The best classical music from Italy. In this live stream we will play some of the best classical music for studying, work, concentration, sleep and relaxatio. Vivaldi wrote so many concertos that, much like Haydn and his symphonies, he tended to resort to nicknames rather than numbers, for ease. Each concerto of his Four Seasons corresponds to a different season – so it's easy to guess how he nicknamed this particular work.

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Antonio Vivaldi wrote at least three settings of the hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo, whose words date probably from the 4th Century and which is an integral part of the Ordinary of the Mass. Two survive: RV 588 and RV 589. A third, RV 590, is mentioned only in the Kreuzherren catalogue and presumed lost. The RV 589 Gloria is a familiar and popular piece among sacred works by Vivaldi. It was probably written at about the same time as the RV 588, possibly in 1715.

Introduction [edit]

As with other choral pieces the composer, Vivaldi, wrote many introduzione (introductory motets) that were to be performed before the Gloria itself. Four introduzioni exist for these Glorias: Cur Sagittas (RV 637), Jubilate, o amoeni cori (RV 639) (the last movement of which is compositionally tied with the first movement of RV 588), Longe Mala, Umbrae, Terrores (RV 640), and Ostro Picta (RV 642).

Settings[edit]

RV 588[edit]

The lesser known of the two surviving Glorias, RV 588 was most likely composed during Vivaldi's employment at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà, known for its advanced choral ensemble. The first movement is interwoven with the last aria of RV 639, as explained above. The date of composition between this Gloria and RV 589 is still disputed, but both show compositional inspiration from each other.

RV 588 borrows extensively from a double orchestra-and-choir setting of the same text by Giovanni Maria Ruggieri (which will henceforth in this article be referred by its RV cataloguing number of RV. Anh. 23). Many movements show inspiration from this composition, and two movements ('Qui Tollis' and 'Cum Sancto Spiritu') are plagiarised from the original Ruggieri setting (although 'Qui Tollis' completely omits the second coro (chorus), and 'Cum Sancto Spiritu' is slightly modified). The first movement of RV 588 is also an extended version of RV Anh. 23, sans the second coro employed in RV Anh. 23, among other musical modifications. The second movements of both RV 588 and RV 589 ('Et in Terra Pax') both show chromatic patterns and key modulations similar to that of the second movement of RV Anh. 23.

Movements[edit]

1. Gloria in excelsis Deo (Chorus)
2. Et in terra pax (Chorus)
3. Laudamus te (Sopranos I and II)
4. Gratias agimus tibi (Chorus)
5. Propter magnam gloria (Chorus)
6. Domine Deus (Soprano)
7. Domine, Fili unigenite (Chorus)
8. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (Alto, Chorus)
9. Qui tollis peccata mundi (Chorus)
10. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (Mezzo Soprano)
11. Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Chorus)
12. Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus)

RV 589[edit]

This is the better known setting of the Gloria, simply known as the Vivaldi 'Gloria' due to its outstanding popularity. This piece, along with its mother composition RV 588, was composed at the same time during Vivaldi's employment at the Pietà. Two introduzioni exist as explained in the aforementioned article.

As in RV 588, there exists evidence of influence by RV Anh. 23: the first movement's chorus shares similar key modulations to that of the first movement of RV 588, only modified to fit a duple meter instead of the triple meter of RV 588. Motivic material present in the orchestral parts of either piece are also shared, including octave jumps in the opening motives of the piece. The second movement is significantly more chromatic in RV 589, but nonetheless is texturally similar to the setting present in RV Anh. 23, with the use of repeating rhythmic figures underneath harmonic motion. The 'Qui Tollis' movement of RV 589 is rhythmically similar to the first few measures of RV 588 (and ultimately RV Anh. 23). The last movement, 'Cum Sancto Spiritu,' is essentially an 'updated' version of movement present in both RV Anh. 23 and RV 588, except extensively harmonically modified, becoming more chromatic than its predecessors, reflecting a maturity in Vivaldi's output and the emerging style of the late Italian Baroque.

Movements[edit]

1. Gloria (Chorus)
2. Et in terra pax (Chorus)
3. Laudamus te (Sopranos I and II)
4. Gratias agimus tibi (Chorus)
5. Propter magnam gloriam (Chorus)
6. Domine Deus (Soprano)
7. Domine, Fili unigenite (Chorus)
8. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (Contralto and Chorus)
9. Qui tollis peccata mundi (Chorus)
10. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (Contralto)
11. Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Chorus)
12. Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus)

RV 590[edit]

Little information exists on this lost work other than its instrumentation (five voices and oboes in trombae) in the Kreuzherren catalogue. There is no other source of information; not even its possible key can be conjectured. In the Ryom-Verzeichnis catalogue, it is considered lost.

RV Anh. 23[edit]

As stated above, this Gloria for two cori (orchestras) was written by Giovanni Maria Ruggieri. This composition, probably for a Venetian church during a festival, is dated September 9, 1708 N.S. This Gloria provided much inspiration for Vivaldi's two settings and for other Glorias by other composers at the time, who may have used it in their settings.

Movements[edit]

1. Gloria in excelsis Deo (Chorus)
2. Et in terra pax (Seven Bass soloists)
3. Laudamus te (Chorus, Sopranos I and II, Tenor)
4. Gratias agimus tibi (Chorus)
5. Propter Magnam Gloriam (Chorus)
6. Domine Deus (Sopranos I and II and Bass from first coro, Sopranos III and VI and Bass from second coro)
7. Domine, Fili unigenite (Chorus)
8. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (Chorus)
9. Qui tollis peccata mundi (Chorus)
10. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (Chorus and Soprano, Contralto, and Tenor)
11. Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Chorus)
12. Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus)

Popularity[edit]

The Glorias remained in a relatively unknown status, until RV 589's revival by Alfredo Casella during 'Vivaldi Week' in Siena (1939), along with the composer's setting of the Stabat Mater (RV 621). RV 589 enjoys well-founded popularity, performed at many sacred events, including Christmas. It has been recorded on almost one hundred CDs, sometimes paired with Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243), Vivaldi's own Magnificat settings (RV 610-611), or Vivaldi's Beatus Vir (RV 597). RV 588, however, has had little success and has only been published in few albums. Attempts to create more attention to RV 588 and other sacred Vivaldi works (most notably by The King's Consort) are underway.

As with many other pieces of the Baroque era, RV 589 (and its lesser known companion RV 588) have been performed in historically-informed instrumentation, even with the use of an all-female choir to simulate choral conditions at the Pietà. There are several different editions, and choirs need to exercise caution when combining different vocal and orchestral editions.

RV 589 has also been used in a number of films. The first movement featured in the 1996 Scott Hicks film Shine about pianist David Helfgott, as well as in the 2011 film The Hunter. An adaptation of the second movement was used with profound effect in the final climactic scenes of the 1985 Andrei Konchalovsky film Runaway Train.^[1]

Editions[edit]

• Vivaldi: Gloria in D RV 589, Stuttgart Carus-Verlag 1971

References[edit]

1. ^'Trevor Jones: Runaway Train'. maintitles.net. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

External links[edit]

• Free scores of this work in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Gloria in D major, RV 589: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Gloria, RV 589, performed by National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia on YouTube
• Gloria, RV 589, performed by University of North Texas College of Music on YouTube

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Antonio Vivaldi, in full Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, (born March 4, 1678, Venice, Republic of Venice [Italy]—died July 28, 1741, Vienna, Austria), Italian composer and violinist who left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music.

Life

Vivaldi’s main teacher was probably his father, Giovanni Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as a violinist to the orchestra of the San Marco Basilica in Venice. Antonio, the eldest child, trained for the priesthood and was ordained in 1703. His distinctive reddish hair would later earn him the soubriquetIl Prete Rosso (“The Red Priest”). He made his first known public appearance playing alongside his father in the basilica as a “supernumerary” violinist in 1696. He became an excellent violinist, and in 1703 he was appointed violin master at the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for foundlings. The Pietà specialized in the musical training of its female wards, and those with musical aptitude were assigned to its excellent choir and orchestra, whose much-praised performances assisted the institution’s quest for donations and legacies. Vivaldi had dealings with the Pietà for most of his career: as violin master (1703–09; 1711–15), director of instrumental music (1716–17; 1735–38), and paid external supplier of compositions (1723–29; 1739–40).

Soon after his ordination as a priest, Vivaldi gave up celebrating mass because of a chronic ailment that is believed to have been bronchial asthma. Despite this circumstance, he took his status as a secular priest seriously and even earned the reputation of a religious bigot.

Vivaldi’s earliest musical compositions date from his first years at the Pietà. Printed collections of his trio sonatas and violin sonatas respectively appeared in 1705 and 1709, and in 1711 his first and most influential set of concerti for violin and string orchestra (Opus 3, L’estro armonico) was published by the Amsterdam music-publishing firm of Estienne Roger. In the years up to 1719, Roger published three more collections of his concerti (opuses 4, 6, and 7) and one collection of sonatas (Opus 5).

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Vivaldi made his debut as a composer of sacred vocal music in 1713, when the Pietà’s choirmaster left his post and the institution had to turn to Vivaldi and other composers for new compositions. He achieved great success with his sacred vocal music, for which he later received commissions from other institutions. Another new field of endeavour for him opened in 1713 when his first opera, Ottone in villa, was produced in Vicenza. Returning to Venice, Vivaldi immediately plunged into operatic activity in the twin roles of composer and impresario. From 1718 to 1720 he worked in Mantua as director of secular music for that city’s governor, Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt. This was the only full-time post Vivaldi ever held; he seems to have preferred life as a freelance composer for the flexibility and entrepreneurial opportunities it offered. Vivaldi’s major compositions in Mantua were operas, though he also composed cantatas and instrumental works.

The 1720s were the zenith of Vivaldi’s career. Based once more in Venice, but frequently traveling elsewhere, he supplied instrumental music to patrons and customers throughout Europe. Between 1725 and 1729 he entrusted five new collections of concerti (opuses 8–12) to Roger’s publisher successor, Michel-Charles Le Cène. After 1729 Vivaldi stopped publishing his works, finding it more profitable to sell them in manuscript to individual purchasers. During this decade he also received numerous commissions for operas and resumed his activity as an impresario in Venice and other Italian cities.

In 1726 the contralto Anna Girò sang for the first time in a Vivaldi opera. Born in Mantua about 1711, she had gone to Venice to further her career as a singer. Her voice was not strong, but she was attractive and acted well. She became part of Vivaldi’s entourage and the indispensable prima donna of his subsequent operas, causing gossip to circulate that she was Vivaldi’s mistress. After Vivaldi’s death she continued to perform successfully in opera until quitting the stage in 1748 to marry a nobleman.

In the 1730s Vivaldi’s career gradually declined. The French traveler Charles de Brosses reported in 1739 with regret that his music was no longer fashionable. Vivaldi’s impresarial forays became increasingly marked by failure. In 1740 he traveled to Vienna, but he fell ill and did not live to attend the production there of his opera L’oracolo in Messenia in 1742. The simplicity of his funeral on July 28, 1741, suggests that he died in considerable poverty.

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After Vivaldi’s death, his huge collection of musical manuscripts, consisting mainly of autograph scores of his own works, was bound into 27 large volumes. These were acquired first by the Venetian bibliophile Jacopo Soranzo and later by Count Giacomo Durazzo, Christoph Willibald Gluck’s patron. Rediscovered in the 1920s, these manuscripts today form part of the Foà and Giordano collections of the National Library in Turin.

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