Vivaldi's Gloria & Magnificat

Just acquired this excellent new collection.

Antonio Vivaldi wrote several settings of the Gloria. RV 589 is the most familiar and popular piece of sacred music by Vivaldi; however, he was known to have written at least three Gloria settings. Only two survive (RV 588 and RV 589) whilst the other (RV 590) is presumably lost and is only mentioned in the Kreuzherren catalogue. The two were written at about the same time (it is disputed which came first) in the early 1700s.

This is the better known setting of the Gloria, simply known as "the Vivaldi Gloria" due to its outstanding popularity. This piece, along with its mother composition RV 588, was composed at the same time during Vivaldi's employment at the Pieta.

RV 589 is more mature and original than its predecessor, however evidence of obvious inspiration (and plagiarism) still exist. The first movement's chorus shares similar key modulations to that of the first movement of RV 588, only modified to fit a duple meter instead of the triple meter of RV 588; the orchestral motifs are also shared, including octaval jumps in the primal motives of the piece. The second movement is much more dramatic in RV 589, but nevertheless shares with RV Anh. 23 in that the second movement of both employ the use of repetitious semiquavers underneath choral progressions. The "Qui Tollis" movement of RV 589 is rhythmically similar to the first few measures of RV 588 (and ultimately RV Anh. 23). The last movement, "Cum Sancto Spiritu," is essentially an "upgraded" version of Ruggieri's movement — that is to say, updated to fit the standards of the emerging late Baroque style, with the addition of accidentals not present in RV Anh. 23 and RV 588.