ANTONIO VIVALDI Volume 12
The NEW YORK SINFONIETTA
Concerto in G Major for two mandolins, strings. and organ, RV 532
Complete Works tomo 104;
Fanna V no. 2; Pincherle 133
Allegro Andante
Allegro
SOL GOICHBERG and MARY ZELNICK, Mandolins
EUGENIA EARLE, Organ
Concerto in D Major for flute, oboe, violin, bassoon and figured bass, RV 97
Complete Works tomo 144; Fanna XII no. 25; Pincherle 207
Allegro
Largo
Allegro
JULIUS BAKER, Flute
HARRY SHULMAN, Oboe
MAX GOBERMAN, Violin
ANTHONY CHECCHIA, Bassoon
EUGENIA EARLE, Harpsichord
JEAN SCHNEIDER, Violoncello.
Concerto in A Major for viola d'amore, strings and harpsichord, RV 396
Complete Works tomo 189;
Fanna II no. 1; Pincherle 233
Allegro Andante)
Allegro
WALTER TRAMPLER, Viola d' amore
EUGENIA EARLE, Harpsichord
Sonata in C Minor for violin, violoncello and figured bass. RV 180
Complete Works tomo 20; Fanna XVI no. l; Pincherle p. 7 #1
Allegro
Largo
Allegro
FELIX GALIMIR, Violin
CHARLES MCCRACKEN, Violoncello
EUGENIA EARLE, Harpsichord
ANTHONY CHECCHLA, Bassoon
The NEW YORK SINFONIETTA
MAX GOBERMAN, Conductor
The composition of the CONCERTO FOR TWO
MANDOLINS IN G MAJOR, TOMO 104, was undoubtedly caused by particular local circumstances or by obligations to influential amateurs to whom Vivaldi wanted to endear himself. In this connection, Vivaldi's friendly relations to
Marchese Guido Bentivoglio in Ferrara may be mentioned. This nobleman was a mandolinist, and he was perhaps not the only one who cultivated this instrument in
Ferrara, He certainly may have welcomed a concerto for two mandolins. Be that as it may, we must take it for granted that there were players at hand, say in Venice, Ferrara or elsewhere, who were capable of handling their instrument in a virtuoso-like manner. And Vivaldi gave them ample opportunity to show off. The solo passages of both the first Allegro and the finale amount to three-fifths of the respective movements and the Andante belongs to the mandolins from the beginning to the end.
The mandolin appeared in the orchestra pit of the lyric
theatre or in oratorios around the turn of the seventeenth century Pincherle draws attention to an aria in Teraspo
overo l'innocenza justificata (1704) by Marco Antonio
Bononcini (c. l675-1726), a brother of the famous
Giovanni Battista, who was of about the same age as
Vivaldi. In this aria the mandolin and the theorbo (bass
lute) alternate with the singer in the stile concertato. Á
similar technique is displayed in an aria in Marte placto (1707) by Attilio Ariosti (1766-1740 c.) where the
accompaniment is provided by a mandolin and the basso continuo only Francesco Conti (1682-1732), a virtuoso on the theorbo, who had joined the Imperial chapel in Vienna in 1701, employed the mandolin in the oratorio Il
Giosefo (1706 ?) in an interesting manner Raising its normal tuning (g' -d' -a' -e") by one tone, he assigns a solo to the mandolin over a unison of violins and violas. This set up conforms to one of Vivaldi's favorite devices The score of his oratorio Juditha triumphans, performed at La
Pietà in 1716, also yields an interesting example of the employment of the mandolin in the accompaniment of an
aria in combination with plucked violins, This is precisely the setting we encounter in the Andante of the concerto
for two mandolins To round off this brief survey of the
use of the mandolin in the baroque orchestra mention
should also be made of Vivaldi's Concerto con due Flauti,
due Tiorbe, due Mandolini, due Salmo, due Violini in tromba marina et un Violoncello, which was played before
Prince Friedrich Christian of Poland and Electoral Prince of Saxony at La Pietà on March 21, 1740 The score of his unusual work, preserved in the Säch-sische
Landesbibliothek in Dresden, appeared in the Complete
Edition only recently We do not know when the concerto for two mandolins was written.
The opening Allegro of the two-mandolin concerto comprises four tutti and three solo passages, the latter being in the nature of a concertino which is formed by the solo instruments either supported by the violins and violas combined in unison or by the figured bass only. Note the unobtrusive entrance of the main idea in the third tutti which assumes the function of the recapitulation
The Andante is a trio of plucked instruments in which the unisonícally combined violins and violas provide a simple accompaniment to the dialogue of the mandolins. It is cast in binary song form, the second section of which alludes rhythmically to the Largo of the mandolin concerto in C major.
The finale parallels the opening movement in its constructions and character. Dominated rhythmically by a short obstinate motive, omitted only in the third solo passage, the movement is abundant in passage work, runs, sextolets and trills. It closes with a complete restatement of the opening ritornello. Its rustic quality creates a pleasant contrast to the virtuoso character of the preceding deft solo section.
The D MAJOR CONCERTO FOR FLUTE, OBOE, VIOLIN, BASSOON AND FIGURED BASS, TOMO 144, differs from
most of the other works of this category in one respect. While for example, the concerto in D major Del
Gardellino, (V/7) or the companion piece in the sane key, La Pastorella, (V/8) gives the Aute a soloistic prominence, the concerto under consideration reveals a distinct preference for the violin, a preference which only emphasizes the technical or virtuoso element and completely disregards the expressive side of violin playing. Thus the violin part contains broken chords in sixteenth-notes, arpeggios and double stops in profusion.
The main theme of the first movement (five concerto
grosso and four concertino sections) shows a folklike quality which, of course, is absent from the virtuoso passages of the concertino and is limited to the concerto grosso. The cantilena which is denied to the violin appears though only once, in the flute part contraposed
by the arpeggios of the violin. This is one of Vivaldi's favorite devices. In effect, Vivaldi anticipates here an ingenious device employed by Mendelssohn in the first movement of the violin concerto. Note the brevity of the closing tutti which is limited to last six measures of the opening statement.
A characteristic feature in Vivaldi's orchestration is the reduction of the instrumental forces to small ensembles in the middle movement (of the concertos ). Witness for example the F major concerto, tomo 43 (V/11), the G minor concerto, tomo 25 (V/3) where the comparatively large orchestra is dismissed with the exception of one oboe and one bassoon in the Largo, or consider the C major Concerto, tomo 90, (V/3) where the slow movement is played by a trio of two flutes and a bassoon. The ingenious prete rosso did not need a large instrumental body to apply this device. He also practiced it within the framework of a small ensemble as in the piece under discussion. The oboe and the figured bass are silenced and the other instruments carry on. Once more we encounter the device observed in the Allegro:
the cantilena is given to the flute while the violin provides
a fluent accompaniment with arpeggios. The melody itself
reveals a distinct relationship to the theme of the Largo in
the "Winter” Concerto of The Four Seasons (V/ 10)
The finale matches the first Allegro in the frequent
alternation of tutti and soli and the predominance of the violin. The brilliant character, as displayed in the violin's
opening passage, is maintained in the following tutti and brushed aside only by the energetic unison statement
which the subsequent developments reveal as the very
main theme of the movement. It is restated in A major, F
sharp minor and B minor and, preceded by a cadenza of
the violin, it also forms the conclusion of the movement.
Discussing the CONCERTO FOR VIOLA D'AMORE IN A
MAJOR, TOMO 189, the undersigned deems it expedient
to refer the listener to the notes on the concerto for viola
d'amore in D minor, tomo 196 (V/4). It was pointed out
then that this instrument had disappeared completely
from the musical practice in the first half of the 19th
century and that Hector Berlioz saw no possibility of a
revival since in the 1840's only one musician in Paris was
capable of playing it. Francois-Auguste Gevaert, the illustrious director of the Brussels Conservatory and musical scholar, considered the viola d'amore worth mentioning in his Nouveau traité de l'Instrumentation (1885) only because "it was in our time once employed in a very renowned opera. " He was, of course, alluding to
Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.
The viola d'amore has regained a position in the musical life of our time. Contemporary composers write for the instrument and it is taught at important musical schools.
The Austrian Federal Publishers brought out a very
valuable School for Viola d'amore by Karl Stumpf, Vienna 1957, which is written in three languages (German, English and French). This seems to prove a wide-spread interest in this instrument. Its renaissance is general.
The A major concerto conforms in its overall design fully
to the Vivaldian pattern The first Allegro consists of four tutti and three solo sections. The first and the last of the
solo passages reveal a thematic relationship to the
material presented in the opening statement Note particularly the appearance of the main theme in the last
solo section which enters in the main key without a
transition from the relative minor The songful and gentle
Andante is an instrumental coloratura aria with a simple
accompaniment while the finale (5 tutti and 4 solo
sections) gives the soloist sufficient opportunity to display his technical proficiency.
The SONATA FOR VIOLIN, VIOLONCELLO AND FIGURED
BASS IN C MINOR, TOMO 20, is Vivaldi's only sonata for these two instruments while in his vast concerto
department this combination is represented by only three
works. The trio sonatas not counted, he wrote 30 odd
violin sonatas and at least 9 for violoncello, but only this
one for violin and violoncello In this uniqueness the sonata is a companion piece to that for flute and bassoon in A minor, tomo 18. However, they differ greatly in one
respect While the flute-bassoon sonata clings to the
Slow-Fast-Slow-Fast design of the church sonata to
which nearly all of Vivaldi's sonatas adhere, the violinvioloncello piece upholds the three-movement scheme of the Vivaldi concerto. This important feature links the work under consideration to that group of four chamber sonatas for two violins, tomi 17, 24, 57 and 58
These pieces as well as the sonata for violin and violoncello were in all likelihood composed after the Opus
2 series (published 1700 in Venice and reissued c. 1712/13 in Amsterdam). Its multi-movement organization
conforms to the Corelli tradition, Although intent on
creating novelties Vivaldi never foreswore this tradition in
his sonata production. Even after the bold innovations
and unusual devices of l'estro armónico (the harmonic whim) and La strava ganza (The Eccentricity) had made 2 series (published 1700 in Venice and reissued c. 1712/13 in Amsterdam). Its multi-movement organization
conforms to the Corelli tradition, Although intent on
creating novelties Vivaldi never foreswore this tradition in
his sonata production. Even after the bold innovations
and unusual devices of l'estro armónico (the harmonic whim) and La strava ganza (The Eccentricity) had made in about 1716 he saw fit to publish the Opus 5 series of six sonatas as "the second part of Opus 2" , and to number them accordingly (Nos. 13-18).
The sonata for violin and violoncello which is an item of
the Mauro Foà Collection of the National Library in Turin, was chosen to be one of the first works to be published in the Complete Edition It was clearly the intention of the editorial board to show the diversity of Vivaldi's creative
activity of which only the concertos had become known to the general public In spite of its small dimensions our
sonata bears the stamp of artistic maturity. The violoncello is treated as an equal partner of the violin. The part of the former encompasses two octaves and a fifth
(D-a1) while that of the violin covers nearly three octaves
(g-f3). The first movement shows its dependence on the
concerto pattern in the reappearance of the opening idea
in the related keys, thus in G minor, and B-flat major.
There is also an episode in E-flat major and one in F major
whose syncopation contrasts rhythmically the broken
chords of the chief idea. The Largo which follows the A-
B-A1 formula suggests a duet of a soprano and a tenor.
The formal design of the last movement also shows the A-
B-A1 structure which had become an essential element of the sonata da camera.
Based on notes by JOSEPH BRAUNSTEIN
HT E MUSICALHERITAGESOC I E YT EST. 1960 Additional information about these recordings can be found at our website www.themusicalheritagesociety.com All recordings ℗ 1962 & © 2024 Heritage Music Royalties.
