A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Vivaldi, Antonio

by Reginald Lane-Poole

VIVALDI, Antonio, surnamed 'il prete rosso,' was the son of Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, a violinist in the ducal cappella of St. Mark's at Venice, and born some time in the latter half of the 17th century. Like Steffani and Lotti he first sought his fortune in Germany. He entered the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt,^[1] doubtless in the capacity of violinist. On his return to his native city in 1713 Vivaldi was appointed maestro de' concerti at the Ospitale della Pietà, a post which he held until his death in 1743. The institution, which was a foundling-hospital for girls, possessed a choir and a good orchestra composed entirely of females. Vivaldi's own instrument was the violin, for which he wrote very largely; he is stated also to have contributed something to the development of its technical manipulation. [See p. 291a.] The publications on which his fame rests are all works in which the violin takes the principal part. Fétis^[2] enumerates the following:—

Op. 1. 12 trios for 2 violins and violoncello. Paris, 1737.
Op. 2. 12 sonatas for violin solo with bass.
Op. 5. Sonatas for the same.
Op. 3. 'Estro armonico, ossia 12 concerti a 4 violini, 2 viole, violoncello, e basso continuo per l'organo.'
Op. 4. '12 concerti a violino solo, 2 violini ripieni, viola, e basso per l'organo.'
Op. 6, 7. Each consisting of 6 concerti for same instruments.
Op. 8. 'Le quattro staggioni, ovvera il Cimento dell' armonia e dell' invenzione, in 12 concerti a quattro e cinque.'
Op. 9. 'La cetra, ossia 6 concerti' for the same.
Op. 10. 6 concerti for flute, violin, viola, violoncello, and organ.
Op. 11. 12. Each consisting of concertos for the same instruments, with the addition of the violoncello.

Besides these ^[3]works, 28 operas by Vivaldi are named, and a few cantate and even motets will be found scattered in various manuscript collections.

As a writer for the violin Vivaldi held apart from the classical Roman school lately founded by Corelli. He sought and won the popularity of a virtuoso; and a good part of his writings is vitiated by an excessive striving after display, and effects which are striking simply in so far as they are novel. His 'stravaganze' for the violin solo, which were much played in England during the last century, are, according to Dr. ^[4]Burney, nothing better than show-pieces. The 'Cimento' (op. 8) illustrates another fault of the composer: 'The first four concertos,' says Sir John Hawkins,^[5] 'are a pretended paraphrase in musical notes of so many sonnets on the four seasons, wherein the author endeavours, by the force of harmony and particular modifications of air and measure, to excite ideas correspondent with the sentiments of the several poems.' Vivaldi in fact mistook the facility of an expert performer (and as such he had few rivals among contemporaries) for the creative faculty, which he possessed but in a limited degree. His real distinction lies in his mastery of form, and in his application of this mastery to the development of the concerto. It is thus that we find his violin concertos constantly studied in Germany, for instance by Benda and ^[6]Quantz; and the best proof of their sterling merits is given by the attraction which they exercised upon Sebastian Bach, who arranged sixteen of them for the clavier and four for the ^[7]organ, and developed one into a colossal concerto for four claviers and a quartet of strings.^[8]

Bach however used his originals, it should seem, principally as a basis of study; as subjects to which to apply his ingenuity and resource, rather than as models for his own art to follow. His arrangements belong to his educational apparatus; although, by the process to which he subjected them, he transformed works of a comparatively limited interest into pieces which may almost deserve a place among his own productions. The means by which he succeeded in infusing a new vitality into his arrangements vary according to the instruments for which he adapted them. In the clavier concertos he restricted himself for the most part to internal change. He strengthened and enlarged the structure of the bass, and modified the upper accompaniments with much freedom and often with the licence of an original composer. The melody in slow movements he ornamented by trills, mordents, etc.; and above all he gave solidity and sometimes an entirely new character to a movement by writing a complete melodious middle part of his own. Of this last method no more perfect example can be found than that presented by the treatment of the largo in the second concerto, in G major. The organ concertos display a different sort of versatility. Here Bach has not limited himself to merely internal development: he expands and lengthens his originals, maturing forms which Vivaldi had only suggested, and giving a 'roundness and symmetry '^[9] to the whole. Lastly, in the concerto for four claviers, which was written perhaps mainly as an exercise in the composition of obbligato parts on a large scale, Bach has not only added episodes, as in the organ concertos, but also considerably augmented the contrapuntal work of the original.^[10]

[ R. L. P. ]

1. The prince's name if generally given as Phillpp; but Phlllpp was of Hesse-Philippsthal. Presumably Ernst Ludwig is meant. Fétis gives the impossible combination of 'l'électeur Philippe de Hesse-Darmstadt': vol. viii. 968 b.
2. Fétis, vol. viii. p. 369a.
3. A concerto and a sinfonia in 3–5 parts for viola d'amore and lute also exists in manuscript. A transcript is in the British Museum, Add. MS. 31, 305, f. 10.
4. History iii. 561; 1789.
5. History, etc., ii. 837; ed. 1875.
6. Burney, Present State of Music in Germany, ii. 134, 166; 2nd ed. 1775.
7. One of these, No. 4, Is an arrangement of the same work as the clavier concerto No. 13.
8. This has commonly been mistaken for an original work of Bach's; see Forkel, 'Life of Bach,' p. 99, English translation, 1820. Fétis says that he possessed the manuscripts of two other arrangements by Bach, namely, of two concerti in the 'Estro armonico,' for clavier, 2 violins, alto, and bass. These do not appear in the catalogue of the Fétis Library.
9. Spitta, 'J. S. Bach.' 1. 415. English translation.
10. See Professor Spitta's treatment of the whole subject, i.e., vol. i. 411–416; vol. iii. 149, which is to some extent more complete than that contained in the original German edition (Band i. 409–414; ll. 629). [See also Arrangement. vol. i. 89 b.]