism and
social consciousness. Though all this, the remarkable contributions of Antonio Vivaldi show that
he was a paragon of a musician for early eighteenth century Venice, as well as an innovator and
prolific influencer of music practices for all of Western Europe.
71
Hansell, 212.
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Appendices!
Table – Vivaldi Op. 8 Concerto no. 4 in F minor, “Winter” formal analysis
I. Allegro non molto
Section
Measures
Musical Features
ritornello 1
1–11
Tutti scoring. F minor key moving to strong cadence in c
minor at 12. “Shivering cold” motive corresponds to the
program sonnet.
episode 1
12–18
Soloist plays virtuosic arpeggiated figuration of c minor
triad with orchestra accompaniment. “Running to keep
warm” motive.
ritornello 2
19–26
Tutti in f minor after weak imperfect cadence at 20.
“Shivering” motive gives way to “stamping feet” motive at
22b. Harmonic sequence through diatonic circle of fifths
starts at 23: f-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-g°-C7-f.
episode 2
26b–38
Scored for solo with orchestra accompaniment, active
figuration of neighbor tones and runs. Sequence over Bb
minor and Ab returns key to f minor. The “shivering”
motive becomes a cruel wind at 33b for another sequence
through Bb Major and c minor.
ritornello 3
39–43
Tutti scoring, “shivering” motive. Harmonic ambiguity
resolves into short sequences Bb7-Eb-Ab and F7-Bb-Eb.
episode 3
44–46
Solo dominates orchestra with more lyric version of the
“running about” motive in rising 2nd sequence: Eb-Ab-FBb-G7.
ritornello 4
47–63
Tutti. “Shivering” motive explores large harmonic
sequence. Closing section brings together all the motives,
“running” and “stamping” in a sort of recapitulation of the
movement.
!
!
Kaltwasser !18
Fig. A – A. Vivaldi, Concerto No. 5 in Eb Major, La Tempesti di Mare (“The Storm at Sea”)
!
Fig. B – A. Vivaldi, Concerto No. 4 in F minor, L’Inverno (“Winter”), I. Allegro non molto
!
!
Fig. C – A. Vivaldi, Concerto No. 4 in F minor, L’Inverno (“Winter”), III. Allegro
Kaltwasser !19
Bibliography!
Primary Sources: Manuscripts
!
Winternitz, Emanuel. Musical Autographs: From Monteverdi to Hindemith. 2 vols. New York:
Dover, 1965. Vol. I describes the plates and discusses the history and physiognomy of
notation. Vol. II reproduces manuscript pages, such as pages likely in the hand of Vivaldi
and Lotti. Includes bibliography on notation, graphology, and manuscripts.
!
Primary Sources: Published Scores
!
Dall’Abaco, Evaristo Felice. Trio Sonata, No. 2, Op. 3. Harvard University Press, 1950.
Accessed May 11, 2015. http://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/400656. Italianborn dall’Abaco (1675–1742) served as composer in the court of elector Maximilian II of
Bavaria.
!
Vivaldi, Antonio, and Eleanor Selfridge-Field. “The Four Seasons” and Other Violin Concertos:
In Full Score, Opus 8, Complete. New York: Dover, 1995.
!
Vivaldi, Antonio. Spring from the Four Seasons. From Christine Forney and Roger Hickman.
The Norton Scores: A Study Anthology, Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2011. Vivaldi’s most
famous work.
!
———, Tadeusz Ochlewski, Maria Dziewulska, and Ewa Gabryś. Concerto in a Minor for Two
Violins, String Ensemble and Harpsichord : L'estro Armonico Op. 3, No. 8. Kraków:
Polskie Wydawn. Muzyczne, 1975. Musical score. Example Vivaldi concerto scored for
two violins and ripieno.
!
Primary Sources: Recordings
!
Vivaldi, Antonio. Concerto for Mandolin, String Orchestra, and Harpsichord in C Major, RV
425. From The World’s Greatest Composers: Vivaldi. Musici di San Marco. Madacy
Entertainment #53755, 2008. Compact disc set. Example of a Vivaldi concerto scored for
mandolin and strings. Three movement fast/slow/fast.
!
———. Concerto in C Major for Two Oboes, Two clarinets and Strings, RV560. From Wind
Concertos. Paul Goodwin and Robert King. London: Hyperion, 1990. Compact disc.
!
———. Concerto in F Major for Two Oboes, Bassoon, Two Horns, Violin & Strings, RV 571.
From The World’s Greatest Composers: Vivaldi. Alberto Lizzio, conductor. Madacy
Entertainment #53755, 2008. Compact disc set. Example of a Vivaldi concerto grosso
scored for wind and horn concertino.
!
Kaltwasser !20
———. L'estro Armonico, No. 8 in A minor, Op. 3, RV 522. From The World’s Greatest
Composers: Vivaldi. Albert Bucher and Bamberg String Orchestra. Madacy
Entertainment #53755, 2008. Compact disc set. Example of a Vivaldi concerto scored for
double violin concertino.
!
———. Spring from The Four Seasons. From The Norton Recordings: Gregorian Chant to
Beethoven. Christine Forney and Joseph Machlis. New York: Norton, 2003. Compact disc
set. This program concerto is Vivaldi’s most famous work.
!
———. Concerto R.V. 187 in C Major and R.V. 209 in D Major. From Bach & Vivaldi: Violin
Concertos. Zukerman, Pinchas and English Chamber Orchestra. 74321 68002 2 BMG,
2001. Compact disc. Liner note gives short composer bio and background on the specific
pieces.
!
Secondary Sources: Books
!
Baldauf-Berdes, Jane L. Women Musicians of Venice: Musical Foundations 1525–1855. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Indexed. Focus mostly on the four ospedali.
Chapter on their organization.
!
Blume, Friedrich. Renaissance and Baroque Music. Translated by M. D. Herter Norton. London:
Faber and Faber, 1968. Discusses concerted style generally and concerto form
specifically as the culmination of Baroque instrumental form (pp. 137, 148). Mentions
Corelli and Vivaldi specifically for their contributions.
!
Borroff, Edith. An Introduction to Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. New York: Institute of
Medieval Music, Ltd., 1966. De la Guerre was a near-contemporary of Vivaldi, working
in Paris. (D. 1726.) Also considered a virtuoso, and was a child prodigy.
!
Brunetti, Mario, et al. Venice. Translated by James Emmons. New York: Skira, Inc., 1956. Art of
Venice with essays on its history and painters.
!
Buelow, George J. A History of Baroque Music. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press,
2004. Ch. 4 discusses development of new instrumental forms in Italy in mid-17th
century. Ch. 14 has major sections on the concerto and Vivaldi.
!
Bukofzer, Manfred F. Music in the Baroque Era. New York: Norton, 1947. Section on concerto
grosso and solo concerto at pp. 222–232. Discusses Corelli, Torelli, and Vivaldi as three
central figures of the Baroque concerto.
!
Burkholder, J. Peter, Donald Jay Grout, and Claudia V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. 8th
ed. New York: Norton, 2010. Gives background on Corelli (392) and Vivaldi (421), and
discusses development of concerto form out of opera (397, 421ff).
Kaltwasser !21
!
Dahlhaus, Carl. The Idea of Absolute Music. Translated by Roger Lustig. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1989. Philosophical perspective on instrumental nonprogram vs. program music. Discusses development of form and meaning.
!
Heller, Karl. Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice. Translated by David Marinelli. Portland,
OR: Amadeus Press, 1997. Has a well-organized list of works (pp. 327–42). Very
chronological. Chapter two gives background on music in Venice.
!
Kelly, Thomas Forrest. First Nights: Five Musical Premieres. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 2000. Background on Monteverdi, as well as a mention of music publishing in
Venice.
!
Kolneder, Walter. Antonio Vivaldi: His Life and Work. Translated by Bill Hopkins. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1970. Huge section on his concertos. Quotes Quantz
extensively.
!
Lane, Frederick C. Venice: A Maritime Republic. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1973. Includes maps, notes, index. Starts with organization and history of Venice
from middle ages ca. 1200. Emphasis on economic and political activities.
!
Logan, Oliver. Culture and Society in Venice 1470–1790: The Renaissance and its Heritage.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972. Much background on culture and the arts in
Venice. Chapter on music and its patronage focuses on the position of Maestro di Capella
for St. Marks.
!
Martin, Arlan Stone. Vivaldi Violin Concertos; A Handbook. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press,
1972. Cross-reference of all of Vivaldi’s violin concertos, indexed by Rinaldi catalog,
Pincherle number, and Fanna number. Predates RV numbers (introduced by Peter Ryom
in 1973), but an interesting way to browse the violin concertos and spot those few that
may deviate from the three-movement fast/slow/fast plan.
!
Maunder, C. R. F. The Scoring of Baroque Concertos. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press,
2004. Scholarly argument that the traditional view of Baroque concertos as orchestral
works is mistaken, and that they were rather regarded as chamber works with typically
one player per part.
!
McNeill, William H. Venice: The Hinge of Europe 1081–1797. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1974. Well-documented, with index. History of Venice, situating its art
and culture.
!
Kaltwasser !22
Palisca, Claude V. Baroque Music. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968. Section on
concerto at pp. 145–157 includes discussion of the development of concerto form and
musical examples from Corelli, Torelli, Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach.
!
Pendle, Karen, ed. Women and Music: A History. 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University
Press, 2001. Articles organized by time period and general topics. Includes discussion of
the history and public concerts of the Venetian ospedali.
!
Pincherle, Marc. Vivaldi: Genius of the Baroque. Trans. Christopher Hatch. New York: Norton,
1957. Great bio and influence sections. Section on concerto pp. 141–166 is detailed and
technical.
!
———. The World of the Virtuoso. Trans. Lucile H. Brockway. New York: Norton, 1963.
Contents but no index. Discusses proliferation of virtuosic instrument playing in the era
of public concerts.
!
Pirrotta, Nino. Music and Culture in Italy from the Middle Ages to the Baroque: A Collection of
Essays. Cambridge, Ma.: Harvard University Press, 1984. Extensive and welldocumented, but may stop too early to be relevant to 1700’s.
!
Talbot, Michael. Vivaldi. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Includes bibliography
(pp. 212–220) and list of works (pp. 180–202). Section discussing concertos starts on p.
106.
!
Secondary Sources: Articles
!
Antoci, Angelo, Pier Luigi Sacco, and Luca Zarri. “The ‘Art City’ as a Local Public Good: The
Strategic Interplay Between Private Donors and Arts Organizations.” Public Finance &
Management 3, no. 2 (Spring 2003): 263-290. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost
(accessed May 30, 2015). Discusses a model describing the success level of arts
organizations in the context of an “art city,” such as Venice.
!
Berdes, Jane “The Women Musicians of Venice.” In Frederick M. Kenner and Susan Lorsch.
Eighteenth-Century Women and the Arts. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
!
Harris, Simon. “Lully, Corelli, Muffat and the Eighteenth-Century Orchestral String Body.”
Music & Letters 54, no. 2 (Spr. 1973): 197–202.
!
Hammond, Frederick. Liner notes to Archangelo Corelli. Concerti Grossi Op. 6, 7–12. Nicholas
McGegan and Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra. Harmonia Mundi HMU 907015, 1990.
Compact disc. Hammond’s liner notes include details on origins of the opus and quotes
from contemporaries discussing early performances of Corelli concerti grossi.
!
Kaltwasser !23
Jackson, Barbara Garvey. “Musical Women of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.” In
Karen Pendle, ed. Women and Music: A History. 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press, 2001. General discussion of women’s involvement in music-making,
mainly in Europe. Strozzi in Venice.
!
Pendle, Karen. “Musical Women in Early Modern Europe.” In Karen Pendle, ed. Women and
Music: A History. 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001.
!
Preussner, Eberhard. Die musikalischen Reisen des Herrn von Uffenbach. Kassel: BärenreiterVerlag, 1949, 67, 71. Trans. Piero Weiss. Quoted in Piero Weiss & Richard Taruskin. “A
Traveler’s impressions of Vivaldi.” Music in the Western World: A History in Documents,
2nd ed, 199–200. Belmont, CA: Schirmer, 2008. First-hand account of Vivaldi’s work as
an opera impresario, performer, composer, and teacher ca. 1715.
!
Williams, Peter. “Band practice.” Musical Times 145, no. 1889 (Winter 2004): 85–9. Academic
Search Premier, EBSCOhost. Accessed November 30, 2012. Review of three books
talking about the evolution of the orchestra, including questions of scoring in Vivaldi
concertos.
!
Scholes, Percy A., ed. Dr. Burney’s Musical Tours in Europe. London: Oxford University Press,
1959. Quoted in Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin. Music in the Western World: A
History in Documents. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2008. Burney
(1726–1814) visited Italy ca. 1770. Brief historical accounts from close to the time
period. Discusses castrati singers.
!
Tertiary Sources: Bibliographies
!
Crabtree, Phillip D. and Donald H. Foster. Sourcebook for Research in Music. 2nd ed.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2005. Subject guide. Lists significant books
on music history, including Karen Pendle’s Women and Music: A History.
!
Duckles, Vincent and Ida Reed. Music Reference and Research Materials: An Annotated
Bibliography, 5th ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. Lists dictionaries of opera,
bibliographies of opera, and classical era music history.
!
Tertiary Sources: Reference Books and Articles
!
Hansell, Sven and Olga Termini. “Lotti, Antonio.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 2nd ed. Edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, 15:211–3. New York:
Macmillan, 2001. Contemporary of Vivaldi in Venice. Organist at St. Mark’s. Career,
background, operas, cantatas, other works.
!
Kaltwasser !24
Monson, Dale E., Jack Westrup, and Julian Budden. “Recitative.” The New Grove Dictionary of
Opera. Stanley Sadie, ed. New York: Macmillan, 1992. Vol. 3, 1251–6. History of
recitative in opera. Types described.
!
Slonimsky, Nicolas, Laura Kuhn, and Dennis McIntire. “Vivaldi, Antonio (Lucio).” Baker’s
Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 8th ed. 6:3795–6. New York: Schirmer, 2001.
Mostly short biographical sketch.
!
Talbot, Michael. “Albinoni, Tomaso Giovanni.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 2nd ed. Edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, 1:311–5. New York:
Macmillan, 2001. Portrait, manuscript page, list of works. Mentions connections to
Pisendel and Cardinal Ottoboni.
!
———. “Vivaldi, Antonio (Lucio).” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.
Edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, 26:817ff. New York: Macmillan, 2001.
Extensive bio and list of works. Credits him as first composer to regularly employ
ritornello form in fast movements. Notes that some concertos are scored for ripieno
alone, and some for concertino alone. Briefly discusses orchestration techniques.
!
Weiss, Piero and Julian Budden. “Opera Buffa.” The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Stanley
Sadie, ed. New York: Macmillan, 1992. Vol. 3, 685–8. Defines, breaks down highlights/
development of the genre by time periods, including origins in Naples ca. 1730 and
contributions by Venetian librettist Carlo Goldoni.
!
Tertiary Sources: Reference Websites
!
Gailey, Meredith. “Evaristo Dall’Abaco - Biography.” AllMusic. Accessed May 9, 2015. http://
www.allmusic.com/artist/evaristo-dallabaco-mn0002342847/biography. Italian-born
composer, 1675–1742.
!
Google, Inc. Google Maps: Northern Italy. Accessed May 9, 2015. https://www.google.com/
maps/@45.2248052,10.4147973,8z. Useful to see how different places in Northern Italy
are related, geographically.
!
Oron, Aryeh. “Giuseppe Torelli (Composer) - Short Biography.” Bach Cantatas Website.
Accessed May 9, 2015. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Torelli-Giuseppe.htm.
Important composer of North Italy, contemporary of Corelli and Vivaldi.