VIVALDI EDITION Liner notes, sung texts (p.24), full tracklist (p.56) LINER NOTES: CD1+2 reached the city’s political and artistic circles, such that he was welcomed Trio Sonatas Op.1 with all the honours and tributes due to a sovereign. The collection of 12 The period in which Vivaldi was perfecting his virtuoso violin technique Violin Sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi was one of the many homages he coincided with the years in which he wrote his first instrumental received. As early as 1708 the Venetian publisher Bortoli mentioned the compositions. In those days the first work to be printed often represented recent publication of the Sonata series in one of his catalogues, and it not only proof of maturity and membership of the circle of composers, but would thus seem logical that the works had been available to the public also the most corrected and perfected of a lifetime’s publications. Indeed, since the last months of 1708, even though the frontispiece declares the the first printed edition was often postponed until the composer felt he date to have been 1709. However, if the volume had in fact already seen had reached the desired quality standard. the light of day, then it would certainly not have borne the dedication to The fact that Vivaldi chose to remain within the confines of a glorious the Danish monarch. It is therefore more likely that the sonatas were tradition implied the further challenge of dealing with the most almost ready when the catalogue was released, and that news of the King’s widespread genre of the period: the trio sonata. The yardstick for all arrival in the city brought about a change in the design of the title page of composers was clearly Corelli’s output, which comprised four the volume in which they were published to include the dedication to ‘monumental’ collections of perfectly structured sonatas. Other composers Frederik IV. Vivaldi probably hoped that this homage to a European from the Venice area had also opted to address the same model in their sovereign might have favourable effects on the fortune of his first works, including Antonio Caldara, Giorgio Gentili and Tommaso compositions, having dedicated the earlier Opera Prima, or Volume One, to Albinoni. a considerably less prominent nobleman from Brescia. Deciding whom to publish with was also a question of great importance for Although Vivaldi’s first volume had been printed by Sala, for his second young composers such as Vivaldi. In Venice there were two main music collection he opted to use the typography of Antonio Bortoli. Since both publishers, Giuseppe Sala and Antonio Bortoli, plus a number of less printers still used the obsolete technique of movable type, and neither did prominent printers. Giuseppe Sala, who was probably Venetian by birth, much to distribute or promote the works, the reason for this choice was active between 1676 and 1715, whereas Antonio Bortoli came into the probably lies in the fact that at the time Sala’s activity was slowing down, picture in 1705 and was active there until 1764. From the outset and whereas Bortoli was on the crest of the wave when it came to music throughout his career, Vivaldi was fortunate in his relationship with his publishing in Venice. Clearly the youthful Vivaldi was ambitious enough to publishers, despite the fact that the accompanying complexity often put recognise this state of affairs. That said, Vivaldi later abandoned Bortoli as his patience to the test. He initially turned to the well-established Sala, well: only a few years later, in 1710, the composer established a contact entrusting him with the publication of his Op.1, but then went over to the with Etienne Roger in Amsterdam, the foremost music publisher in Europe. keen and industrious Bortoli. In next to no time, however, he realised that Roger’s editions were printed with incommensurable clarity, and the promotion and performance of his own works would be greatly thereafter promoted by means of an impressive commercial distribution facilitated by a printing system that no longer relied on movable type. This network that spread throughout Europe. Thus one year after the led him to go over to Estienne Roger, an enterprising and ambitious Dutch international acclaim that came in the wake of the Estro Armonico, publisher. Vivaldi’s relationship with Roger, and following the latter’s death published in Amsterdam in 1711, Vivaldi managed to persuade Roger to with his daughter Jeanne and her husband Michael-Charles Le Cène, who reprint the 12 Violin Sonatas, this time without the dedication to the ultimately took over the activity, had its own ups and downs. There were Danish sovereign, but embellished with the title Opera Seconda. The moments of great success and fortune ( L’Estro Armonico Op.3 and La outcome was a notable increase in their fame and popularity. Roger Stravaganza Op.4), followed by periods of misunderstanding, of editions reprinted the works several times through to 1716, after which they were that probably lacked the composer’s approval, and spurious concertos that taken up by Walsh, with editions appearing in 1721 and again in 1730. were claimed to be original Vivaldi compositions. Although the next three Unfortunately the original manuscripts of these works have not survived, works belong to this stage in the proceedings, a more collaborative, although we do have various copies (secondary sources) that are now kept felicitous period was to follow, especially with the publication of Il Cimento in Genoa, Berlin and Uppsala. Federico Maria Sardelli, editor of the Critical dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione Op.8 and La Cetra Op.9. It is not easy to Editions of the composer’s works for the Istituto Vivaldi, has rightly pointed contextualise the last three works, however: though printed editions had out that the greater legibility of the Roger edition does not mean that it originally helped Vivaldi achieve fame and international acclaim, the outdoes the Venetian edition in terms of accuracy or fidelity to the original composer evidently found publishing to be relatively unprofitable and of manuscript. Vivaldi probably sent the Bertoli edition to Amsterdam diminishing interest. without any additional notes or corrections. Moreover, in the Roger The frontispiece of the opera prima Trio Sonatas bears the following edition the numbered musical notation of the harpsichord part, which was heading: ‘ Suonate da camera a tre, due Violini e Violone o Cimbalo, not a feature of the Venetian edition, is certainly not by Vivaldi himself. Consacrate all’illustrissimo et Eccellentissimo Signor Conte Annibale Careful perusal of the Dutch score reveals too many errors, incongruences Gambara Nobile Veneto da D. Antonio Vivaldi, Musico di Violino, Professore and misunderstandings of the musical idiom. In Sardelli’s view, Vivaldi’s Veneto… ’, which translates as ‘Chamber Sonatas for two violins and decision not to include numbered musical notation in the Venetian edition violone or harpsichord in three parts, dedicated to the most illustrious and could relate to the duet-style structure and the wealth of counterpoint of excellent Count Annibale Gambara, Venetian nobleman, by Don Antonio the compositions. Likewise the trills, the ties and the alterations also Vivaldi, Violinist and Teacher in Venice…’. It is almost certain that Op.1 in suggest that the 1709 Bortoli edition was the model for the Roger edition. the extant 1705 edition was not the first version of the work, but rather a The Bortoli catalogue of 1708 mentions sonatas ‘for Violin and Cello’, reprint based on an earlier edition published between March and whereas the frontispiece of the 1709 edition and the new Roger edition September 1703, in a period that preceded Vivaldi’s appointment at the talk about ‘Violin and Harpsichord’. These discrepancies have always been Pietà. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the composer’s position a moot point for musicology. They could reflect the composer’s intention, as Master at the Ospedale della Pietà was not mentioned on the title page or they may simply be editorial conventions. The essentially duet-like of the work. Moreover, for first editions Sala usually added the coat of structure of certain pieces, together with the harmonic independence and arms of the person to whom the work was dedicated, which was not the the wealth of counterpoint, could also suggest performance by just two case for this edition. instrumentalists. For their part, L’Arte dell’Arco have decided to exploit the © Federico Guglielmo various possible combinations of the harpsichord continuo, including its Translation: Kate Singleton exclusion, in order to bring to the fore various approaches to overall timbre, in relation to the type of expressiveness of each sonata. These CD3+4 sonatas have always been considered largely true to the Corelli tradition, Violin Sonatas Op.2 and with reason, but only to a certain extent. What is more evident is The King of Denmark Frederik IV arrived in Venice in incognito on 29 Vivaldi’s familiarity with the earlier Venice-Brescia violin tradition (Taglietti, December 1708, and stayed in the city until 6 March of the following year, Gentili, Albinoni, Dall’Abaco, Alessandro Marcello). His Opera Seconda devoting much of his time to festivities, concerts, theatrical events and nevertheless stands out in its own right as a milestone, a moment of gaming. Despite his intended anonymity, however, news of his visit soon synthesis of everything that had gone before – not least from the formal 94840 Vivaldi Edition 1 point of view, since Vivaldi adopted and amended the three-movement modulation on a wide range of fifths, going beyond the range of model established by Bonporti in his Opera VII of 1707. His use of neighbouring keys that were used by other composers of the period to astounding technique and brilliant tempi in many of these sonatas was to involve, for example, first the flat notes and then the sharps.