Album insights
Towards the end of the 1720s, Vivaldi established closer ties with the Dresden court. Johann Georg Pisendel, his loyal supporter and former student, took over the direction of the court orchestra in 1728. By 1730, a group of seven singers arrived at the court, six of whom had been trained in Venice for six years at the expense of the court, two of them supported by the Pietà. The Soprano text of this motet employs the common operatic metaphor of a ship tossed by high waves but ultimately guided safely to port by the helmsman—with the help of stella maris, the Virgin Mary. A notable feature of the first aria is the use of a different meter and slower tempo for the middle part ("B"). This strong musical contrast corresponds to the varied moods in the "A" and "B" sections of the text. Vivaldi's rhythmic and harmonic inventiveness shines through in the final 'Alleluja,' even when the structure is reduced to just two 'real' voices.
One of the chief responsibilities of the choir director at the Pietà was to compose music for Holy Week, including a setting of the 50th Psalm, the Miserere. While any Miserere composed by Vivaldi may have been lost, a c-minor setting from around 1733 by Giovanni Porta, the choir master from 1726 to 1737, has been preserved. Nonetheless, Vivaldi left us with two introduzioni to the Miserere for solo alto—Non in pratis aut in hortis RV641 and Filiae maestae Jerusalem RV638. These works from around 1715 conclude the final recitative in c-minor despite RV641 unusually commencing in F major. It is likely that these served as alternative "introductions" to the same Miserere, which Porta later adopted. Their exceptionally limited vocal range and overall restrained style align with Geltruda's capabilities, one of the era's renowned singers at the Pietà.
At the emotional core of RV641 lies its solitary central aria, successfully conveying a dignified lament suitable for the Lenten season. Vivaldi's ability to evoke profound depths of expression using simple means is evident in this piece. Geltruda is said to have possessed a delicate voice, prompting Vivaldi's continuous efforts, such as dampening or occasionally omitting the strings, to ensure the singer was not overpowered. While it is impossible to adhere exactly to Vivaldi's original intention and append the Miserere, it is equally inconceivable to leave it unaccompanied. The present recording solves this dilemma by following this introduzione with the Stabat Mater, a piece that, though not directly related, shares similarities in key, mood, theme, performance, and composition time, belonging to a different liturgical context.
This widely acclaimed work belongs to Vivaldi's earliest generation of sacred vocal music, rediscovered and revitalized in the 20th century. Included by Alfredo Casella in his groundbreaking "Vivaldi Week" in Siena in 1939, alongside the more renowned Gloria RV589, it has been in print since 1949. In contrast to other composers who crafted notable settings of the time—such as Pergolesi, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Steffani, and D'Astorga—Vivaldi chose not to set the full twenty tercet stanzas plus an "Amen," as customary for the Mass, but instead tackled just the initial ten stanzas, following the standard practice when the text was to be used as a vesper hymn. This yields an intriguing blend of strophic treatment (repeating the music of verses 1 to 3 for sections 3 to 6) and through-composed elements, typical in Psalm settings.
While RV621 is moving and skillfully crafted, it reveals the hand of a composer with significantly more experience in instrumental composition than in writing for vocal voices. Each section executes musical motives independently in a manner that could later be termed "symphonic," despite the changing imagery and emphasis in the text. Echoes of L’estro armonico op. 3 (1711), Vivaldi's first published collection of concertos, are perceptible throughout. Nevertheless, Vivaldi achieves remarkable word painting effects intermittently—especially in the seventh movement "Eia mater," where the sharp rhythms, symbolizing the scourging of Christ, almost evoke a Bach Passion. The mood remains consistently solemn and tragic; Vivaldi restricts himself to the keys of F minor and C minor, fluctuating between moderately slow and extremely slow tempos, foreshadowing works like Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross or Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 15.
O qui coeli terraeque serenitas RV631
This is one of three surviving solo motets composed by Vivaldi during his stays in Rome in 1723 and 1724, coinciding with Carnival seasons. Presumably written for some of the singers who performed in his three operas composed for the Capranica Theater in Rome: Ercole su'l Termodonte, Il Tigrane, and Giustino. RV631 is a motet per ogni tempo—"for every season." Its Latin text, laced with elements borrowed from secular spheres, is a prayer for the believer to detach from earthly pleasures and embrace those of heaven. Vivaldi opts for the gentle E-flat major as the home key, and the numerous "sighing" appoggiaturas in the first aria adeptly evoke the pervasive allure of the world. The second aria in C minor possibly, somewhat ironically, employs the traditional Lamento bass (a chromatic descent from tonic to dominant) to depict a wilting rose. In the closing "Alleluja," the soprano resolves the entire conflict with a jubilantly virtuosic performance.
Deus tuorum militum RV612
This unassuming composition is a vespers hymn from the "Martyrologium Romanum," the section of the liturgy used for all male saints and martyrs, including St. Lawrence. The inclusion of two obbligato oboes alongside the usual strings deviates from the Pietà practice, indicating a composition date in the 1720s. True to form, Vivaldi sets only every other stanza of the hymn (1, 3, and 5) and leaves the rest for performance as a chorale or organ paraphrase.
Confitebor tibi, Domine RV596
This three-part Psalm setting (No. 110 in the Vulgate numbering) belonging to multiple vespers (including those for Sundays and male martyrs) ranks among Vivaldi's grandest works in church music. Composed relatively late (around 1732), it seems to have no connection to the Pietà (whose voices could not handle the demanding tenor and bass parts). Vivaldi condenses the ten verses of the Psalm into four movements; additionally, there are two sections for the Doxology ("Gloria Patri..."), customarily appended to a Psalm setting. The style illustrates Vivaldi's focus on counterpoint during his middle creative period (roughly 1720 to 1735). The fugue expositions and imitative episodes in the fourth movement "Intellectus bonus" would do credit to any composer. Vivaldi employs the two solo oboes similarly to RV612, undoubtedly lending the sound additional vigor and vitality.
The final movement "Et in saecula saeculorum" is a transposed adaptation of the opening section of a terzetto in da capo format from Vivaldi's opera La fida ninfa (Verona, 1732). The text of the operatic terzetto revolves around the turns of a wheel of fortune, while the latter part of the Doxology symbolizes the eternal unchangeability. By utilizing musical motifs suggesting both circular motion (initially in the tenor part) and the permanence of time (as a counter subject with extended note values later on), Vivaldi fulfills both aspects. The borrowing is so apt that it can stand alongside Handel's most successful endeavors in this realm.
Michael Talbot © 1999
Translation: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller