Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/333

VIVACE. he uses the expression Vivace e (sic) Allegro at the wonderful point beginning with the words 'Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum.' In this passage there is a slight discrepancy in the MS. authorities, which leads to considerable differences of rendering. After the first delivery of these words, Adagio, the quick movement starts with three repeated notes in the first soprano part, beginning at the half-bar. In one of the two chief MSS. the direction Vivace occurs at the beginning of the bar in the middle of which this phrase begins, and in the other it appears over the beginning of the next bar. This latter reading has been accepted by the editors of the Peters edition, but the Bach-Gesellschaft editors are doubtless right in placing the direction over the half-bar, so that the alteration of time takes place simultaneously with the soprano lead. This reading has been followed in the performances of the Bach Choir.

Schumann used the terms Vivo and Vivace interchangeably, as is shown in his 6th and 8th Novelettes, at the head of which the two words stand, both being translated by 'Sehr lebhaft.' Other instances of his use of the two words are found in the 'Études symphoniques,' where also there occurs an example of Schumann's peculiar use of the direction, viz. as applied not to an entire movement, indicating its speed, but to a passage in a movement, referring to the manner of its execution. In the fourth variation the bass alone of the third bar is labelled 'sempre vivacissimo,' and no doubt the composer's intention was that the part for the left hand should be much emphasised and its animated character brought out. The same direction, applied in much the same way, occurs more than once in the Sonata in F♯ minor, and in the Scherzo of that work a staccato passage for the left hand is marked 'Bassi vivi.' In the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale, the same composer inscribes the second movement 'Vivo.'

Beethoven uses the word 'Vivacissimamente' for the finale of the Sonata in E♭, 'Les Adieux, L'Absence, et le Retour,' op. 81 a.[ J. A. F. M. ]

VIVALDI,, surnamed 'il prete rosso,' was the son of Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, a violinist in the ducal cappella of St. Mark's at Venice, and born some time in the latter half of the 17th century. Like Steffani and Lotti he first sought his fortune in Germany. He entered the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, doubtless in the capacity of violinist. On his return to his native city in 1713 Vivaldi was appointed maestro de' concerti at the Ospitale della Pietà, a post which he held until his death in 1743. The institution, which was a foundling-hospital for girls, possessed a choir and a good orchestra composed entirely of females. Vivaldi's own instrument was the violin, for which he wrote very largely; he is stated also to have contributed something to the development of its technical manipulation. [See p. 291a.] The publications on which his fame rests are all works in which the violin takes the principal part. Fétis enumerates the following:—

Besides these works, 28 operas by Vivaldi are named, and a few cantate and even motets will be found scattered in various manuscript collections.

As a writer for the violin Vivaldi held apart from the classical Roman school lately founded by Corelli. He sought and won the popularity of a virtuoso; and a good part of his writings is vitiated by an excessive striving after display, and effects which are striking simply in so far as they are novel. His 'stravaganze' for the violin solo, which were much played in England during the last century, are, according to Dr. Burney, nothing better than show-pieces. The 'Cimento' (op. 8) illustrates another fault of the composer: 'The first four concertos,' says Sir John Hawkins, 'are a pretended paraphrase in musical notes of so many sonnets on the four seasons, wherein the author endeavours, by the force of harmony and particular modifications of air and measure, to excite ideas correspondent with the sentiments of the several poems.' Vivaldi in fact mistook the facility of an expert performer (and as such he had few rivals among contemporaries) for the creative faculty, which he possessed but in a limited degree. His real distinction lies in his mastery of form, and in his application of this mastery to the development of the concerto. It is thus that we find his violin concertos constantly studied in Germany, for instance by Benda and Quantz; and the best proof of their sterling merits is given by the attraction which they exercised upon Sebastian Bach, who arranged sixteen of them for the clavier and four for the organ, and developed one into a colossal concerto for four claviers and a quartet of strings.

Bach however used his originals, it should seem, principally as a basis of study; as subjects to which to apply his ingenuity and resource, rather than as models for his own art to follow.