Vivaldi's Stage

Author(s): Ellen Rosand

Source: The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter 2001), pp. 8-30
Published by: University of California Press
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8
Volume XVIII Number 1 Winter 2001
The Journal of Musicology 2001 by the Regents of the University of California
Vivaldis Stage
ELLEN ROSAND
1. The Opera House
Antonio Vivaldi is a well-known presence in
the history of opera in eighteenth-century Venice. Though bibliograph-
ical information is incompletea large number of librettos have sur-
vived but only some twenty scoresit is clear that he supplied works for
Venetian theaters almost annually from 1713 until 1739. Many of them
were designed for the Teatro S. Angelo, where he acted as impresario,
irregularly, between 1713 and 1734.
1
Though he claimed in 1739 to
have written ninety-four operas, the more likely number is around forty-
seven.
2
It is difcult to judge the impact of these works. But repeated
commissions and revivals of a number of them in a variety of cities
(including Mantua, Rome, Florence, Reggio Emilia, Verona, Ferrara,
and Prague) indicate that Vivaldi was among the most sought-after
opera composers of his day.
The site of his most sustained and remarkable achievement, how-
ever, was not the Teatro S. Angelo, or any other teatro dopera, but a less
ostentatious, more sheltered space, the Ospedale della Piet, one of the
four charitable institutions whose musical performances achieved such
prominence during the eighteenth century that they came to rival
even to surpassthose in the opera house. Though he had served as a
violinist at S. Marco earlier, it was at the Piet that Vivaldi gained his
rst substantial employment as a teacher of violin and viola in 1703,
initiating an association that lasted for the better part of forty years.
And it was there, on the Riva degli Schiavoni, rather far from S. Angelo,
1
Some twenty of Vivaldis operas received their premieres at the Teatro S. Angelo
between 1714 and 1739. Vivaldi also helped manage and wrote operas for S. Moise, as
well as for performances outside Venice, especially in Mantua, where he produced seven
of his operas between 1718 and 1732. See Eric Cross, Vivaldi, Grove Dictionary of Opera
(London: Macmillan, 1992) 4, cc. 102628.
2
See Vivaldis letter of 2 January 1739 to Guido Bentivoglio; in Remo Giazotto, An-
tonio Vivaldi (Turin: RAI, 1973), 29091. Cross, Vivaldi, lists fty-two, including several
pasticcios.
rosand
that the composer staged his most signicant and best-known works,
works belonging to the genre with which his name is virtually synony-
mous: the concerto.
Though few composers were equally committed to the two kinds of
institutions, the activities at the Ospedale and opera house were actu-
ally quite similar in a number of important respects. Both attracted in-
ternational audiences drawn to Venice by its reputation for lavish enter-
tainments. Both enjoyed the support of the government and patrician
patronage. And both therefore offered a context in which the particu-
larly strong connections between politics and art that characterized
Venetian culture were played out. More specic links between the two
venues are offered by Vivaldi himself: his concertos, which may also
have played some role in the spectacle of the opera house, became the
central character in the drama enacted in the galleries of the Piet.
Vivaldi was evidently in the habit of performing a concerto at some
point during the performances of his operas, a sure means of distin-
guishing such spectacles from those at competing theaters. Indeed,
visitors to the opera in Venice were repeatedly struck by these perfor-
mances. In a diary entry of 4 February 1715, the German traveler
Johann Friedrich Uffenbach reports having witnessed one of them at
S. Angelo:
Toward the end [of the opera] Vivaldi played an admirable accompa-
niment as a solo to which, as a conclusion, he appended a fantasia
that left me literally terrorized, because one like it was never played
nor ever will be played, since with the ngers [of his left hand] he
reached a point just a hair away from the bridge, so close that there
was no room for the bow; and he did this on all four strings, with fugal
passages and with incredible speed. He shocked everyone with this.
But I cannot say that it charmed me because it was not as pleasing to
hear as it was artfully played.
3
The piece itself may very well have been a concerto (it was an accom-
panied solo) with an elaborate nal cadenza.
4
On a second visit to
9
3
. . . gegen das ende [of the opera at S. Angelo] spielte der vivaldi ein accompag-
nement solo, admirabel, voran er zu letzt eine phantasie anhing die mich recht er-
schrecket, denn dergleichen ohnmoglich so jemahls ist gespielt worden noch kann
gespiehlet werden, denn er kahm mit den Fingern nur einen strohhalm breit an den steg
dass der bogen keinen platz hatte, und das auf allen 4 saiten mit Fugen und einer ge-
schwindigkeit die unglaublich ist, er suprenierte damit jedermann, allein dass ich sagen
soll dass es mich charmirt das kan ich nicht tun weil es nicht so angenehm zu horen, als
es kunstlich gemacht war. Quoted in Eberhard Preussner, Die musikalischen Reisen des
Herrn von Uffenbach Aus einem Reisetagebuch des Johann Friedrich A. von Uffenbach aus Frank-
furt a. M. 17121716 (Kassel and Basel: Brenreiter, 1949), 67. Uffenbachs comments
on Venice may be found on pp. 6372, especially 6772.
4
Walter Kolneder suspects that this might have been the concerto in D major RV
212, because the cadenza of the last movement displays most of the extraordinary effects
the j ournal of musicology
S. Angelo, however, some two weeks later (19 February), Uffenbach
complained that Vivaldi played only a very short solo air (perhaps the
slow movement of a concerto?).
5
When Uffenbach returned a third time to the opera house, possibly
on 4 March, the penultimate day of carnival, Vivaldi played the violin
again, probably between the acts of the featured opera (damit vermut-
lich die Intermedien ausfllend). This time, however, Uffenbach was
unreservedly enthusiastic, lavishing extravagant praise on the composer-
performer, especially in comparison to an oboe soloist, who played in
an unintelligible manner. Evidently, the featuring of solo instruments
at the opera, particularly the violin as played by the impresario himself,
offered an additional attraction to the audience, a special appeal in the
competitive world of Venetian opera houses.
6
This is inadvertently conrmed by Vivaldi himself in a letter of
1737 to the Marquis Guido Bentivoglio regarding a possible commis-
sion in Ferrara. Responding to criticism of his indecorous behavior as
an impresario, which apparently stood in the way of the commission,
Vivaldi declared, irately: I never hang around at the door of the the-
ater, which I would be ashamed to do . . . and I never play in the orches-
tra, except for the rst night, because I would not deign to ply the trade of
suonatore (italics added).
7
Uffenbach seems to have xated on Vivaldis performances, which
appear to be the primary basis on which he judged the success of his
evenings at the opera. In a period when the composer of an opera still
played second ddle to both the librettist and the singers, Vivaldis
10
mentioned by Uffenbach. See Walter Kolneder, Prolo biograco di Antonio Vivaldi,
in Antonio Vivaldi da Venezia allEuropa, ed. Maria Teresa Muraro and Giovanni Morelli
(Milan: Electa, 1978), 13. Also idem, Auffhrungspraxis bei Vivaldi (Leipzig: Breitkopf und
Hrtel, 1955), 73. Vivaldi apparently wrote and played this piece in 1712 for a celebra-
tion in Paduaone of its two manuscript sources bears the rubric Concerto fatto per la
solennit della S. Lingua di S. Antonio in Padova 1712 (see Cesare Fertonani, La musica stru-
mentale di Antonio Vivaldi [Florence: Olschki, 1998], 38485).
5
Zu allem Ungluck spielte Vivaldi selbst auch nur eine sehr kleine air solo auf
seiner Violine (Preussner, Die musikalischen Reisen, 68). Could this have been an obbli-
gato aria?
6
Vivaldi spielt wieder Solovioline, damit vermutlich die Intermedien ausfllend.
Vom Gegenspiel Vivaldis ist Uffenbach diesmal aber ohne Ruckhalt begeistert. Ein Haut-
boist, der ebenfalls als Solist auftritt, bliebt dagegen mit seiner krausen Musik vollig un-
verstandlich. Die Tatsache, dass konzertante Musik solistich in die Oper eingebaut wird,
ist in hochstem Grade bemerkenswert. Zweifellos war es eine Art Notbehelf des Geigen-
virtuosen Vivaldi, und wenigstens auf diese Weise beim veneziansichen Publikum auch als
Geiger zu Geltung zu kommen (Preussner, Die musikalischen Reisen, 7071).
7
Giazotto, Vivaldi, 288. Letter of 23 November 1737: Io mai attendo alla porta,
mentre questo mi vergogniarei di fare. . . . Io mai suono in Orchestra, salvo che la prima
sera, perche non degno di far il mestiere del suonatore. Vivaldi was accused by one Car-
dinal Ruffo of other improprieties as well (to which he responds in the same letter to
Bentivoglio).
rosand
solo performances were clearly a distinctive feature of his operatic pro-
ductions; a hook to attract audiences, they also represented a kind of
signature or afrmation of his authorship. But they were obviously only
ancillary to the main event. At the Piet, in contrast, Vivaldis concertos
were the featured entertainment. Though interspersed with vocal works
of various kinds, including motets and oratorios, it was the concertos
that occupied center stage.
2. Santa Maria della Visitazione
o della Piet
The Ospedale della Piet and the other three os-
pedali (the Incurabili, the Derelitti, and the Mendicanti
8
) began as
foundling hospitals in which, under the auspices of the government,
orphans of both sexes were housed, clothed, fed, and taught to read,
to write, and to pray. And while the boys received an education that
prepared them to enter various trades as apprentices (woodworking,
shipbuilding, printing), the girls, depending on their abilities, were in-
structed either in the arts of sewing, embroidery, and lace-making, or in
music, by resident teachers. Members of the musical group, called the
glie di coro, eventually served in the chapel choir and orchestra. When
they had become sufciently skilled, they were given the responsibility
of teaching the younger girls.
9
11
8
Their full names are Santa Maria della Visitazione o della Piet, Gesu Salvatore
degli Incurabili, Santa Maria dei Derelitti detto anche Ospedaletto, and San Lazzaro e dei
Mendicanti. See, inter alia, Fertonani, La musica strumentale, 31.
9
Michael Talbot (Sacred Music at the Ospedale della Piet in Venice in the Time
of Handel, Hndel Jahrbuch XLVI [2000], 12556; 127) distinguishes between foundlings
at the Piet and orphans and waifs, who were accommodated elsewhere. Among the most
recent studies of music at the ospedali are Berthold Over, Per la Gloria di Dio: Solistische
Kirchenmusik an den venezianischen Ospedali im 18. Jahrhundert (Bonn: Orpheus-Verlag,
1998); Marinella Laini, Vita musicale a Venezia durante la Repubblica. Istituzioni e mecenatismo
(Venice: Stamperia di Venezia, 1993); Jane Baldauf-Berdes, Womens Musicians of Venice:
Musical Foundations, 15251855 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993); and Bernard Aikema
and Dulcia Meijers, Nel regno dei poveri. Arte e storia dei grandi ospedali veneziani in et mo-
derna 14741797 (Venice: Arsenale, 1989). Earlier studies fundamental to this topic in-
clude Denis Arnold, Orphans and Ladies, the Venetian Conservatories (16801790),
Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association LXXXIX (196263), 3148; idem, Instruments
and Instrumental Teaching in the Early Italian Conservatories, The Galpin Society Journal
XVIII (1965), 7281; Giuseppe Ellero, J. Scarpa, and C. Paolucci, eds., Arte e musica al-
lOspedaletto: schede darchivio sullattivit musicale degli ospedali dei Derelitti e dei Mendicanti di
Venezia (secc. XVIXVII) (Venice: Stamperia di Venezia, 1978); Giancarlo Rostirolla, Lor-
ganizzazione musicale nellospedale veneziano della Piet allepoca di Vivaldi, Nuova ri-
vista musicale italiana XIII (1979), 16895; and M. V. Constable, The Venetian Figlie del
coro: Their Environment and Achievement, Music and Letters LXIII (1982), 181212;
and Denis Arnold, Music at the Ospedali, Journal of the Royal Musical Association CXIII
(1988), 15667.
the j ournal of musicology
Although the Venetian government exercised ultimate jurisdiction
over the ospedali, as charitable institutions, their day-to-day activities,
the setting of admission standards, rules of behavior, and the hiring of
teachers, were regulated and some of the expenses underwritten by
individual elected governing boards made up of members of the noble
and citizen classes.
Originally conceived as an aspect of the moral and religious educa-
tion of the girls, the musical activities of the ospedali came to absorb
increasing attentionas well as fundsduring the rst half of the eigh-
teenth century. Vocal instruction was supplemented by training on a
growing number of instruments, and not only were paying students
admitted, in order to make certain that the choirs and instrumental
bands were adequately staffed, but music masters too, by necessity, were
increasingly hired from outside the walls of the ospedali. Indeed some
of the best-known gures in the history of Venetian music, not only
Vivaldi, served as music teachers at these institutionsamong them
Legrenzi, Gasparini, Pollarolo, and Galuppi. They had various tasks: the
maestro del coro took charge of the singers, while the maestro dei concerti
was responsible for the instrumentalists. Either of these positions would
have involved supplying new music for instruction and performance.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the ospedali were an
obligatory stop on the Venetian leg of the Grand Tour. To quote from
the oft-reprinted guidebook of Giovanni Battista Albrizzi, the Forestiero
illuminato, all year long the presence of foreigners in these pious
places was great, there being not a single important person visiting
Venice who left before honoring them with their presence.
10
Travelers
diaries are lled with descriptions of the marvels of the girls perfor-
mances, which were evidently quite numerous: nearly every Saturday,
Sunday, and feast day there was music at all of the ospedali, with espe-
cially elaborate services reserved for occasions of particular importance
to each of them,
11
or for the visits of foreign dignitaries. Periodically, all
12
10
. . . grande in tutto lanno il concorso de Forastieri, non essendovi alcun per-
sonaggio cospicuo, che giunto in Vinegia, sen parta senza aver onorato col suo intervento
anche questo Pio luogo [in addition to the other ospedali]. Giovanni Battista Albrizzi,
Forastiero illuminato. Intorno le cose pi rare e curiose antiche e moderne della citta di Venezia e del-
lisole circonvicine (Venice, 1740). The reference here is to the Incurabili: quoted from the
edition of 1796 (Venice: Francesco Tosi), 25455.
11
The Visitation at the Piet, the feast of S. Lorenzo at the Mendicanti. The four os-
pedali apparently alternated in presenting afternoon musical events on the four Sundays
of each month (Berdes, Women Musicians of Venice, 132). It was the Mendicantis turn on
the 4th Sunday, whereas the second was reserved for the Derelitti. Over, Per la Gloria di
Dio, 4159, examines the feast-calendars of the four ospedali, which indicate the various
occasions on which music was called for, though not specically instrumental music.
Much of Overs data comes from the 1712 edition of Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, Guida
de forestiere, initially published in 1697, and followed by nearly forty subsequent, often
12
rosand
of the ospedali joined together to celebrate a special occasion, such as a
royal visit or political victory.
12
In general, however, the relation among
them seems to have been one of competition rather than cooperation.
Most reports agree that of the four, the Piet was the most outstanding,
particularly for its instrumental music. I quote from the remarks of one
such report, by Joachim Christoph Nemeitz, a Saxon jurist, who visited
Venice in 1721:
One should not willingly miss the music at the four ospedali. It takes
place every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday, beginning around four in
the afternoon and lasting until a little after six. In these four ospedali
. . . poor and orphaned children are maintained at the expense of the
Republic, and they . . . are educated to fear God in reading, writing,
and above all in music by singing teachers specially hired for the pur-
pose. And they also learn to embroider and sew. Among these os-
pedali, the Piet is now certainly the most important. Here about 900
girls are assisted and educated, all of them orphans, except for some
sent there by poor families. These young girls are educated in the ma-
terial described above, and it is extraordinary to see how many of
them excel not only in vocal music but in instrumental music as well.
They play the violin, cello, organ, theorbo, and even the oboe and
ute like masters.
13
Other visitors were equally impressed by the Piet, and especially by the
variety of instruments on which the girls excelled. The French jurist
Charles de Brosses, writing in 1739, noted their performance on violin,
ute, organ, oboe, cello, and bassoon: in short, he concluded, there is
13
updated editions, which contains detailed information on services with music at all the
ospedali. See Talbot, Sacred Music, 13637.
12
This was the case in 1740, for the visit of Friederich Cristian of Poland, Electoral
Prince of Saxony, documented in Giazotto, Vivaldi, 3067. See also Eleanor Selfridge-
Field, Pallade veneta (Venice: Fondazione Levi, 1985), 312, n. 1. On the music for this
visit, see below, n. 28.
13
La musica nelle chiese dei quattro Ospedali, cio alla Piet, ai Mendicante, al-
lOspedaletto e agli Incurabili non si tralascia volentieri di sentirla. La si fa tutti i sabati,
domeniche e giorni di festa; incomincia alle quattro circa del pomereggio e dura na a
poco dopo le sei. In questi quattro ospedali vengono mantenute a spese della Republica
persone povere e deboli di salute, come pure bambine povere a trovatelle, e queste ul-
time vengono educate al timor di Dio, a leggere, a scrivere e sopratutto nella musica per
mezzo di insegnanti di canto appositamente assunte, ed imparano anche a lare e a cu-
cire. Fra questi lospedale della Piet ora certamente il pi importante; qui sono assi-
stite ed educate circa novecento fanciulle, tutte orfanelle, fatta eccezione per quelle che
sono mandate l come pensionanti dalle famiglie povere. Queste fanciulle [. . .] vengono
educate nelle materie che si sono descritte pi sopra, ed straordinario vedere come
molte di esse eccellano non solo nella musica vocale ma anche in quella strumentale, e
suonino da maestro il violino, il violoncello, lorgano, la tiorba, e persino loboe ed il
auto. Joachim Christoph Nemeitz, Nachlese besonderer Nachrichten von Italien (Leipzig:
Gleditsch, 1726), 97, entry of 1721. Italian text from Venezia Vivaldi, exhibition catalogue
(Venice: Aleri, 1978), 64.
13
the j ournal of musicology
no instrument, however unwieldy, that can frighten them.
14
And the
equally enthusiastic Albrizzi eshed out his description, quoted earlier,
with a few added details regarding the instruments:
What distinguishes the Piet from the other ospedali is that on solemn
feast days, they usually perform an instrumental concert [un concerto
di stromenti], mostly woodwinds, which is truly admirable. It is com-
posed of violins, violette, trombe marine, corni da caccia, oboe, ute,
recorder, timpani and a harp, which from time to time plays alone so
delicately and so consonantly with the other instruments, that one
cannot hope to hear anything of this kind either more harmonious or
more perfect.
15
Indeed, the range of instrumental instruction available to the girls
at the Piet during this period, the period of Vivaldis association with
the institution, far exceeded that for any of the other ospedali. In addi-
tion to violin, taught from 1703, instruction on other instruments was
available as follows: oboe from 1707, clarinet from 1716, cello from
1720, transverse ute from 1728, lute, clavicembalo, and corno di cac-
cia, from 1747, and timpani from 1750.
16
It is hardly surprising given
his connection with the institution that Vivaldi, unlike his contempo-
raries, would have written music featuring most of these instruments as
soloists.
14
14
Celui des quatre hpitaux o je vais le plus souvent, et o je mamuse le mieux,
et lhpital de la Pit; cest aussi le premier pour la perfection des symphonies. . . . Aussi
chantent-elles comme des anges, et jouent du violon, de la ute, de lorgue, du hautbois,
du violoncelle, du basson; bref, il ny a si gros instruments qui puissent leur faire peur
(Charles De Brosses, Lettres familires crits dItalie . . . en 1739 et 1740 [Paris: Poulet-Malassis
et De Broise, 1858] I, 144).
15
Quello per altro in cui esso si distingue dagli altri, si , che nei giorni solenni si
suol fare un concerto di stromenti la maggior parte da ato che realmente ammirabile.
E composto di Violini, Violette, Trombe marine, Corni da caccia, Obo, Traversi, Flauti,
Timpani, e di un Arpa che di tratto in tratto suona a voce sola cos delicatamente, ed
cos unisona cogli strumenti, che non si pu sentire cosa n pi armoniosa, n pi per-
fetta in questo genere (Albrizzi, Forastiero illuminato, 115).
16
See Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1975, 3rd ed., Dover, 1994), 4344; idem, Vivaldis Esoteric Instru-
ments, Early Music 6 (1978), 33238. Fertonani, La musica strumentale, 35, lists the fol-
lowing instruments as having been played at the Piet: chalumeau, psaltery, viola
damore, viola allinglese, mandolin, clarinet, along with the more common violin, cello,
recorder, transverse ute, oboe, bassoon, theorbo, and organ. For a comparison of the in-
strumental teaching available at the four ospedali, see Selfridge-Field, Pallade veneta, Ap-
pendix C: table of maestri and organists. Documents from all four institutions indicate
generic payments to teachers of solfeggio, maniera, strumenti, coro, and canti, but only
those from the Piet include payments to individual instrumental teachers.
14
rosand
The Ospedale della Piet had long occupied a group of buildings
on the Riva degli Schiavoni. Although some work had been done on
the church in the late seventeenth century that affected the space for
the musicians which was over the main altar, by the eighteenth century
the musical facilities had become woefully inadequate, especially in
comparison to the other three ospedali, whose churches had been built
or recently rebuilt by prominent Venetian architects,
17
and for which
new music rooms had been constructed. Accordingly, in 1723 a request
was made to construct, laterally to the existing choirloft (coro), two
smaller ones (coretti), in order to provide additional space for the
musicians.
18
These were to be covered by gilded iron grillwork. At the
corners where the new choirlofts joined the old one, openings were
specied to allow the musicians to see the conductor.
19
Completed by 1724, this modication was evidently insufcient. A
decision to rebuild the entire facility was taken in 1727, and the com-
mission given to the architect Giorgio Massari. Giambattista Tiepolo,
the major Venetian painter of the time, received the commission for
the fresco decoration. Although not actually completed until 1760,
twenty years after Vivaldis death, the new structure was conceived to ac-
commodate the vocal and instrumental ensembles as they existed dur-
ing his tenure at the Piet. Singing galleries were constructed on either
side of the nave.
20
Likewise, though not nished until 1755, the musical ensemble
portrayed in Tiepolos ceiling fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin pre-
dictably reects that in use in Vivaldis day. Both more detailed and
more varied than the standard depictions of musical angels, the
perimeter of the fresco is taken up with singers and instrumentalists.
Eleven instruments are depicted, including horn, organ, viola, kettle
drum, oboe, chitarrone (rather than the more usual theorbo), double
15
17
Sansovino, Scamozzi, and Longhena. See Deborah Howard, Giambattista
Tiepolos Frescoes for the Church of the Piet in Venice, The Oxford Art Journal IX
(1986), 1128 and Gastone Vio, La vecchia chiesa dellOspedale della Piet, Infor-
mazioni e studi vivaldiani VII (1986), 7284.
18
For details regarding the building of these coretti, see Giazotto, Vivaldi,
37475, who cites the relevant documents; also Michael Talbot, Vivaldi [London: Dent,
1993], 15, n. 2.The date of this request, 2 July, by the way, was the same as the date of
Vivaldis contract to supply two concertos per month (see Talbot, Vivaldi, 53, citing the
contract with Vivaldi, which is reproduced in Giazotto, Vivaldi, 256). The connection be-
tween these two documentsrequest and contractis made by Vio, La vecchia chiesa,
78.
19
[che] resti un maggior sporto . . . per dar additto alle glie sessercitaranno in
quelli di poter ben osservar la Maestra farr la battuda in Choro. Quoted in Vio, La vec-
chia chiesa, 78.
20
For the interior of the Piet, showing the galleries, see Aikema, Nel regno dei
poveri, 203 and 205.
the j ournal of musicology
bass, trumpet, violin, drum or tambourine, and cello.
21
It is surely no
coincidence that the full range of instruments for which the Piet was
so well-known is represented in this unusual fresco, and that though Vi-
valdi was long dead, that varied instrumentarium showcased in his con-
certos had become part of its heritage.
22
3. Maestro de concerti
As already observed, Vivaldi was employed at the
Piet off and on for nearly forty years, beginning in 1703, when he was
rst hired as a teacher of violin, and ending shortly before 1740 when
he left Venice for Vienna, where he died the following year.
23
His teach-
ing duties, which also involved the purchasing and maintenance of
instruments, soon expanded to include composition as well. Though
not ofcially appointed as such by the Ospedale until 1716, he adver-
tised himself as maestro de concerti as early as 1709, on the title-page of
his second printed collection, the violin sonatas, Op. 2. Aside from
some motets and at least one oratorio, his chief responsibility as a com-
poser was to provide works in which his violin pupils could display their
abilities as performers.
24
The concerto seemed ideally suited to such a
purpose. Indeed, it is clear that Vivaldis exploration of the concerto,
and the unprecedented number and variety of his works in that genre,
were inspired by his position at the Piet.
It is difcult to know precisely how many or which of Vivaldis con-
certos were actually written for the girls at the Piet. They must have
numbered in the several hundreds, however, since in addition to the
pieces he provided in his capacity as maestro de concerti, the governing
board of the Ospedale began specically acquiring concertos from him
on a regular basis starting in 1723, when they agreed to purchase two
per month on the condition that he direct their rehearsal when in
Venice (three or four such rehearsals were specied) and, when absent,
16
21
Howard, The Piet, 21, lists twelve instruments, but she may have miscounted.
22
For a color illustration of the Tiepolo fresco, see Keith Christiansen, ed., Giambat-
tista Tiepolo, 16961770 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), g. 113.
23
Fertonani, La musica strumentale, 36, divides Vivaldis career at the Piet into ve
periods: 1. 1 Sept 170324 Feb 1709 (maestro di violino, viola allinglese on 17 Aug.
1704); 2. 27 September 1711 (maestro di violino)26 March 1716; 3. 24 May 1716
(maestro de concerti)1717; 4. 2 July 1723 (to provide concertos 2 per month, in ab-
sentia) at least till 1729; 5. 5 Aug 1735 (maestro de concerti)28 March 1738 (compo-
sition of concertos per ogni genere dinstrumenti, teaching, and rehearsals). The rele-
vant documents are listed in Michael Talbot, Vivaldi: Fonti e letteratura critica (Florence:
Olschki, 1991), 5761. They are transcribed in Giazotto, Vivaldi, 35183.
24
He was apparently responsible for providing sacred music when there was no of-
cial maestro de coro on the books. See Fertonani, La musica strumentale, 38.
rosand
that he not charge for postage.
25
And we do know that by 1729 the
number had already reached more than 140.
26
Some of these can be more precisely identied by the fact that they
bear the names of the individual performers for whom they were in-
tended.
27
Others bear rubrics indicating the occasion and date on
which they were performed at the Piet. These include several to cele-
brate the Feast of S. Lorenzo and three concertos for multiple instru-
ments played in honor of the visit of the Electoral Prince of Saxony in
1740.
28
It can probably be assumed, in any case, that the many concer-
tos for exotic instruments in solo or combinationsuch as lute,
chalumeau, ute, and mandolinwere designed to spotlight the odd
instrumentarium for which the Piet was so well-known.
29
17
25
. . . per conservar il detto Choro nel credito sinhora riportato si rende biso-
gnoso il provedimento de Concerti da Suono, et espongono lincontro tengono doppo le
molte diligenze usate di haverne due al mese dalla ben nota attivita del Reverendissimo
Don Antonio Vivaldi come nhanno sortito due per la corrente festivita di questa nostra
chiesa, e pero. Si manda parte che resti impartita facolta alli Sudetti Signori Governatori
nostri di poter accordar con il sudetto Vivaldi per il tempo che si tratenira in questa
Dominante, et anco se le sortisse nel tempo di sua absenza, col mezzo delle missioni,
quando riusisse di conseguirli senza laggravio del posto, perche desso siano contribuiti
li due concerti al mese che sessibisce di dare . . . [questi Signori Governatori] crede-
ranno conveniente per li due concerti fatti, e di accordarle lonorario dun cecchin luno
per quelli chandera facendo con lobligo pero al detto Vivaldi di portarsi personalmente
almeno tre, o quatro volte per concerto adinstruire le Figlie della maniera di ben con-
durli, quando si trovera in Venetia, nel che haveranno la carita li detti Signori Governa-
tori di rilasciar glordini propri, e piu risoluti alle Maestre di Choro accio sempre hab-
bino a tratenersi presenti quando Capitera il detto Reverendo Vivaldi per instruire le
glie, come tengono obligho con tutti li Maestri perche le Figlie stesse si mantengano
nella dovuta disciplina, e senza distrationi approttano delloccasione ben utile che loro
resta procurata (document of 2 July 1723 in Giazotto, Vivaldi, no. 68, p. 374). For an
analysis of the passage see 24748.
26
This number, from Talbot, Vivaldi, 167, is based on gures in the Venetian
archives (ASV Osp. Busta 700 and Reg. 1005).
27
Most prominently the violinist Anna Maria. Other performers named in the man-
uscripts include Chiara (or Chiaretta, another violinist, also named by De Brosses) and
Teresa (a cellist). For further details on the specic works performed by these women,
see below, note 34.
28
RV 286, 556, and 562 were written for the Solennit di San Lorenzo (the rst was
played by Anna Maria); RV 581 and 582 for the Assumption of the Virgin (also played by
Anna Maria). The three concertos composed for the visit of the Prince of Saxony are all
for unusual combinations of instruments. They include RV 540 (Concerto di Viola
dAmore, e Liuto col ripieno di moltissimi Strumenti), 552 (Concerto a Violini obbli-
gati con Eco), and 558 (Concerto con tutti li strumenti). Along with the Sinfonia RV
149, these three concertos are found in a manuscript now in Dresden (Landesbiblio-
thek). According to Selfridge-Field, Pallade veneta, 312, n. 1, the performances took place
at the Piet on 21. III. 1740, and she adds the interesting information that the same visit
also gave rise to Albrizzis guidebook Forestiere illuminato (cf. above, n. 10).
29
The difculties of determining which concertos were written for the Piet are
largely owing to problems of dating the manuscripts. The most comprehensive recent
attempt to deal with dating is Paul Everitt, Towards a Vivaldi Chronology, in Nuovi studi
vivaldiani. Edizione e cronologia critica delle opere, ed. Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli
the j ournal of musicology
4. Concerto
As a genre, it would seem that the concerto was
ideally suited to the musical needs of the Piet. Its essential structural
principle, that of alternation (or argument) between two contrasting
groups of instrumentseither a solo or small group against a larger
one, or even two equal groups in oppositionoffered the perfect occa-
sion for displaying the generally high level of ensemble playing as well
as the special talents of individual girls in solos. Indeed, visitors to the
Piet were equally impressed by both. De Brosses, whom we have al-
ready heard from, commented on the perfection of ensemble, the
tightness of execution. Only at the Piet, he adds, does one hear that
sharpness of attack so falsely vaunted at the Paris Opera. De Brosses
goes on to describe the playing of two particular violin soloists, Chia-
retta, surely the best violinist in all of Italy [le premier violon dItalie]
if Anna Maria [from the Ospedaletto] isnt even better. And, nally, he
notes the existence of a new kind of music, completely unknown in
France, which he describes as grand concertos where there is no prin-
cipal violin.
30
Although it would be too much to conclude that Vivaldi owed his
passion for the concerto solely to his employment at the Piet, there is
reason to think that his very rst composition for the Ospedaleand
18
(Florence: Olschki, 1988), 72957. Various writers have suggested that the material for
the Piet would have included the pieces in Vivaldis early publications as well as others in
manuscript that were composed before 1717 (when his name disappears from the Piet
documents) and after 1723 (when his name reappears). It is likely that concertos in
which cadenzas are absent or merely indicated in shorthand were played by the com-
poser, while those in which they were fully written out were probably destined for his
pupils (Fertonani, La musica strumentale, 388). One can also imagine that many of the
concertos for odd instruments would have been designed for the Piet, including at least
some of the bassoon concertos (a bassoon soloist is mentioned by De Brosses, Lettres
familires [letter 18 to M. de Blancey quoted above]); those for viola damore (dating
from around 1720, shortly after the instrument was rst played at the Piet); those for vi-
oloncello, likewise after 1720, when two cello teachers were hired at the Piet (Fertonani,
La musica strumentale, 405), mandolin, oboe, and trumpet, though probably not those for
hunting horn, an instrument that was not taught at the Piet until 1747. On the variety of
instruments at the Piet, see also Talbot, Sacred Music, 140.
30
De Brosses, Lettres familires, I, 144: Quelle raideur dexcution! Cest l seule-
ment quun entend ce premier coup darchet, si faussement vant lopra de Paris. La
Chiarretta seroit srement le premier violon dItalie, si lAnna Maria des Hospitalettes
[sic!] ne la surpassoit encore. Jai ete assez heureux pour entendre cette derniere. Qui est
si fantas[ti]que, qua peine joue-t-elle une fois en un an. [De Brosse may have associated
Anna Maria with the wrong Ospedale. Or else there were two famous violinists with the
same name!] Ils ont ici une espece de musique que nous ne connaissons point en
France. . . . Ce sont de grands concertos ou il ny a point de violino principale. . . . Vivaldi
composed 44 such works, concertos without soloists scored for four-part strings and con-
tinuo, which Talbot categorizes as symphonic concertos or concerti a quattro (Vivaldi,
12728).
rosand
one of his earliest workswas a concerto: A description of a novel in-
strumental composition (con tale novit didee) performed in con-
junction with a Vespers service in May 1704 strongly suggests as much.
31
But it was undoubtedly the requirements of his position that inspired
Vivaldi to explore the myriad possibilities inherent in the concerto,
possibilities of form as well as scoring. By far the greatest number are
for a single solo instrument (primarily violin) and orchestra; but he
wrote a number for two or more solo instruments as well as some, such
as those described by de Brosses, for two string orchestras, with or with-
out soloists. One can easily imagine the girls moving up gradually from
their positions as ensemble players to the rank of soloist as their facility
improved.
While it is difcult to generalize about Vivaldis concerto form, to
describe the typical Vivaldi concerto, certain standard features can be
identied.
32
Generally consisting of three movements, two in a fast
tempo enclosing a slower one, most concertos (not only Vivaldis) were
structured to display the soloist. First movements especially, but also -
nal movements, were cast in ritornello form, in which the full orches-
tra, or tutti, plays its initial material (or ritornello) several times during
the course of the movement, in alternation with a solo or small group
of instruments, which usually has its own musical material, more dif-
cult, more brilliant, more virtuosic. This was a form that was designed
to set the soloist in relief. It is no coincidence that contemporary oper-
atic arias also utilized ritornello form. Indeed, we might view the con-
certo in general, and the ritornello form in particular, as a kind of plat-
form or stage on which the soloist was featured as the star.
Not only the ritornello form, of course, but the solo material itself
was designed to show off the technical abilities of the soloist. Rapid pas-
sage work, double and triple stops, the exploitation of high positions,
close to the bridge: all of these features distinguished the soloist from
the group. The most famous violin soloist at the Piet was the afore-
mentioned Anna Maria. She was singled out in a number of travelers
19
31
Pallade veneta, entry for the week of 1724 May 1704: Domenica le glie del
choro della Piet fecero sentire nel loro vespero una sinfonia distromenti ordinata per
ognangolo della chiesa di tantarmonia e con tale novita didee che resero estatiche le
meraviglie, e fecero supponere che tali componimenti venghino dal cielo che dagluo-
mini. See Selfridge-Field, Pallade veneta, 8081 and 25152; also idem, Music at the
Piet before Vivaldi, Early Music XIV (1986), 37374. Selfridge-Field notes the coinci-
dence of the date with Vivaldis early tenure at the Piet and wonders whether the de-
scription does not refer to one of the hybrid performance arrangements implied by the
diverse number of soloists in his earliest set of concertos, Op. 3 (1711), which, she says,
were issued with what once seemed superuous part-books.
32
Talbot, Vivaldi, 1078 offers a nice discussion of the meaning of concerto in Vi-
valdis day, based on Mattheson.
the j ournal of musicology
reports. In 1726 she was termed especially famous by Nemeitz, a per-
former to whom few virtuosos, even of our own sex, can compare in
playing this difcult and delicate instrument. And he goes on to de-
scribe a particular performance arranged for him:
One of the singers of this hospital, whom I met shortly before my de-
parture from Venice, did me the favor of arranging a special perfor-
mance in the church, at the end of the usual music, of an extraordi-
narily beautiful concerto [grosso] with 20 violins plus organ, cello and
theorbo all with just girls, which was incomparably well performed,
and Anna Maria demonstrated in a remarkable way, especially in her
concertino violin part, that she can play with both a precise and deli-
cate st.
33
Though we dont know which piece Nemeitz heard on this occasion, we
can glean an impression of Anna Marias extraordinary skill as a violin-
ist from the concertos Vivaldi dedicated to her, as well as from those
found in a partbook she used that has survived among the Piet manu-
scripts. More remarkably still, we know from the composers dedication
to her of several concertos for viola damore that she was also a virtuoso
on that instrument;
34
and if we can believe the account in an anony-
mous poem of ca. 1730, she may have played other instruments as well:
20
33
Es hat eine von den Cantoren dieses Hospitals, mit welcher ich bekannt war,
kurz von meiner Abreise von Venedig, mir zu Gefallen in der Kirchen zu Ende ihrer ordi-
nairen Music ein extraordinair schn concert von 20. Violinen nebst Orgel, Violoncello
und Tiorben, lauter Mdgens, machen lassen, welches unvergleichlich wohl executirt
wurde, und hat die Anna Maria demahls sonderlich in der partie von der Violino Con-
certino gewiesen, dass sie so wohl mit einer fertigen als delicaten Faust spielen knne
(Nemeitz, Nachlese, 97. Italian text in Venezia Vivaldi, 64). The custom at the Piet of a
sung service being followed by the playing of a concerto is conrmed by an anonymous
German correspondent of Johann Mattheson in 1725: Wenn das Singen zu Ende ist,
wird a la piet allezeit ein vortrefiches Concert gespielt, welches immer so wohl ver-
dienet gohret zu werden, als eine ganze Oper. See Johann Mattheson, Critica musica, 2
vols. (Hamburg, 172226), ii, 288, quoted in Talbot, Sacred Music, 13738.
34
The partbook, with her name on the cover, probably dating from 172627, con-
tains 31 concerti, 24 of them by Vivaldi. Though they were not all specically dedicated
to her, she obviously played them. Indeed, she probably premiered them. Further on this
partbook, see Michael Talbot, A Vivaldi Discovery at the Conservatorio Benedetto Mar-
cello, Informazioni e studi vivaldiani III (1982), 312; Faun Stacy Tanenbaum, The Piet
Partbooks and More Vivaldi, Informazioni e studi vivaldiani VIII (1987), 811; idem, The
Piet PartbooksContinued, Informazioni e studi vivaldiani IX (1988), 512; and Ferto-
nani, La musica strumentale, 7678. The pieces specically dedicated to Anna Maria in-
clude, for violin: RV 762 and 286 (the autograph is entitled Concerto per la solennit di S.
Lorenzo): for viola damore: 393, 397. The partbook provides the unique source for sev-
eral others: 772, 775, 771, 773, 774 (774 and 775 are scored for violin and organ), and
it provides unique variants for four other concertos that are preserved elsewhere (270a,
267a, 213a, 179a). The most elaborate violin parts, which give a true sense of her extra-
ordinary virtuosity, are those in 285, 581 and 582. Anna Maria, whose name appears in
the Piet documents from 1712 on, became maestra del violino and maestra de coro
rosand
Anna Maria plays the violin in a manner that transports her listeners
to paradise. Only angels play like that. One would search the entire
Venetian domain, nay, the entire globe, in vain, to nd a hand capable
of wielding the bow or touching the ngerboard as she does. I do not
exaggerate, but tell the truth as a gentleman: What professor plays the
harpsichord or violin, cello, viola damore, lute, theorbo, or mandolin
as well as she?
35
The author then goes on to describe Anna Marias physical appearance
with equal enthusiasm, a preoccupation altogether typical of observers
of the phenomenon of the ospedalithough not all such observations
were as attering; indeed, the unattractive appearance of the girls was
usually deemed more worthy of comment.
36
21
in 1737. She died in 1782 at the age of 86. In addition to Nemeitz, she is mentioned by
Johann Gottfried Walther, in Musikalisches Lexicon oder musicalische Bibliothec (Leipzig:
Deer, 1732), 37. For a complete list of the pieces played by Anna Maria, see Jane Baldauf-
Berdes, Anna Maria della Piet: The Woman Musician of Venice Personied, in Cecilia
Reclaimed: Feminist Perspectives on Gender and Music, ed. Susan McClary, Susan C. Cook,
and Judith Tsou (Urbana: Univ. of Illinois, 1994), 13455, n. 16. The pieces destined for
other performers include RV 222, 790, 792, 794, for Chiara or Chiaretta, and RV 787
and 788 for Teresa.
35
Annamaria il violin suona in maniera/che chi lode imparadisa,/se pur la sul-
lalta sfera/suonan gli Angeli in tal guisa./Brava in lei del par la mano/e del manico e
dellarco/laltra egual si cerca invano/Nello stato di San Marco./Anzi in tutto lorbe
intero/non ha egual femmina o uomo/Non esagero, ed il vero/dico ben da galan-
tuomo/Come lei qual professore/suona cembalo o violino,/violoncel, viola damore,/
liuto, tiorba o mandolino?/Queste invero son virt/Da eternar chi le possiede/pure in
lei vi ancor di pi/e son qui per farne fede./Aureo cor senza dopiezza,/do, grato, ed
amoroso/bella assai, ma cui bellezza/non f lanimo orgoglioso./Biondo crin, guancie di
rose/sen di neve, occhi di foco/nobil tratto e spiritose/le maniere in serio, e in gioco./
Ma non pi perch potreste/del suo bel credermi amante/ed io ci forse sareste/non as-
sai del ver distante./Ci per sia per non detto/e torniam sul seminato/vien poi . . . vien
. . . sia maledetto . . ./chi vien mai. Son imbrogliato./Ah, si, si . . . Vien Bernardina etc.
(Sopra le putte della Piet di coro [I-Vmc, Cicogna Cod. 1178, cc. 206r212v], stanzas
4753). (It is worth noting that this poem devotes many more stanzas to Anna Maria than
to anyone else.) This version of the text was rst published in Francesco Degrada,
Uninedita testimonianza settecentesca sullOspedale della Piet (Turin: Edizioni del Convegno,
1965). It can also be found in Laini, Vita musicale, 10105. Another version, Sopra le
glie di coro dellospitale della Piet del 1730, was published in Bartolomeo Dotti, Satire
inedite, 2 vols. (Geneva, 1797), ii, 93106. Despite its published date, Fertonani, La mu-
sica strumentale, 77, gives the late 1730s for the date of this poem. A number of the glie,
it seems, played more than one instrument. Chiaretta, Anna Marias successor, played the
violin, viola damore, and organ; she also sang and conducted (see Talbot, Sacred Mu-
sic, 14142). Welcome new biographical information on the girls is available in Micky
White, Biographical Notes on the Figlie di Coro of the Piet Contemporary with Vi-
valdi, Informazioni e studi vivaldiani XXI (2000), 7596.
36
Rousseau, for instance, in the Confessions (ca. 1743): Sophie . . . she was
horrible. . . . Cattina . . . she was blind in one eye. Bettina . . . the smallpox had disgured
her. Scarcely one was without some considerable blemish. . . . Ugliness does not exclude
charms, and I found some in them. . . . My way of looking at them changed so much that
I left nearly in love with all these ugly girls (quoted in Marc Pincherle, Vivaldi [New York:
W. W. Norton, 1957], 20). For some later descriptions, see Laini, Vita musicale, 91101.
the j ournal of musicology
The same poem offers a compelling description of a typical audi-
ence at the Piet: There are those who applaud and make a racket,
those who faint, those who crane their necks and stare at the soloist,
those who bite their ngers and leave teeth marks on them; those who
shift their glasses on their noses and pay strict attention; those who ex-
plode in heretical curses if someone coughs for a second; those who
twist around to see better; those who clasp their hands to their breasts,
as if wounded; . . . and those who make a great noise after a cadenza by
spitting in appreciation.
37
Despite their display of virtuosity, there was one crucial difference
between the prime donne in the opera house and those at the Piet, a dif-
ference that visitors to the Ospedale did not fail to notice. At the Piet,
Anna Maria and her companions made their effect essentially through
the ear, for, as we have already noted, the balconies in which they per-
formed were screened by iron gratings that obscured them from the
view of their audience. This was a source of some amazementas well
as dismayon the part of numerous visitors, many of whom made a
point of mentioning the fact. As one of them reported (in 1730):
Every Sunday and holiday there is a performance of Musick in the
Chapels of these Hospitals, Vocal and Instrumental, performd by
the young Women of the Place; who are set in a gallery above, and
(though not professd) are hid from any distinct View of those below,
by a Lattice of Iron-work. . . . their Performance is surprisingly good;
and many excellent voices there are among them; and it is somewhat
still more amusing, in that their Persons are conceald from view.
38
And JeanJacques Rousseau, writing about his Venetian experience in
his Confessions (in 1743), was even more explicit: What grieved me
was those accursed grills, which allowed only tones to go through and
concealed the angels of loveliness of whom they were worthy. . . .
39
And nally, Samuel Sharp (in 1767):
22
37
Sopra le putte della Piet di coro, stanzas 6469: Vel dir: rido da pazzo/
quando in chiesa osservo attento/or chi applaude e fa schiamazzo/or chi cade in sveni-
mento./A misura che ora questa/delle glie canta, or quella/veggio luno alzar la testa/e
star sso sempre in ella./Vedi un tale che di corde/cinger suole i anchi e il dorso/che
dal gusto il dito morde/e vi lascia impresso il morso./Chi saccomoda gli occhiali/sopra
il naso e stassi attento,/chin bestemmie ereticali/d, se alcun tosse un momento./Chi si
torce e chi la mano/tiene al sen, che par ferito/chi ad alcun che gli lontano/fa a lodar
con gli occhi invito./Talor doppo una cadenza/fan sputando un gran rumore/e coi sputi
alleccellenza/lode dan delle cantori.
38
Edward Wright, Some Observations Made in Traveling through France, Italy . . . in the
Years 1720, 1721, and 1722 (London, 1730), i, 79.
39
Pincherle, Vivaldi, 20.
rosand
The founders of this charity had, as it appears, too exalted an opinion
of the power of musick; for, however beautiful the girls may be, they
trust only to their melody, being intercepted from the sight of the au-
dience, by a black gauze hung over the rails of the gallery in which
they perform; it is transparent enough to shew the gures of women,
but not in the least their features and complexion.
40
This was partly a matter of modesty, for although they were not
nuns, there were many rules prohibiting the girls from displaying them-
selves: rules of conduct and dress. For instance, they were forbidden to
leave the Ospedale without special dispensation.
41
Social contacts, even
with family members, were strictly limited. No visitors were allowed on
the premises without specic permission from the governors.
42
And the
girls were prohibited from wearing jewelry or bright colors.
43
But, of
course, such rules were made to be broken, and such prohibitions only
whetted the curiosity of visitors to the ospedali, stimulating a preoccu-
pation with the girls appearance.
With the performers barely visible, the music reached the audi-
ences ears as pure, disembodied sound; the bodies of the girls who
produced these marvelous sounds had to be imagined, but the act of
imagination was very much part of the theatrical effect. It is important
to emphasize that the impression made by Vivaldis concertos was al-
most exclusively auralreinforced, undoubtedly, by the power of sug-
gestion, by the very idea that girls were producing these marvelous
sounds. The composer exploited this situation wonderfully with his
concertos for multiple, unusual instruments, in which not only the
technical abilities of the girls, but the esoteric instruments of the Piet
23
40
Samuel Sharp, Letters from Italy, 2nd ed., 1767, 28; quoted in Denis Arnold, Or-
phans and Ladies, 4142.
41
Giazotto, Vivaldi, 348: 10 September 1713: permission given for una giornata di
solano fuori di Laguna, conoscendosi conveniente di dare qualche respiro alle gliole.
(Doc. 37.)
42
Giazotto, Vivaldi, 349: 30 April 1723: a nessuno sar concesso di introdursi
nelli Luochi ove abbitano le nostre glie per ascoltar musicaanche nel caso di so-
getti esterise prima non si saranno debitamente avvertiti i governatori sopra il Coro
(doc. 65). Such permission was granted for the Prince of Modena and his entourage in
1723 (doc. 66), for the Borghese princes (doc. 69), for dame e cavalieri from the Mi-
lanese house of Trivulzio (doc. 72), and for the Contessa Grimaldi of Genoa (doc. 86),
and the Elector of Saxony (doc. 108).
43
See Laini, Vita musicale, 114, for rules from the Derelitti dating from the mid-
seventeenth century concerning the girls dress and behavior, including their promise
not to sing in the opera house after they left the ospedale. Presumably similar rules were
in effect at the Piet. Of all the inmates, the girl musicians were the best cared-for. The
principal solo singers were given special treats such as extra food and garlic; when the
most talented were ill they received bonus rations of asses milk or extra rewood or were
sent to the country for a change of air.
the j ournal of musicology
were on display. The revelation in brief solo passages of one rare speci-
men after another from the Piets armory of instruments must have
surprised and delighted audiences.
Three such concerti (RV 540, 552, 558) were performed at a spe-
cial occasion already mentioned, the visit in 1740 of Friederich Chris-
tian, Elector of Saxony. One of them, RV558, features paired recorders,
chalumeaux, theorbos, mandolins, violins in tromba marina, and a
cello.
44
It is characteristic of these pieces that the contrast within the ri-
tornello movements is primarily one of timbre or sonority rather than
musical material. This suggests that even Vivaldis choice of musical ma-
terial for his concertos, in particular, his exploitation of color as an ele-
ment of form, may be linked to the invisibility of the performers for
whom they were written. Even the spatial dimension of the works (or-
dinat[i] per ognangolo della chiesa) was designed to create a theatri-
cal effect, to actively engage the ears of his audience.
45
If the genre of the concerto was not actually born in the setting of
the Piet, in Vivaldis hands it certainly underwent its most signicant
development there. In all their magnicent variety, the concertos he
designed for the girls, and their performance at the Piet, surely stimu-
lated the enormous demand from travelers to Venice for pieces of their
own.
46
Indeed, it may even be that the remarkable European success
of these works, which began in 1711 with the publication of Op. 3 in
Amsterdam, was inspired by what one modern writer has termed the
particular charms of the famed performance venue that was the Os-
pedale della Piet.
47
24
44
The tromba marina was a form of bowed monochord that produced a buzzing
sound on account of the vibrations of its bridge. Violins had to be altered, of course, in
order to imitate those sounds. See Selfridge-Field, Vivaldis Esoteric Instruments, 335
36; Michael Talbot, Vivaldi e lo chalumeau, Rivista italiana di musicologia XV (1980),
15381; a description of the unusual orchestration of these pieces is provided in LAdria
festosa. Notizie storiche . . . del soggiorno di S.A.R. ed Elettorale Federico Cristiano . . . Ove si spie-
gano tutte le Funzioni Pubbliche e Private fatte a divertimento di S.A.R. lAnno 1740. Come pure li
3 Componimenti in Musica delle Figlie dei 3 Pii Luoghi Piet, Mendicanti, e Incurabili (Venice:
Occhi, 1740), referred to in Laini, Vita musicale, 105, n. 9.
45
The expression comes from a description of one of Vivaldis rst works at the
Piet. Cf. above, n. 31.
46
Among such visitors were the aforementioned Uffenbach, who commissioned
concertos from the composer on 6 March 1715, receiving ten of them three days later
(Preussner, Die musikalischen Reisen, 71); and the German violinist Johann Georg Pisendel,
who studied with Vivaldi during 171617, to whom Vivaldi dedicated ve sonatas and six
concertos, and who brought some forty Vivaldi manuscripts back to Dresden, where they
have remained. A number of other musicians came to Venice not to buy concertos but to
study violin or composition with the maestro: Johann David Heinichen, Gottfried Hein-
rich Stolzel, and Daniel Gottlob Treu. See Fertonani, La musica strumentale, 5253.
47
Laurence Dreyfus, Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Cambridge: Harvard, 1996),
43. Dreyfus wonders more specically whether the rush of excitement about Vivaldi in
rosand
5. Scherzi di fantasia
How many concertos did Vivaldi actually write?
Tradition has handed down the number 600which can probably be
traced to a comment attributed to either Igor Stravinsky or Luigi Dal-
lapiccola, namely, that Vivaldi did not write 600 concertos but one con-
certo 600 times:
48
something of an exaggeration on all counts. The
number is certainly wrong, though not by muchthe most recent cata-
logue of his works lists some 472 concertos. But as anyone who has ever
tried to teach a class on the typical Vivaldi concerto discovers, sooner or
later, there is no such thing. Each one of his concertos is frustratingly,
surprisingly, intriguingly, exasperatingly different.
As we have seen, by virtue of their function at the Piet, at least,
Vivaldis concertos were designed to feature a spectacular variety of in-
struments and texturessingle soloists, multiple soloists, solo groups
and that variety is compounded by variety of formal structure. Although
most of the concertos open with a fast movement in ritornello form,
the shape of that form, in particular, the relationship between sound
bodies within it, is hardly standardized: the number and nature of alter-
nations, the length of individual sections, the extent of contrast be-
tween solo and tutti material, the degree of virtuosity in the solo part
all these things varied tremendously.
The same variety also extends to the expressive character of these
works. Although the conventional three-movement format, with its two
fast movements surrounding a slow one, proposes a rather standardized
affective structure, an alternation of extroverted, positive expression
with more pensive, introverted internalized emotions, some movements
do their expressive work more effectively than others. They signify
through a set of conventional associations: fast tempo, major key, bril-
liant guration are associated with joy, exultation, victory; slow tempo,
minor key, harmonic dissonance, long lyrical lines, with sadness, loss,
lament.
But Vivaldi occasionallyand famouslymoves beyond such vague
expressive categories to make his music more literally articulate, invok-
ing an extra-musical dimension through titles and/or associated texts.
49
25
northern Europe was not connected in some way to a scarcely concealed titillation pro-
ceeding from well-circulated rumors of a cloistered orchestra of girls making exciting mu-
sic (45).
48
Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky (New York:
Doubleday, 1959), 84. See Pincherle, Vivaldi, 68.
49
Cesare Fertonani, Antonio Vivaldi: La simbologia musicale nei concerti a programma
(Pordenone: Studio testi, 1993) is a thorough and fascinating study of these works. More
than half of the contents of Op. 8 (1725) bear such titles. This may suggest some particu-
lar interest on the part of the dedicatee, the Bohemian Count Wenceslas, of Morzin, or,
the j ournal of musicology
Some pieces reect generalized natural phenomena: La tempesta di
mare, the development and then receding of a storm at sea, or La notte,
the darkness of night. The expressive aim of several other titled concer-
tos is more general still: the portrayal of a specic mood or psychologi-
cal state, such as Il riposo or Il piacere, or a character, La pastorella, while
the titles of still others, such as La caccia or Il Gardellino, are keyed to
certain onomatopoetic qualities in the musicthe imitation of hunting
horns or bird sounds.
50
In addition to describing a general plot or
some specic subject matter, in all of these instances the titles serve to
justify or even stimulate particularly exaggerated treatment of the in-
strumental forces which without such justication might seem exces-
sive, even gratuitous.
51
Some of these works follow a literal narrative. Three of the ve
movements of La tempesta, for instance, bear descriptive rubricsFan-
tasmi, Il sonno, Sorge lAurorasuggesting the outlines of a plot. By far
the best example of narrative in his works is, of course, The Four Seasons,
his most famous compositional tour de force. In this four-concerto
cycle, the narrative is provided by four sonnets, which were published
along with the four concertos in Op. 8.
52
Beyond the individual lines of
the sonnets given at the appropriate points in the printed parts, capital
letters mark successive stages in the unfolding of the seasonal cycle.
Some of the letters correspond to single poetic lines, while others cor-
respond to two or more. A third kind of rubric is found sporadically in
the Seasons concertos. Often coinciding with the individual stages
marked by letters, these spell out the meaning of particular musical
passages more specically than the corresponding poetic lines. Most in-
famously, at the beginning of the second movement of Spring, a barking
26
more likely, of the publisher La Cne, of Amsterdam. For the dedicatory letter, see Paul
Everett, Vivaldi. The Four Seasons and Other Concertos, Op. 8 (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1991), 89. It is possible that many of the fty-odd concertos with extra-
musical implications were written for the Roman Cardinal Ottoboni, well-known for his
patronage of Corelli, Scarlatti, and Handel in the early years of the 18th century and, es-
pecially, for his leadership of the Arcadian Academy during this period. See Michael Tal-
bot, Vivaldi and Rome: Observations and Hypotheses, Journal of the Royal Musical
Association CXIII (1988), 2846.
50
What Fertonani calls the repertorio ornithologico, namely trills, repetitions of
single notes or small intervals, absence of accompaniment (Fertonani, La simbologia,
126).
51
In addition to Fertonani, La simbologia, passim, see Luca Zoppelli, Tempeste e
Stravaganze: fattori estetici e recettivi in margine alla datazione dei concerti a pro-
gramma, in Nuovi studi vivaldiani. Edizione e cronologia critica delle opere, ed. Alberto Fanna
and Giovanni Morelli (Florence: Olschki, 1988), 80110.
52
For speculation as to whether the sonnets were written before or after the concer-
tos, and by whom, see Everitt, The Four Seasons, 6770 and especially Fertonani, La sim-
bologia, 5763.
rosand
dog (Il cane che grida) is juxtaposed against the murmur of the
fronds and plants (Mormorio di frondi e piante), coinciding with the
letter F and lines 911 of the sonnet.
With three different ways of marking, Vivaldi makes sure that the
details of his musical narrative will be clear. But to whom? To those
who could see the score: the dedicatee of the volume in which these
works were published, and perhaps the performersthough the spe-
cic rubrics and poetic lines were not included in the original manu-
script parts for these concertos. Even if the audience had been pro-
vided with the texts of the sonnets, it would have been difcult for
them to follow the precise evolution of Vivaldis plot. The most he
could hope for from his listeners would be a general attentiveness to
the overall drama of the kind portrayed in his other programmatic
works. Though the Seasons represents a unique monument in Vivaldis
oeuvre, it is worth considering the vocabulary of meaningful gestures
developed in its four concertos as a key to interpreting other works as
well, even those lacking titles.
With all of the formal and expressive variety displayed in these
works, it is difcult to agree with the claim, however ironically in-
tended, that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 600 times. And yet, that
quip does contain a grain of truth. It acknowledges something impor-
tantand distinctiveabout Vivaldi as an artist: his facility, a facility
that is nothing short of astonishing.
His contemporaries marveled at his rapidity of execution, one of
them noting that he could compose a concerto in all its parts more
quickly than a copyist could write them out.
53
And he is reported to
have fullled private commissions for multiple concertos in record
time, sometimes within a matter of hours.
54
This velocity is conrmed
by his autograph manuscripts, which indicate that he wrote his concer-
tos straight through to the end, sometimes in a single sitting. Even the
remarkable variety in his treatment of ritornellos subsequent to the rst
has been ascribed to his compositional frenzy, his disinclination to look
back at what hed already written, preferring to rely on memory and
continuous inspiration. And the solo episodes, too, give the impression
of being devised on the spot, emerging almost instantaneously from a
pool of boundless creative energy.
55
Such inventive virtuosity belonged
27
53
De Brosses, Lettres, I, 143: cest un vecchio, qui a une furie de composition
prodigieuse. Je lai oui se faire fort de composer un concerto, avec toutes ses parties, plus
promptement quun copiste ne le pourroit copier.
54
Ten in three days, according to Uffenbach (see above, n. 46).
55
See Peter Ryom, Les Manuscrits de Vivaldi (Copenhagen: Antonio Vivaldi Archives,
1977), 2728; also Marc Pincherle, Antonio Vivaldi e la musique instrumentale, 2 vols. (Paris:
Floury, 1948), 34 and Walter Kolneder, Antonio Vivaldi: His Life and Work, trans. Bill Hop-
kins (London: Faber and Faber, 1970), 7985.
the j ournal of musicology
to the category of maraviglia dellarte, an expression much used in
the realm of Baroque aesthetics in reference not only to the wonders of
the work of art but to the spectacle of the creative act itself.
Vivaldis concertos are permeated by a sense of improvisation, a
sense of being elaborations on an implicit model. We might regard
them as repeated variations on a theme, inventions on the basic struc-
ture of the concerto form, even as that basic structure itself was being
developed. Fundamentally the samethey are all concertos, in some
sense playing with ideas of opposition, of contrast and conciliationyet
marvelously different, Vivaldis concertos are a product of his feconda
fantasia, his fruitful fantasyto borrow from the connoisseur and
courtier Francesco Algarottis appreciation of another great eighteenth-
century Venetian artist, Vivaldis slightly younger contemporary, Giam-
battista Tiepolo.
56
Such a view of Vivaldis approach to the concerto, as a demonstra-
tion of art, is encouraged not only by the nature of the pieces them-
selves but, more explicitly, by the titles afxed to several of his concerto
publications: Lestro armonico (Op. 3), La stravaganza (Op. 4), Il cimento
dellarmonia e dellinvenzione (Op. 8), La Cetra (Op. 9). Intended to en-
hance the appeal to a music-buying public, these titles were also de-
scriptive of Vivaldis intention as an artist. In each of them the element
of invenzione is signaled, underlined. Estro is another term for capric-
cio, stravaganza a synonym of fantastic or unusually imaginative;
cetra, the cithera or lyre, Apollos instrument, is an evocative me-
tonymy for poetic inspiration. Individually, each of these collections
of twelve concertos, assembled for publication by the composer, proba-
bly of various dates, represents a conspectus of Vivaldis concerto style,
a series of variations on a basic musical topic. Collectively a presenta-
tion of artistic self, they are a public afrmation of aesthetic principle.
Invenzione, capriccio, fantasia: these were synonyms that emphasized
the fertility of the imagination. Traditionally, the instrumental fantasia
was understood as a composition whose form and invention spring
solely from the imagination and skill of the composer. Fare di fantasia
or di capriccio meant to demonstrate ones particular powers of inven-
tion by deliberately going beyond the rules of art. Vivaldis concerto
publications participate in a long history of musical publication of
28
56
Opere del Conte Algarotti . . . , 9 vols. (Livorno, 176465), 8: 37980. Letter from
Algarotti to Count Heinrich von Brhl (1743): gli ornamenti e le espressioni nasce-
ranno agevolmente dalla feconda fantasia, quoted in Adriano Mariuz, Giambattista
Tiepolo: Paintings True Magician, in Giambattista Tiepolo (16961770), ed. Keith Chris-
tiansen (NY: Abrams, 1997), 8, n. 25.
rosand
variations on a basic theme, publications that often bore titles such as
Diversi capricci.
57
These titles turn up in the visual arts as well, particularly in connec-
tion with series of prints by some of the most important draughtsmen
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Callot, della Bella, Piranesi,
Tiepolo. Most relevantly for our discussion are two series of prints by
Tiepolo that were eventually published as Vari capricci and Scherzi di
fantasia. Like Vivaldis concertos, Tiepolos etchings are demonstrations
of his inventive art, variations on themes only implicit in their formal
structures and suggestive charactersarchaeological fragments, tur-
baned magi, and nocturnal creatures. Also like Vivaldis concertos, they
are highly evocative, images that, exploiting the conventions of their art
and inecting traditional associations, suggest meaning and invite in-
terpretation.
58
Vivaldis demonstration of art is, in a sense, a
demonstration of the skill of his hand. His own legendary perfor-
mances on the violin, in the opera house, found their ultimate realiza-
tion in the works he wrote for the girls of the Piet. The steady demand
for new works thereworks that could utilize and spotlight both solo
and ensemble playing of the girlsinspired him to exercise his powers
of invention, to explore the generic potential of the concerto. Al-
though not all of his concertos were specically written for them, the
image of the girls remained indelibly attached to Vivaldis creations, as
a crucial ingredient of their broader appeal. The title-page of a manu-
script now in Dresden, which preserves the concertos composed for the
visit of the Prince of Saxony to Venice in 1740, emphasizes the connec-
tion of the works to the girls of the Piet over the name of the com-
poser: Concerti con molti Istromenti Suonati dalle Figlie del Pio Ospitale della
29
57
A number of such publications date from the early 17th century. Capricci in
this context referred not to any particular formal genre per se but to the freedom of mu-
sical treatment, the willful departure from rules of counterpoint, perhaps for the purpose
of conveying a particular mood. The Diversi capricci of Ascanio Mayonne (1603, 1609) are
characterized by their deliberate departure from the rules of counterpoint. In Giovanni
Maria Trabacis Ricercate, & altre varij Capricci (1615), readers are urged to pay attention
to the spirit of the music. The term was often applied in violin music and became associ-
ated with music of a virtuoso character. For an overview, see Erich Schwandt, Capriccio,
The New Grove (London: Macmillan, 1980), III, 75859.
58
For these series, see H. Diane Russell, Rare Etchings by Giovanni Battista and
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1972). See also Keith
Christiansen, The Fiery Poetic Fantasy of Giambattista Tiepolo, in Giambattista Tiepolo,
27591, and idem, Tiepolo, Theater, and the Notion of Theatricality, Art Bulletin
LXXXI (1999), 66592.
the j ournal of musicology
Pieta avanti Sua Altezza Reale Il Serenissimo Federico Cristiano Principe Reale
di Polonia et Elettorale di Sassonia, Musica di D. Antonio Vivaldi Maestro de
Concerti dellOspitale Sudetto. In Venezia nellanno 1740. Indeed, the girls
invisibly performing their miracles on the stage of the Piet were the
mask projecting Vivaldis creative persona; they effectively established
his image as the creator of independent instrumental music on the
larger stage of Europe.
Yale University
30