When one plans to perform any works composed by Antonio Vivaldi, caution is advised. This word of warning applies to identifying the type of work, sub-title if present, key, and at least one of six different methods of additional identification. Also, if one wants to learn how others have interpreted and/or ornamented the composition in question by listening to recordings, full identification is essential.
Being a Baroque composer, Vivaldi includes a continuo part in all of his works featuring the oboe. His sonatas are structured in the usual four movements while his concertos have three (fast-slow-fast).
The solo sonatas require a minimum of two performers for the continuo: keyboard plus at least one bass instrument (usually cello or string bass). An expanded solo sonata using two oboes plus continuo is classified as a trio sonata.
The concerto concept as shown in Vivaldi appears in several forms. The chamber concerto involves more than two featured soloists plus continuo, which could make it merely an expansion of the trio sonata. The solo and double concertos require the solo instrument(s) be supported by strings plus continuo. The multiple concerto compositions are generally classified as concerto grosso works in which the concerting includes one or more oboes. The strings and continuo make up the ripieno part of the performance group.
Recent research has uncovered sixty-seven items in which the oboe is featured. There are seven solo sonatas, one trio sonata, twelve chamber concertos, twenty solo concertos, and twenty-seven multiple concertos. To merely identify the work using its general classification (e.g. Sonata for Oboe) will not adequately identify it, for in this case one has seven choices. One needs more information.
Should one also know the general key of the work (e.g. Concerto for Oboe in C Mayor), there might be some improvement. Here again one finds seven choices. Also, there are at least fourteen different phonodiscs that have been issued.
Obviously, to adequately pinpoint the recording for a given work, additional facts are needed and required. Over the years, six systems of providing additional data have appeared. They include (1) valid opus numbers (which are those used by publishers during Vivaldi's lifetime). (2) synthetic opus numbers as devised by Rinaldi, (3) Pincherle's system, (4) Fanna's classification, (5) Malipiero's numbering (which is that of the collected works edition published by Ricordi), and the (6) Ryom catalog.
With the exception of the series of recordings of the New York Sinfonietta conducted by Max Goberman, no attempt at tracing the master tapes through their rather frequent use by various companies has been done. The Goberman releases first appeared as Library of Recorded Classics (LRC) issues. The second appearance saw the same masters as the "V" series of the Musical Heritage Society (MHS). Finally, Columbia picked up several items for release as part of their Odyssey (Odys) label.
Before presenting information which will correlate these various systems of identification, and also prior to giving the reader a system of pinpointing the work as well as its recording(s), this researcher feels that some basic facts regarding the various methods of identifying Vivaldi should be understood.
The name of Antonio Vivaldi has appeared in numerous music dictionaries and encyclopedias since 1732 when the Musikalisches Lexicon oder Musikalische Bibliothek of Johann Gottfried Walther was published in Leipzig. The most recent and complete entry regarding the composer can be found in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Stanley Sadie, ed. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. 20 vol.) where his most recent biographer, Michael Talbot provides the text, and Peter Ryom tabulates the work list.
Prior to the New Grove, considerable confusion existed regarding the total number of compositions as well as their accurate identification. Though the oboe music (sonatas and concertos) comprises only a small fraction of the total work list (approximately 67 out of over 800 items) of Vivaldi, the usual problems of borrowing from other works (duplications), incomplete works (fragments), and lost manuscripts are involved.
Vivaldi was first published in 1705 in Venice. Fortunately the publisher included an opus number which established a precedent. The items published between 1705 and 1737 span thirteen opus numbers, some un-numbered issues, and all the oboe literature to appear in print between 1705 and 1769. Opus seven, eight, eleven, and thirteen involves oboe featured works.
For many years, this researcher has made a distinction between a valid opus number and a synthetic one when dealing with the works of Vivaldi. Though an opus fourteen was supposed to have been issued, it has yet to be found. Therefore, any opus number below fourteen is considered to be valid, mainly because the works contained therein were first published during the lifetime of the composer.
Compositions bearing an opus number greater than fifteen are treated as synthetic, being the result of work of Mario Rinaldi (Catologo Numerico Tematico della Composizio di Antonio Vivaldi. Rome: Editrice Cultura Moderna, 1945.).
Opus Seven. Opus seven is the first series to include oboe as a featured solo instrument. The series was published from 1716 through 1721 in Amsterdam by Roger. Twelve solo concertos, ten of which are for violin and two for oboe make up the opus. The twelve concertos were published in two volumes of six each. The first of each volume is for oboe. If one numbers consecutively through the two volumes, the oboe concertos would be Opus 7 Number 1, and Opus 7 Number 7. If, however, one renumbers the second volume, the second oboe concerto would be Opus 7 Volume 2 Number 1.
Opus Eight. Opus eight also contains twelve concertos. All are for violin, with two being optionally for oboe. The series, comprising two volumes as in opus seven, was first published in 1725 by Le Clerc le Cadet at Paris, with another printing by Le Cene at Amsterdam. Programmatic elements are introduced by means of a sub-title: Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione (The Trial of Harmony and Invention). Concertos 9 and 12 -- numbering consecutively through the two volumes -- are available for oboe.
Opus Eleven. Opus eleven consists of five concertos for violin and one, number 6 for oboe. Le Cene of Amsterdam published this opus in 1729. Recent research has determined this concerto to be the same as the Violin Concerto in A Minor Op. 9 No. 3. La Cetra (The Lyre)
Opus Thirteen. Opus thirteen also has programmatic connotations through its sub-title Il Pastor Fido (The Faithful Shepherd). These works are sonatas and are playable by one of several instruments (musette, vielle, flute, oboe, or violin) with continuo. Opus thirteen, consisting of six items was first published at Paris by Mme. Boivin in 1737.
Rinaldi collected Vivaldi materials and proceeded to present them in an orderly fashion continuing the use of opus numbers. He started his numbering system with opus sixteen. By so doing, it would seem that he left room for the missing opus fourteen, and still have a gap to indicate his contribution. He therefore capably separated the two series of opus numbers, valid and synthetic.
Rinaldi reserved his consecutively numbered opus 16 through 67 for instrumental works. The oboe literature spans from opus 7 through 64, using both types of opus numbers.
Four additional systems of organization/identification of the works of Vivaldi are available. They are discussed below in chronological order of their publication.
Pincherle Catalog. Marc Pincherle reserved the second volume of his study of Vivaldi (Antonio Vivaldi et la musique instrumental. Paris: Floury, 1948. 2 vol.) to produce an inventory of themes, providing incipit information for each work which he cataloged. His thrust was threefold: (1) sonatas and trios, (2) sinfonias, and (3) concertos.
The sonatas and trios are numbered as they relate to the page where the incipit appears. There are, therefore, seven pages involved. The method of expressing each of these items is as follows: P.p. 6/3 or P.p. 6 No. 3 refers to Page 6 of the catalog, the 3rd incipit on the page. Sinfonias are consecutively numbered separately (numbers 1 through 23), as are concertos (numbers 1 through 447). e.g. Oboe Concerto in D Major, P. 187.
Fanna Numbers. Antonio Fanna produced a catalog still restricted to instrumental works (Antonio Vivaldi, Catologo Numerico-Tematico delle Opere Strumentali. Milan: Edizioni Ricordi, 1968.). Also, until Malipiero (see below), they reflect the publication project of Ricordi, under whose imprint the collected works of Vivaldi have been published.
Fanna used a system of Roman numerals (I through XVI) plus Arabic numbers to pinpoint the compositions involved. (This researcher recommends the Roman numerals with a capital "F" preceding, and with an Arabic number following be used to eliminate the possibility of confusion with an opus number. e.g. Oboe Concerto in D Major, F VII, No. 10.
Malipiero Organization. Gian Francesco Malipiero was the general editor of the collected works of Vivaldi. Earlier he had functioned in the same capacity for the collected works of Monteverdi. The numbers provided by Malipiero are the same as those of the collected works, and on occasion, the letter "M" has been replaced by "Ric".
Ryom Catalog. The most recent contribution to the literature has been provided by Peter Ryom. He has inventoried and organized the total known output of Vivaldi ( Verzeichnis der Werke Antonio Vivaldi. Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag fur Musik, 1974.). It is this system which he used in preparing his worklist of the compositions of Vivaldi for the New Grove and is the core of the present study.
The practical aspect of identifying sonatas or concertos featuring the oboe composed by Vivaldi involves a filtering process which can be used with the aid of the tables provided in this presentation. Should one be fortunate enough to be looking for a work that is unique (one of a kind as identified by type and key only), or which has a Ryom (RV) number, entry into Table V gives full data and provides a key to the phonograph record(s) listed in Table VI. Out of 67 items, 13 qualify as unique and are so identified in Table V. However, if one knows only an identifier other than Ryom, the starting point is one of the first four tables.
Table I. Table I correlates complete opus information (valid and synthetic) as shown by publication and by Rinaldi with the "RV" numbers of Ryom. (It is recommended that one use "RV" as suggested by Ryom because an "R" can refer to either Ricordi or to Rinaldi.) After learning which RV number applies, one may enter Table V.
Table II. Table II correlates Pincherle numbers (P.p. or P. prefixes) with the "RV" numbers of Ryom. Entry into Table V then is available.
Table III. The Fanna identifiers shown in Table III relate directly to Ryom, followed by the use of Table V.
Table IV. Table IV provides Malipiero numbers (which also have been known as "R" or "Ric" representing Ricordi) and Ryom data, allowing use of Table V.
Table V. Table V brings together earlier information and tabulates it according to the Ryom catalog. One now has all the identifiers, the basic key, sub-titles, scoring, other relationships (according to Ryom), and a coding of phonodiscs known to have been issued.
Table VI. Table VI provides a list of known phonodiscs with a coding of known performers of oboe works composed by Vivaldi.
Table VII. Table VII provides an alphabetical list of oboists found to have recorded Vivaldi materials. A reverse coding is also provided.
The use of the tabulated information provided here should facilitate the study of compositions by the " Red Priest. " This researcher feels Vivaldi's role in establishing the three movement (fast-slow-fast) concerto form as a standard can better be understood by playing instead of by looking or listening. Also, to learn about various concepts (tempo, phrasing, ornamentation, and other items) pertinent to the Baroque Era through the eyes of Vivaldi and his modern interpreters provides a great road to travel.
Happy hunting, and fine playing!