Vivaldi, A.: Sacred Music, Vol. 1
$9.99
(COMPACT DISC)
In Stock - Usually ships within 24 hours.
Just copy this code and paste it where you want the link on your website:
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Sacred Music 1: Dixit Dominus Nulla in mundo pax sincera Jubilate, o amoeni chori - Gloria Known in his native Venice as the red...
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Sacred Music 1: Dixit Dominus Nulla in mundo pax sincera Jubilate, o amoeni chori - Gloria
Known in his native Venice as the red priest, from the
inherited colour of his hair, Antonio Vivaldi was born in
1678, the son of a barber who later served as a violinist
at the great Basilica of St Mark. Vivaldi studied for the
priesthood and was ordained in 1703. At the same time
he won a reputation for himself as a violinist of
phenomenal ability and was appointed violin-master at
the Ospedale della Pietà. This last was one of four such
charitable institutions, established for the education of
orphan, indigent or illegitimate girls and boasting a
particularly fine musical tradition. Here the girls were
trained in music, some of the more talented continuing
to serve there as assistant teachers, earning the dowry
necessary for marriage. Vivaldi's association with the
Pietà continued intermittently throughout his life, from
1723 under a contract that provided for the composition
of two new concertos every month. At the same time he
enjoyed a connection with the theatre, as the composer
of some fifty operas, director and manager. He finally
left Venice in 1741, travelling to Vienna, where there
seemed some possibility of furthering his career under
imperial patronage, or perhaps with the idea of travelling
on to the court at Dresden, where his pupil Pisendel was
working. He died in Vienna a few weeks after his arrival
in the city, in relative poverty. At one time he had been
worth 50,000 ducats a year, it seemed, but now had little
to show for it, as he arranged for the sale of some of the
music he had brought with him.
Vivaldi had started his service at the Pietà in 1703.
The following years brought brief gaps in his tenure, but
the allegedly temporary departure in 1713 of Francesco
Gasparini, maestro di coro at the Pietà since 1700,
allowed Vivaldi to show his ability in sacred choral
composition, for which the governors of the Pietà
rewarded him in 1715. The following year he was
appointed maestro de' concerti, with a performance of
his oratorio Juditha triumphans in November 1716.
In 1717 he left the Pietà and the next year was in Mantua
as maestro di cappella da camera to Prince Philip of
Hesse-Darmstadt, Governor of Mantua from 1714 to
1735. He renewed his connection with the Pietà in 1723.
Michael Talbot has suggested datings for Vivaldi's
sacred music. The works here included fall into the first
of the three periods he identifies, the years immediately
after the departure from Venice of Gasparini, when the
Pietà needed to find a composer fully competent to take
his place.
The second surviving setting by Vivaldi of the
Vespers Psalm CIX, Dixit Dominus, RV 595, is scored
for two oboes, trumpet, strings, continuo, five vocal
soloists and five-part chorus. The opening makes
celebratory use of the orchestra, accompanying and
framing the choral proclamation of the first verse of the
Psalm. The second movement, in B minor, is marked by
the urgent dotted rhythms introduced by the
accompanying strings, before the successive vocal
entries, started by the bass and formed by the notes of
the descending tonic chord. This is later inverted, with a
similar ascending figure introduced by the tenor. There
follows a lively G major soprano aria with strings and
continuo. There is a miraculous change of mood and
texture in the A minor duet for two sopranos, framed and
accompanied by two solo cellos and continuo. The next
section opens in E minor, introduced by the ascending
figure of the contraltos and scored now for four-part
chorus, with strings and continuo. The descending
chromatic harmonies are suggested, not entirely
appropriately, by the words 'et non paenitebit' (and will
not repent). The mood changes with a final brief and
bright G major Presto, with imitative vocal entries on
the words 'Tu es sacerdos in aeternum' (thou art a priest
for ever). An elaborate B minor soprano aria gives
hostile kings their due, with the instrumental element
entrusted to a single violin line, viola and continuo. The
solo trumpet suggests the last trump in the dramatic
D major contralto solo 'Judicabit in nationibus' (He
shall judge nations), with the last judgement
emphatically represented by the chorus. Violin and viola
accompany the following E minor contralto solo. The
final Gloria is set in three sections. The first of these,
setting the opening words, is a D major trinitarian 3/8
trio for contralto, tenor and bass, with continuo. The first
part of the work is recalled, with the same scoring,
leading to a final contrapuntal section of mounting
grandeur.
The motet Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630, is
scored for solo soprano, strings and continuo. The text is
anonymous. The first section is an E major siciliano, a
conventionally pastoral evocation of the sacred peace
that is its verbal theme, in the form of a da capo aria.
The temptations of the world are alluded to in the
following recitative, with figuration that reflects the text.
The following A major da capo aria allows the usual
embellishments and short cadenza in its repeated first
section. The original key of E major returns in the
elaborate closing Alleluia.
It has been pointed out that Vivaldi's Gloria, RV 588,
which has similarities with the same composer's other
D major setting, the well-known RV 589, owes
something to a setting by Giovanni Maria Ruggieri,
notably in the fugal Cum Sancto Spiritu, which is a
reworking of the other composer's more elaborate
setting. The work survives linked to an Introduction,
Jubilate, o amoeni chori, from which it can be detached.
The Introduction sets words of general liturgical
application and is scored for contralto (mezzo-soprano)
solo, strings and continuo. The Gloria, linked to the
Introduction in the third movement is scored for four
soloists, four-part chorus, two oboes, trumpet, strings
and continuo.
The Introduction starts with a D major virtuoso and
lively da capo aria. This leads to a B minor recitative,
before the return of the original key and the soloist's link
to the Gloria itself, now with oboes and trumpet and
leading to the entry of the choir, but interspersed with
further solo passages for the contralto, who is heard
again in an elaborate passage, together with other solo
voices. The introductory verse, in its listing of
instruments, suggests a brief moment of glory for the
organ at the word 'organa'.
The B minor setting of 'Et in terra pax' brings
descending figuration, as one voice imitates another,
leading to passages of melancholy descending
chromaticism. Any doubts about the possibilities of
peace on earth are dispelled by the G major duet for
soprano soloists, 'Laudamus te. Benedicimus te',
whether antiphonal or joining together in a happy
conjunction of thirds.
'Gratias agimus tibi' is an E minor Adagio for choir
and strings, succeeded by a buoyant G major tenor
setting of 'Domine Deus, Rex coelestis', in which dotted
rhythms predominate. 'Domine Fili unigenite' is a C major
fugal choral movement, after which an attractive and
demanding oboe solo introduces the A minor Allegro
soprano 'Domine Deus, Agnus Dei'. Both oboes take
part in the solemn choral 'Qui tollis peccata mundi',
followed by the gently lilting D major contralto 'Qui
sedes ad dexteram patris', a movement of celestial
tranquillity. Marked Allegro, 'Quoniam tu solus sanctus'
opens oboes and continuo, before the entry of the solo
soprano in a cheerful G major. The original D major
returns in the solid choral declaration of 'Cum Sancto
Spiritu', before the grandiose fugal movement derived
from Ruggieri, involving once more the trumpet, which
adds its own brilliance to the conclusion.
Keith Anderson
Dixit Dominus, RV 595 (more info)
Performed by:
Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, La
Composed by:
Anonymous
Antonio Vivaldi
Conducted by:
Jean-Claude Malgoire
Kevin Mallon
Stephen Varcoe, bass
Lynne Dawson, soprano
James Bowman, alto
Jane Archibald, soprano
Michele de Boer, soprano
Nils Brown, tenor
Giles Tomkins, bass-baritone
Anita Krause, mezzo-soprano
Peter Mahon, counter-tenor
John Elwes, narrator
Recording date: 15 - 20 September 2003
-
Allegro - 2:02
-
Donec ponam inimicos tuos: Andante - 1:50
-
Virgam virtutis tuae: Allegro - 2:13
-
Tecum principium: Allegro - 1:52
-
Juravit Dominus: Largo - Presto - 1:13
-
Dominus a dextris tuis: Allegro - 1:39
-
Judicabit in nationibus: Largo - Presto - 2:51
-
De torrente in via bibet: Largo - 2:49
-
Gloria Patri: Andante - 2:11
-
Sicut erat in principio: Allegro - 0:52
-
Et in saecula saeculorum: (Allegro) - 2:36
Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630 (more info)
-
(Aria) Nulla in mundo: Larghetto - 7:51
-
Recitativo: Blando colore - 1:06
-
(Aria) Spirat anguis: Allegro - 3:01
-
Alleluia: (Allegro) - 2:02
Gloria in D major, RV 589 (more info)
Performed by:
Northern Chamber Orchestra
Collegium Musicum 90
Composed by:
Antonio Vivaldi
Conducted by:
Richard Hickox
Kevin Mallon
Jeremy Summerly
Nicholas Ward
Anna Simboli, soprano
Alena Dantcheva, soprano
Sara Mingardo,
Michael Chance, counter-tenor
Jane Archibald, soprano
Nils Brown, tenor
Deborah York, soprano
Patrizia Biccire,
Emma Kirkby, soprano
Anita Krause, mezzo-soprano
Tessa Bonner, soprano
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord
-
Jubilate, o amoeni chori: Allegro - 5:23
-
Recitativo: In tam solemni pompa - 0:39
-
Sonoro modulamine - I. Gloria in excelsis (RV 588): Allegro - 3:38
-
II. Et in terra pax: Largo - 4:55
-
III. Laudamus te: Allegro - 2:18
-
IV. Gratias agimus tibi: Adagio - 0:46
-
V. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis: Largo - 1:53
-
VI. Domine, Fili unigenite: (Allegro) - 1:01
-
VII. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei: Allegro - 2:40
-
VIII. Qui tollis peccata mundi: Adagio - 1:12
-
IX. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris: Allegro - 3:17
-
X. Quoniam tu solus sanctus: Allegro - 1:26
-
XI. Cum Sancto Spiritu: Adagio - (Allegro) - 3:02