Schola C - Vivaldi: Gloria, RV 589; Beatus Vir, RV 597 [CD]

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Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)Gloria in D, RV 589Beatus vir in C, RV 597Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice the son of a professional violinist.Although Vivaldi underwent training for the priesthood, it was as a musicianthat he evidently excelled: he began playing the violin at an early age and itis known that he deputized on occasion for his father who held a post asviolinist at St. Mark's. Despite his ordination to the priesthood in 1703,Vivaldi decided to pursue a musical career; his first appointment was that ofmaestro di violino at the Ospedale della Piet?\xe1 where he maintained a teachingpost on and off for much of his early life. It was here that the young composerproduced a great deal of his choral music, although the works featured here wereprobably not among thern since they are much more elaborate than anything thesingers at the Piet?\xe1 could have coped with.One of the most striking features of Vivaldi's style is his ability tofashion melodies out of even a cadential fragment, and this facility is nowherebetter illustrated than in the opening movement of the Gloria. The first figure,with its distinctive octave leaps, is at once rhythmically vital andharmonically stable and lends itself easily to sequential treatment. Typicallyfor a violinist perhaps, the composer often displays a tendency to leaveintricacy to the instruments and to employ the chorus homophonically, as here.The second choral movement, Et in terra pax, explores this idea further,while extending the harmonic range with a profusion of Neapolitan sixths andsome extraordinary modulations. Even more unorthodox is Laudamus te inthat the opening ritornello is a slightly uncomfortable seventeen bars long;Vivaldi here allows himself some florid vocal lines for the two soprano soloistsand uses chains of suspensions - a favourite device. The short homophonicsetting of the words Gratias agimus tibi gives way to a fugue of somedexterity, although it must be said that Vivaldi is at his best when dealingwith simpler forms: the following soprano aria with obbligato oboe is a case inpoint. Here a long melody is gracefully unfolded in the metre of a Siciliano,while the continuo line recalls the octave leaps of the first movement. Sequenceis again much in evidence in Domine Fili unigenite, the composerdisregarding convention by resolving suspensions in the violin parts by downwardleaps of a 7th. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei uses contrasting forces: the altosoloist, accompanied by continuo, has descending scalic lines which arepunctuated by chordal interjections from the choir and orchestra. Thepenitential section continues with both groups singing separate triple-timemovements, and the work concludes with a recapitulation of the opening for Quoniamtu solus Sanctus and a final fugal movement.Beatus vir is even more structurally cohesive than the Gloria: not onlydoes the opening music reappear for the Gloria Patri, but the phrase 'Beatus vir'becomes a refrain, being interpolated at strategic points in

Gloria In D, RV 589: Gloria In Excelsis Deo

Gloria In D, RV 589: Et In terra pax

Gloria In D, RV 589: Laudamus te

Gloria In D, RV 589: Gratias agimus tibi

Gloria In D, RV 589: Domine Deus, Rex caelestis

Gloria In D, RV 589: Domine Fili unigenite

Gloria In D, RV 589: Domine Deus, Agnus Dei

Gloria In D, RV 589: Qui tollis peccata mundi

Gloria In D, RV 589: Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris

Gloria In D, RV 589: Quoniam tu solus Sanctus

Gloria In D, RV 589: Cum Sancto Spiritu

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Beatus vir qui timet Dominium

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Potens In terra

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Beatus vir

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Gloria et divitiae

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Beatus vir

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Exortum est In tenebris

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Jucundus homo

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Beatus vir

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: In memoria aeterna

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Beatus vir

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Paratum cor eius

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Peccator videbit

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Beatus vir

Beatus vir In C, RV 597: Gloria Patri