Del Vivaldi | VIVALDI | Il coro delle muse | Sinfonia RV 149 in G major | Original manuscript @DelVivaldi | Uploaded April 2020 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
For strings and basso continuo

I. Allegro molto (0:00)
II. Andante (1:50)
III. Allegro (4:15)

Composed: most likely 1740
Source: D-Dl (SLUB Dresden) Mus. 2389-O-4

On the evening of 21 March 1740, the Pietà hosted a sumptuous concert in honour of Saxon prince-elector Friedrich Christian (1722–63), then sojourning in Venice. According to Karl Heller, quoting from the prince’s diary, ‘the hall was decorated “with gold brocade and magnificent damask with frills, with candle-holding crystal chandeliers, and with numerous great torches”; “the canal leading from the Riva to the aforementioned holy place was illuminated by torches”, and for the performance of the homage serenata, ``Il coro delle muse´´ by Carlo Goldoni (libretto) and Gennaro D’Alessandro (music), a “beautiful stage with a pleasing set piece showing the choir of muses was erected.”’

The prince’s appreciation: the instruments were best, and the last concerto for two violins was very pretty (‘très joli’).

The centerpiece serenata, according to Goldoni, contained no new music; it was a rehash of previous cantatas by Gennaro D'Alessandro from which the illustrious poet had to derive a new text. D’Alessandro, a Neapolitan composer only recently appointed to the position of ‘maestro di coro’ at the Pietà, would be sacked a couple of months later for failing to provide the compositions that were asked of him.

‘Il Prete rosso’ came to the rescue, it seems, composing four works, which were also presented to the prince-elector in a bound manuscript with dedication:
1) the famous Concerto RV 558 in C major for two recorders, two theorbos, two mandolins, two chalumeaux, two ‘violini in tromba marina’ and cello;
2) Concerto RV 552 in A major for principal violin and ‘violino per eco in lontano’;
3) Concerto RV 540 in D minor for viola d’amore and lute;
4) the Sinfonia RV 149 in G major.
In this presentation copy, preserved in Dresden, only the last two works are in the hand of the composer: these are his latest datable autographs.

According to the libretto of ‘Il coro delle muse’, which survives, the Concerto for viola d’amore and lute (RV 540) was played at the end of the first act ‘col ripieno di vari strumenti’ (a garbled reference to RV 558?); whereas the Concerto ‘per eco in lontano’ (RV 552) brought the night to a close. This leaves the Sinfonia (RV 149), which presumably served as an introduction ‘avanti la serenata’.

The manuscript copy of the sinfonia presents a few lacunae (betraying extreme haste perhaps) that I noticed: at 1:26, the staff for the part of the second violins was inadvertently left blank; and at around 3:35 the andante breaks off before the end without any kind of ‘D.C. al segno’ indication, although modern interpretations have adopted a solution of this kind. Despite this, the work is not marked as incomplete by Ryom, presumably on the strength of a physical examination of the manuscript.

Academy of Ancient Music, ‘Concert for the Prince of Poland’
Andrew Manze, direzione
Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907230