Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) was an Italian
Baroque musical composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher,
and priest. Born in Venice, the capital of the Venetian
Republic, he is regarded as one of the greatest Baroque
composers, and his influence during his lifetime was
widespread across Europe. He composed many instrumental
concertos, for the violin and a variety of other
instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more
than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of
violin concerto...(+)
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) was an Italian
Baroque musical composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher,
and priest. Born in Venice, the capital of the Venetian
Republic, he is regarded as one of the greatest Baroque
composers, and his influence during his lifetime was
widespread across Europe. He composed many instrumental
concertos, for the violin and a variety of other
instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more
than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of
violin concertos known as the Four Seasons.
Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto ripieno in A major for
strings and continuo, RV 158, counts among the 60 or so
concertos considered concerti ripieni or concerti a
quattro -- works written for performance by a small
string ensemble without the featured player(s) of a
solo concerto. The ripieno and concertino functions of
the concerto grosso form, to the extent that they are
employed, are thus articulated by a single group of
players. Consequently, in these pieces, the clear-cut
structural divisions of the ritornello form, with their
repeated tutti/ripieno theme and intervening and
contrasting solo/concertino sections, are sometimes
subsumed by a more melodically or contrapuntally driven
compositional scheme. In this regard, the Concerto
ripieno (a term applied to such works generally as well
as the RV 158 concerto specifically, suggesting its
status as an exemplar of the sub-genre) exhibits
elements of both the concerto principal and the
operatic overture, which during this period enjoyed
performances in concert settings as instrumental works
extracted from stage settings.
The dialogue that provides the structure of the quick
opening movement of this concerto draws little
attention to itself for any particular melodic
profundity, but depends for its charm on its variety of
subtle figures and gestures, such as the exchanges of
ascending scalar lines, coy neighbor-note agogic
accents, and the sudden acceleration of the diving
triplet figures just before the ending cadences. The
middle movement of the RV 158 concerto is more
substantial than those encountered in many other
concertos of this type, functioning as it does as a
separate musical entity rather than a short, pensive
interlude between the active outer movements. Its minor
mode and subdued character contrast the bright mood of
the opening Allegro molto, and its melodies follow new
expressive contours, but certain gestural details --
such as the short, quick flourishes of ascending grace
notes -- audibly connect with similar surface features
in the first movement. The final movement is the most
lively, its rhythms infused with a sense of perpetual
motion that is fostered by the inertia of the melody.
Particularly memorable is the way in which the ascent
of the main melody is heightened by a sudden,
syncopated leap upward to the tonic on the back of the
beat. Like the previous two movements, the third
remains in the key of A, though its form unfolds
through a contrasting minor-mode diversion before
returning to the major for the piece's conclusion.
Although originally created for Strings & Basso
Continuo, I created this Arrangement of the Concerto in
A Major (RV 158) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, English Horn &
Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).