![Etienne_Roger_L'estro_armonico_!st_edition](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Etienne_Roger_L%27estro_armonico_%21st_edition.jpg)
''L'estro armonico'' (''The Harmonic Inspiration''),
Op. 3, is a set of 12
concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
s for
stringed instrument
String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...
s by Italian composer
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
, first published in Amsterdam in 1711. Vivaldi's
Twelve Trio Sonatas, Op. 1, and
Twelve Violin Sonatas, Op. 2, only contained sonatas, thus ''L'estro armonico'' was his first collection of concertos appearing in print. It was also the first time he chose a foreign publisher,
Estienne Roger
Estienne Roger (1664 or 1665 in Caen, France – 7 July 1722 in Amsterdam) was a francophone printer, bookseller and publisher of sheet music working in the Netherlands.
Life
Roger was born a French Huguenot. The revocation of Edict of Nantes ...
, instead of an Italian. Each concerto was printed in eight parts: four
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
s, two
viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
s,
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
and
continuo. The continuo part was printed as a
figured bass
Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidentals) indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones that a musician playing piano, harpsic ...
for
violone
The term violone (; literally "large viol" in Italian, " -one" being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted ...
and
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
.
The concertos belong to the ''concerto a 7'' format, that is: for each concerto there are seven independent parts. In each consecutive group of three concertos, the first is a concerto for four violins, the second for two violins, and the third a solo violin concerto. The cello gets solistic passages in several of the concertos for four and two violins, so that a few of the concertos conform to the traditional Roman
concerto grosso The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the ''ripieno'', ''tut ...
format where a
concertino of two violins and cello plays in contrast to a string orchestra. ''L'estro armonico'' pioneered orchestral unisono in concerto movements.
Vivaldi composed a few concertos specifically for ''L'estro armonico'', while other concertos of the set had been composed at an earlier date. Vivaldi scholar
Michael Talbot described the set as "perhaps the most influential collection of instrumental music to appear during the whole of the eighteenth century".
History
''L'estro armonico'' (the harmonic inspiration) was published as Antonio Vivaldi's Op. 3 in Amsterdam in 1711 and dedicated to
Ferdinando de'Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany under the title of "Ferdinando III" . Vivaldi's Opp. 1 and 2 had only contained sonatas, thus ''L'estro armonico'' was his first collection of concertos appearing in print. It was also the first time Vivaldi chose a foreign publisher, Estienne Roger, instead of an Italian one. Vivaldi composed a few concertos specifically for ''L'estro armonico'', while other concertos of the set had been composed at an earlier date.
[Talbot 2011, pp. 5–6][Butler 2011]
Structure
''L'estro armonico'' is a set of 12
concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
s for
stringed instrument
String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...
s. In the 1711 first publication each concerto was printed in eight parts:
* Four violin parts
* Two viola parts
* Cello
* Continuo, printed as a
figured bass
Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidentals) indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones that a musician playing piano, harpsic ...
for
violone
The term violone (; literally "large viol" in Italian, " -one" being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted ...
and
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
.
The concertos belong to the ''concerto a 7'' format, that is: for each concerto there are seven independent parts. In each consecutive group of three concertos, the first is a concerto for four violins, the second for two violins, and the third a solo violin concerto. The cello gets solistic passages in several of the concertos for four and two violins, so that a few of the concertos conform to the traditional Roman
concerto grosso The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the ''ripieno'', ''tut ...
format where a
concertino of two violins and cello plays in contrast to a string orchestra. ''L'estro armonico'' pioneered orchestral unisono in concerto movements.
[Wilk 2012][Talbot 2011, pp. 130–131]
Concerto No. 1, RV 549
Concerto No. 1 in
D major
D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor.
The D major scale is:
:
Ch ...
for four violins, cello and strings,
RV 549:
#
Allegro
Allegro may refer to:
Common meanings
* Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright
* Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement
Artistic works
* L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton
* ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...
#Largo e
spiccato
Spiccato is a bowing technique for string instruments in which the bow appears to bounce lightly upon the string. The term comes from the past participle of the Italian verb ''spiccare'', meaning "to separate". The terms '' martelé'', '' saltan ...
#Allegro
Concerto No. 2, RV 578
Concerto No. 2 in
G minor
G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major.
According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...
for two violins, cello and strings, RV 578:
#Adagio e spiccato
#Allegro
#Larghetto
#Allegro
Concerto No. 3, RV 310
Concerto No. 3 in
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable compositi ...
for solo violin and strings, RV 310:
#Allegro
#Largo
#Allegro
Concerto No. 4, RV 550
Concerto No. 4 in
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.
The E natural minor scale is:
:
Changes needed ...
for four violins, cello and strings, RV 550:
#Andante
#Allegro assai
#Adagio
#Allegro
Concerto No. 5, RV 519
Concerto No. 5 in
A major
A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...
for two violins, cello and strings, RV 519:
#Allegro
#Largo
#Allegro
Concerto No. 6, RV 356
Concerto No. 6 in
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major.
The A natural minor scale is:
:
Changes ...
for solo violin and strings, RV 356:
#Allegro
#Largo
#Presto
Concerto No. 7, RV 567
Concerto No. 7 in
F major
F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...
for four violins, cello and strings, RV 567:
#Andante
#Adagio
#Allegro – Adagio
#Allegro
Concerto No. 8, RV 522
Concerto No. 8 in A minor for two violins and strings, RV 522:
#Allegro
#Larghetto e spiritoso
#Allegro
Concerto No. 9, RV 230
Concerto No. 9 in D major for solo violin and strings, RV 230:
#Allegro
#Larghetto
#Allegro
Concerto No. 10, RV 580
Concerto No. 10 in
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major.
The B natural minor scale is:
:
Changes neede ...
for four violins, cello and strings, RV 580:
#Allegro
#Largo – Larghetto
#Allegro
Concerto No. 11, RV 565
Concerto No. 11 in
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
The D natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for t ...
for two violins, cello and strings, RV 565:
#Allegro – Adagio e spiccato – Allegro
#Largo e spiccato (aka
Siciliano
The siciliana or siciliano (also known as the sicilienne or the ciciliano) is a musical style or genre often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque period. It is in a slow or time with lilting rhythms, ...
)
#Allegro
(Note that this concerto may be referred to as having 5 movements due to the tempo changes in the first movement.)
Concerto No. 12, RV 265
Concerto No. 12 in
E major
E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...
for solo violin and strings, RV 265:
#Allegro
#Largo e spiccato
#Allegro
Performance, transmission and reception
![Chiesa della Pietà, Venice 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Chiesa_della_Piet%C3%A0%2C_Venice_001.jpg)
In her preface to the
Dover edition, Vivaldi scholar Eleanor Selfridge-Field gives an account of the performance and publication history of ''L'estro armonico''. Probably initially composed for performance in the ''
Ospedale della Pietà
The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice. Like other Venetian ''ospedali'', the Pietà was first established as a hospice for the needy. A group of Venetian nuns, called the Consorelle di Santa Maria dell’Um ...
'', the collection of 12 concertos was grouped in four cycles of three, each containing a concerto for 1, 2 and 4
concertante
Sinfonia concertante (; also called ''symphonie concertante'') is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra.Collins: ''Encyclopedia of Music'', William Collins Sons & C ...
solo violins. Each double violin concerto also had a concertante violoncello part, which did not have a fixed role, sometimes playing solo, sometimes responding to the two violin soloists. In the ''Pietà'', performances of the concertos would have allowed advanced pupils to develop their skills as soloists and given the chance to others to learn how to play in an ensemble. The dedicatee of the collection,
Ferdinando de' Medici, frequently visited Venice from his native
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
and supported the ''Pietà''. After a concert there in April 1711 featuring an oratorio by
Gasparini, Vivaldi's senior colleague, the local Venetian newspaper reported that "the audience, larger than ever, was made ecstatic by the spirited harmony of such a variety of instruments." Selfridge-Field has suggested that it is highly likely that the concert included performances of concertos from ''L'estro armonico''.
![Vivaldi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Vivaldi.jpg)
Following their publication, the concertos from the collection were widely performed in Italy, as church music and chamber music, both indoors and outdoors. In theatres and opera houses they were performed by small groups of 10, as in the ''Pietà'', sometimes with Vivaldi as soloist. Open air concerts in the 1720s and 1730s could have as many as a hundred performers. Despite originating in a religious institution, the print copies were widely distributed throughout Europe, with 20 reprintings of Estienne Roger's Amsterdam edition between 1711 and 1743. Sales were slightly more successful than those of Vivaldi's famous 1725 collection ''
Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione
''Il Cimento dell′ Armonia e dell′ Inventione'' (''The Contest Between Harmony and Invention'') is a set of twelve concertos written by Antonio Vivaldi and published in 1725 as Op. 8. All are for violin solo, strings and basso continuo. Th ...
'' which contained
The Four Seasons.
In London
John Walsh,
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
's printer, published the twelve concertos in two instalments in 1715 and 1717, when he also published all twelve in one volume, with individual concertos included in later collections. In London his version was pirated by other printing firms in the 1720s; and in Paris there were five or more reprintings from the late 1730s to the early 1750s. The works were also transmitted through manuscript copies, often of individual concertos, the most popular by far being Op.3, No.5, which has 15 known copies and transcriptions.
gives a detailed description, drawn from contemporary accounts, of the performances and reception of the concertos in Britain and Ireland in the eighteenth century. The most popular concerto from the set was Op.3, No.5, RV 519 which was commonly referred to as "Vivaldi's Fifth". Two other concertos from the set were also played by the public, Op.3, Nos.3 and 12. In a London catalogue from 1780, the solo part for each of the three concertos was advertised for a sum of
sixpence per concerto; and in a different catalogue from 1790, the solo part with an added bass line was advertised at a price of one
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
per concerto.
Few Italian violinists promoted Vivaldi in England. In the case of
Francesco Geminiani, this was due partly to his allegiance to his teacher
Corelli and partly to his own ambitions as a composer. His protègé
Charles Avison
Charles Avison (; 16 February 1709 (baptised)9 or 10 May 1770) was an English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church in Newcastle and at St. Nicholas's Church (later Newcas ...
was almost certainly expressing Geminiani's views when he dismissed Vivaldi's concertos as "defective in various harmony and true invention," a withering reference to ''Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione''. On the other hand, in London the violinist
Matthew Dubourg
Matthew Dubourg (1703 – 3 July 1767) was an English violinist, conductor, and composer who spent most of his life in Ireland. Among other achievements, Dubourg led the orchestra at the premiere of Georg Friedrich Handel's great oratorio ''Me ...
, another student of
Francesco Geminiani, is known to have given many performances of the fifth concerto (at least as early as 1720) and used it for training his pupils; this is recounted by one of them, Francis Fleming, in the autobiographical novel "The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Timothy Ginnadrake":
The Irish violinist
John Clegg, a child prodigy who studied with both Geminiani and Dubourg, is also known to have been an advocate of Vivaldi's concertos, although no records specifically mention ''L'estro armonico''. To illustrate the extent to which "Vivaldi's Fifth" had entered the popular culture, Talbot mentions a 1743 musical entertainment where a performance was advertised in a programme involving "rope-dancing, tumbling, vaulting and equilibres", with dances that included "the Drunken Peasant", a "Hornpipe in wooden shoes" and new "Morrice dances". In a 1760 essay,
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...
recorded the following anecdote about the celebrated blind Irish harpist
Turlough O'Carolan
Turlough O'Carolan ( ga, Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin ; 167025 March 1738) was a blind Celtic harper, composer and singer in Ireland whose great fame is due to his gift for melodic composition.
Although not a composer in the classical sense, ...
:
![John Parry c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/John_Parry_c.1710_%E2%80%93_1782_Rhiwabon._Harpist.jpg)
The violinist is not named, but commentators have suggested Geminiani, Dubourg or Clegg; as Talbot points out, it is unlikely to have been Geminiani, because of his known antipathy to Vivaldi. Transcriptions for harp of the third and fifth concertos survive in the collections of another celebrated blind harpist, the Welshman
John Parry; they are held in the
National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...
in
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...
. The
1797 Encyclopædia Britannica records that the fifth concerto was also played on an Irish variant of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
's celebrated invention, the
glass harmonica
The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica or harmonica (derived from , ''harmonia'', the Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instrument that uses a ...
. Under the entry for ''Harmonica'' or ''Armonica'', a 35-glass harmonica is described, about which its inventor, the
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
physician Edward Cullen, writes:
There were numerous arrangements for keyboard instruments in the eighteenth century, as described in the next section. One surviving eighteenth century transcription of Op.3, No.3 has been interpreted as an arrangement for
glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone.
The glo ...
. Themes from movements in the concertos were borrowed by other composers for vocal works: the opening themes from the last movement of Op.3, No.11 were borrowed by
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
for the first choral movement in his 1714 cantata
''Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis,'' BWV 21; and the opening motif of the first movement of the fifth concerto is quoted by Handel in the aria ''Tho' the honours'' in his 1750 oratorio
Theodora
Theodora is a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift".
Theodora may also refer to:
Historical figures known as Theodora
Byzantine empresses
* Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church
* Theodora o ...
. The most substantial borrowing occurred in the
burletta
In theater and music history, a burletta (Italian, meaning "little joke", sometimes burla or burlettina) is a brief comic opera. In eighteenth-century Italy, a burletta was the comic intermezzo between the acts of an ''opera seria''. The extended ...
''The Golden Pippin'', first performed in 1773 at the
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal O ...
, with the music of various composers arranged by John Abraham Fisher. The first movement of the fifth concerto was arranged for the final number, a sextet for the principal characters, Jupiter, Juno, Pallas, Venus, Paris and the Dragon.
Op. 3, No. 6, RV 356, is an important piece in the
Suzuki violin method, where students are first introduced to playing in a higher
position
Position often refers to:
* Position (geometry), the spatial location (rather than orientation) of an entity
* Position, a job or occupation
Position may also refer to:
Games and recreation
* Position (poker), location relative to the dealer
* ...
.
Transcriptions and arrangements for keyboard instruments
The many surviving transcriptions of Vivaldi's ''L'estro armonico ''reflect the immediate popularity of these works within his lifetime. As points out, Op.3, No.5, RV 519, by far the most popular concerto of the set in the British Isles, was so often performed in public and private that it was simply referred to as "Vivaldi's Fifth". The collection—and especially the fifth concerto—spawned many arrangements for keyboard instruments. The great success of Vivaldi's concertos during his lifetime was matched by his rapid descent into obscurity after his death in 1741. As Vivaldi scholars agree, some of the earliest and most significant transcriptions—those made in
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
in the 1710s by
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
as part of a series of arrangements for keyboard and organ of Italian and Italianate concertos—indirectly played a decisive role in restoring Vivaldi's reputation during the so-called "Vivaldi revival" in the twentieth century.
The
Ryom-Verzeichnis The Ryom-Verzeichnis or Ryom Verzeichnis (both often abbreviated ''RV'') is the standard catalogue of the music of Antonio Vivaldi created by Danish musicologist Peter Ryom. ''Verzeichnis'' is the German word for catalogue. First published in 1973 ...
, explained in detail in the two volumes and , contains a summary of the known surviving publications, handwritten manuscript copies and arrangements of the concertos. Of these six were arranged by Bach: three of those for solo violin were arranged for harpsichord; two double violin concertos for organ (two keyboards and pedal); and one of the concertos for four violins was arranged for four harpsichords and orchestra.
Four further keyboard arrangements appear in Anne Dawson's book, an English anthology dating from around 1720 of arrangements for
clavichord
The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras.
Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
,
virginal
The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
Description
A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...
or harpsichord prepared by an unknown hand.
As points out, the fifth concerto Op.3, No.5, RV 519, is the unique concerto to have resulted in so many transcriptions: these are described in detail in .
![BWV596-1-autograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/BWV596-1-autograph.jpg)
The
concerto transcriptions by Bach were probably made in Weimar where he was employed as court organist and later concertmaster in the period 1708–1717. It is thought likely that many of the transcriptions were made in 1713/1714, when Bach would have had access to a copy of ''L'estro armonico'' brought back to Weimar by the young
Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar
Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar (german: Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar) (25 December 1696 – 1 August 1715) was a German prince, son by his second marriage of Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Despite his early death he is remembered as a col ...
after a two-year stay in the Netherlands. Bach made harpsichord arrangements of three of the concertos for solo violin:
*Op.3, No.3, RV 310, arranged as BWV 978
*Op.3, No.9, RV 230, arranged as BWV 972
*Op.3, No.12, RV 265, arranged as BWV 976
He arranged two of the double violin concertos for the organ, scored for two manuals and pedal:
*Op.3, No.8, RV 522, arranged as BWV 593
*Op.3, No.11, RV 565, arranged as BWV 596
There is a much later arrangement of one of the concertos for four violins as a concerto for four harpsichords and strings. It has been dated to Bach's period in Leipzig, probably in the late 1720s or early 1730s.
*Op.3, No.10, RV 580, arranged as BWV 1065
Bach's transcriptions were not widely disseminated. They were only published in the 1840s and 1850s by
C. J. Peters in the editions prepared by
Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl
Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl (10 December 1782 – 6 April 1849) was a German Germanist, pedagogue, musicologist and conductor.
Life
Griepenkerl was born in Peine the son of a preacher, he first attended the school in Peine and changed in ...
—part of the nineteenth century "Bach revival". At that stage all of Bach's concerto transcriptions were described as "after Vivaldi", regardless of authorship. Problems with attribution were raised again by the new edition of the concerto transcriptions published by the
Bach-Gesellschaft
The German Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) was a society formed in 1850 for the express purpose of publishing the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach without editorial additions. The collected works are known as the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausga ...
in the 1890s. The controversy that ensued in the 1910s in assessing their authorship and that of the original concertos sparked the Vivaldi revival, which involved a reevaluation of Vivaldi and the eventual rediscovery of his numerous "lost" works.
Anne Dawson's Book, part of a bequest of baroque musical manuscripts now held in the
Henry Watson Music Library in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, contains arrangements for single-manual instrument of the following concertos:
*Op.3, No.5, RV 519 (2 violins, violoncello)
*Op.3, No.7, RV 567 (4 violins)
*Op.3, No.9, RV 230 (solo violin)
*Op.3, No.12, RV 265 (solo violin)
![Agrell-Vivaldi-RV519](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Agrell-Vivaldi-RV519.jpeg)
Selfridge-Field describes these as replacing "the virile acrobatics of Vivaldi's ''violino principale''
ythe gentle graces of virginal ornamentation: shakes, coulées, long apoggiaturas, and so forth."
Apart from the arrangement of RV 519 in Anne Dawson's Book, there were many others:
*''A Collection of Easy Genteel Lessons for the Harpsichord composed by Giovanni Agrell, Book II, to which is added Vivaldi's Celebrated 5th Concerto, set for the Harpsichord,'' London, Randall and Abell, c. 1767. This skillful arrangement of RW 519, probably made by the Swedish composer
Johan Agrell
Johan Joachim Agrell (1 February 170119 January 1765) was a late German/Swedish baroque composer.
He was born in Löth parish, Memming district, Östergötland, a province in Sweden, and studied in Uppsala. By 1734 he was a violinist at th ...
, is the only transcription of any concerto from ''L'estro armonico'' to be published in the eighteenth century.
* ''Concerto pro clavicembal del Sigr. Vivaldi'',
SchW A6:001, is
Johann Adolph Scheibe
Johann Adolph Scheibe (5 May 1708 – 22 April 1776) was a German-Danish composer and significant critic and theorist of music. Though much of his theoretical work survives, most of his compositions are lost, though the extant ones demonstrate a ...
's transcription of RV 519, realised between 1727 and 1735. The arranger's autograph, in the
Berlin State Library
The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the larg ...
, was identified by Russell Stinson in 1990. Transposed to the key of G major, it is a straightforward transcription which occasionally simplifies Vivaldi's score by omitting the second violin and viola parts.
* lists four further transcriptions. supplements Ryom's list with three further arrangements, all of them connected in some way to Britain.
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Recordings
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
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More on ''L'Estro armonico''Complete downloadable scores(parts) for the 12 Concertos – PDF and CFT(DMuse Viewer) formats''Concerto de Antonio Vivaldi transcrit par Johann Sebastian Bach'' (BWV 972 after RV 230) performed by
Ruggero Gerlin (harpsichord), 1936 at
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estro armonico, L'
Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
Compositions by Antonio Vivaldi
Concertos by Antonio Vivaldi
1711 compositions