| Concerto for Two Cellos | |
|---|---|
| Concerto by Antonio Vivaldi | |
 Engraving of Vivaldi by La Cave, 1725 | |
| Key | G minor |
| Catalogue | RV 531 |
| Composed | 1720s |
| Movements | 3 |
| Scoring |
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Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor, RV 531 [1] is a concerto for two cellos, string orchestra and basso continuo in three movements, believed to have been composed in the 1720s. It is Vivaldi's only concerto for two cellos, and begins unusually with an entry of the solo instruments alone.
Vivaldi used the cello as a solo instrument in several compositions, which was a new trend during the period. He composed 27 concertos for cello, string orchestra and basso continuo. [2] Among these cello concertos, RV 531 is the only one for two cellos. [3] Vivaldi composed it possibly in the 1720s in Venice. [4] A manuscript was found in the Renzo Giordano Collection at the National Library in Turin, which holds much of Vivaldi's personal collection. [5]
The concerto is structured in three movements: [6]
The first movement begins not with the usual instrumental ritornello, but with the two soloists alone, imitating each other in fast succession, [2] with virtuoso passages. [6] [2] Both soloists are equals, first competing without upper strings. [6] Karl Heller noted that "the dark color of the two deep-toned instruments perfectly matches the serious expression, which is devoid of all virtuosity". [7] He continued:
The most striking aspect of the first movement (Allegro) is the wholly individual organizational approach that Vivaldi took in the opening. The two cellos imitate each other at a distance of one bar; they then play for the rest of the movement at an interval of a third, and play eight bars of figuration over the continuo's G minor harmony." [7]
In the second movement, marked Adagio, the two soloists and the continuo cellist form a trio, for even greater low-range sonority. [6]
The final movement, Allegro, begins with "catchy offbeat syncopations" in the orchestra, before the soloists enter for "musical acrobatics". [6] The movement contains a fugal section begun by the second cello. [2]
The musicologist Michael Talbot noted the concerto's "highly charged emotional content" showing right at the beginning, and read "an almost autobiographical sadness" in the slow movement. He found the "frenetic" finale "see-sawing in rhythm and tonality alike", and summarized: "This is a concerto to single out among the hundreds that Vivaldi wrote." [4]
Yo Yo Ma and Jonathan Manson recorded the concerto in November 2003. [8]
A concerto 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 typical three-movement structure, a slow movement preceded and followed by fast movements, became a standard from the early 18th century.
The Four Seasons is a group of four violin concertos by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, each of which gives musical expression to a season of the year. These were composed around 1718−1720, when Vivaldi was the court chapel master in Mantua. They were published in 1725 in Amsterdam, together with eight additional concerti, as Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione.
The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach, are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721. The original French title is Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments, meaning "Six Concertos for several instruments". Some of them feature several solo instruments in combination. They are widely regarded as some of the best orchestral compositions of the Baroque era.
The Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major, Hob. VIIb/1, by Joseph Haydn was composed around 1761-65 for longtime friend Joseph Franz Weigl, then the principal cellist of Prince Nicolaus's Esterházy Orchestra.
L'estro armonico, Op. 3, is a set of 12 concertos for stringed instruments by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, 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, instead of an Italian. Each concerto was printed in eight parts: four violins, two violas, cello and continuo. The continuo part was printed as a figured bass for violone and harpsichord.
A set of twelve concertos was published by Estienne Roger in 1716-1717 under Antonio Vivaldi's name, as his Opus 7. They were in two volumes, each containing concertos numbered 1-6. Of the set, ten were for violin solo; the other two were for oboe solo. The authenticity of some of the works included has long been doubted by scholars. Three are now considered spurious for stylistic reasons. They are: No. 1 in B-flat major for oboe, RV Anh. 143 ; No. 7 in B-flat major for oboe, RV Anh. 142 ; and No. 9 in B-flat major for violin, RV Anh. 153.
La stravaganza [literally 'Extravagance'], Op. 4, is a set of concertos written by Antonio Vivaldi in 1712–1713. The set was first published in 1716 in Amsterdam and was dedicated to Venetian nobleman Vettor Delfino, who had been a violin student of Vivaldi's. All of the concertos are scored for solo violin, strings, and basso continuo; however, some movements require extra soloists.
La cetra, Op. 9, is a set of twelve violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, published in 1727. All of them are for violin solo, strings, and basso continuo, except No. 9 in B flat, which features two solo violins. The set was named after the cetra, a lyre-like instrument, and was dedicated to Emperor Charles VI.
The keyboard concertos, BWV 1052–1065, are concertos for harpsichord, strings and continuo by Johann Sebastian Bach. There are seven complete concertos for a single harpsichord, three concertos for two harpsichords, two concertos for three harpsichords, and one concerto for four harpsichords. Two other concertos include solo harpsichord parts: the concerto BWV 1044, which has solo parts for harpsichord, violin and flute, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, with the same scoring. In addition, there is a nine-bar concerto fragment for harpsichord which adds an oboe to the strings and continuo.
An organ concerto is a piece of music, an instrumental concerto for a pipe organ soloist with an orchestra. The form first evolved in the 18th century, when composers including Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote organ concertos with small orchestras, and with solo parts which rarely call for the organ pedal board. During the Classical period the organ concerto became popular in many places, especially in Bavaria, Austria and Bohemia, reaching a position of being almost an integral part of the church music tradition of jubilus character. From the Romantic era fewer works are known. Finally, there are some 20th- and 21st-century examples, of which the concerto by Francis Poulenc has entered the basic repertoire, and is quite frequently played.
Antonio Vivaldi composed several sonatas for cello and continuo. A set of six cello sonatas, written between 1720 and 1730, was published in Paris in 1740. He wrote at least four other cello sonatas, with two manuscripts kept in Naples, another in Wiesentheid, and one known to be lost.
A double concerto is a concerto featuring two performers—as opposed to the usual single performer, in the solo role. The two performers' instruments may be of the same type, as in Bach's Double Violin Concerto, or different, as in Brahms's Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra.
The Lute Concerto in D major, RV 93, is one of four works featuring the solo lute 2 Violins & Basso continuo written by Antonio Vivaldi. Vivaldi wrote the piece in the 1730s, a period in which he wrote two of his other works featuring the lute: the trios for violin and lute in G minor and C major.
The Concerto for Strings in G major, RV 151, commonly referred to as the Concerto alla rustica, is a concerto for orchestra without soloists by Antonio Vivaldi. It was written between mid-1720 and 1730, and is one of the composer's best-known concertos.
The organ concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach are solo works for organ, transcribed and reworked from instrumental concertos originally composed by Antonio Vivaldi and the musically talented Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. While there is no doubt about the authenticity of BWV 592–596, the sixth concerto BWV 597 is now probably considered to be spurious. Composed during Bach's second period at the court in Weimar (1708–1717), the concertos can be dated more precisely to 1713–1714.
The Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, is a concerto for harpsichord and Baroque string orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach. In three movements, marked Allegro, Adagio and Allegro, it is the first of Bach's harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052–1065.
Grosso mogul, also Il grosso mogul, or capitalised [Il] Grosso Mogul, RV 208, is a violin concerto in D major by Antonio Vivaldi. The concerto, in three movements, is an early work by the Venetian composer. Around the mid-1710s Johann Sebastian Bach transcribed the concerto for organ, BWV 594, in C major. A simplified version of the violin concerto, RV 208a, without the elaborated cadenzas that appear in manuscript versions of RV 208, and with a different middle movement, was published around 1720 in Amsterdam as concerto #11 of Vivaldi's Op. 7.
Antonio Vivaldi composed three settings of the Dixit Dominus, the Latin version of Psalm 110. They include a setting in ten movements for five soloists, double choir and orchestra, RV 594, another setting in eleven movements for five voices, five-part choir and orchestra, RV 595, and a recently discovered setting in eleven movements for five soloists, choir and orchestra, RV 807, which had been attributed to Baldassare Galuppi. It is said to be one of his "most significant sacred works."
The Sinfonie di concerto grosso is the title of twelve works for flute, strings and basso continuo by Alessandro Scarlatti, composed in Naples from June 1, 1715 - the same year as the performance of his opera Tigrane, one of his greatest successes, and his oratorio La Santissima Trinità.
Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Trumpets in C major, RV 537, is a concerto for two trumpets, string orchestra and basso continuo in three movements, believed to have been composed in the 1720s. It is Vivaldi's only trumpet concerto. It was published by Ricordi in 1950 after its manuscript was found in a Turin library.
