Vivaldi's Music

Vivaldi has always been considered a composer for his own instrument, the violin. His original compositions are mainly for that instrument, but other recently discovered manuscripts comprise works for other instruments and a number of important vocal works. Many of Vivaldi's compositions were written for the 'Conservatorio dell' Ospedale della Pietà', the music school for girls where he worked for most of his life. It is possible that due to the varying degrees of difficulty in the violin concertos, these were used primarily for the purpose of teaching.

As well as the numerous works for Violin, a collection of unpublished manuscripts at the Turin library includes 39 concertos for bassoon, 30 for flute, many for oboe, viola d'amore and for various combinations of instruments. There is also a 'Funeral Concerto' for oboes, shawms, strings and solo violin.

Although the girls' school was not noted for its vocal music, there were some fine singers there. One of the solos from Vivaldi's 'Magnificat con istromenti' (with instruments) was written especially for one of the girls.
Between 1713 and 1739, Vivaldi produced no less than 39 operas, though they were not as popular as those written by Handel. Vivaldi took charge of all aspects of producing the operas, including the engagement of the dancers and singers (including some of his own pupils), paying all the performers and keeping a close eye on the box office receipts!

Vivaldi's operas were produced at Venice, Rome, Florence, Mantua, Ancona and Vicenza. Some of the operas were very hastily put together; the entire score for the opera 'Tito Manlio' is marked 'written in 5 days'. However, it cannot be said that Vivaldi moulded the operatic form and made it his own as he did that of the concerto.

If you look at the music for one of Vivaldi's 500 or so concertos, you will notice that the bass line has a series of numbers under some of the notes. Called a figured-bass, it is meant to act as a guide to the continuo player, telling him which chords to play above the bass notes. In one concerto written for the violinist Pisendel, Vivaldi actually wrote on the manuscript how the figured-bass was meant to played and marked it 'for the learners'; there follows an apology to Pisendel that he should ignore this marking because he is 'the connoisseur'.