User:8q67n4tqr5/Gloria (Antonio Vivaldi)(draft)

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Published at Gloria (Vivaldi)

Antonio Vivaldi's setting of the Gloria (RV 589) is the most well identifiable piece of sacred music by Vivaldi; in actuality however, he was known to have written at least three settings — two of which survive.

"Introduzioni"

Vivaldi wrote many an introduzione (introductory motets) that are performed before the Gloria itself. Four introduzioni exist for these Glorias.

Jubilate, o amoeni cori, RV 639

Jubilate is the only introduzione to come before RV 588, in the form of Aria-Recitative-Aria. It speaks of choirs joying over the celebration of Christ. Interestingly enough, the last movement of this motet is interwoven with the first movement of the preceeding piece (RV 588). Vivaldi cunningly combines both texts into one, the soloist from the introduzione singing the text from the motet.

Longe Mala, Umbrae, Terrores, RV 640

Longe Mala is the second of two introduzioni for RV 589, and is related to a motet based on similar text, RV 623, composed several years later in Vivaldi's visit to Rome. Unusually, the form for this motet is Aria-Recitative. The motet speaks of the terrors of the world and asks for the Lord to appear with his glory.

Ostro Picta, RV 642

Ostro Picta is one of two introduzioni for RV 589. As usual in introduzioni, the motet is split into the format of Aria-Recitative-Aria. In a form of a pun, the motet speaks of the fast-leaving glory of the world while the Virgin Mary's glory is everlasting.

Cur Sagittas, RV 637

Cur Sagittas is another introduzione, but interestingly enough the piece that would immediately proceed this motet is lost. Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot, however, has conjectured that Cur Sagittas could be an introduzione to either the extant Kyrie, RV 587, or a lost setting of the Gloria (RV 590, perhaps). ^[1]

Glorias

RV 588

The lesser known of the two surviving Glorias, RV 588 was composed most likely during Vivaldi's employment at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà, known for their advanced choral ensemble. In an interesting fasion, the first movement of this Gloria is interwoven with the last aria of RV 639, as explained above. This Gloria is almost similar to that of the late Middle Baroque period (similar to the Credidi Propter Quod, RV 605, now known as RV Anh. 35b), and shares very few Vivaldian motifs that would otherwise be present. The date of composition between this Gloria and RV 589 is still disputed, but both show compositional inspiration from each other.

RV 588 borrows extensively from a two-cori (double orchestra) setting of the same text by Giovanni Maria Ruggieri (which will be called by its RV cataloguing number of RV. Anh. 23). Many movements show inspiration from this composition, and two movements ("Qui Tollis" and "Cum Sancto Spiritu") are plagiarised from the original Ruggieri setting (although "Qui Tollis" completely omits the second cori, and "Cum Sancto Spiritu" is slightly modified). The first movement of RV 588 is also an extended version of RV Anh. 23, sans the second cori employed in RV Anh. 23, and also with some added and removed measures of chord progressions. The second movements of both RV 588 and RV 589 ("Et in Terra Pax") both show chromatic patterns and key modulations similar to that of the second movement of RV Anh. 23.

RV 589

This is the most known setting of the Gloria, simply known as "the Vivaldi Gloria" due to its outstanding popularity. Composed also at the same time during Vivaldi's employment at the Pieta, this Gloria employs a more Late Baroque style, which was the obvious common practise at the time. Two introduzioni exist as explained above.

RV 589 is a much more original composition, however evidence of obvious inspiration (and plagiarism) still exist. The first movement's chorus shares similar key modulations to that of the first movement of RV 588, only modified to fit a 4/4 meter instead of the 3/4 meter of RV 588; the orchestral motifs are also shared, including the octaval jumps. The second movement is much more dramatic in RV 589 (with even a progression into D minor while in the key of B minor!), but nevertheless inspiration is still shown with RV Anh. 23. The "Qui Tollis" movement of RV 589 is rhythmically similar to the first few measures of RV 588 (and ultimately RV Anh. 23). The last movement, "Cum Sancto Spiritu," is essentially an "upgraded" version of Ruggieri's original movement — that is to say, updated to fit the standards of the emerging classical style, with the addition of accidentals that were missing in RV Anh. 23 and RV 588.

RV 590

Almost no information exists on this lost setting other than a possible introduzione, RV 637. Even so, there is no other source of information for this Gloria; not even its possible key could have been conjectured. In the Ryom Verzeichnis catalogue, it is considered "lost" — however, a chance of this being discovered may be possible; this has been the case with Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus, RV 807, which was formerly attributed to Baldassare Galuppi, who had passed off this work and other Vivaldian pieces (Nisi Dominus, RV 803, Beatus Vir, RV 795, and Confetibor Tibi, Domine, RV 789, which is unfortunately incompletley preserved), which was an unknown setting.

RV Anh. 23

As stated above, this Gloria was written by Giovanni Maria Ruggieri. This composition, probably for a Venetian church during a festival, is dated September 9, 1708 O.S. This Gloria hold much inspiration for (RV 588 and RV 589), including for other Glorias at the time: the last movement was commonly used in other settings of the Gloria, which spread even as far to Johann Sebastian Bach, whose composed movement "Gratias Agimus Tibi" from his Mass in B Minor is similar to the "Domine Deus, Agnus Dei" movement from RV Anh. 23.

Popularity

Since its and Stabat Mater's (RV 621) showing to the public by Alfredo Casella during "Vivaldi Week" in Sienna (1939), RV 589 enjoys well-founded popularity, performed at many sacred events, including Christmas. It has been recorded on almost hundreds of CDs, sometimes paired with Bach's Magnificat, Vivaldi's own Magnificat, or Vivaldi's Beatus Vir, RV 597. RV 588, however, has had little success and has only been published in few albums. Attempts to create more attention to RV 588 and other sacred Vivaldi works (most notably by The King's Consort) have gone underway.

As with many other pieces of the Baroque era, RV 589 (and its lesser known companion RV 588) have been performed in historically-performaned instrumentation, even with the use of an all-female choir to simulate choral conditions at the Pietà.

References