A comparison between three Vivaldi movementsFrom L'estro ArmonicaOp.IIIAntonio Vivaldi was one of the most prominent composers of the Baroque period. He lived in Venice, Italy for the duration of his life (1678-1741) and taught music at an all-girls orphanage for most of it. He was also an accomplished violinist and performed most of his works. He composed many Concertos, Concerto grossos, Religious works and Operas in his life. From this vast array of beautiful music I have chosen to compare and contrast the three movements of Concerto in la Minore op.III n.6 which were Composed in 1711.The first and last movements have a great deal in common; both are written in the minor, beginning i ...view middle of the document...
The second, on the other hand begins with the full ensemble, (violin and viola) but the accompanying parts are playing only long, smooth tied notes. (See first bar of all three pieces)Both the first and third movements begin playing forte and dynamics are not an important feature in any of the movements. Movement one and three having only two marked dynamics, forte and piano. And the second being marked only mezzoforte in the solo violin, but the performer creates a beautiful, haunting mood by adding crescendos and diminuendos. Only one dynamic, pianissimo, is marked in the accompaniment throughout. The third movement however makes greater use of these limited dynamic ranges, changes of dynamic occur much more frequently than in the first, which only has a marked piano once for two and a half bars. This makes the third movement slightly more interesting to listen to than the first movement.Strangely for this highly decorative period ornaments are also mainly unused in the first and third movements, with merely one trill marked in the third movement and none in the first, (see bar 143). This however doesn't make the pieces sound a tall boring as they are so quick moving with so many notes that there is barely time for ornamentation. But the second movement makes great use of trills, the performer also adds mordents and acciacituras to give a more decorative and flourishy feel.Both the first and third movements are in Ritornello form, each being structured A.B.A.C.A.D.A.E. In the first movement the subject occurs twice, then the third time (bar 35) it has modulated to another key. However it returns in bar 58 in the starting key. In the third movement it modulates the second time, and again the third and finally back to the starting key, A minor on the fourth occurrence.Another similarity of all the pieces is that they remain at a constant tempo, with no accelerandos or rallentandos which add to the stately feel of the first movement, haunting, nostalgic mood to the second and urgent feel to the third. However all finish with a pause and are played with a slight rallentando, which is not marked in the score but give a distinct feeling that it's the end. (see last bar of movement 2)Both the first and third movements use slurs during the solo cadenzas, performed by violin to create a more flowing feel to the urgent, short, semi-quavers. But this technique is far more prominent in movement one, (see bar 24 or 28). In the second movement almost all the notes are slurred together, helping it flow gracefully along.The solo cadenzas in the first movement become progressively more flamboyant and intricate from a slight development of the subject in bar 13 to an extremely complicated passage with many modulations ascending to the climax in bar 68. This is not the case in the third movement where the solo cadenzas, also performed by violin are complex and intricate strai...
