Collection
A. Vivaldi
Six Flute Concertos
Volume 1
Op. 10, No. 1, 3 & 5
for Flute and Strings
Antonio Vivaldi, violinist and composer, was born on March 4,
1678, in Venice, Italy and died on July 28,1741 in Vienna, Austria. He
was nicknamed “the red priest” because of his red hair and the fact that
he had been ordained as a priest at St. Mark’s Chapel in Venice in
1703. Because of poor health, he was excused from active service as a
priest in 1704.
Of the composers of the Baroque Period
(1600-1750) in music, Vivaldi is most remembered for his concertos ‑ he
wrote over 500! Most of his concertos were for the violin (The Four Seasons
are but 4 of more than 230) but he also wrote concertos for other
instruments, such as: viola (6), cello (27), mandolin (2), trumpet,
oboe (17), bassoon (37) and, of course, the flute (16 - including 3 for
Piccolo and 2 for Recorder).
Although for almost 200 years after
his death, Vivaldi’s music fell into virtual obscurity, his influence
on the solo concerto was widespread. His use of three movements (fast,
slow, fast) and ritornello form (a refrain, alternating with solo
episodes) was copied and developed by his successors.
Vivaldi only assigned opus numbers
to his published works. In 1733, after Opus 12, he stated that he
wasn’t going to publish any further because it interfered with the sale
of his manuscripts (from which he received more money). The Il Pastor Fido,
Op. 13 (“The Faithful Shepherd”) Flute Sonatas are considered
spurious, constructed from parts of works by Vivaldi, in addition to
Joseph Meck (1690-1758) and Giuseppe M. Alberti (1685-1751). The
Alberti Bass pattern, used by Vivaldi and other Baroque and Classical
composers is named for Domenico Alberti (1710-1740, no relation to
Giuseppe), who was the first composer to employ it.
OPUS 10 CONCERTOS
Despite the fact that there are only 12 opus numbers, Vivaldi published more that 100 works, in that each “opus” contains multiple works, usually 12. Opus 10 is a collection of 6 Flute Concertos published in 1729-30 in Amsterdam ‑ the first flute concertos ever published. Four of the Opus 10 concertos were also given descriptive titles and/or nicknames.
In addition to Vivaldi’s assigned Opus numbers, there are 3 common methods of identifying his music:
FANNA Numbers
In conjunction with the Italian music publisher Ricordi’s publishing of a complete edition of Vivaldi’s music in 1947, Antonio Fanna organized the works into 16 volumes by instrumentation - the 6th volume (Fanna VI) contains 16 Flute Concertos - including 2 for Recorder and 3 for Piccolo (Flautino). A 17th Concerto (Fanna VI, No. 17) is now considered “doubtful”.
PINCHERLE Numbers
French musicologist Marc Pincherle (1888-1974) published an extensive biography of Vivaldi the following year (1948, Vivaldi: Genius of the Baroque), and a numbered list of works.
RYOM Numbers (RV)
A more complete list was published in 1974 by Peter Ryom: Verzeichnis der Werke Antonio Vivaldis (A Catalogue of the Works of Antonio Vivaldi) which assigns each piece an “RV” (for “Ryom Verzeichnis”) number.
Op. 10, No. 1 (F. VI, No. 12; RV 433) Concerto in F Major
La Tempesta Di Mare (Storm At Sea)
Op. 10, No. 2 (F. VI, No. 13; RV 439) Concerto in G Minor
La Notte (The Night)
Op. 10, No. 3 (F. VI, No. 14; RV 428) Concerto in D Major
Il Cardellino (The Goldfinch)
Op. 10, No. 4 (F. VI, No. 15; RV 435) Concerto in G Major
Op. 10, No. 5 (F. VI, No. 1; RV 434) Concerto in F Major
Con Sordino (With Mute)
Op. 10, No. 6 (F. VI, No. 16; RV 437) Concerto in G Major
With the possible exception of No. 4, all of the Concertos of Opus 10 are based on earlier versions of concertos; all are for flute and strings. Although harpsichord would have undoubtedly been included in performance (realizing the figured bass part), its use has been kept to a minimum - only when necessary to help maintain harmony or rhythm. Unlike modern concertos, the flute usually plays in the tutti sections; to distinguish, cues (of tutti) are printed as smaller notes.
Op. 10, No. 1 - Concerto in F Major - La Tempesta Di Mare ("Storm At Sea”)
originally existed in two other versions: RV 98, a Chamber Concerto (a
concerto for a small group of solos instruments without orchestra) for
flute, oboe & bassoon; and RV 570, a fuller version for flute,
oboe & bassoon, with strings. The name La Tempesta Di Mare (“Storm
At Sea”) seems to have been popular with Vivaldi, in that he also used
that name for one of the Opus 8 Concertos, the collection of 12 Violin
Concertos which includes The Four Seasons. As for the programatic
aspect of the music, the “storm” is presumably represented by the
opening ritornello of the 1st movement, with the 2nd movement
representing a momentary calm before the return of the activity in the
3rd movement.
Several changes have been made in this arrangement: short introductions
were added to each movement (1st movement -1 bar; 2nd movement -1 bar;
and 3rd movement - 2 bars); and the 3rd movement has been changed
from the meter of 3/8 to the meter of 3/4, and all of the note values
have been doubled. To ease practicing with the “complete” version of
the MIDI accompaniment of the concerto, measure numbers run throughout
the concerto from 1 to 245 (the 2nd movement starts at measure 77 and
the 3rd movement starts at measure 101).
Op. 10, No. 3 - Concerto in D Major - Il Cardellino (“The Goldfinch”) (F. VI, No.
14; RV 428) originally existed as RV 90, a Chamber Concerto (a
concerto for a small group of solos instruments without orchestra) for
flute (or violin), oboe (or violin), violin & bassoon (or cello).
This is the most popular of the 6 concertos of Opus 10; Vivaldi used
the opening figure of the solo flute in the 1st movement (1-7) again in
Op. 10, No. 6 (in Volume 2) in the 1st movement (37-40).
Op. 10, No. 5 - Concerto in F Major - Con Sordino (“With Mute”) (F. VI, No. 1;
RV 434) originally existed as RV 442, a Recorder Concerto. The nickname
“con sordino” comes from the fact that all of the strings parts are
marked “con sordino” (“with mute”) in all three movements - probably
because it was originally a concerto for the recorder, a much quieter
instrument than the flute. For the Opus 10 version, Vivaldi wrote
instructions on the manuscript for the publisher to transpose the 2nd
movement up a tone from F Minor (the tonic minor) to G Minor (which
Vivaldi usually indicated with one flat) to make it more suitable for
the flute. These instructions are often ignored by both publishers and
performers. For comparison, look at the version of this concerto
contained in Classical Collection Inc.’s INTERMEDIATE LEVEL FLUTE -
VOLUME 1; it does not use harpsichord and the second movement is in F
Minor.
In this arrangement, a short introduction has been added to the 1st movement (3 1/2 beats) and 3rd movement (1 3/4 bars).
Book - 48 pages - 9” X 12” - $19.95
CD - 18 Audio tracks & 12 MIDI Files
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