The Chamber Cantatas of Antonio Vivaldi

249 Pages·2006·1.39 MB·English

by  Michael Talbot

THE CHAMBER CANTATAS OF
ANTONIO VIVALDI
for Lowell Lindgren
THE CHAMBER CANTATAS OF
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Michael Talbot
THE BOYDELL PRESS
© Michael Talbot 2006
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Michael Talbot to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2006
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
with the support of
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi
Venezia
ISBN 1 84383 201 1
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9 Woodbridge Suffolk IP12 3DF UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue Rochester NY 14620 USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Typeset by Pru Harrison, Hacheston, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by
Newton Printing Ltd, London, UK
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Contents
List of music examples vii
List of tables ix
Preface xi
Conventions and abbreviations xiv
1 The Rediscovery of Vivaldi’s Cantatas 1
How contemporaries saw them 1
How modern commentators have seen them 11
Their modern revival 20
2 The Cantata Genre 25
Its historical development 32
Its literary nature 33
Its musical nature 44
3 Vivaldi and the Voice 61
The composer and the text 61
Vivaldi as literarybricoleur 66
The composer and the singer 75
The composer and the accompaniment 84
4 The Mantuan Cantatas 89
Vivaldi’s Mantuan episode 89
The Mantuan court 91
A mirror of court life 94
Individual works 102
5 Cantatas of the Middle Years 120
Vivaldi’sBlütezeit 120
Cantatas for all occasions 124
Individual works 137
6 The Dresden Cantatas 164
Vivaldi and Dresden 164
The cantatas of the Dresden compilation 170
Individual works 173
Postscript: The spurious works 182
7 Vivaldi’s Cantatas in Perspective 188
The cantata within Vivaldi’s oeuvre 188
Approaches to performance 192
Glossary 201
List of Vivaldi’s cantatas published in the New Critical Edition 206
Spurious works 208
Bibliography 209
Index to musical works 217
General index 223
List of Music Examples
Ex. 2.1 Vivaldi,Perfidissimo cor! Iniquo fato!, RV 674: opening. 48
Ex. 2.2 Vivaldi, Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 2 no. 9 (RV 16): opening. 51
Ex. 2.3 Pistocchi,Dolorosa partenza, oh Dio, che l’alma: ‘Vedo Zeffiro 53
con l’aura’, bars 11–16.
Ex. 3.1a Vivaldi,All’ombra d’un bel faggio, RV 649: ‘Vorrei, mio ben, 78
da te’, vocal periods 1–2.
Ex. 3.1b Vivaldi,Par che tardo oltre il costume, RV 662: ‘Allor che in 80
cielo’, vocal periods 1–2.
Ex. 3.2 Vivaldi,Geme l’onda che parte dal fonte, RV 657: recitative, 83
bars 12–16.
Ex. 3.3 Vivaldi,Par che tardo oltre il costume, RV 677: recitative, 83
bars 1–8.
Ex. 3.4 Vivaldi,All’ombra d’un bel faggio, RV 649: ‘Senti che ti 85
risponde’, opening.
Ex. 3.5 Vivaldi,Perfidissimo cor! Iniquo fato!, RV 674: ‘Nel torbido 85
mio petto’, bars 5–8 (bass).
Ex. 3.6 G. B. Pescetti,Di sì bel faggio all’ombra: ‘Come va l’ape nel 87
prato’, opening.
Ex. 4.1 Vivaldi,Aure, voi più non siete, RV 652: ‘Ti confido il pianto 105
mio’, opening.
Ex. 4.2 Vivaldi,Del suo natio rigore, RV 653: ‘Quei begl’occhi io 108
pianger vidi’, opening.
Ex. 4.3 Vivaldi,Del suo natio rigor, RV 653: ‘Sempre invano il Dio 109
d’amore’, bars 57–73.
Ex. 4.4 Vivaldi,Elvira, anima mia, RV 654: ‘Partirò, ma vedrai quanto’, 109
extracts.
Ex. 4.5 Vivaldi,Elvira, anima mia, RV 654: ‘Passo al rogo fatal, e son 110
già cinto’, bars 7–10.
Ex. 4.6 Vivaldi,Nel partir da te, mio caro: opening ritornello. 112
Ex. 4.7 Vivaldi,Si levi dal pensier, RV 665: ‘Vanne sull’Adria, infido’, 113
bars 10–35.
Ex. 4.8 Vivaldi,Lungi dal vago volto, RV 680: opening. 114
Ex. 4.9 Vivaldi,Lungi dal vago volto, RV 680: ‘Mi stringerai, sì, sì’, 115
bars 81–7.
Ex. 4.10 Vivaldi,O mie porpore più belle, RV 685: opening. 117
Ex. 4.11 Vivaldi,Tremori al braccio e lagrime sul ciglio, RV 799: 119
opening.
Ex. 5.1 Vivaldi,Scherza di fronda in fronda, RV 663: first vocal 130
period.
viii THE CHAMBER CANTATAS OF ANTONIO VIVALDI
Ex. 5.2 Vivaldi,Amor, hai vinto, hai vinto: ecco il mio seno, RV 651: 139
‘Passo di pena in pena’, bars 19–22.
Ex. 5.3 Vivaldi,Fonti del pianto, RV 656: bars 37–48. 140
Ex. 5.4 Vivaldi,Geme l’onda che parte dal fonte, RV 657: bars 7–21. 141
Ex. 5.5 Vivaldi,Sorge vermiglia in ciel la bella Aurora, RV 667: 145
opening (Turin version).
Ex. 5.6 Vivaldi,T’intendo, sì, mio cor, bars 5–7. 146
Ex. 5.7 Comparison of settings of the second aria ofT’intendo, sì, mio 147
corby Vivaldi and Porpora.
Ex. 5.8 Vivaldi,Che giova il sospirar, povero core, RV 679: 152
bars 26–34.
Ex. 5.9 Vivaldi,Perché son molli, RV 681: ‘Dunque, già ch’il mio 155
duolo’, opening.
Ex. 5.10 Vivaldi,Vengo a voi, luci adorate, RV 682: ‘Sempre penare’, 157
bars 32–41.
Ex. 5.11 Vivaldi,Amor, hai vinto, hai vinto: ecco il mio seno, RV 683: 159
‘Passo di pena in pena’, opening.
Ex. 5.12 Vivaldi,Cessate omai cessate, RV 684: ‘Nell’orrido albergo’, 162
bars 22–102, vocal line.
Ex. 5.13 Vivaldi,Usignoletto bello, RV 796: ‘Come te cantando anch’io’, 163
opening.
Ex. 6.1 Vivaldi,Geme l’onda che parte dal fonte, RV 657: ‘Deh non 173
partir sì presto’, bars 49–51.
Ex. 6.2 Vivaldi,Perfidissimo cor! Iniquo fato!, RV 674: ‘Più amar non 174
spero’, bars 38–50.
Ex. 6.3 Vivaldi,Pianti, sospiri e dimandar mercede, RV 676: ‘Lusinga 175
è del nocchier’, bars 24–9.
Ex. 6.4 Vivaldi,Qual per ignoto calle, RV 677: ‘Qual dopo lampi e 177
turbini’, bars 10–18.
Ex. 6.5 Carlo Arrigoni (?),Qual per ignoto calle: ‘Qual dopo lampi e 179
folgori’, opening.
Ex. 6.6 Vivaldi,All’ombra di sospetto, RV 678: ‘Avvezzo non è il 181
core’, bars 13–20.
Ex. 6.7 Filli, di gioia vuoi farmi morir, RV 672: opening. 185
Ex. 6.8 Piango, gemo, sospiro e peno, RV 675: bars 9–16. 187
Ex. 7.1 [Albinoni],Allor che il mondo in letargo profondo: ‘Vaghe 190
stelle, deh venite’, opening.
Ex. 7.2 Vivaldi,Usignoletto bello, RV 796: opening with realized 194
continuo.
Ex. 7.3 Vivaldi,Tremori al braccio e lagrime sul ciglio, RV 799: 199
‘Quello che senti, o bella’, bars 5–8.
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Statistics for works in four genres by Vivaldi and five 1
contemporaries.
Table 1.2 Publishedcantatas,1659–1735:listedbyyearofpublication 3
(col.1).
Table 1.3 Publishedcantatas,1659–1735:listedbyplaceofpublication 5
(col.5).
Table 2.1 Cantata structures employed by Antonio Ottoboni and Pietro 32
Metastasio.
Table 2.2 Treatment of the ostinato bass theme in Benedetto Vinaccesi’s 58
aria ‘Che pena è il vivere’ fromBelve, se mai provaste.
Table 3.1a Structure of the first and second vocal periods in ‘Vorrei, mio
ben, da te’, fromAll’ombra d’un bel faggio, RV 649 (c.1720). 78
Table 3.1b Structure of the first and second vocal periods in ‘Allor che in
cielo’, fromPar che tardo oltre il costume, RV 662 (c.1731). 82
Table 4.1 Vivaldi’s Mantuan cantatas. 95
Table 4.2 Structure of the first aria, ‘Augelletti, voi col canto’, from 115
Lungi dal vago volto, RV 680.
Table 5.1 Vivaldi’s cantatas outside the Mantuan and Dresden groups. 125
Table 5.2 The cantatas contained in Meiningen, Max-Reger-Archiv, 132
Ed 82b.
Table 6.1 The cantatas of the ‘Dresden compilation’ of c.1733 contained 171
in SLUB, Mus. 1-J-7, pp. 4–12.
Table 7.1 Tempo markings in the arias of Vivaldi’s cantatas. 197