Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741) is best known to
modern audiences for his instrumental music. Like most
composers of his time, Vivaldi composed in the formal
medium of the sonata in his earliest publications (from
1703). His reputation was propelled by his concertos,
the earliest of which appeared in 1711. This is still
the genre with which he is most widely associated.
Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest
Between Harmony and Invention) is a set of twelve
concertos ...(+)
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741) is best known to
modern audiences for his instrumental music. Like most
composers of his time, Vivaldi composed in the formal
medium of the sonata in his earliest publications (from
1703). His reputation was propelled by his concertos,
the earliest of which appeared in 1711. This is still
the genre with which he is most widely associated.
Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest
Between Harmony and Invention) is a set of twelve
concertos written by Antonio Vivaldi between 1723 and
1725 and published in 1725 as Op. 8. All are for violin
solo, strings, and basso continuo. The first four
concertos are usually known as The Four Seasons (Le
quattro stagioni).
Vivaldi's most famous opus was published in Amsterdam
by Michel Charles Le Cène in 1725. It is clear,
though, that various portions of sundry works had been
written earlier. What was perhaps new was the
formalization of the scheme, complete with the texts of
the sonnets with which they were coordinated, of the
first four concertos--The Four Seasons. These works,
and their cyclical organization, captured the
imagination of many and led to a "Four Seasons"
industry of arrangements performances that extends to
the current day.
Unlike other opuses that postdated Vivaldi's move to
Mantua, this one resumed the practice of dedicating the
collection to a nobleman, in this case Venceslas, count
of Morzin (also Morcin, spelled Marzin in the print
itself). (Two concertos known only in manuscript, RV
449 and 496, were also dedicated to the count. He was
Bohemian with townhouses in Prague and Vienna. He was
an occasional patron of Venetian opera. Prague, the
capital of Bohemia, was a thriving city was rapidly
developing enterprises focused on opera and on the
development of string music. One can see how poetic
justice prevailed in this dedication: Bohemians not
only loved music but were happy to master its component
parts.
This opus was more popular in France than anywhere
else. Parisian reprints issued from the presses of
Madame Boivin (c. 1739, 1743, 1748). Manuscripts were
widely circulated. Rearrangements of portions of the
opus were opus also proliferated. In Dresden, the
orchestration of some works was enriched by Johann
Pisendel, who also elaborated some of the
articulation.
In the works as a set, major keys predominate. Nos. 7,
9, AND 11 are known in alternative versions. The final
of movement of Op. 8, No. 11 presents a particularly
complex web of revisions to the alternation of tutti
and solo.
Although this, the Concerto No. 8 in G Minor, "Per
Pisendel" (RV 332) was originally scored for Violin and
Strings (2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Bass & Continuo), I
created this arrangement for String Quartet (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC