30
7/27/2019 jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/jm2009264566pdf 1/30 The Baroque Concerto in Theory and Practice Author(s): Steven Zohn Source: The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Fall 2009), pp. 566-594 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jm.2009.26.4.566 . Accessed: 15/10/2013 16:40 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at  . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp  . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].  . University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The  Journal of Musicology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 160.75.22.2 on Tue, 15 Oct 2013 16:40:51 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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The Baroque Concerto in Theory and PracticeAuthor(s) Steven ZohnSource The Journal of Musicology Vol 26 No 4 (Fall 2009) pp 566-594Published by University of California Press

Stable URL httpwwwjstororgstable101525jm2009264566

Accessed 15102013 1640

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms amp Conditions of Use available at

httpwwwjstororgpageinfoaboutpoliciestermsjsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars researchers and students discover use and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship For more information about JSTOR please contact supportjstororg

University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize preserve and extend access to The

Journal of Musicology

httpwwwjstororg

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

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The Journal of Musicology Vol 983090983094 Issue 983092 pp 983093983094983094ndash983093983097983092 ISSN 983088983090983095983095-983097983090983094983097 electronic ISSN 983089983093983091983091-983096983091983092983095

copy 983090983088983089983088 by the Regents of the University of California All rights reserved Please direct all requests

for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Pressrsquos

Rights and Permissions website httpwwwucpressjournalscomreprintInfoasp DOI 983089983088983089983093983090983093

jm983090983088983088983097983090983094983092983093983094983094

566

REVIEW ESSAY

The Baroque Concerto

in Theory and Practice

STEVEN ZOHN

T

hose familiar with undergraduate surveycourses that cover eighteenth-century music have likely crossed paths with an archetypal diagram of ritornello form held up as the support-ing framework not only for Vivaldirsquos fast concerto movements but alsofor those by numerous other composers from Bach to Mozart Thoughthe diagramrsquos pleasing symmetries are typically enthroned in thecoursersquos textbook ldquoRrdquos and ldquoSrdquos hovering above Roman numerals in

color-coded boxes students carefully copy down the Vivaldian gameplan as if it were a mathematical equation or anatomical drawingmdashforthey will surely be asked to reproduce it on the next test And despitethe efforts of conscientious instructors to counter a nearly irresistible(some might say inevitable) tendency to over-simplify the concertorsquosearly history students often come away believing that Vivaldirsquos formalinnovations as crystallized in a supposedly representative movementor two were universally adopted by his contemporaries that his con-certos fully reflect the highly goal-directed harmonic tonality that had

recently replaced the old modal system and that these works quicklybecame mainstays of the various orchestras then popping up acrossEurope as the novel texture of doubled members of the violin familypitted against a soloist captivated both composers and listeners

Such formulations although historically grounded are called intoquestion by three recent books that aim to set the record straightmdashorperhaps a bit more crookedmdashwith respect to the baroque concertoSimon McVeigh and Jehoash Hirshbergrsquos The Italian Solo Concerto

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983162983151983144983150

567

983089983095983088983088ndash983089983095983094983088 Rhetorical Strategies and Style History (Woodbridge Boydell983090983088983088983092) dispels a number of misconceptions about the vast repertoryof more than 983096983088983088 solo concertos by Vivaldi and his Italian contempo-

raries If it does not quite deliver the comprehensive survey impliedby its titlemdashonly first (fast) movements are considered and primarilyfrom a formalist perspectivemdashthis book engages its topic with an un-precedented degree of analytical rigor greatly refining our view of howseveral generations of Italian composers approached ritornello formMcVeigh and Hirshberg are perceptive critics of musical style equallyalert to personal idioms and geographical and chronological trendsMoreover their impressive command of the material allows them todraw musical connections across the repertory Instead of construct-

ing a potentially misleading inappropriately linear narrative of stylisticchange in a body of music that on the whole cannot be dated preciselythey conduct statistical studies of individual composersrsquo concertosgrouping them into regional centers whenever possible Supporting themany insightful analyses of individual movements are a wealth of musi-cal examples statistical tables and formal diagrams

Richard Maunderrsquos The Scoring of Baroque Concertos (WoodbridgeBoydell 983090983088983088983092) treats the genre as a broadly European phenomenon within the traditional chronological framework of 983089983094983096983093ndash983089983095983093983088 offering a

comprehensive overview of the repertory underpinned by an impressiveknowledge of manuscript and printed sources Yet the bookrsquos focus onproving the hypothesis that one-to-a-part performance was a nearly uni- versal practice during the early eighteenth century makes it both moreand less than a traditional survey of the composers and styles associated with the baroque concerto Maunderrsquos extensive discussions of scoringand occasional commentaries on musical style are divided into two chron-ological segments each with chapters organized according to geography(983089983094983096983093ndash983089983095983090983093 Bologna Venice Rome Germany and Holland England

983089983095983090983093ndash983093983088 Italy Germany The Low Countries and France England) De-spite the bookrsquos overarching concern with the question of how many and(in the case of bass lines) what type of string instruments were intendedfor particular concertos readers primarily interested in the music itself will find much to stimulate them The many musical examples are wellchosen although Boydell as McVeigh and Hirshberg has uncomfortablycrowded them into the main text

In many respects these two books are worthy successors to classicstudies of the baroque concerto by Arnold Schering Hans Engel Ar-

thur Hutchings and Pippa Drummond983089 Like their predecessors they

983089 Arnold Schering Geschichte des Instrumentalkonzerts bis auf die Gegenwart (LeipzigBreitkopf amp Haumlrtel 983089983097983088983093 983090nd ed 983089983097983090983095) Hans Engel Das Instrumentalkonzert (Leipzig

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568

offer fresh perspectives on familiar music and point to unaccountablyneglected composers and works Maunder for example argues com-pellingly that Corellirsquos Concerti grossi op 983094 were composed not long

before their publication in 983089983095983089983092mdashor at least that the evidence for theirsupposed existence as far back as the 983089983094983096983088s is inconclusive at best Healso provides a fascinating survey of the earliest concertos performedand published in England along with tantalizing descriptions of Gio- vanni Mossirsquos op 983092 Antonio Montanarirsquos op983089 and Willem de Feschrsquosopp 983090 and 983091 McVeigh and Hirshberg provide a valuable discussionof Giuseppe Valentinirsquos mature works they allow Giuseppe Alberti toemerge from the shadow of Vivaldi and take his place as ldquoone of theoriginators of ritornello formrdquo (p 983090983090983097) and they single out more than

a few interesting concertos by obscure figures (one piece by Angelo Ma-ria Scaccia is colorfully characterized by them as ldquoa rhetorical argumentin the subjunctive offering diverse implications and delayed realiza-tionsrdquo p 983090983094983088) They also call attention to a number of Bolognese con-certos that seem well worth reviving including three works by GirolamoNicolograve Laurenti preserved in Dresden and a characteristic concerto byGaetano Zavateri (ldquoA tempesta di marerdquo) Whether or not these twocomposers along with Gaetano Maria Schiassi really can be consid-ered to have ldquooverthrownrdquo a Bolognese concerto tradition the authors

do make a convincing case that local preferences ceded more thana little ground to Venetian influences The Bolognese tradition itselfrepresented by Torelli and several of his contemporaries is discussed atlength by Maunder983090

Such attention to dimly lit corners of the repertory is especially welcome at a time when most recent work on the baroque concertohas concerned itself with canonical figures notably J S Bach HandelTelemann and Vivaldi wider surveys of the genre being limited forthe most part to chapter-length overviews in handbook-style volumes983091

Breitkopf amp Haumlrtel 983089983097983091983090) Arthur Hutchings The Baroque Concerto (New York WW Nor-ton 983089983097983094983089 983091rd rev ed New York Charles Scribnerrsquos Sons 983089983097983095983097) Pippa DrummondThe German Concerto Five Eighteenth-Century Studies (Oxford Clarendon Press New YorkOxford University Press 983089983097983096983088)

983090 For a more recent discussion of the early Bolognese concerto see Gregory Bar-nett Bolognese Instrumental Music 983089983094983094983088ndash983089983095983089983088 Spiritual Comfort Courtly Delight and Com- mercial Triumph (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983096) 983090983097983091ndash983091983094983088

983091 Among book-length studies devoted in whole or in part to the concertos of in-dividual baroque composers see in particular Wolfgang Hirschmann Studien zum Kon- zertschaffen von Georg Philipp Telemann 983090 vols (Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983096983094) Malcolm BoydBach The Brandenburg Concertos (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983091) Meiketen Brink Die Floumltenkonzerte von Johann Joachim Quantz Untersuchungen zu ihrer Uumlberlieferungund Form 983090 vols (Hildesheim Olms 983089983097983097983093) Michael Marissen The Social and Religious

Designs of JS Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertos (Princeton Princeton University Press 983089983097983097983093)Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Cambridge MA Harvard UniversityPress 983089983097983097983094) Paul Everett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasonsrdquo and Other Concertos op 983096 (Cambridge

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983162983151983144983150

569

But this is not to say that the musical idioms contexts and meaningsof such name-brand concertos are by now adequately understood asMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos revealing chapters on Vivaldi make abun-

dantly clear In this respect Bella Brover-Lubovskyrsquos Tonal Space in theMusic of Antonio Vivaldi (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983096)offers a welcome perspective on the composerrsquos concertos by relatingtheir tonal and harmonic language to that of his operas sacred vocalmusic sonatas and other works Starting from the premise that Viv-aldirsquos tonal practices do not reflect an ldquounambiguously lsquomature tonalrsquordquoidiom (p xv) she aims to connect his vocal and instrumental works toeighteenth-century theory aesthetics reception and pedagogy while re- vealing both progressive and conservative tendencies in the composerrsquos

handling of ldquotonal spacerdquo To this end she distributes fourteen briefchapters among four parts the first (ldquo Estro armonico rdquo) filling in the his-torical and theoretical background to Vivaldirsquos harmonic language andthe others examining different facets of this language (ldquoKey and ModerdquoldquoHarmony and Syntaxrdquo and ldquoTonal Structurerdquo) Brover-Lubovskyrsquos ef-forts to contextualize Vivaldirsquos works often widen the bookrsquos focus to en-compass tonal practice in early eighteenth-century Italy thereby leadingto a deepened understanding of both a crucial aspect of Vivaldian styleand a historical period in which modal principles were rapidly yielding

to harmonic tonalityTo be sure the three books reviewed here diverge sharply in

terms of methodology and focus But each substantially advances our

Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983094) Alfred Mann Handel The Orchestral Music OrchestralConcertos Organ Concertos Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks (New York Schirmer983089983097983097983094) Martin Geck and Werner Breig eds Bachs Orchesterwerke Bericht uumlber das 983089 Dort-munder Bach-Symposion 983089983097983097983094 (Witten Klangfarben 983089983097983097983095) Cesare Fertonani La musicastrumentale di Antonio Vivaldi (Florence Olschki 983089983097983097983096) Siegbert Rampe and DominikSackmann Bachs Orchestermusik Entstehung Klangwelt Interpretation Ein Handbuch (KasselBaumlrenreiter 983090983088983088983088) Jane R Stevens The Bach Family and the Keyboard Concerto The Evolutionof a Genre (Warren MI Harmonie Park Press 983090983088983088983089) Federico Maria Sardelli VivaldirsquosMusic for Flute and Recorder trans Michael Talbot (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983095) GregoryButler ed Bach Perspectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music The Concerto (Ur-bana University of Illinois Press 983090983088983088983096) and Steven Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste StyleGenre and Meaning in Telemannrsquos Instrumental Works (New York Oxford University Press983090983088983088983096) Examples of chapter-length surveys include Michael Talbot ldquoThe Italian Concertoin the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuriesrdquo and David Yearsley ldquoThe Con-certo in Northern Europe to ca 983089983095983095983088rdquo both in The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto ed Simon P Keefe (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093ndash983093983090 and 983093983091ndash983094983097Steven Zohn ldquoThe Overture-Suite Concerto grosso Ripieno Concerto and Harmoni-emusik in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo and Simon McVeigh ldquoConcerto of the Individualrdquoboth in The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music ed Simon P Keefe (CambridgeCambridge University Press 983090983088983088983097) 983093983093983094ndash983096983090 and 983093983096983091ndash983094983089983091 See also the relevant chaptersin Chappell White From Vivaldi to Viotti A History of the Early Classical Violin Concerto (Phila-delphia Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983090) and Michael Thomas Roeder A History of the Concerto (Portland Amadeus Press 983089983097983097983092)

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570

knowledge of the repertory while suggesting multiple directions forfurther research Considered together they provide a reacutesumeacute of the is-sues attending on the (Italian) baroque (solo) concerto including the

genrersquos boundaries paths of dissemination and influence analytical ap-proaches to formal and tonal designs and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performing practices

Defining the Baroque Concerto

McVeigh and Hirshberg aim to provide a ldquothick historyrdquo (p 983091) ofthe Italian solo concerto by examining an unprecedentedly large num-ber of works in printed and manuscript sources by reconsidering the

minor status of composers such as Giovanni Benedetto Platti Carlo Tes-sarini and Andrea Zani and by ignoring the ldquoartificial divisionrdquo of theBaroque and Classical periods traditionally placed around 983089983095983093983088 (But isthe authorsrsquo termination point of 983089983095983094983088 any less arbitrary) What countsas a solo concerto here is any ldquoconcertordquo for one or two soloists and ac-companying strings with at least one fast movement in ritornello formthe entire repertory is listed in a useful appendix furnishing musicalincipits for those works not found in existing thematic catalogs Thusnot considered are ldquogrouprdquo concertos for three or more soloists (per-

haps not very different from ldquodoublerdquo concertos) chamber concertos without accompanying strings concerti grossi in the Corellian mold orripieno concertos lacking independent solo parts

Of the twenty-nine composers responsible for the approximately 983096983088983088movements surveyed by McVeigh and Hirshberg Vivaldi accounts fornearly half the repertory (983091983091983095 movements) followed by Tartini (983089983088983092)Tessarini (983092983090) Zani (983091983095) Valentini (983091983093) and Platti (983090983092) Thus these sixcomposers comprising a fifth of the total produced over two-thirds of thesample At the opposite extreme are composers represented by a single

opus containing six to twelve concertos (Bonporti Brescianello Locatelli A Marcello Montanari and Zavateri) and others who have left us sixor fewer works transmitted in undated manuscripts (Brivio GhignoneB Marcello Perroni GB Sammartini Schiassi GL Somis and Vera-cini) Given the enormous size of this repertory and the authorsrsquo almostheroic efforts in surveying it one hesitates to call attention to its incom-pleteness But McVeigh and Hirshberg volunteer a list of several notablefigures whose works they have passed over owing to ldquopragmatic consid-erationsrdquo and the bookrsquos ldquochronological and geographical structurerdquo (p

983091) the Tartini student Paolo Tommaso Alberghi (983089983095983089983094ndash983096983093) FrancescoMaria Cattaneo (983089983094983097983096ndash983093983096) violinist and eventual Konzertmeister at theDresden court Domenico DallrsquoOglio (c 983089983095983088983088ndash983094983092) who spent muchof his career at the Russian court the Neapolitan composers Nicola

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983162983151983144983150

571

Fiorenza (d 983089983095983094983092) and Leonardo Leo (983089983094983097983092ndash983089983095983092983092) the latter knownfor his important cello concertos Angelo Morigi (983089983095983090983093ndash983089983096983088983089) whoserved the Duke of Parma Paulo Salurini (983089983095983088983097983090983088ndash983096983088) active in Si-

enna and Gasparo Visconti (983089983094983096983091ndashin or after 983089983095983089983091) who worked inCremona Although few of these composers will be familiar to non-specialists collectively they produced a substantial number of concertos(at least twenty-four survive by Alberghi and seventeen by DallrsquoOglio) worked in locations not otherwise represented in the book and furtherdocument the spread of the Italian solo concerto outside Italy

As reasonable as their self-imposed limitations aremdashthe biggest be-ing the exclusion of all second and third movements from their ana-lytical studymdashMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos labeling as Italian any concerto

written by a composer born in Italy is not without its problems for it isreasonable to ask whether a concerto is really ldquoItalianrdquo if it flowed fromthe pen of an expatriate composer who spent much of his workinglife north of the Alps Would not the musical and social conditions ofthe adopted countrymdashespecially works of locally born colleaguesmdashhaveaffected his musical choices In the case of Giuseppe Antonio Bres-cianello who left Italy for good in his mid-twenties and spent the lastforty-three years of his life in Germany McVeigh and Hirshberg findthat his ldquohighly individual approach to the concerto and to ritornello

form seems to refer outside Venice perhaps to his Bolognese upbring-ingrdquo (p 983089983097983095) But I suspect that Brescianellorsquos personal idiom whichincludes a preference for ldquorichness and variety of texturerdquo has morethan a little to do with his exposure to German concertos during hisdecades of service at the Wuumlrttemberg court in Stuttgart Similar con-siderations may apply to other Italians who spent considerable portionsof their careers in foreign countries including Locatelli Perroni PlattiG B Sammartini and Veracini One could argue in fact that the soloconcerto as a genre had been sufficiently internationalized by the 983089983095983090983088s

and that a composerrsquos Italian heritage was no guarantee of his works be-ing more identifiably ldquoItalianrdquo than those of the Germans Englishmenor other nationalities with whom he associated Thus Maunder consid-ers the concertos of Brescianello and Platti together with those by Eva-risto Felice DallrsquoAbaco (another transplanted Italian) alongside works written by native German composers

In defining his repertory Maunder appropriately calls attention tothe lack of standard terminology during the late seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries for works that we now recognize as concertos Yet

by considering any piece ldquoa concerto if it was so called by its composerrdquo(p 983092) he errs on the side of inclusivity Some of the early works he dis-cusses for example Torellirsquos Concerto da camera agrave due violini e basso op983090 (Bologna 983089983094983096983094) and Giuseppe Maria Iacchinirsquos Concerti per camera agrave

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983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

JM2604_04indd 580 21910 115131 AM

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983162983151983144983150

581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

JM2604_04indd 581 21910 115131 AM

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 1830

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 2: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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The Journal of Musicology Vol 983090983094 Issue 983092 pp 983093983094983094ndash983093983097983092 ISSN 983088983090983095983095-983097983090983094983097 electronic ISSN 983089983093983091983091-983096983091983092983095

copy 983090983088983089983088 by the Regents of the University of California All rights reserved Please direct all requests

for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Pressrsquos

Rights and Permissions website httpwwwucpressjournalscomreprintInfoasp DOI 983089983088983089983093983090983093

jm983090983088983088983097983090983094983092983093983094983094

566

REVIEW ESSAY

The Baroque Concerto

in Theory and Practice

STEVEN ZOHN

T

hose familiar with undergraduate surveycourses that cover eighteenth-century music have likely crossed paths with an archetypal diagram of ritornello form held up as the support-ing framework not only for Vivaldirsquos fast concerto movements but alsofor those by numerous other composers from Bach to Mozart Thoughthe diagramrsquos pleasing symmetries are typically enthroned in thecoursersquos textbook ldquoRrdquos and ldquoSrdquos hovering above Roman numerals in

color-coded boxes students carefully copy down the Vivaldian gameplan as if it were a mathematical equation or anatomical drawingmdashforthey will surely be asked to reproduce it on the next test And despitethe efforts of conscientious instructors to counter a nearly irresistible(some might say inevitable) tendency to over-simplify the concertorsquosearly history students often come away believing that Vivaldirsquos formalinnovations as crystallized in a supposedly representative movementor two were universally adopted by his contemporaries that his con-certos fully reflect the highly goal-directed harmonic tonality that had

recently replaced the old modal system and that these works quicklybecame mainstays of the various orchestras then popping up acrossEurope as the novel texture of doubled members of the violin familypitted against a soloist captivated both composers and listeners

Such formulations although historically grounded are called intoquestion by three recent books that aim to set the record straightmdashorperhaps a bit more crookedmdashwith respect to the baroque concertoSimon McVeigh and Jehoash Hirshbergrsquos The Italian Solo Concerto

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983162983151983144983150

567

983089983095983088983088ndash983089983095983094983088 Rhetorical Strategies and Style History (Woodbridge Boydell983090983088983088983092) dispels a number of misconceptions about the vast repertoryof more than 983096983088983088 solo concertos by Vivaldi and his Italian contempo-

raries If it does not quite deliver the comprehensive survey impliedby its titlemdashonly first (fast) movements are considered and primarilyfrom a formalist perspectivemdashthis book engages its topic with an un-precedented degree of analytical rigor greatly refining our view of howseveral generations of Italian composers approached ritornello formMcVeigh and Hirshberg are perceptive critics of musical style equallyalert to personal idioms and geographical and chronological trendsMoreover their impressive command of the material allows them todraw musical connections across the repertory Instead of construct-

ing a potentially misleading inappropriately linear narrative of stylisticchange in a body of music that on the whole cannot be dated preciselythey conduct statistical studies of individual composersrsquo concertosgrouping them into regional centers whenever possible Supporting themany insightful analyses of individual movements are a wealth of musi-cal examples statistical tables and formal diagrams

Richard Maunderrsquos The Scoring of Baroque Concertos (WoodbridgeBoydell 983090983088983088983092) treats the genre as a broadly European phenomenon within the traditional chronological framework of 983089983094983096983093ndash983089983095983093983088 offering a

comprehensive overview of the repertory underpinned by an impressiveknowledge of manuscript and printed sources Yet the bookrsquos focus onproving the hypothesis that one-to-a-part performance was a nearly uni- versal practice during the early eighteenth century makes it both moreand less than a traditional survey of the composers and styles associated with the baroque concerto Maunderrsquos extensive discussions of scoringand occasional commentaries on musical style are divided into two chron-ological segments each with chapters organized according to geography(983089983094983096983093ndash983089983095983090983093 Bologna Venice Rome Germany and Holland England

983089983095983090983093ndash983093983088 Italy Germany The Low Countries and France England) De-spite the bookrsquos overarching concern with the question of how many and(in the case of bass lines) what type of string instruments were intendedfor particular concertos readers primarily interested in the music itself will find much to stimulate them The many musical examples are wellchosen although Boydell as McVeigh and Hirshberg has uncomfortablycrowded them into the main text

In many respects these two books are worthy successors to classicstudies of the baroque concerto by Arnold Schering Hans Engel Ar-

thur Hutchings and Pippa Drummond983089 Like their predecessors they

983089 Arnold Schering Geschichte des Instrumentalkonzerts bis auf die Gegenwart (LeipzigBreitkopf amp Haumlrtel 983089983097983088983093 983090nd ed 983089983097983090983095) Hans Engel Das Instrumentalkonzert (Leipzig

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568

offer fresh perspectives on familiar music and point to unaccountablyneglected composers and works Maunder for example argues com-pellingly that Corellirsquos Concerti grossi op 983094 were composed not long

before their publication in 983089983095983089983092mdashor at least that the evidence for theirsupposed existence as far back as the 983089983094983096983088s is inconclusive at best Healso provides a fascinating survey of the earliest concertos performedand published in England along with tantalizing descriptions of Gio- vanni Mossirsquos op 983092 Antonio Montanarirsquos op983089 and Willem de Feschrsquosopp 983090 and 983091 McVeigh and Hirshberg provide a valuable discussionof Giuseppe Valentinirsquos mature works they allow Giuseppe Alberti toemerge from the shadow of Vivaldi and take his place as ldquoone of theoriginators of ritornello formrdquo (p 983090983090983097) and they single out more than

a few interesting concertos by obscure figures (one piece by Angelo Ma-ria Scaccia is colorfully characterized by them as ldquoa rhetorical argumentin the subjunctive offering diverse implications and delayed realiza-tionsrdquo p 983090983094983088) They also call attention to a number of Bolognese con-certos that seem well worth reviving including three works by GirolamoNicolograve Laurenti preserved in Dresden and a characteristic concerto byGaetano Zavateri (ldquoA tempesta di marerdquo) Whether or not these twocomposers along with Gaetano Maria Schiassi really can be consid-ered to have ldquooverthrownrdquo a Bolognese concerto tradition the authors

do make a convincing case that local preferences ceded more thana little ground to Venetian influences The Bolognese tradition itselfrepresented by Torelli and several of his contemporaries is discussed atlength by Maunder983090

Such attention to dimly lit corners of the repertory is especially welcome at a time when most recent work on the baroque concertohas concerned itself with canonical figures notably J S Bach HandelTelemann and Vivaldi wider surveys of the genre being limited forthe most part to chapter-length overviews in handbook-style volumes983091

Breitkopf amp Haumlrtel 983089983097983091983090) Arthur Hutchings The Baroque Concerto (New York WW Nor-ton 983089983097983094983089 983091rd rev ed New York Charles Scribnerrsquos Sons 983089983097983095983097) Pippa DrummondThe German Concerto Five Eighteenth-Century Studies (Oxford Clarendon Press New YorkOxford University Press 983089983097983096983088)

983090 For a more recent discussion of the early Bolognese concerto see Gregory Bar-nett Bolognese Instrumental Music 983089983094983094983088ndash983089983095983089983088 Spiritual Comfort Courtly Delight and Com- mercial Triumph (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983096) 983090983097983091ndash983091983094983088

983091 Among book-length studies devoted in whole or in part to the concertos of in-dividual baroque composers see in particular Wolfgang Hirschmann Studien zum Kon- zertschaffen von Georg Philipp Telemann 983090 vols (Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983096983094) Malcolm BoydBach The Brandenburg Concertos (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983091) Meiketen Brink Die Floumltenkonzerte von Johann Joachim Quantz Untersuchungen zu ihrer Uumlberlieferungund Form 983090 vols (Hildesheim Olms 983089983097983097983093) Michael Marissen The Social and Religious

Designs of JS Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertos (Princeton Princeton University Press 983089983097983097983093)Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Cambridge MA Harvard UniversityPress 983089983097983097983094) Paul Everett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasonsrdquo and Other Concertos op 983096 (Cambridge

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983162983151983144983150

569

But this is not to say that the musical idioms contexts and meaningsof such name-brand concertos are by now adequately understood asMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos revealing chapters on Vivaldi make abun-

dantly clear In this respect Bella Brover-Lubovskyrsquos Tonal Space in theMusic of Antonio Vivaldi (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983096)offers a welcome perspective on the composerrsquos concertos by relatingtheir tonal and harmonic language to that of his operas sacred vocalmusic sonatas and other works Starting from the premise that Viv-aldirsquos tonal practices do not reflect an ldquounambiguously lsquomature tonalrsquordquoidiom (p xv) she aims to connect his vocal and instrumental works toeighteenth-century theory aesthetics reception and pedagogy while re- vealing both progressive and conservative tendencies in the composerrsquos

handling of ldquotonal spacerdquo To this end she distributes fourteen briefchapters among four parts the first (ldquo Estro armonico rdquo) filling in the his-torical and theoretical background to Vivaldirsquos harmonic language andthe others examining different facets of this language (ldquoKey and ModerdquoldquoHarmony and Syntaxrdquo and ldquoTonal Structurerdquo) Brover-Lubovskyrsquos ef-forts to contextualize Vivaldirsquos works often widen the bookrsquos focus to en-compass tonal practice in early eighteenth-century Italy thereby leadingto a deepened understanding of both a crucial aspect of Vivaldian styleand a historical period in which modal principles were rapidly yielding

to harmonic tonalityTo be sure the three books reviewed here diverge sharply in

terms of methodology and focus But each substantially advances our

Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983094) Alfred Mann Handel The Orchestral Music OrchestralConcertos Organ Concertos Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks (New York Schirmer983089983097983097983094) Martin Geck and Werner Breig eds Bachs Orchesterwerke Bericht uumlber das 983089 Dort-munder Bach-Symposion 983089983097983097983094 (Witten Klangfarben 983089983097983097983095) Cesare Fertonani La musicastrumentale di Antonio Vivaldi (Florence Olschki 983089983097983097983096) Siegbert Rampe and DominikSackmann Bachs Orchestermusik Entstehung Klangwelt Interpretation Ein Handbuch (KasselBaumlrenreiter 983090983088983088983088) Jane R Stevens The Bach Family and the Keyboard Concerto The Evolutionof a Genre (Warren MI Harmonie Park Press 983090983088983088983089) Federico Maria Sardelli VivaldirsquosMusic for Flute and Recorder trans Michael Talbot (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983095) GregoryButler ed Bach Perspectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music The Concerto (Ur-bana University of Illinois Press 983090983088983088983096) and Steven Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste StyleGenre and Meaning in Telemannrsquos Instrumental Works (New York Oxford University Press983090983088983088983096) Examples of chapter-length surveys include Michael Talbot ldquoThe Italian Concertoin the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuriesrdquo and David Yearsley ldquoThe Con-certo in Northern Europe to ca 983089983095983095983088rdquo both in The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto ed Simon P Keefe (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093ndash983093983090 and 983093983091ndash983094983097Steven Zohn ldquoThe Overture-Suite Concerto grosso Ripieno Concerto and Harmoni-emusik in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo and Simon McVeigh ldquoConcerto of the Individualrdquoboth in The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music ed Simon P Keefe (CambridgeCambridge University Press 983090983088983088983097) 983093983093983094ndash983096983090 and 983093983096983091ndash983094983089983091 See also the relevant chaptersin Chappell White From Vivaldi to Viotti A History of the Early Classical Violin Concerto (Phila-delphia Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983090) and Michael Thomas Roeder A History of the Concerto (Portland Amadeus Press 983089983097983097983092)

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983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

570

knowledge of the repertory while suggesting multiple directions forfurther research Considered together they provide a reacutesumeacute of the is-sues attending on the (Italian) baroque (solo) concerto including the

genrersquos boundaries paths of dissemination and influence analytical ap-proaches to formal and tonal designs and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performing practices

Defining the Baroque Concerto

McVeigh and Hirshberg aim to provide a ldquothick historyrdquo (p 983091) ofthe Italian solo concerto by examining an unprecedentedly large num-ber of works in printed and manuscript sources by reconsidering the

minor status of composers such as Giovanni Benedetto Platti Carlo Tes-sarini and Andrea Zani and by ignoring the ldquoartificial divisionrdquo of theBaroque and Classical periods traditionally placed around 983089983095983093983088 (But isthe authorsrsquo termination point of 983089983095983094983088 any less arbitrary) What countsas a solo concerto here is any ldquoconcertordquo for one or two soloists and ac-companying strings with at least one fast movement in ritornello formthe entire repertory is listed in a useful appendix furnishing musicalincipits for those works not found in existing thematic catalogs Thusnot considered are ldquogrouprdquo concertos for three or more soloists (per-

haps not very different from ldquodoublerdquo concertos) chamber concertos without accompanying strings concerti grossi in the Corellian mold orripieno concertos lacking independent solo parts

Of the twenty-nine composers responsible for the approximately 983096983088983088movements surveyed by McVeigh and Hirshberg Vivaldi accounts fornearly half the repertory (983091983091983095 movements) followed by Tartini (983089983088983092)Tessarini (983092983090) Zani (983091983095) Valentini (983091983093) and Platti (983090983092) Thus these sixcomposers comprising a fifth of the total produced over two-thirds of thesample At the opposite extreme are composers represented by a single

opus containing six to twelve concertos (Bonporti Brescianello Locatelli A Marcello Montanari and Zavateri) and others who have left us sixor fewer works transmitted in undated manuscripts (Brivio GhignoneB Marcello Perroni GB Sammartini Schiassi GL Somis and Vera-cini) Given the enormous size of this repertory and the authorsrsquo almostheroic efforts in surveying it one hesitates to call attention to its incom-pleteness But McVeigh and Hirshberg volunteer a list of several notablefigures whose works they have passed over owing to ldquopragmatic consid-erationsrdquo and the bookrsquos ldquochronological and geographical structurerdquo (p

983091) the Tartini student Paolo Tommaso Alberghi (983089983095983089983094ndash983096983093) FrancescoMaria Cattaneo (983089983094983097983096ndash983093983096) violinist and eventual Konzertmeister at theDresden court Domenico DallrsquoOglio (c 983089983095983088983088ndash983094983092) who spent muchof his career at the Russian court the Neapolitan composers Nicola

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571

Fiorenza (d 983089983095983094983092) and Leonardo Leo (983089983094983097983092ndash983089983095983092983092) the latter knownfor his important cello concertos Angelo Morigi (983089983095983090983093ndash983089983096983088983089) whoserved the Duke of Parma Paulo Salurini (983089983095983088983097983090983088ndash983096983088) active in Si-

enna and Gasparo Visconti (983089983094983096983091ndashin or after 983089983095983089983091) who worked inCremona Although few of these composers will be familiar to non-specialists collectively they produced a substantial number of concertos(at least twenty-four survive by Alberghi and seventeen by DallrsquoOglio) worked in locations not otherwise represented in the book and furtherdocument the spread of the Italian solo concerto outside Italy

As reasonable as their self-imposed limitations aremdashthe biggest be-ing the exclusion of all second and third movements from their ana-lytical studymdashMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos labeling as Italian any concerto

written by a composer born in Italy is not without its problems for it isreasonable to ask whether a concerto is really ldquoItalianrdquo if it flowed fromthe pen of an expatriate composer who spent much of his workinglife north of the Alps Would not the musical and social conditions ofthe adopted countrymdashespecially works of locally born colleaguesmdashhaveaffected his musical choices In the case of Giuseppe Antonio Bres-cianello who left Italy for good in his mid-twenties and spent the lastforty-three years of his life in Germany McVeigh and Hirshberg findthat his ldquohighly individual approach to the concerto and to ritornello

form seems to refer outside Venice perhaps to his Bolognese upbring-ingrdquo (p 983089983097983095) But I suspect that Brescianellorsquos personal idiom whichincludes a preference for ldquorichness and variety of texturerdquo has morethan a little to do with his exposure to German concertos during hisdecades of service at the Wuumlrttemberg court in Stuttgart Similar con-siderations may apply to other Italians who spent considerable portionsof their careers in foreign countries including Locatelli Perroni PlattiG B Sammartini and Veracini One could argue in fact that the soloconcerto as a genre had been sufficiently internationalized by the 983089983095983090983088s

and that a composerrsquos Italian heritage was no guarantee of his works be-ing more identifiably ldquoItalianrdquo than those of the Germans Englishmenor other nationalities with whom he associated Thus Maunder consid-ers the concertos of Brescianello and Platti together with those by Eva-risto Felice DallrsquoAbaco (another transplanted Italian) alongside works written by native German composers

In defining his repertory Maunder appropriately calls attention tothe lack of standard terminology during the late seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries for works that we now recognize as concertos Yet

by considering any piece ldquoa concerto if it was so called by its composerrdquo(p 983092) he errs on the side of inclusivity Some of the early works he dis-cusses for example Torellirsquos Concerto da camera agrave due violini e basso op983090 (Bologna 983089983094983096983094) and Giuseppe Maria Iacchinirsquos Concerti per camera agrave

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572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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983162983151983144983150

585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 3: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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983162983151983144983150

567

983089983095983088983088ndash983089983095983094983088 Rhetorical Strategies and Style History (Woodbridge Boydell983090983088983088983092) dispels a number of misconceptions about the vast repertoryof more than 983096983088983088 solo concertos by Vivaldi and his Italian contempo-

raries If it does not quite deliver the comprehensive survey impliedby its titlemdashonly first (fast) movements are considered and primarilyfrom a formalist perspectivemdashthis book engages its topic with an un-precedented degree of analytical rigor greatly refining our view of howseveral generations of Italian composers approached ritornello formMcVeigh and Hirshberg are perceptive critics of musical style equallyalert to personal idioms and geographical and chronological trendsMoreover their impressive command of the material allows them todraw musical connections across the repertory Instead of construct-

ing a potentially misleading inappropriately linear narrative of stylisticchange in a body of music that on the whole cannot be dated preciselythey conduct statistical studies of individual composersrsquo concertosgrouping them into regional centers whenever possible Supporting themany insightful analyses of individual movements are a wealth of musi-cal examples statistical tables and formal diagrams

Richard Maunderrsquos The Scoring of Baroque Concertos (WoodbridgeBoydell 983090983088983088983092) treats the genre as a broadly European phenomenon within the traditional chronological framework of 983089983094983096983093ndash983089983095983093983088 offering a

comprehensive overview of the repertory underpinned by an impressiveknowledge of manuscript and printed sources Yet the bookrsquos focus onproving the hypothesis that one-to-a-part performance was a nearly uni- versal practice during the early eighteenth century makes it both moreand less than a traditional survey of the composers and styles associated with the baroque concerto Maunderrsquos extensive discussions of scoringand occasional commentaries on musical style are divided into two chron-ological segments each with chapters organized according to geography(983089983094983096983093ndash983089983095983090983093 Bologna Venice Rome Germany and Holland England

983089983095983090983093ndash983093983088 Italy Germany The Low Countries and France England) De-spite the bookrsquos overarching concern with the question of how many and(in the case of bass lines) what type of string instruments were intendedfor particular concertos readers primarily interested in the music itself will find much to stimulate them The many musical examples are wellchosen although Boydell as McVeigh and Hirshberg has uncomfortablycrowded them into the main text

In many respects these two books are worthy successors to classicstudies of the baroque concerto by Arnold Schering Hans Engel Ar-

thur Hutchings and Pippa Drummond983089 Like their predecessors they

983089 Arnold Schering Geschichte des Instrumentalkonzerts bis auf die Gegenwart (LeipzigBreitkopf amp Haumlrtel 983089983097983088983093 983090nd ed 983089983097983090983095) Hans Engel Das Instrumentalkonzert (Leipzig

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568

offer fresh perspectives on familiar music and point to unaccountablyneglected composers and works Maunder for example argues com-pellingly that Corellirsquos Concerti grossi op 983094 were composed not long

before their publication in 983089983095983089983092mdashor at least that the evidence for theirsupposed existence as far back as the 983089983094983096983088s is inconclusive at best Healso provides a fascinating survey of the earliest concertos performedand published in England along with tantalizing descriptions of Gio- vanni Mossirsquos op 983092 Antonio Montanarirsquos op983089 and Willem de Feschrsquosopp 983090 and 983091 McVeigh and Hirshberg provide a valuable discussionof Giuseppe Valentinirsquos mature works they allow Giuseppe Alberti toemerge from the shadow of Vivaldi and take his place as ldquoone of theoriginators of ritornello formrdquo (p 983090983090983097) and they single out more than

a few interesting concertos by obscure figures (one piece by Angelo Ma-ria Scaccia is colorfully characterized by them as ldquoa rhetorical argumentin the subjunctive offering diverse implications and delayed realiza-tionsrdquo p 983090983094983088) They also call attention to a number of Bolognese con-certos that seem well worth reviving including three works by GirolamoNicolograve Laurenti preserved in Dresden and a characteristic concerto byGaetano Zavateri (ldquoA tempesta di marerdquo) Whether or not these twocomposers along with Gaetano Maria Schiassi really can be consid-ered to have ldquooverthrownrdquo a Bolognese concerto tradition the authors

do make a convincing case that local preferences ceded more thana little ground to Venetian influences The Bolognese tradition itselfrepresented by Torelli and several of his contemporaries is discussed atlength by Maunder983090

Such attention to dimly lit corners of the repertory is especially welcome at a time when most recent work on the baroque concertohas concerned itself with canonical figures notably J S Bach HandelTelemann and Vivaldi wider surveys of the genre being limited forthe most part to chapter-length overviews in handbook-style volumes983091

Breitkopf amp Haumlrtel 983089983097983091983090) Arthur Hutchings The Baroque Concerto (New York WW Nor-ton 983089983097983094983089 983091rd rev ed New York Charles Scribnerrsquos Sons 983089983097983095983097) Pippa DrummondThe German Concerto Five Eighteenth-Century Studies (Oxford Clarendon Press New YorkOxford University Press 983089983097983096983088)

983090 For a more recent discussion of the early Bolognese concerto see Gregory Bar-nett Bolognese Instrumental Music 983089983094983094983088ndash983089983095983089983088 Spiritual Comfort Courtly Delight and Com- mercial Triumph (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983096) 983090983097983091ndash983091983094983088

983091 Among book-length studies devoted in whole or in part to the concertos of in-dividual baroque composers see in particular Wolfgang Hirschmann Studien zum Kon- zertschaffen von Georg Philipp Telemann 983090 vols (Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983096983094) Malcolm BoydBach The Brandenburg Concertos (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983091) Meiketen Brink Die Floumltenkonzerte von Johann Joachim Quantz Untersuchungen zu ihrer Uumlberlieferungund Form 983090 vols (Hildesheim Olms 983089983097983097983093) Michael Marissen The Social and Religious

Designs of JS Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertos (Princeton Princeton University Press 983089983097983097983093)Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Cambridge MA Harvard UniversityPress 983089983097983097983094) Paul Everett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasonsrdquo and Other Concertos op 983096 (Cambridge

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983162983151983144983150

569

But this is not to say that the musical idioms contexts and meaningsof such name-brand concertos are by now adequately understood asMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos revealing chapters on Vivaldi make abun-

dantly clear In this respect Bella Brover-Lubovskyrsquos Tonal Space in theMusic of Antonio Vivaldi (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983096)offers a welcome perspective on the composerrsquos concertos by relatingtheir tonal and harmonic language to that of his operas sacred vocalmusic sonatas and other works Starting from the premise that Viv-aldirsquos tonal practices do not reflect an ldquounambiguously lsquomature tonalrsquordquoidiom (p xv) she aims to connect his vocal and instrumental works toeighteenth-century theory aesthetics reception and pedagogy while re- vealing both progressive and conservative tendencies in the composerrsquos

handling of ldquotonal spacerdquo To this end she distributes fourteen briefchapters among four parts the first (ldquo Estro armonico rdquo) filling in the his-torical and theoretical background to Vivaldirsquos harmonic language andthe others examining different facets of this language (ldquoKey and ModerdquoldquoHarmony and Syntaxrdquo and ldquoTonal Structurerdquo) Brover-Lubovskyrsquos ef-forts to contextualize Vivaldirsquos works often widen the bookrsquos focus to en-compass tonal practice in early eighteenth-century Italy thereby leadingto a deepened understanding of both a crucial aspect of Vivaldian styleand a historical period in which modal principles were rapidly yielding

to harmonic tonalityTo be sure the three books reviewed here diverge sharply in

terms of methodology and focus But each substantially advances our

Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983094) Alfred Mann Handel The Orchestral Music OrchestralConcertos Organ Concertos Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks (New York Schirmer983089983097983097983094) Martin Geck and Werner Breig eds Bachs Orchesterwerke Bericht uumlber das 983089 Dort-munder Bach-Symposion 983089983097983097983094 (Witten Klangfarben 983089983097983097983095) Cesare Fertonani La musicastrumentale di Antonio Vivaldi (Florence Olschki 983089983097983097983096) Siegbert Rampe and DominikSackmann Bachs Orchestermusik Entstehung Klangwelt Interpretation Ein Handbuch (KasselBaumlrenreiter 983090983088983088983088) Jane R Stevens The Bach Family and the Keyboard Concerto The Evolutionof a Genre (Warren MI Harmonie Park Press 983090983088983088983089) Federico Maria Sardelli VivaldirsquosMusic for Flute and Recorder trans Michael Talbot (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983095) GregoryButler ed Bach Perspectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music The Concerto (Ur-bana University of Illinois Press 983090983088983088983096) and Steven Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste StyleGenre and Meaning in Telemannrsquos Instrumental Works (New York Oxford University Press983090983088983088983096) Examples of chapter-length surveys include Michael Talbot ldquoThe Italian Concertoin the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuriesrdquo and David Yearsley ldquoThe Con-certo in Northern Europe to ca 983089983095983095983088rdquo both in The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto ed Simon P Keefe (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093ndash983093983090 and 983093983091ndash983094983097Steven Zohn ldquoThe Overture-Suite Concerto grosso Ripieno Concerto and Harmoni-emusik in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo and Simon McVeigh ldquoConcerto of the Individualrdquoboth in The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music ed Simon P Keefe (CambridgeCambridge University Press 983090983088983088983097) 983093983093983094ndash983096983090 and 983093983096983091ndash983094983089983091 See also the relevant chaptersin Chappell White From Vivaldi to Viotti A History of the Early Classical Violin Concerto (Phila-delphia Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983090) and Michael Thomas Roeder A History of the Concerto (Portland Amadeus Press 983089983097983097983092)

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570

knowledge of the repertory while suggesting multiple directions forfurther research Considered together they provide a reacutesumeacute of the is-sues attending on the (Italian) baroque (solo) concerto including the

genrersquos boundaries paths of dissemination and influence analytical ap-proaches to formal and tonal designs and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performing practices

Defining the Baroque Concerto

McVeigh and Hirshberg aim to provide a ldquothick historyrdquo (p 983091) ofthe Italian solo concerto by examining an unprecedentedly large num-ber of works in printed and manuscript sources by reconsidering the

minor status of composers such as Giovanni Benedetto Platti Carlo Tes-sarini and Andrea Zani and by ignoring the ldquoartificial divisionrdquo of theBaroque and Classical periods traditionally placed around 983089983095983093983088 (But isthe authorsrsquo termination point of 983089983095983094983088 any less arbitrary) What countsas a solo concerto here is any ldquoconcertordquo for one or two soloists and ac-companying strings with at least one fast movement in ritornello formthe entire repertory is listed in a useful appendix furnishing musicalincipits for those works not found in existing thematic catalogs Thusnot considered are ldquogrouprdquo concertos for three or more soloists (per-

haps not very different from ldquodoublerdquo concertos) chamber concertos without accompanying strings concerti grossi in the Corellian mold orripieno concertos lacking independent solo parts

Of the twenty-nine composers responsible for the approximately 983096983088983088movements surveyed by McVeigh and Hirshberg Vivaldi accounts fornearly half the repertory (983091983091983095 movements) followed by Tartini (983089983088983092)Tessarini (983092983090) Zani (983091983095) Valentini (983091983093) and Platti (983090983092) Thus these sixcomposers comprising a fifth of the total produced over two-thirds of thesample At the opposite extreme are composers represented by a single

opus containing six to twelve concertos (Bonporti Brescianello Locatelli A Marcello Montanari and Zavateri) and others who have left us sixor fewer works transmitted in undated manuscripts (Brivio GhignoneB Marcello Perroni GB Sammartini Schiassi GL Somis and Vera-cini) Given the enormous size of this repertory and the authorsrsquo almostheroic efforts in surveying it one hesitates to call attention to its incom-pleteness But McVeigh and Hirshberg volunteer a list of several notablefigures whose works they have passed over owing to ldquopragmatic consid-erationsrdquo and the bookrsquos ldquochronological and geographical structurerdquo (p

983091) the Tartini student Paolo Tommaso Alberghi (983089983095983089983094ndash983096983093) FrancescoMaria Cattaneo (983089983094983097983096ndash983093983096) violinist and eventual Konzertmeister at theDresden court Domenico DallrsquoOglio (c 983089983095983088983088ndash983094983092) who spent muchof his career at the Russian court the Neapolitan composers Nicola

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983162983151983144983150

571

Fiorenza (d 983089983095983094983092) and Leonardo Leo (983089983094983097983092ndash983089983095983092983092) the latter knownfor his important cello concertos Angelo Morigi (983089983095983090983093ndash983089983096983088983089) whoserved the Duke of Parma Paulo Salurini (983089983095983088983097983090983088ndash983096983088) active in Si-

enna and Gasparo Visconti (983089983094983096983091ndashin or after 983089983095983089983091) who worked inCremona Although few of these composers will be familiar to non-specialists collectively they produced a substantial number of concertos(at least twenty-four survive by Alberghi and seventeen by DallrsquoOglio) worked in locations not otherwise represented in the book and furtherdocument the spread of the Italian solo concerto outside Italy

As reasonable as their self-imposed limitations aremdashthe biggest be-ing the exclusion of all second and third movements from their ana-lytical studymdashMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos labeling as Italian any concerto

written by a composer born in Italy is not without its problems for it isreasonable to ask whether a concerto is really ldquoItalianrdquo if it flowed fromthe pen of an expatriate composer who spent much of his workinglife north of the Alps Would not the musical and social conditions ofthe adopted countrymdashespecially works of locally born colleaguesmdashhaveaffected his musical choices In the case of Giuseppe Antonio Bres-cianello who left Italy for good in his mid-twenties and spent the lastforty-three years of his life in Germany McVeigh and Hirshberg findthat his ldquohighly individual approach to the concerto and to ritornello

form seems to refer outside Venice perhaps to his Bolognese upbring-ingrdquo (p 983089983097983095) But I suspect that Brescianellorsquos personal idiom whichincludes a preference for ldquorichness and variety of texturerdquo has morethan a little to do with his exposure to German concertos during hisdecades of service at the Wuumlrttemberg court in Stuttgart Similar con-siderations may apply to other Italians who spent considerable portionsof their careers in foreign countries including Locatelli Perroni PlattiG B Sammartini and Veracini One could argue in fact that the soloconcerto as a genre had been sufficiently internationalized by the 983089983095983090983088s

and that a composerrsquos Italian heritage was no guarantee of his works be-ing more identifiably ldquoItalianrdquo than those of the Germans Englishmenor other nationalities with whom he associated Thus Maunder consid-ers the concertos of Brescianello and Platti together with those by Eva-risto Felice DallrsquoAbaco (another transplanted Italian) alongside works written by native German composers

In defining his repertory Maunder appropriately calls attention tothe lack of standard terminology during the late seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries for works that we now recognize as concertos Yet

by considering any piece ldquoa concerto if it was so called by its composerrdquo(p 983092) he errs on the side of inclusivity Some of the early works he dis-cusses for example Torellirsquos Concerto da camera agrave due violini e basso op983090 (Bologna 983089983094983096983094) and Giuseppe Maria Iacchinirsquos Concerti per camera agrave

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572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 1030

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

JM2604_04indd 574 21910 115129 AM

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983162983151983144983150

575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

JM2604_04indd 582 21910 115131 AM

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 4: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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568

offer fresh perspectives on familiar music and point to unaccountablyneglected composers and works Maunder for example argues com-pellingly that Corellirsquos Concerti grossi op 983094 were composed not long

before their publication in 983089983095983089983092mdashor at least that the evidence for theirsupposed existence as far back as the 983089983094983096983088s is inconclusive at best Healso provides a fascinating survey of the earliest concertos performedand published in England along with tantalizing descriptions of Gio- vanni Mossirsquos op 983092 Antonio Montanarirsquos op983089 and Willem de Feschrsquosopp 983090 and 983091 McVeigh and Hirshberg provide a valuable discussionof Giuseppe Valentinirsquos mature works they allow Giuseppe Alberti toemerge from the shadow of Vivaldi and take his place as ldquoone of theoriginators of ritornello formrdquo (p 983090983090983097) and they single out more than

a few interesting concertos by obscure figures (one piece by Angelo Ma-ria Scaccia is colorfully characterized by them as ldquoa rhetorical argumentin the subjunctive offering diverse implications and delayed realiza-tionsrdquo p 983090983094983088) They also call attention to a number of Bolognese con-certos that seem well worth reviving including three works by GirolamoNicolograve Laurenti preserved in Dresden and a characteristic concerto byGaetano Zavateri (ldquoA tempesta di marerdquo) Whether or not these twocomposers along with Gaetano Maria Schiassi really can be consid-ered to have ldquooverthrownrdquo a Bolognese concerto tradition the authors

do make a convincing case that local preferences ceded more thana little ground to Venetian influences The Bolognese tradition itselfrepresented by Torelli and several of his contemporaries is discussed atlength by Maunder983090

Such attention to dimly lit corners of the repertory is especially welcome at a time when most recent work on the baroque concertohas concerned itself with canonical figures notably J S Bach HandelTelemann and Vivaldi wider surveys of the genre being limited forthe most part to chapter-length overviews in handbook-style volumes983091

Breitkopf amp Haumlrtel 983089983097983091983090) Arthur Hutchings The Baroque Concerto (New York WW Nor-ton 983089983097983094983089 983091rd rev ed New York Charles Scribnerrsquos Sons 983089983097983095983097) Pippa DrummondThe German Concerto Five Eighteenth-Century Studies (Oxford Clarendon Press New YorkOxford University Press 983089983097983096983088)

983090 For a more recent discussion of the early Bolognese concerto see Gregory Bar-nett Bolognese Instrumental Music 983089983094983094983088ndash983089983095983089983088 Spiritual Comfort Courtly Delight and Com- mercial Triumph (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983096) 983090983097983091ndash983091983094983088

983091 Among book-length studies devoted in whole or in part to the concertos of in-dividual baroque composers see in particular Wolfgang Hirschmann Studien zum Kon- zertschaffen von Georg Philipp Telemann 983090 vols (Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983096983094) Malcolm BoydBach The Brandenburg Concertos (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983091) Meiketen Brink Die Floumltenkonzerte von Johann Joachim Quantz Untersuchungen zu ihrer Uumlberlieferungund Form 983090 vols (Hildesheim Olms 983089983097983097983093) Michael Marissen The Social and Religious

Designs of JS Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertos (Princeton Princeton University Press 983089983097983097983093)Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Cambridge MA Harvard UniversityPress 983089983097983097983094) Paul Everett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasonsrdquo and Other Concertos op 983096 (Cambridge

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983162983151983144983150

569

But this is not to say that the musical idioms contexts and meaningsof such name-brand concertos are by now adequately understood asMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos revealing chapters on Vivaldi make abun-

dantly clear In this respect Bella Brover-Lubovskyrsquos Tonal Space in theMusic of Antonio Vivaldi (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983096)offers a welcome perspective on the composerrsquos concertos by relatingtheir tonal and harmonic language to that of his operas sacred vocalmusic sonatas and other works Starting from the premise that Viv-aldirsquos tonal practices do not reflect an ldquounambiguously lsquomature tonalrsquordquoidiom (p xv) she aims to connect his vocal and instrumental works toeighteenth-century theory aesthetics reception and pedagogy while re- vealing both progressive and conservative tendencies in the composerrsquos

handling of ldquotonal spacerdquo To this end she distributes fourteen briefchapters among four parts the first (ldquo Estro armonico rdquo) filling in the his-torical and theoretical background to Vivaldirsquos harmonic language andthe others examining different facets of this language (ldquoKey and ModerdquoldquoHarmony and Syntaxrdquo and ldquoTonal Structurerdquo) Brover-Lubovskyrsquos ef-forts to contextualize Vivaldirsquos works often widen the bookrsquos focus to en-compass tonal practice in early eighteenth-century Italy thereby leadingto a deepened understanding of both a crucial aspect of Vivaldian styleand a historical period in which modal principles were rapidly yielding

to harmonic tonalityTo be sure the three books reviewed here diverge sharply in

terms of methodology and focus But each substantially advances our

Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983094) Alfred Mann Handel The Orchestral Music OrchestralConcertos Organ Concertos Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks (New York Schirmer983089983097983097983094) Martin Geck and Werner Breig eds Bachs Orchesterwerke Bericht uumlber das 983089 Dort-munder Bach-Symposion 983089983097983097983094 (Witten Klangfarben 983089983097983097983095) Cesare Fertonani La musicastrumentale di Antonio Vivaldi (Florence Olschki 983089983097983097983096) Siegbert Rampe and DominikSackmann Bachs Orchestermusik Entstehung Klangwelt Interpretation Ein Handbuch (KasselBaumlrenreiter 983090983088983088983088) Jane R Stevens The Bach Family and the Keyboard Concerto The Evolutionof a Genre (Warren MI Harmonie Park Press 983090983088983088983089) Federico Maria Sardelli VivaldirsquosMusic for Flute and Recorder trans Michael Talbot (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983095) GregoryButler ed Bach Perspectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music The Concerto (Ur-bana University of Illinois Press 983090983088983088983096) and Steven Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste StyleGenre and Meaning in Telemannrsquos Instrumental Works (New York Oxford University Press983090983088983088983096) Examples of chapter-length surveys include Michael Talbot ldquoThe Italian Concertoin the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuriesrdquo and David Yearsley ldquoThe Con-certo in Northern Europe to ca 983089983095983095983088rdquo both in The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto ed Simon P Keefe (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093ndash983093983090 and 983093983091ndash983094983097Steven Zohn ldquoThe Overture-Suite Concerto grosso Ripieno Concerto and Harmoni-emusik in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo and Simon McVeigh ldquoConcerto of the Individualrdquoboth in The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music ed Simon P Keefe (CambridgeCambridge University Press 983090983088983088983097) 983093983093983094ndash983096983090 and 983093983096983091ndash983094983089983091 See also the relevant chaptersin Chappell White From Vivaldi to Viotti A History of the Early Classical Violin Concerto (Phila-delphia Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983090) and Michael Thomas Roeder A History of the Concerto (Portland Amadeus Press 983089983097983097983092)

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570

knowledge of the repertory while suggesting multiple directions forfurther research Considered together they provide a reacutesumeacute of the is-sues attending on the (Italian) baroque (solo) concerto including the

genrersquos boundaries paths of dissemination and influence analytical ap-proaches to formal and tonal designs and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performing practices

Defining the Baroque Concerto

McVeigh and Hirshberg aim to provide a ldquothick historyrdquo (p 983091) ofthe Italian solo concerto by examining an unprecedentedly large num-ber of works in printed and manuscript sources by reconsidering the

minor status of composers such as Giovanni Benedetto Platti Carlo Tes-sarini and Andrea Zani and by ignoring the ldquoartificial divisionrdquo of theBaroque and Classical periods traditionally placed around 983089983095983093983088 (But isthe authorsrsquo termination point of 983089983095983094983088 any less arbitrary) What countsas a solo concerto here is any ldquoconcertordquo for one or two soloists and ac-companying strings with at least one fast movement in ritornello formthe entire repertory is listed in a useful appendix furnishing musicalincipits for those works not found in existing thematic catalogs Thusnot considered are ldquogrouprdquo concertos for three or more soloists (per-

haps not very different from ldquodoublerdquo concertos) chamber concertos without accompanying strings concerti grossi in the Corellian mold orripieno concertos lacking independent solo parts

Of the twenty-nine composers responsible for the approximately 983096983088983088movements surveyed by McVeigh and Hirshberg Vivaldi accounts fornearly half the repertory (983091983091983095 movements) followed by Tartini (983089983088983092)Tessarini (983092983090) Zani (983091983095) Valentini (983091983093) and Platti (983090983092) Thus these sixcomposers comprising a fifth of the total produced over two-thirds of thesample At the opposite extreme are composers represented by a single

opus containing six to twelve concertos (Bonporti Brescianello Locatelli A Marcello Montanari and Zavateri) and others who have left us sixor fewer works transmitted in undated manuscripts (Brivio GhignoneB Marcello Perroni GB Sammartini Schiassi GL Somis and Vera-cini) Given the enormous size of this repertory and the authorsrsquo almostheroic efforts in surveying it one hesitates to call attention to its incom-pleteness But McVeigh and Hirshberg volunteer a list of several notablefigures whose works they have passed over owing to ldquopragmatic consid-erationsrdquo and the bookrsquos ldquochronological and geographical structurerdquo (p

983091) the Tartini student Paolo Tommaso Alberghi (983089983095983089983094ndash983096983093) FrancescoMaria Cattaneo (983089983094983097983096ndash983093983096) violinist and eventual Konzertmeister at theDresden court Domenico DallrsquoOglio (c 983089983095983088983088ndash983094983092) who spent muchof his career at the Russian court the Neapolitan composers Nicola

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571

Fiorenza (d 983089983095983094983092) and Leonardo Leo (983089983094983097983092ndash983089983095983092983092) the latter knownfor his important cello concertos Angelo Morigi (983089983095983090983093ndash983089983096983088983089) whoserved the Duke of Parma Paulo Salurini (983089983095983088983097983090983088ndash983096983088) active in Si-

enna and Gasparo Visconti (983089983094983096983091ndashin or after 983089983095983089983091) who worked inCremona Although few of these composers will be familiar to non-specialists collectively they produced a substantial number of concertos(at least twenty-four survive by Alberghi and seventeen by DallrsquoOglio) worked in locations not otherwise represented in the book and furtherdocument the spread of the Italian solo concerto outside Italy

As reasonable as their self-imposed limitations aremdashthe biggest be-ing the exclusion of all second and third movements from their ana-lytical studymdashMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos labeling as Italian any concerto

written by a composer born in Italy is not without its problems for it isreasonable to ask whether a concerto is really ldquoItalianrdquo if it flowed fromthe pen of an expatriate composer who spent much of his workinglife north of the Alps Would not the musical and social conditions ofthe adopted countrymdashespecially works of locally born colleaguesmdashhaveaffected his musical choices In the case of Giuseppe Antonio Bres-cianello who left Italy for good in his mid-twenties and spent the lastforty-three years of his life in Germany McVeigh and Hirshberg findthat his ldquohighly individual approach to the concerto and to ritornello

form seems to refer outside Venice perhaps to his Bolognese upbring-ingrdquo (p 983089983097983095) But I suspect that Brescianellorsquos personal idiom whichincludes a preference for ldquorichness and variety of texturerdquo has morethan a little to do with his exposure to German concertos during hisdecades of service at the Wuumlrttemberg court in Stuttgart Similar con-siderations may apply to other Italians who spent considerable portionsof their careers in foreign countries including Locatelli Perroni PlattiG B Sammartini and Veracini One could argue in fact that the soloconcerto as a genre had been sufficiently internationalized by the 983089983095983090983088s

and that a composerrsquos Italian heritage was no guarantee of his works be-ing more identifiably ldquoItalianrdquo than those of the Germans Englishmenor other nationalities with whom he associated Thus Maunder consid-ers the concertos of Brescianello and Platti together with those by Eva-risto Felice DallrsquoAbaco (another transplanted Italian) alongside works written by native German composers

In defining his repertory Maunder appropriately calls attention tothe lack of standard terminology during the late seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries for works that we now recognize as concertos Yet

by considering any piece ldquoa concerto if it was so called by its composerrdquo(p 983092) he errs on the side of inclusivity Some of the early works he dis-cusses for example Torellirsquos Concerto da camera agrave due violini e basso op983090 (Bologna 983089983094983096983094) and Giuseppe Maria Iacchinirsquos Concerti per camera agrave

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572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 930

983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

JM2604_04indd 580 21910 115131 AM

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983162983151983144983150

581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 5: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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983162983151983144983150

569

But this is not to say that the musical idioms contexts and meaningsof such name-brand concertos are by now adequately understood asMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos revealing chapters on Vivaldi make abun-

dantly clear In this respect Bella Brover-Lubovskyrsquos Tonal Space in theMusic of Antonio Vivaldi (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983096)offers a welcome perspective on the composerrsquos concertos by relatingtheir tonal and harmonic language to that of his operas sacred vocalmusic sonatas and other works Starting from the premise that Viv-aldirsquos tonal practices do not reflect an ldquounambiguously lsquomature tonalrsquordquoidiom (p xv) she aims to connect his vocal and instrumental works toeighteenth-century theory aesthetics reception and pedagogy while re- vealing both progressive and conservative tendencies in the composerrsquos

handling of ldquotonal spacerdquo To this end she distributes fourteen briefchapters among four parts the first (ldquo Estro armonico rdquo) filling in the his-torical and theoretical background to Vivaldirsquos harmonic language andthe others examining different facets of this language (ldquoKey and ModerdquoldquoHarmony and Syntaxrdquo and ldquoTonal Structurerdquo) Brover-Lubovskyrsquos ef-forts to contextualize Vivaldirsquos works often widen the bookrsquos focus to en-compass tonal practice in early eighteenth-century Italy thereby leadingto a deepened understanding of both a crucial aspect of Vivaldian styleand a historical period in which modal principles were rapidly yielding

to harmonic tonalityTo be sure the three books reviewed here diverge sharply in

terms of methodology and focus But each substantially advances our

Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983094) Alfred Mann Handel The Orchestral Music OrchestralConcertos Organ Concertos Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks (New York Schirmer983089983097983097983094) Martin Geck and Werner Breig eds Bachs Orchesterwerke Bericht uumlber das 983089 Dort-munder Bach-Symposion 983089983097983097983094 (Witten Klangfarben 983089983097983097983095) Cesare Fertonani La musicastrumentale di Antonio Vivaldi (Florence Olschki 983089983097983097983096) Siegbert Rampe and DominikSackmann Bachs Orchestermusik Entstehung Klangwelt Interpretation Ein Handbuch (KasselBaumlrenreiter 983090983088983088983088) Jane R Stevens The Bach Family and the Keyboard Concerto The Evolutionof a Genre (Warren MI Harmonie Park Press 983090983088983088983089) Federico Maria Sardelli VivaldirsquosMusic for Flute and Recorder trans Michael Talbot (Aldershot Ashgate 983090983088983088983095) GregoryButler ed Bach Perspectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music The Concerto (Ur-bana University of Illinois Press 983090983088983088983096) and Steven Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste StyleGenre and Meaning in Telemannrsquos Instrumental Works (New York Oxford University Press983090983088983088983096) Examples of chapter-length surveys include Michael Talbot ldquoThe Italian Concertoin the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuriesrdquo and David Yearsley ldquoThe Con-certo in Northern Europe to ca 983089983095983095983088rdquo both in The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto ed Simon P Keefe (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093ndash983093983090 and 983093983091ndash983094983097Steven Zohn ldquoThe Overture-Suite Concerto grosso Ripieno Concerto and Harmoni-emusik in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo and Simon McVeigh ldquoConcerto of the Individualrdquoboth in The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music ed Simon P Keefe (CambridgeCambridge University Press 983090983088983088983097) 983093983093983094ndash983096983090 and 983093983096983091ndash983094983089983091 See also the relevant chaptersin Chappell White From Vivaldi to Viotti A History of the Early Classical Violin Concerto (Phila-delphia Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983090) and Michael Thomas Roeder A History of the Concerto (Portland Amadeus Press 983089983097983097983092)

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570

knowledge of the repertory while suggesting multiple directions forfurther research Considered together they provide a reacutesumeacute of the is-sues attending on the (Italian) baroque (solo) concerto including the

genrersquos boundaries paths of dissemination and influence analytical ap-proaches to formal and tonal designs and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performing practices

Defining the Baroque Concerto

McVeigh and Hirshberg aim to provide a ldquothick historyrdquo (p 983091) ofthe Italian solo concerto by examining an unprecedentedly large num-ber of works in printed and manuscript sources by reconsidering the

minor status of composers such as Giovanni Benedetto Platti Carlo Tes-sarini and Andrea Zani and by ignoring the ldquoartificial divisionrdquo of theBaroque and Classical periods traditionally placed around 983089983095983093983088 (But isthe authorsrsquo termination point of 983089983095983094983088 any less arbitrary) What countsas a solo concerto here is any ldquoconcertordquo for one or two soloists and ac-companying strings with at least one fast movement in ritornello formthe entire repertory is listed in a useful appendix furnishing musicalincipits for those works not found in existing thematic catalogs Thusnot considered are ldquogrouprdquo concertos for three or more soloists (per-

haps not very different from ldquodoublerdquo concertos) chamber concertos without accompanying strings concerti grossi in the Corellian mold orripieno concertos lacking independent solo parts

Of the twenty-nine composers responsible for the approximately 983096983088983088movements surveyed by McVeigh and Hirshberg Vivaldi accounts fornearly half the repertory (983091983091983095 movements) followed by Tartini (983089983088983092)Tessarini (983092983090) Zani (983091983095) Valentini (983091983093) and Platti (983090983092) Thus these sixcomposers comprising a fifth of the total produced over two-thirds of thesample At the opposite extreme are composers represented by a single

opus containing six to twelve concertos (Bonporti Brescianello Locatelli A Marcello Montanari and Zavateri) and others who have left us sixor fewer works transmitted in undated manuscripts (Brivio GhignoneB Marcello Perroni GB Sammartini Schiassi GL Somis and Vera-cini) Given the enormous size of this repertory and the authorsrsquo almostheroic efforts in surveying it one hesitates to call attention to its incom-pleteness But McVeigh and Hirshberg volunteer a list of several notablefigures whose works they have passed over owing to ldquopragmatic consid-erationsrdquo and the bookrsquos ldquochronological and geographical structurerdquo (p

983091) the Tartini student Paolo Tommaso Alberghi (983089983095983089983094ndash983096983093) FrancescoMaria Cattaneo (983089983094983097983096ndash983093983096) violinist and eventual Konzertmeister at theDresden court Domenico DallrsquoOglio (c 983089983095983088983088ndash983094983092) who spent muchof his career at the Russian court the Neapolitan composers Nicola

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983162983151983144983150

571

Fiorenza (d 983089983095983094983092) and Leonardo Leo (983089983094983097983092ndash983089983095983092983092) the latter knownfor his important cello concertos Angelo Morigi (983089983095983090983093ndash983089983096983088983089) whoserved the Duke of Parma Paulo Salurini (983089983095983088983097983090983088ndash983096983088) active in Si-

enna and Gasparo Visconti (983089983094983096983091ndashin or after 983089983095983089983091) who worked inCremona Although few of these composers will be familiar to non-specialists collectively they produced a substantial number of concertos(at least twenty-four survive by Alberghi and seventeen by DallrsquoOglio) worked in locations not otherwise represented in the book and furtherdocument the spread of the Italian solo concerto outside Italy

As reasonable as their self-imposed limitations aremdashthe biggest be-ing the exclusion of all second and third movements from their ana-lytical studymdashMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos labeling as Italian any concerto

written by a composer born in Italy is not without its problems for it isreasonable to ask whether a concerto is really ldquoItalianrdquo if it flowed fromthe pen of an expatriate composer who spent much of his workinglife north of the Alps Would not the musical and social conditions ofthe adopted countrymdashespecially works of locally born colleaguesmdashhaveaffected his musical choices In the case of Giuseppe Antonio Bres-cianello who left Italy for good in his mid-twenties and spent the lastforty-three years of his life in Germany McVeigh and Hirshberg findthat his ldquohighly individual approach to the concerto and to ritornello

form seems to refer outside Venice perhaps to his Bolognese upbring-ingrdquo (p 983089983097983095) But I suspect that Brescianellorsquos personal idiom whichincludes a preference for ldquorichness and variety of texturerdquo has morethan a little to do with his exposure to German concertos during hisdecades of service at the Wuumlrttemberg court in Stuttgart Similar con-siderations may apply to other Italians who spent considerable portionsof their careers in foreign countries including Locatelli Perroni PlattiG B Sammartini and Veracini One could argue in fact that the soloconcerto as a genre had been sufficiently internationalized by the 983089983095983090983088s

and that a composerrsquos Italian heritage was no guarantee of his works be-ing more identifiably ldquoItalianrdquo than those of the Germans Englishmenor other nationalities with whom he associated Thus Maunder consid-ers the concertos of Brescianello and Platti together with those by Eva-risto Felice DallrsquoAbaco (another transplanted Italian) alongside works written by native German composers

In defining his repertory Maunder appropriately calls attention tothe lack of standard terminology during the late seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries for works that we now recognize as concertos Yet

by considering any piece ldquoa concerto if it was so called by its composerrdquo(p 983092) he errs on the side of inclusivity Some of the early works he dis-cusses for example Torellirsquos Concerto da camera agrave due violini e basso op983090 (Bologna 983089983094983096983094) and Giuseppe Maria Iacchinirsquos Concerti per camera agrave

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572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

JM2604_04indd 580 21910 115131 AM

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983162983151983144983150

581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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983162983151983144983150

585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 6: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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570

knowledge of the repertory while suggesting multiple directions forfurther research Considered together they provide a reacutesumeacute of the is-sues attending on the (Italian) baroque (solo) concerto including the

genrersquos boundaries paths of dissemination and influence analytical ap-proaches to formal and tonal designs and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performing practices

Defining the Baroque Concerto

McVeigh and Hirshberg aim to provide a ldquothick historyrdquo (p 983091) ofthe Italian solo concerto by examining an unprecedentedly large num-ber of works in printed and manuscript sources by reconsidering the

minor status of composers such as Giovanni Benedetto Platti Carlo Tes-sarini and Andrea Zani and by ignoring the ldquoartificial divisionrdquo of theBaroque and Classical periods traditionally placed around 983089983095983093983088 (But isthe authorsrsquo termination point of 983089983095983094983088 any less arbitrary) What countsas a solo concerto here is any ldquoconcertordquo for one or two soloists and ac-companying strings with at least one fast movement in ritornello formthe entire repertory is listed in a useful appendix furnishing musicalincipits for those works not found in existing thematic catalogs Thusnot considered are ldquogrouprdquo concertos for three or more soloists (per-

haps not very different from ldquodoublerdquo concertos) chamber concertos without accompanying strings concerti grossi in the Corellian mold orripieno concertos lacking independent solo parts

Of the twenty-nine composers responsible for the approximately 983096983088983088movements surveyed by McVeigh and Hirshberg Vivaldi accounts fornearly half the repertory (983091983091983095 movements) followed by Tartini (983089983088983092)Tessarini (983092983090) Zani (983091983095) Valentini (983091983093) and Platti (983090983092) Thus these sixcomposers comprising a fifth of the total produced over two-thirds of thesample At the opposite extreme are composers represented by a single

opus containing six to twelve concertos (Bonporti Brescianello Locatelli A Marcello Montanari and Zavateri) and others who have left us sixor fewer works transmitted in undated manuscripts (Brivio GhignoneB Marcello Perroni GB Sammartini Schiassi GL Somis and Vera-cini) Given the enormous size of this repertory and the authorsrsquo almostheroic efforts in surveying it one hesitates to call attention to its incom-pleteness But McVeigh and Hirshberg volunteer a list of several notablefigures whose works they have passed over owing to ldquopragmatic consid-erationsrdquo and the bookrsquos ldquochronological and geographical structurerdquo (p

983091) the Tartini student Paolo Tommaso Alberghi (983089983095983089983094ndash983096983093) FrancescoMaria Cattaneo (983089983094983097983096ndash983093983096) violinist and eventual Konzertmeister at theDresden court Domenico DallrsquoOglio (c 983089983095983088983088ndash983094983092) who spent muchof his career at the Russian court the Neapolitan composers Nicola

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983162983151983144983150

571

Fiorenza (d 983089983095983094983092) and Leonardo Leo (983089983094983097983092ndash983089983095983092983092) the latter knownfor his important cello concertos Angelo Morigi (983089983095983090983093ndash983089983096983088983089) whoserved the Duke of Parma Paulo Salurini (983089983095983088983097983090983088ndash983096983088) active in Si-

enna and Gasparo Visconti (983089983094983096983091ndashin or after 983089983095983089983091) who worked inCremona Although few of these composers will be familiar to non-specialists collectively they produced a substantial number of concertos(at least twenty-four survive by Alberghi and seventeen by DallrsquoOglio) worked in locations not otherwise represented in the book and furtherdocument the spread of the Italian solo concerto outside Italy

As reasonable as their self-imposed limitations aremdashthe biggest be-ing the exclusion of all second and third movements from their ana-lytical studymdashMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos labeling as Italian any concerto

written by a composer born in Italy is not without its problems for it isreasonable to ask whether a concerto is really ldquoItalianrdquo if it flowed fromthe pen of an expatriate composer who spent much of his workinglife north of the Alps Would not the musical and social conditions ofthe adopted countrymdashespecially works of locally born colleaguesmdashhaveaffected his musical choices In the case of Giuseppe Antonio Bres-cianello who left Italy for good in his mid-twenties and spent the lastforty-three years of his life in Germany McVeigh and Hirshberg findthat his ldquohighly individual approach to the concerto and to ritornello

form seems to refer outside Venice perhaps to his Bolognese upbring-ingrdquo (p 983089983097983095) But I suspect that Brescianellorsquos personal idiom whichincludes a preference for ldquorichness and variety of texturerdquo has morethan a little to do with his exposure to German concertos during hisdecades of service at the Wuumlrttemberg court in Stuttgart Similar con-siderations may apply to other Italians who spent considerable portionsof their careers in foreign countries including Locatelli Perroni PlattiG B Sammartini and Veracini One could argue in fact that the soloconcerto as a genre had been sufficiently internationalized by the 983089983095983090983088s

and that a composerrsquos Italian heritage was no guarantee of his works be-ing more identifiably ldquoItalianrdquo than those of the Germans Englishmenor other nationalities with whom he associated Thus Maunder consid-ers the concertos of Brescianello and Platti together with those by Eva-risto Felice DallrsquoAbaco (another transplanted Italian) alongside works written by native German composers

In defining his repertory Maunder appropriately calls attention tothe lack of standard terminology during the late seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries for works that we now recognize as concertos Yet

by considering any piece ldquoa concerto if it was so called by its composerrdquo(p 983092) he errs on the side of inclusivity Some of the early works he dis-cusses for example Torellirsquos Concerto da camera agrave due violini e basso op983090 (Bologna 983089983094983096983094) and Giuseppe Maria Iacchinirsquos Concerti per camera agrave

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572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

JM2604_04indd 580 21910 115131 AM

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983162983151983144983150

581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 7: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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571

Fiorenza (d 983089983095983094983092) and Leonardo Leo (983089983094983097983092ndash983089983095983092983092) the latter knownfor his important cello concertos Angelo Morigi (983089983095983090983093ndash983089983096983088983089) whoserved the Duke of Parma Paulo Salurini (983089983095983088983097983090983088ndash983096983088) active in Si-

enna and Gasparo Visconti (983089983094983096983091ndashin or after 983089983095983089983091) who worked inCremona Although few of these composers will be familiar to non-specialists collectively they produced a substantial number of concertos(at least twenty-four survive by Alberghi and seventeen by DallrsquoOglio) worked in locations not otherwise represented in the book and furtherdocument the spread of the Italian solo concerto outside Italy

As reasonable as their self-imposed limitations aremdashthe biggest be-ing the exclusion of all second and third movements from their ana-lytical studymdashMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos labeling as Italian any concerto

written by a composer born in Italy is not without its problems for it isreasonable to ask whether a concerto is really ldquoItalianrdquo if it flowed fromthe pen of an expatriate composer who spent much of his workinglife north of the Alps Would not the musical and social conditions ofthe adopted countrymdashespecially works of locally born colleaguesmdashhaveaffected his musical choices In the case of Giuseppe Antonio Bres-cianello who left Italy for good in his mid-twenties and spent the lastforty-three years of his life in Germany McVeigh and Hirshberg findthat his ldquohighly individual approach to the concerto and to ritornello

form seems to refer outside Venice perhaps to his Bolognese upbring-ingrdquo (p 983089983097983095) But I suspect that Brescianellorsquos personal idiom whichincludes a preference for ldquorichness and variety of texturerdquo has morethan a little to do with his exposure to German concertos during hisdecades of service at the Wuumlrttemberg court in Stuttgart Similar con-siderations may apply to other Italians who spent considerable portionsof their careers in foreign countries including Locatelli Perroni PlattiG B Sammartini and Veracini One could argue in fact that the soloconcerto as a genre had been sufficiently internationalized by the 983089983095983090983088s

and that a composerrsquos Italian heritage was no guarantee of his works be-ing more identifiably ldquoItalianrdquo than those of the Germans Englishmenor other nationalities with whom he associated Thus Maunder consid-ers the concertos of Brescianello and Platti together with those by Eva-risto Felice DallrsquoAbaco (another transplanted Italian) alongside works written by native German composers

In defining his repertory Maunder appropriately calls attention tothe lack of standard terminology during the late seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries for works that we now recognize as concertos Yet

by considering any piece ldquoa concerto if it was so called by its composerrdquo(p 983092) he errs on the side of inclusivity Some of the early works he dis-cusses for example Torellirsquos Concerto da camera agrave due violini e basso op983090 (Bologna 983089983094983096983094) and Giuseppe Maria Iacchinirsquos Concerti per camera agrave

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572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

JM2604_04indd 582 21910 115131 AM

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 8: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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572

violino e violoncello solo e nel fine due sonate agrave violoncello solo col basso op 983091(Modena 983089983094983097983095) are simply sonatas going by a fashionably new nameCertain later works that also figure in the book adopt features of the

concerto but clearly stand apart from the genrersquos main development Johann Christian Schickhardtrsquos VI Concerts op 983089983097 for five recorders(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983089983093) Joseph Bodin de Boismortierrsquos VI Concerts pour983093 flucircte-traversieres op 983089983093 (Paris 983089983095983090983095) and Georg Philipp TelemannrsquosQuadri (including two works called ldquoConcertordquo) for flute violin violada gambacello and continuo (Hamburg 983089983095983091983088)

Some or all of these last ldquoconcertosrdquo might be described as Sonatenauf Concertenart a term coined by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 983089983095983092983088 todescribe sonatas that mimic concerto style And they are representa-

tive of a substantial body of sonatas (with and without concerto-likeelements such as ritornello forms and the dominance of one part) thatearly eighteenth-century composers called ldquoconcertordquo Maunder neitherdiscusses this repertorymdashwhich was apparently resistant to performance with orchestral doublingsmdashnor attempts to locate the points at whichcomposers drew the generic line between sonata and concerto a topicaddressed by several recent studies983092

The Baroque Concerto Dispersrsquod One advantage to taking a broad view of the baroque concerto as all

the authors do to varying degrees is that patterns of production dissemi-nation influence and reception come more clearly into focus In a chap-ter-length cultural history of the Italian concerto McVeigh and Hirshbergthoughtfully touch on eighteenth-century conceptions of virtuosity thecareers of several famous violinist-composers in Italy and across the Alpsperformance venues patrons and the dissemination of works throughmanuscript and printed sources This admirable overview helps lay the

groundwork for discussions of musical connections between variouscorners of the repertory and not unexpectedly Vivaldirsquos concertos aretreated as a hub from which the works of many other composers radiatelike spokes For example McVeigh and Hirshberg draw the titles of their

983092 On the Sonate auf Concertenart and associated generic issues see in particular Jeanne Swack ldquoOn the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenartrdquo Journal of the American Musi- cological Society 983092983094 no 983091 (983089983097983097983091) 983091983094983097ndash983092983089983092 Laurence Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Inven- tion chap 983092 Gregory G Butler ldquoThe Question of Genre in JS Bachrsquos Fourth Branden-burg Concertordquo in Bach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulenberg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983097ndash983091983090 Steven ZohnldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroquerdquo Eighteenth- Century Music 983089 (983090983088983088983092) 983090983088983093ndash983092983095 (revised in Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste chapter 983094) andDavid Schulenberg ldquoThe Sonate auf Concertenart A Postmodern Inventionrdquo in Bach Per- spectives vol 983095 JS Bachrsquos Concerted Ensemble Music 983093983093ndash983097983094

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983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

JM2604_04indd 574 21910 115129 AM

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575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

JM2604_04indd 575 21910 115129 AM

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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983162983151983144983150

585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

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983162983151983144983150

573

introduction (ldquoTo Think Musicallyrdquo) and first chapter (ldquoOrder Connec-tion and Proportionrdquo) from Johann Nikolaus Forkelrsquos famous claim that JS Bach learned ldquoto think musicallyrdquo by studying and transcribing Viv-

aldirsquos concertos taking it for granted that the Italian ldquoproved the mostsignificant guide to Bach in his search for musical lsquoorder connectionand proportionrsquordquo (p 983089) As confirmation of Forkelrsquos claim they cite aninfluential essay by Christoph Wolff983093 But if Vivaldirsquos substantial impacton Bach is undeniable several recent studies have complicated the pic-ture by revealing the role that concertos by Giuseppe Torelli and Tomaso Albinoni played in the development of Bachrsquos musical thinking duringhis Weimar years983094 Thus a more critical stance toward Forkelrsquos discussion would have been welcome not least because McVeigh and Hirshberg are

ideally positioned to separate fact from fiction when it comes to assessingthe Italian concertos that so impressed the young Bach983095

In Italy Vivaldirsquos concertos appear to have cast a long shadow onthe works of his colleaguesmdashthough perhaps not so long as traditionallyassumed McVeigh and Hirshberg credit the Romans Mossi and Mon-tanari with having ldquorenovatedrdquo the Corellian tradition with elementsdrawn from Venetian concertos In one movement Mossi suddenlyabandons a progressive modulatory pattern as if to catch himself beforecompleting a Vivaldian ritornello form Another movement commences

with ldquoan unmistakably Vivaldian unison mottordquo (p 983089983094983088) but then appearsto offer a ldquocommentary on style changerdquo when it reverts to an older fugaltexture And a third suggests ldquoa deliberate rhetorical play with impli-cations that comments on Vivaldian ritornello formrdquo (p 983089983094983089) Thesereadings of Mossirsquos stylistic eclecticism are enlightening but I am notentirely persuaded that they reveal his anxiety of influence or purpose-ful criticism with respect to a Vivaldian norm

983093 Christoph Wolff ldquoVivaldirsquos Compositional Art and the Process of lsquoMusical Think-ingrsquordquo in Nuovi Studi Vivaldiani 983090 vols ed Antonio Fanna and Giovanni Morelli (Flor-ence Olschki 983089983097983096983096) 983089983089ndash983089983095 repr in Wolff Bach Essays on His Life and Music (Cam-bridge MA Harvard University Press 983089983097983097983089) 983095983090ndash983096983091

983094 Jean-Claude Zehnder ldquoGiuseppe Torelli und Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Bachs Weimarer Konzertformrdquo Bach-Jahrbuch 983095983095 (983089983097983097983089) 983091983091ndash983097983093 Gregory G Butler ldquoJS BachrsquosReception of Tomaso Albinonirsquos Mature Concertosrdquo in Bach Studies 983090 ed Daniel RMelamed (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 983089983097983097983093) 983090983088ndash983092983094 Robert Hill ldquoJohannSebastian Bachrsquos Toccata in G Major BWV 983097983089983094983089 A Reception of Giuseppe TorellirsquosRitornello Concerto Formrdquo in Das Fruumlhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs Kolloquium veranstaltetvom Institut fuumlr Musikwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Rostock 983089983089ndash983089983091 September 983089983097983097983088 ed KarlHeller and Hans Joachim Schulze (Cologne Studio 983089983097983097983093)983089983094983090ndash983095983093 and Richard DP

Jones The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach vol 983089 983089983094983097983093ndash983089983095983089983095 Music to Delightthe Spirit (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983089983092983088ndash983093983091

983095 Cautious skepticism of Forkelrsquos claim has recently begun to surface in the Bachliterature See for example David Schulenberg The Keyboard Music of JS Bach 983090nd ed(New York Routledge 983090983088983088983094) 983089983089983095ndash983089983096 and Peter Williams JS Bach A Life in Music (Cam-bridge Cambridge University Press 983090983088983088983095) 983096983097ndash983097983088

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

JM2604_04indd 578 21910 115130 AM

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 10: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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574

The centrality of Vivaldirsquos concertos is again postulated in a chapteron Venice where the works of Albinoni the Marcello brothers andBonporti are characterized by McVeigh and Hirshberg as stylistically ex-

perimental and even ldquoaskew to the main development of the Venetianconcertordquo (p 983089983096983091)mdashthat is to Vivaldirsquos works In the case of Bonportihis op 983089983089 concertos ldquoexplore unusual strategiesrdquo requiring listenersldquoto hear these innovative procedures as commentaries on norms that were already (by the late 983089983095983090983088s) well establishedrdquo (p 983089983096983094) As with theexample of Mossi this image of Bonporti wrenching his listeners outof their Vivaldian comfort zones by tinkering with and critiquing a sup-posed model leaves me slightly uneasy for I wonder how well estab-lished these norms really were Is one justified in speaking of a Venetian

ldquomain developmentrdquo if a number of important native composers largelyfollowed their own paths in the wake of the ldquoVivaldian revolutionrdquo983096 (Tessarini is the one Venetian whose style seems unapologetically Vival-dian and McVeigh and Hirshberg find his works to display many of thedramatic and rhetorical touches associated with the older composer)That complex webs of dissemination and influence extended acrossthe larger repertory of Italian concertos not simply from the seminalfigures of Vivaldi and Albinoni to their younger imitators is suggestedby the authorsrsquo discussion of a Platti violin concerto closely modeled on

one by the Vivaldi disciple drsquoAlaiBeyond the example of Bach Vivaldirsquos impact on northern Euro-

pean composers was considerable But Brover-Lubovsky offers some im-portant qualifications showing that the few Italian and English writersto mention the composer (Marcello North Avison Burney and Hawk-ins) tended to highlight his compositional defects and extravagancesthe partly inaccurate and lukewarm estimations of Hawkins and Bur-ney proved especially influential on early nineteenth-century writers Although Vivaldi enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 983089983095983091983088s

and 983092983088s in France there his star also faded rapidly after mid centuryOnly the Germans were ldquogenuinely sympathetic to his musicrdquo (p 983089983093)Thus Heinichen Mattheson Walther Scheibe Quantz and Riepel allmention Vivaldi in writings published between the 983089983095983089983088s and 983093983088s Ger-ber and Forkel extol him around the turn of the nineteenth centuryand a ldquocontinuous Vivaldi traditionrdquo (p 983089983096) in Germany is evidencedby the Dresden court music collection the Breitkopf thematic catalogand Aloys Fuchsrsquo nineteenth-century thematic catalog of over eighty

983096 Later in the book McVeigh and Hirshberg stress that the Vivaldian model did notpreclude originality on the parts of those Italian composers who followed him ldquothe con-cept of a unified Venetian school of concerto composers following in the wake of Vivaldiis something of a chimera Hardly any violinists were left untouched by the lsquoVivaldianrevolutionrsquo yet it is striking how rarely they simply aped the masterrdquo (p 983089983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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983162983151983144983150

585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

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983162983151983144983150

575

works by the composer Moreover it was the Germans alone who dem-onstrated some appreciation of Vivaldirsquos harmonic and tonal practices

This sketch of the rise and fall of Vivaldirsquos reputation is a sobering

reminder of just how fleeting fame could be in the eighteenth cen-tury And it probably overstates Vivaldirsquos posthumous prominence inGermany where interest seems to have waned significantly after about983089983095983093983088 Manuscript and printed sources belonging to the Dresden courtand offered for sale by the Breitkopf firm in Leipzig (which advertisedonly a handful of Vivaldirsquos works in its thematic catalog and none after983089983095983094983094) could by themselves have kept only a faint Vivaldian flicker alive Whether the later activities of collectors such as Fuchs represent thecontinuation of an eighteenth-century Vivaldi cult or a newfangled anti-

quarianism is open to question

Analytical Approaches to the Baroque Concerto

It may be due to the lasting allure of Vivaldian ritornello form thatmost analytical discussions of baroque concertos tend to gravitate to- ward formal aspects of the music Fast-movement structures are usuallyrepresented by tables or diagrams the ever-present danger being thata particular movementrsquos individuality will be obscured by the sameness

of analytical format or that reductive description of a movementrsquos form will substitute for genuine insight With respect to Bachrsquos concertosLaurence Dreyfus and Jeanne Swack have recently introduced analyti-cal paradigms that modify or subvert traditional thinking on ritornelloform stressing the ways in which Bach adapted conventional proce-dures to his suit his own conceptions of invention and elaboration983097 Thanks to McVeighHirshberg and Brover-Lubovsky we now have stud-ies that attempt something similar for the Italian concerto

Among McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos central concerns is to decode

musico-rhetorical arguments through performative analysis ldquoperfor-mativerdquo being understood as ldquonot a definitive route map for the lis-tener but an indication of a possible way of listeningrdquo (p 983090) The activelistening process they advocate entails relating new ideas to those al-ready heard anticipating the ideasrsquo eventual elaboration as the move-ment progresses and comparing the movement to other contemporary works (including but not limited to concertos) They further suggestthat listeners tend to perceive musical arguments across three dimen-sions the large (extending over a group of works such as an opus) the

983097 Dreyfus Bach and the Patterns of Invention chaps 983090ndash983092 and 983095 Jeanne Swack ldquoModu-lar Structure and the Recognition of Ritornello in Bachrsquos Brandenburg Concertosrdquo inBach Perspectives vol 983092 The Music of JS Bach Analysis and Interpretation ed David Schulen-berg (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 983089983097983097983097) 983091983091ndash983093983091

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

JM2604_04indd 580 21910 115131 AM

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983162983151983144983150

581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 12: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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576

middle (a single concerto with a fast-slow-fast movement succession)and the small (the ldquowell articulated motivesrdquo that form the ldquomain build-ing blocks of the ritornello movement namely the periodsrdquo) Although

the small dimension would seem most relevant for the bookrsquos analyticalpurposes McVeigh and Hirshberg clarify that ldquothe middle dimensionimplies an awareness of the unfolding of a tonal and thematic argu-ment across an entire movementrdquo (p 983096983091)

As for the large dimension the programmatic design of the firstsix concertos in Vivaldirsquos Il cimento dellrsquoarmonia e dellrsquoinvenzione op 983096(including The Four Seasons ) suggests to McVeigh and Hirshberg theintriguing notion that concerto opuses ldquowere sometimes intended tobe performed as a full set in a musical soireacuteerdquo and that ldquothe same may

apply to sets that lay out a calculated succession of contrasting affectsrdquo(p 983096983090) such as Vivaldirsquos opp 983094 and 983097 However these claims are unsup-ported by evidence indicating that Vivaldi or his contemporaries con-templated much less participated in such cyclic performances But thepossibility should not be dismissed entirely for we know that groups ofthree or six instrumental works were sometimes performed at one sit-ting in Vienna and Mannheim during the 983089983095983095983088s and 983096983088s983089983088 Moreover Vivaldirsquos practice of alternating major and minor keys in his instrumen-tal collections noted by Brover-Lubovsky could be understood to have

performance-related implications Brover-Lubovsky also finds Vivaldithinking in cyclic terms on the level of the multi-movement work as inthe Violin Concerto in G minor RV 983091983089983095 (op 983089983090 no 983089) where the firstmovementrsquos unusual tonal sequencemdashindashIIIndashivndashVIndashvndashimdashis reproduced inthe finale983089983089

Preliminary to their survey of Vivaldirsquos formal strategies McVeighand Hirshberg examine concertos from the crucial period of 983089983094983097983096ndash983089983095983089983094 through the lens of later practice Thus Torellirsquos ritornello formsoften fail to coordinate texture and tonal structure they lack a proper

sense of proportion and they maintain a high level of tonal flux thatis incompatible with the construction of long movements Albinonirsquosearly concertos on the other hand feature greater tonal stability but a

983089983088 Elaine Sisman ldquoSix of One The Opus Concept in the Eighteenth Centuryrdquo inThe Century of Bach and Mozart Perspectives on Historiography Composition Theory and Perfor- mance ed Sean Gallagher and Thomas Forrest Kelly (Cambridge MA Harvard Univer-sity Department of Music 983090983088983088983096) 983096983094ndash983096983095 Sisman (983097983092) imagines Haydnrsquos set of six pianosonatas dedicated to Prince Nikolaus Esterhaacutezy in 983089983095983095983094 (HobXVI983090983089ndash983090983094) to have beenldquodesigned for a single sittingrdquo

983089983089 Beyond Vivaldirsquos concertos Brover-Lubovsky provides a lucid discussion of large-scale tonal planning in an elaborate soliloquy from the 983089983095983090983096 opera LrsquoAtenaide RV 983095983088983090 ascene in which a dramatic progression of falling fifths and tonal associations with earliermoments in the opera demonstrate that the composer could on occasion enlist ldquotonalityas a means of underpinning the plotrdquo (983090983095983091ndash983095983092)

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983162983151983144983150

577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

JM2604_04indd 578 21910 115130 AM

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

JM2604_04indd 579 21910 115130 AM

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 13: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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577

weak sense of the drama engendered by regular solo-tutti alternations And the fast-movement structures of the Roman Valentini who wasnot unaffected by Venetian developments idiosyncratically combine

ritornello procedures with elements of fugue and binary form Againstthis backdrop the Vivaldi of the early cello concertos Lrsquoestro armonico (op 983091) and La stravaganza (op 983092) assimilates and coordinates formalinnovations of the Roman Bolognese and Venetian traditions whilerevealing ldquohow a composer might fully exploit their dramatic and rhe-torical potentialrdquo (p 983095983097) In other words Vivaldi did for the early eigh-teenth-century concerto what Corelli had done for the late seventeenth-century sonata983089983090

Much of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos analytical discourse focuses on

the tonal plans of individual movements which generally follow one oftwo types of pattern either the ldquopendulumrdquo in which there is at leastone intermediate return to the tonic (Albinonirsquos favored strategy) orthe ldquocircuitrdquo which avoids the tonic until a concluding ldquorecapitulationrdquo(preferred by Vivaldi) Pendulum tonal schemes Brover-Lubovsky findsoccur in only about 983089983088 of Vivaldirsquos fast instrumental movements (apercentage roughly corresponding to that found in McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample of the solo concertos) and primarily in early works Suchschemes do not necessarily halt the sense of forward tonal progress for

Vivaldirsquos efforts to pass quickly through the intermediate tonic strength-ens ldquotonal coherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983089983092983089) Here we seem toenter a grey area between pendulum and circuit schemes for the tonicmay be restated as a chord rather than a tonal area unsupported bythematic returns In the first movement of the Violin Concerto in C RV983089983096983096 (op 983095 no 983090) for example a tonic triad appears in the middle ofa long circle-of-fifths sequential pattern This cameo appearance ldquobril-liantly illustrates Vivaldirsquos preferred undermining of the tonic when em-ployed as an intermediate harmony linking distant key areasrdquo and the

absence of thematic recall ldquoshould be interpreted as part of a deliberatepolicy to avoid the recurrence of the tonic thus treating the movementas a continuous tonal processrdquo (p 983089983092983090) Does one therefore count thereturn to tonic for a mere quarter-notersquos duration as a structural eventPerhaps as Brover-Lubovsky points to movements in which Vivaldi goesto great lengths to avoid a (root-position) tonic triad altogether Thus Vivaldi in contrast to many of his contemporaries demonstrates ldquoadistinct preference for goal-directed through-composed tonal organi-zation favoring a progressive attenuation of the intermediate tonicrsquos

appearance up to and including its complete avoidancerdquo (p 983089983092983095)

983089983090 See Peter Allsop Arcangelo Corelli New Orpheus of our Times (Oxford Oxford Uni- versity Press 983089983097983097983097) chaps 983093ndash983096

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 14: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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578

Any remaining shards of the myth that Vivaldi slavishly followed astandard operating procedure in his fast concerto movements are sweptaway by McVeigh and Hirshberg in their discussion of the composerrsquos

ritornello forms Indeed the next time I am tempted to present stu-dents with a model tonal scheme for Vivaldian ritornello form I willrecall McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos discovery of no fewer than ninety-eightdifferent schemes across the entire repertory of first movements inItalian solo concertos they count a total of 983090983088983088 possibilities Perhapsthe most enduring assumption about Vivaldian ritornello form is thatmodulations in the solos are always confirmed by tonally stable ritor-nellos Yet this condition occurs in only 983092983089 of McVeigh and Hirsh-bergrsquos sample an equal percentage of movements limit modulations

to solo episodes and to ritornellos in peripheral keys In the remaining983089983096 Vivaldi explores practically all other possible options even (in twomovements) restricting every modulation to the ritornellos

As ldquoan inherently hierarchical approach to musical thinkingrdquo (p983090983092) Vivaldian ritornello form depends in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos view on the interaction of texture (tutti-solo alternation) thematiccontent (the presence absence or variation of the ritornellorsquos motto)and duration To underscore the tonal role played by each textural divi-sion in ritornello form they devise numerous movement ldquotimelinesrdquo

in which the familiar ldquoRrdquo and ldquoSrdquo labels are modified Tonic ritornellosframing movements become ldquoR983089rdquo and ldquoR983092rdquo whereas central ritornellosor solos in the tonic are ldquoRTrdquo or ldquoSTrdquo The first solo which modulatesto the secondary key is ldquoS983089rdquo subsequent solos may be ldquoS983090rdquo (in a sec-ondary key modulating to a ldquoperipheralrdquo or non-secondary key) ldquoS983091rdquo(moving to the tonic or from one peripheral key to another) or ldquoS983092rdquo(in the tonic) Similarly non-tonic interior ritornellos are either ldquoR983090rdquo(in a secondary key V in major III v or iv in minor) or ldquoR983091rdquo (in a pe-ripheral key) Letters may be introduced to indicate finer gradations of

function (for example R983091andashS983091andashR983091bndashS983091bndashR983091c indicates an alternationof ritornellos and solos in a series of peripheral keys) Although theselabels still recognize textural contrast as the primary generator of struc-ture in ritornello form tonal function is privileged in the frequentlyencountered R983091ndashR983092 formation which would traditionally be analyzedas a single ritornello modulating from a peripheral key to the tonicNaturally not every element of this system appears in every movementR983090 and S983090 are absent if no secondary key is established (more on thisbelow) and R983091 goes missing in the small minority of movements that

never establish a peripheral keyOne might argue with some justification that this nomencla-

ture largely duplicates information provided by the standard Roman-numeral analysis in each movementrsquos timeline But it also assists the

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 15: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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983162983151983144983150

579

reader in apprehending the composerrsquos tonal strategy while facilitat-ing statistical comparison within and between repertories McVeigh andHirshbergrsquos analytical approach proves most effective for the concertos

of Vivaldi and his followers Its limitations become most apparent indiscussions of relatively early concertos by Torelli Albinoni BenedettoMarcello and Valentini where tonal instability or the lack of an obvi-ous secondary key force the authors to assign double or triple tonalfunctions to ritornellosmdashldquoR983089 (R983090)rdquo and ldquoR983091 (RT)rdquo for Torellirsquos op 983094no 983089983090 ldquoR983090ndashRTndashR983091ardquo in the case of Albinonirsquos op 983090 no 983096mdashand notonal functions at all to solo episodes To a lesser degree the same issuearises in concertos by Mossi and Montanari Roman composers whoseconception of ritornello form owes much to pre-Vivaldian models and

in the later concertos of Tartini A more serious reservation concerns the identification of a sec-

ondary key which McVeigh and Hirshberg dictate must always be thedominant in major-mode movements Even when the dominant is sig-nificantly downplayed in a movementrsquos tonal scheme it still retains itsspecial status

Obviously the first new key has the initial advantage of temporal prior-ity in the movement yet it may be only briefly stressed and a later pe-

ripheral key area more strongly privileged by having its own stableritornello and by motivic emphasis [In the Bassoon Concerto in Gmajor RV 983092983097983090] the dominant covers a mere 983092 of the movement

whereas the submediant spans 983089983092 and is further supported by aritornello Vivaldi could expect the listener to predict the dominant asthe target of the first departure not only on the basis of the initialmodulation but also by calling on past experience Instead the sub-mediant is highlighted by a full ritornello and by long durationmdashmakingit not an alternative secondary degree but on the contrary creatinga frustration of expectation (pp 983089983088983096ndash983097)

Vivaldi made the dominant his first tonal target in 983089983096983088 of 983090983091983090 ma- jor-mode movements included in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample Yet this leaves fifty-two movements a substantial 983090983090 of the total in which other keys (mostly the submediant and mediant) are allowed thisdistinction the dominant is frequently avoided altogether983089983091 (Brover-Lubovsky examining a significantly larger sample finds that a quarterof the opening and closing movements in Vivaldirsquos major-key concertosavoid the dominant as a secondary key) Are all of these movements

really without a secondary key area as McVeigh and Hirshberg wouldhave it and does the frequent absence of the dominant engender as

983089983091 In their table 983093983097 the authors further note that sixty-five movements in both ma- jor and minor modesmdashor 983089983097 of all Vivaldi movements studiedmdashlack an R983090 ritornello

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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983162983151983144983150

583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 16: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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580

much frustration on listenersrsquo parts as they suggest Or was Vivaldimdashand are his listenersmdashoften content as in minor-mode movements toallow a key other than the dominant to assume secondary status983089983092 The

de-emphasis and even absence of the dominant in many of Vivaldirsquos works may Brover-Lubovsky suggests be explained by his ldquoattractionto modal variability and his proclivity for transposing thematic andharmonic material freely between modally contrasted tonal levelsrdquo (p983090983091983095) Meanwhile the relatively high number of major-key concertomovements targeting the relative minor as the first tonal move (983089983094 asopposed to 983089983091 in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos sample) is possibly relatedto the emphasis on the submediant in seventeenth-century composi-tions in the Ionian mode

Because the dominant mediant and subdominant were all optionsfor the secondary key in minor-mode movements the choice betweenthem could be in McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos formulation ldquoelevated toa matter of rhetorical argumentrdquo (p 983089983096) For example in the OboeConcerto in G Minor op 983097 no 983096 Albinoni uses the pendulum tonalscheme to set up the relative major and dominant as equally viable op-tions for the secondary key And the ldquorhetorical basisrdquo for RV 983091983089983095mdashtheconcerto mentioned above in which both outer movements follow thesame unusual tonal trajectorymdashldquois again the search for a secondary key

resulting in a constant state of fluxrdquo (p 983090983088) What is meant by such ap-peals to rhetoric (and to ldquorhetorical strategiesrdquo as in the bookrsquos title) isclarified in the following passage where McVeigh and Hirshberg distin-guish between

what we have considered the inherently rhetorical basis of the solo con-certo and the contrived efforts by German theoristsmdashinterestinglynever by Italiansmdashto apply terminology derived from classical Greekand Latin rhetorical texts to contemporary music Rather than in-dulging in futile attempts to force musical analysis into a rigid rhetoricalframework we will instead work the other way around resorting to rhe-torical concepts whenever they seem to contribute to our understand-ing of the unfolding of the ritornello movement (pp 983090983094 and 983090983096)

Thus ritornello-form movements are frequently described by theauthors as continuous musical arguments just as any musical structuremight be likened to a speech through a description of its Dispositio

983089983092 In my own listening to the Violin Concerto in E major RV 983090983093983092 analyzed byMcVeigh and Hirshberg as exemplifying ldquoa significant alternative strategyrdquo that com-pletely avoids the dominant (983089983089983096ndash983089983097) I had no difficulty in hearing C minor (vi) as thesecondary key One might also consider vi the secondary key in Bonportirsquos Violin Con-certo in B op 983089983089 no 983091 (table 983096983089983088) and IV the secondary key in both Bonportirsquos ViolinConcerto in F op 983089983089 no 983094 (table 983096983089983089) and Zanirsquos Cello Concerto in A (table 983089983090983090)

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983162983151983144983150

581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 17: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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581

understood in Johann Matthesonrsquos sense of a musical compositiondisplaying ldquothe neat ordering of all the parts in the manner in which one contrives or delineates a building and makes a plan or de-

sign in order to show where a room a parlor a chamber etc shouldbe placedrdquo983089983093 The concept of musical rhetoric is used in this loose waythroughout the book and it comes up most often in the context of acomposerrsquos defying listener expectations or ldquosearchingrdquo for a secondarykey as in Albinonirsquos op 983097 no 983096 and Vivaldirsquos RV 983091983089983095

Whether or not a movementrsquos opening phrase or motto is presentin a given ritornello is for McVeigh and Hirshberg a crucial determi-nant of a movementrsquos tonal hierarchy R983090 is usually supported with themotto ldquoaffording clear priority to the secondary keyrdquo Yet in the case

of the Violin Concerto in C Minor RV 983089983097983094 (op 983092 no 983089983088) in whichthe relative major functions as the secondary key the ldquopostponementof the motto to R983091 places the dominant on a higher hierarchical levelrdquo(p 983096983096) Perhaps not every listener will invest the return of the motto with so much structural weight but the notion that the peripheral keycan be elevated in importance above the secondary one suggests onceagain that the labels ldquosecondaryrdquo and ldquoperipheralrdquo are not as flexibleas one might wish What seems undeniable however is that ldquothe powerof the mottorsquos demand to be reheard creates an expectation for the

listenerrdquo (p 983097983089) and that this expectation is easily manipulated Thus Vivaldi withholds the motto from his recapitulations (ldquothe point wherethe tonic is first reasserted by a strong perfect cadencerdquo p 983089983092983089) asmuch as 983091983089 of the time an observation which suggests that the ab-sence of a movementrsquos opening idea is frequently more meaningfulthan its presence

Also frequently surprising is the manner in which Vivaldi intro-duces a movementrsquos recapitulation McVeigh and Hirshberg show thathe is equally likely to reestablish the tonic at the start of S983092 the begin-

ning of R983092 or within a ritornello (R983091ndashR983092) And although he has aslight preference for combining the tonic with the motto rather than with some other segment of the opening ritornello only 983089983097 of thetime does he coordinate the tonic return with both the motto and atutti texture Rarer still are those instances (983094 of the sample) in whicha final modulatory episode (S983091) leads to the concluding return of thetonic in a single ritornello (R983092) which is of course how movements in Vivaldian ritornello form are often said to end Instead recapitulationsusually consist of tonic complexes such as S983092ndashR983092 or R983092andashS983092ndashR983092b Nor

does R983092 usually repeat the opening ritornello intact and unaltered

983089983093 Johann Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg Christian Herold983089983095983091983097 repr Kassel Baumlrenreiter 983089983097983093983092) as translated by McVeigh and Hirshberg (983090983095)

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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983162983151983144983150

585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 18: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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582

If Hirshbergrsquos and McVeighrsquos analyses tend to emphasize the pro-gressive aspects of Vivaldirsquos formal and tonal practices the composerrsquosmore conservative tendencies emerge in Brover-Lubovskyrsquos book Her

survey of eighteenth-century theoretical writings reveals how Italiansldquoobstinately continued to conceive the arrangement of tonal space interms of modes and the solmization system based on the mutationsand dovetailing of Guidonian hexachordsrdquo (p 983090983092) even as contem-porary practice increasingly adopted the twenty-four major and minorkeys Vivaldirsquos own brand of conservatism is reflected in a fondness forminor keys and an unusually extensive repertoire of fifteen differenttonalities In choosing keys he was guided not only by the strengthsand limitations of instruments but also by affective associations Hence

the frequent linking of E major with appeasing sentiments D major with the stile tromba B major with the stile brilliante or F major with thepastoral styleThe associations of other keys are more diffuse G minor(Vivaldirsquos favorite minor tonality) encompasses vengeance horror anddespair E major in addition to being identified with the siciliana helpsgenerate increased tension at the ends of operatic acts and E minoris connected not only with the stile cantabile but with motoric rhythmsin a faster tempo Vivaldirsquos preference for C major used so much thatit resists identification with a single affect or style is ldquoone of his most

personal compositional predilectionsrdquo (p 983093983089) Further evidence of keysymbolism is detected by Brover-Lubovsky in many of the characteris-tic concertos and she surmises that Vivaldirsquos concern with preservingthe link between key and affect often prevented him from transpos-ing music in his self-borrowingsmdashthough I wonder if saving time andminimizing copying errors were more powerful incentives for avoidingtransposition

Vivaldirsquos inconsistent use of so-called modal key signatures embod-ies for Brover-Lubovsky early eighteenth-century ldquoinstability with re-

gard to the concept of tonal organizationrdquo (p 983095983089) In certain works sheperceives a correlation between key signature and overall tonal struc-ture as when A is treated as a diatonic scale degree in the Violin Con-certo in E RV 983090983093983088 Works in C minor moreover exhibit differences inmelodic character tempo and metrical pulse depending on whetherthey have Dorian signatures of two flats or common-practice signaturesof three flats G Dorian arias are typically furious and pathetic whereasthose notated with two flats are slower and more lyrical And a Dorianconception may be detected in several arias and concerto movements

characterized by ldquotonal and modal ambiguityrdquo (p 983095983097) ldquotonal elusive-nessrdquo an absence of ldquocoherence and directionalityrdquo (p 983096983091) and un-usual modulations to the minor supertonic These examples suggestan intriguing and largely overlooked link between notation tonal

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

JM2604_04indd 588 21910 115134 AM

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 19: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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583

structure and musical style McVeigh and Hirshberg also consider thetonal implications of ldquomodalrdquo key signatures finding that signatures oftwo flats for works in E major (RV 983090983093983088 and 983090983093983090) and C minor (RV 983090983088983090)

support sharpward tonal moves or ldquomodally oriented tonal schemesrdquo(pp 983089983089983094ndash983089983095 and 983089983090983090ndash983090983091) But they are less persuasive than Brover-Lubovsky in establishing a connection between Vivaldirsquos notational andtonal practices983089983094

Characteristic of what Brover-Lubovsky describes as Vivaldirsquos ldquoex-treme aptitude for modal contrastsrdquo (p 983097983092) are his frequent shifts fromtonic or dominant major to parallel minor Such ldquominorizationrdquo al-ready evident in his first three opuses and reaching an early peak in the983089983095983089983088s often takes the form of a motive presented successively in major

and minor or the fleeting replacement of a major triad with its minorform But the device may also be projected over longer stretches of mu-sic as in the Larghetto solo episode of Autumn from The Four Seasons and is applied frequently in minor-key works to the mediant submedi-ant and natural seventh degrees Such ldquoinfluxes of alien harmoniesrdquo(p 983089983089983089) have their root in the seventeenth-century practice of modaltransposition and it is Vivaldi who exploits the process most effectivelyduring the eighteenth century This type of modal mixture first ap-pears in theoretical writings during the 983089983095983093983088s and 983094983088s leading Brover-

Lubovsky to posit that discussions by Riccati Marpurg and Riepel owesomething to Vivaldirsquos example

One of the more original aspects of Brover-Lubovskyrsquos study is herattention to Vivaldirsquos tonal language at the syntactic and topical levelsThus she finds the devices of lament bass sequence pedal point andperfect cadence are all used to effect a ldquoplateau-like style of expansionrdquoin which a tonal ldquomoment of reposerdquo (p 983089983093983089) is prolonged before giv-ing way to further modulation Vivaldi tends to coordinate lament basspatterns with a mixture of ostinato and ritornello techniques and to

allow them to migrate to different tonal levels His extensive use of thefalling circle-of-fifths bass pattern arguably ldquothe most immediately rec-ognizable mark of his harmonic idiomrdquo (p 983089983095983093) and a lightning rod forcriticism in recent times is restricted mainly to the minor mode Herehe deploys an unusually large variety of treble realizations and disso-nant harmonizations idiosyncratic too are his chromatically inflectedpatterns using a chain of secondary dominant sevenths Pedal points arecalled into service by Vivaldi for signaling ldquosweet drowsinessrdquo (p 983089983097983089)or the stile alla caccia to ratchet up pre-cadential harmonic tension and

983089983094 Modal key signatures are found by McVeigh and Hirshberg ldquoto be of little har-monic consequencerdquo (983090983091983089ndash983091983090) in the concertos of Alberti but perhaps directly respon-sible for the rare appearance of ii and IV as tonal centers in a minor-mode concerto byGB Somis (983090983095983097ndash983096983088)

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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983162983151983144983150

585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 20: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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584

(when on the dominant) to lend tonal instability to long solo episodesFinally in his concertos of the late 983089983095983089983088s and 983090983088s perfect cadencesare often treated as rhetorical gesturesmdashas with themes built from ca-

dential fragmentsmdashrather than as means of syntactic articulation andstructural resolution The effect is an ldquoemphatic definition of keyrdquo (p983090983088983097) in accord with the galant stylersquos tendency toward more cadences with less structural importance The impact of this practice on phrasestructure Brover-Lubovsky speculates may have something to do withForkelrsquos claim of how Vivaldi affected Bachrsquos ldquomusical thinkingrdquo

The Baroque Concerto in Performance

For all we have learned about eighteenth-century orchestral per-forming practicesmdashdetails concerning size and balance placementseating articulation tuning and intonation ornamentation vibrato re-hearsal and leadershipmdashwe cannot in the vast majority of cases matchthe number of performers to specific works983089983095 That is reconstructingan orchestrarsquos size from surviving rosters payment records eye-witnessaccounts and the like does not necessarily tell us how many musicianstypically participated in performing a given repertory of concertosoverture-suites symphonies or other types of music Even when we are

fortunate to possess an abundance of performing parts as in the case ofBachrsquos Leipzig cantatas and passions the evidence is likely to be inter-preted in very different ways983089983096 Arguments usually turn on the numberof available string players whether one-to-a-part or orchestrally doubled(with the possibility of part-sharing often a contested issue)

Maunderrsquos main concern is to bring much needed clarity to theissue of how many instrumentalists played in the performance of con-certos before 983089983095983093983088 With considerable zeal he prosecutes his casethat original performance material ldquoshows beyond reasonable doubt

thatmdashwith a few well understood exceptionsmdashconcertos were normallyplayed one-to-a-part until at least 983089983095983092983088 To perform one of them or-chestrally therefore would be as historically inaccurate as would bethe use of multiple strings in a Haydn quartet or of a modern-stylechoir in a Bach cantatardquo (pp 983089ndash983090) Never mind that many baroque con-certos were in fact performed orchestrally (and sometimes with their

983089983095 Each of these performance aspects is explored in John Spitzer and Neal ZaslawThe Birth of the Orchestra History of an Institution 983089983094983093983088ndash983089983096983089983093 (Oxford Oxford UniversityPress 983090983088983088983092) especially in chaps 983089983088ndash983089983089

983089983096 See for example Hans-Joachim Schulze ldquoJohann Sebastian Bachrsquos OrchestraSome Unanswered Questionsrdquo Early Music 983089983095 (983089983097983096983097) 983091ndash983089983093 Joshua Rifkin ldquoMore (andLess) on Bachrsquos Orchestrardquo Performance Practice Review 983092 (983089983097983097983089) 983093ndash983089983091 and Rifkin ldquoThe

Violins in Bachrsquos St John Passionrdquo in Critica Musica Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard ed John Knowles (Amsterdam Gordon and Breach 983089983097983097983094) 983091983088983095ndash983091983090

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 21: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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585

composersrsquo blessings) for Maunder is out to shatter the modern ortho-doxy holding that the concertos of Bach Telemann Vivaldi and theircontemporaries were written for an orchestra of doubled stringsmdasheven

one as modest as the ensemble of six violins two violas two cellos andone double bass now favored by period-instrument ensembles

Maunder is in large measure correct manuscript copies of baroqueconcertos and in particular those featuring a wind soloist usually in-clude only single parts and if exceptions are legion they cumulativelyprove the rule that one-to-a-part strings was the most common per-formance configuration (leaving aside for the moment the poten-tially complicating issue of part-sharing)983089983097 I find that he overstates hiscase though in attempting to extract definitive scoring practices from

printed sets of parts which are by their nature more ambiguous sourcesof information than manuscripts Published concertos were almost uni- versally issued with just one copy of each upper string part not only tokeep costs down but also because both composers and publishers real-ized that many purchasers could muster only single strings Thus themusic was devised to make a good effect in one-to-a-part performancesmdashan important though often overlooked point that Maunder does wellto stress throughout the book

But this does not mean that such works were playable only with the

smallest possible ensemble for it was simply prudent to compose andpublish works in such a way that performance with doubled strings waspractical even if it required copying extra parts by hand purchasingadditional printed sets sharing parts in performance working out orfine-tuning alternations of solo and tutti in rehearsal or some combi-nation of these measures From Maunderrsquos perspective orchestral per-formances of concertos were so rare that composers and publisherssaw no need to take them into account And yet by examining a vari-ety of internal and external evidence he identifies at least fifteen con-

certo publications that require doubled strings983090983088 In thirteen more the

983089983097 Among the most significant exceptions are the Dresden court repertory (dis-cussed below) and the many concertos in the Fonds Blancheton a manuscript collectionof instrumental music compiled during the 983089983095983091983088s or early 983092983088s for the French parliamen-tarian Pierre Philbert de Blancheton and which contains a duplicate second violin partfor each work

983090983088 Francesco Venturini Concerti di camera agrave 983092 983093 983094 983095 983096 e 983097 instromenti op 983089 (Am-sterdam 983089983095983089983091 or 983089983095983089983092) William Corbett Le bizarie universali op 983096 (London ca 983089983095983090983096)Telemann Musique de table (Hamburg 983089983095983091983091) Tartini VI Concerti a otto stromenti op 983090(Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) Locatelli Sei introduttioni teatrali e sei concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam983089983095983091983093) and Sei concerti a quattro op 983095 (Leiden 983089983095983092983089) Jean-Marie Leclair [VI] Concerto op 983095 (Paris 983089983095983091983095 or at least Concerto 983090) Handel Concerti grossi op 983091 (or at least thosemovements with operatic origins) Six Grand Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord op 983092(London 983089983095983091983096) and Twelve Grand Concertos for Violins ampc in Seven Parts op 983094 (London983089983095983092983088) Willem de Fesch VIII Concertorsquos in seven parts op 983089983088 (London 983089983095983092983089) Francesco

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 22: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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586

composer himself explicitly allows or recommends the doubling of ripi-eno string parts on the title page or in a preface983090983089

Giuseppe Torelli Sinfonie agrave tre e concerti agrave quattro op 983093 (Bologna983089983094983097983090) ldquoPlease use more than one instrument for each part if you wishto realize my intentionsrdquo Concerti musicali agrave quattro op 983094 (Amsterdamand Augsburg 983089983094983097983096) parts ldquoshould be duplicated or played by threeor four instrumentsrdquo Concerti grossi op 983096 (Bologna 983089983095983088983097) ldquoMultiplythe other rinforzo instrumentsrdquo

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Concerti grossi op 983090 (Lucca 983089983094983097983096) ldquoSo asnot to increase the number of part-books I have as best I could setdown in the present work the concertino parts however those whoplay in the concerto grosso will kindly be diligent in keeping silent

and counting (rests) where Soli occurs and in re-entering promptly where Tutti is written or they can copy the ripieno parts in those fewplaces where this happensrdquo

Georg Muffat Auszligerlesener mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music (Passau 983089983095983088983089) ldquoIf still more musicians are available you mayadd to those parts already named the remaining ones that is Violino983089 Violino 983090 and Violone or Harpsichord of the Concerto Grosso (or largechoir) and assign whatever number of musicians seems reasonable

with either one two or three players per part If however youhave an even greater number of musicians at your disposal you canincrease the number of players per part for not only the first and sec-ond violins of the large choir (Concerto grosso ) but also with discre-tion both the middle violas and the bassrdquo983090983090

Giuseppe Valentini Concerti grossi a quattro e sei strumenti op 983095 (Bolo-gna 983089983095983089983088) ldquoDouble all the parts with as many as you like save onlyfor the concertino first violin second violin and cello Moreover sothat you know which parts are to be doubled you will see that the rele-

vant part-books have titles in the plural namely ldquoViolini primi di Ripi-enordquo ldquoViolini secondi di Ripienordquo and so forthrdquo

Francesco Manfredini Concerti op 983091 (Bologna 983089983095983089983096) ldquoThe rinforzoparts can be doubledrdquo

Pietro Locatelli Concerti grossi agrave quattro egrave agrave cinque op 983089 (983090nd ed Amsterdam 983089983095983090983097) the four concerto grosso parts ldquomay be doubledad libitum rdquo LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 (Amsterdam 983089983095983091983091) originallyplayed by the composer with ldquoa strong unequalled and very numer-ous orchestrardquo

Barsanti Concerti grossi op 983091 (Edinburgh 983089983095983092983091) William Felton Six Concertos for the Or- gan and Harpsichord op 983089 (London 983089983095983092983092) and the second editions of Francesco Gemini-ani Concerti grossi opp 983090 and 983091 (London 983089983095983093983095)

983090983089 Unless otherwise noted all of the following translations are Maunderrsquos983090983090 Translated in David K Wilson Georg Muffat on Performance Practice The Texts from

ldquo Florilegium Primum Florilegium Secundum rdquo and ldquoAuserlesene Instrumentalmusik rdquo A New Trans- lation with Commentary (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983095983091

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983162983151983144983150

587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 23: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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587

Alessandro Marcello La Cetra (Augsburg by 983089983095983091983096) ldquoThese concertosare arranged in such a way that they can be performed at any musicalconcert To make their full effect they need two oboes or transverse

flutes six violins two violas two cellos one harpsichord one violoneand one bassoon Although these concertos need all the above fif-teen instruments to make the full effect intended by the composerone can nevertheless play them more readily (though less impres-sively) without the oboes or flutes with just six violins or even with aminimum of four as well as just one principal cello if you have no vio-las or second cello and so on in proportion according to the numberof instruments there may be at the concertrdquo

Pietro Castrucci Concerti grossi op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983096) title page due altri Violini Viola e Basso di Concerto grosso da raddoppiarsi ad arbitrio

John Humphries XII Concertos in Seven parts op 983090 (London 983089983095983092983088)ripieno parts ldquomay be doubled at pleasurerdquo

Charles Avison Six Concertos in seven parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983093983089) ldquoTheChorus of other Instruments [ie the ripieno strings] should not ex-ceed the Number following viz six Primo and four secondo Ripienos four Ripieno Basses and two Double Basses and a Harpsicord A lessernumber of Instruments near the same Proportion will also have aproper Effect and may answer the Composerrsquos Intention but more

would probably destroy the just Contrast which should always be keptup between the Chorus and Solo rdquo

Over the course of half a century then at least twenty-one ItalianGerman French and English composers made provisions for perfor-mance with doubled strings for a total of twenty-eight published sets ofconcertos Were they mavericks in this respect or was their flexible at-titude toward scoring representative of the mainstream during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries And how large an orches-

tra was expected in the absence of specific instructions In the case ofTorellirsquos op 983093 Maunder understands the composerrsquos direction of ldquomorethan one instrument per partrdquo to mean a maximum of three based onmanuscripts of other Torelli concertos in which there are one to threecopies for each of the violin and viola parts To demonstrate that nopart-sharing occurred he turns to still other manuscripts containing asmany as thirty-eight string parts (four solo violins ten ripieno violinsnine violas five cellos and ten violoni) apparently used for Bolog-nese festivals such as the feast of San Petronio during which as Anne

Schnoebelen has estimated only twenty-two to twenty-seven string play-ers were hired in 983089983094983094983091 983089983094983096983095 and 983089983094983097983092 But all of these manuscriptsare undated and Schnoebelen also notes that between 983089983094983097983094 and 983089983095983093983094the numbers of string instruments hired for the feast included 983089983088ndash983091983088

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

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593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 24: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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588

violins 983094ndash983089983096 violas 983092ndash983097 violoncellos and 983091ndash983089983090 violoni 983090983091 For Maunderhowever such ambiguous evidence leads to the ldquoinescapablerdquo conclu-sion that ldquoall string players were provided with individual copies of their

own partrdquo (p 983089983097) Be that as it may there seems no reason to rule outperformances of Torellirsquos op 983093 concertos by festival-sized orchestras atBologna

Maunder proposes that other concertos demonstrably intendedfor orchestral performance require only a modest amount of stringdoubling He calculates that the orchestra Telemann calls for in theMusique de table (983089983095983091983091) had a string configuration of 983090ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089ndash983089 (with violins and violas sharing parts) because there is only one copy eachof ldquoViolino 983089rdquo and ldquoViolino 983090rdquo Locatelli too is found to require eight

strings for LrsquoArte del Violino op 983091 So much for the composerrsquos refer-ence quoted above to ldquoa strong unequalled and very numerous or-chestrardquo Here Maunder recognizes that theoretically at least moreplayers could have been accommodated by the copying of extra parts orthe purchasing of more than one printed set ldquobut there is no evidencefrom surviving sources that this was ever donerdquo (p 983090983088983090) Nor should weexpect to find any for libraries tend to separate prints and manuscriptsand few copies of the prints have survived983090983092

One could hardly wish for more straightforward advice on scoring

from an eighteenth-century composer than that provided by Marcelloin his La Cetra Was his preferred ensemble of eleven strings typical for Venetian concertos including those by Albinoni and Vivaldi Probablynot says Maunder who dismisses Marcellorsquos collection as anomalousldquothe idiosyncratic style quite unlike that of Vivaldirsquos or Albinonirsquos con-certos and the composerrsquos choice of an Augsburg publisher may implythat the works were written with the German market in mind and theirscoring cannot be taken as evidence of a change in Venetian practicerdquo(p 983089983094983088) The possibility that Marcello wrote his concertos for export

(also raised by McVeigh and Hirshberg) is intriguing though it hardlyexplains why the composer would pitch doubled strings to the Ger-mans among whom (as Maunder argues) one-to-a-part performance was the norm

983090983091 Anne Schnoebelen ldquoPerformance Practices at San Petronio in the Baroquerdquo ActaMusicologica 983092983089 (983089983097983094983097) 983092983091ndash983092983092

983090983092 On the other hand the subscription list for the Musique de table indicates that nofewer than eight copies of the collection were ordered by musicians at the Dresden court(six by Johann Georg Pisendel and one apiece by Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Johann

Joachim Quantz) where an unusually large string ensemble was available It is certainlypossible that the extra prints were used for performances with heavily doubled stringsthough only one copy is found in what remains of the court music collection at the Saumlch-sische LandesbibliothekndashStaats- und Universitaumltsbibliothek Dresden

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

JM2604_04indd 589 21910 115134 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

JM2604_04indd 590 21910 115134 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

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983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2830

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2930

983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

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594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 25: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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983162983151983144983150

589

In England consistent Solo and Tutti markings in the 983089983095983093983095 secondeditions of Geminianirsquos concertos signal doubled strings to Maunder who finds their absence in the first editions revealing of a different

conception of scoring ldquoThat there are no such markings in the origi-nal 983089983095983091983090 version must mean that at that date they were unnecessarybecause it was taken for granted that all parts would be singlerdquo (p 983090983091983089)Or might the 983089983095983093983095 markings simply spell out a common performanceconvention that allowed for the ad libitum addition of ripienists Al-though Maunder acknowledges the theatricalmdashand therefore almostcertainly orchestralmdashperformance of many Handel concertos (but notthe similar practice of playing concertos at the Hamburg Opera) hestill finds that a single violist sufficed for op 983094 For confirmation of this

scoring he turns to musical societies at Canterbury Lincoln and Salis-bury which ordered single copies of the publication and ldquothereforestill played these concertos one-to-a-partmdashunless the ripieno parts weresharedrdquo (p 983090983092983096) which of course they could have been

Among Maunderrsquos criteria for determining the number of stringsintended for a given concerto are Solo and Tutti markings instrumen-tal designations evidence of part-sharing musical texture and instru-mental balance He is surely correct that Solo and Tutti markings inprinted parts are often meant as warnings about textural changes in

the music exceptional in his view are cases in which these markingsare meticulously and consistently supplied in all parts and so may beinstructions for doubling strings to drop out or start playing again (asin Geminianirsquos concertos) His main argument against the orchestralconception of Vivaldirsquos opp 983091 and 983092 as with many other concertoshinges on the absence of certain Tutti markings that would signal to theldquoextrardquo players when to reenter following the Solo markings (which arealmost always supplied) To be sure there is some potential for confu-sion if an ensemble of doubled strings sight-reads these works from the

original prints But it seems to me that in most instances the missing in-formation could easily be restored during a brief rehearsal And in situ-ations such as the third movement of op 983092 no 983091 (Maunderrsquos ex 983091983089983089) where Solo at the beginning of an episode is not cancelled by Tutti atthe start of the next ritornello might the sensitive and experienced rip-ienistmdashalert to the kinds of rhetorical cues described by McVeigh andHirshbergmdashroutinely understand when to come back in anyway

In evaluating the wording of title pages and part titles Maundertends to assume that composers mean exactly what they say Thus Bachrsquos

ldquoTutti Violini e Violerdquo at the start of the First Brandenburg ConcertorsquosPoloinesse movement cannot indicate string doublings because ldquothe listof the instruments at the start of this concerto explicitly says lsquo983090 Violiniuna Violarsquordquo (p 983089983088983096) as though Bach could not have been referring

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

JM2604_04indd 590 21910 115134 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2730

983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

JM2604_04indd 591 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2830

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2930

983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

JM2604_04indd 593 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 3030

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 26: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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590

to parts rather than players Similarly when Gregori calls an optionalripieno part ldquoun Ripieno del Primo Violinordquo this must indicate a singleplayer for the use of the singular in a ldquoViolinordquo part should be taken

literally Both interpretations will seem counterintuitive to anyone fa-miliar with the modern convention of ldquoViolin 983089rdquo parts being doubled at will983090983093 In fact Maunder finds this practice reflected in Valentinirsquos op 983095 where the composer allows performers to ldquodouble all the parts with asmany as you likerdquo and employs the plural in part titles (ldquoViolini primi diRipienordquo) but writes ldquoViolinordquo on each of the four violin partbooks tothe eleventh concerto ldquoFor oncerdquo Maunder allows ldquothis terminologydoes not necessarily imply single playersrdquo (p 983094983097) Nevertheless whenthe Amsterdam reprint changes the part titles to the singular form this

ldquostrongly suggests one-to-a-part performance of even the ripieno partsrdquo(p 983095983088)mdashdespite the fact that for this concerto the reprint retains Val-entinirsquos original Solo and Tutti markings and direction to double the violins

Elaborating on the pros and cons of the part-sharing argumentMaunder notes in a discussion of performance customs at the Darm-stadt court that continuo parts were sometimes shared but that ldquothereis no evidence that manuscript violin parts were ever shared at thistimerdquo (p 983089983096983096) This may have been true for concertos but at least a few

overture-suites by Telemann were performed at Darmstadt with violin-ists and oboists sharing parts983090983094 Printed parts may have been sharedmore frequently Maunder considers that separate parts for violin ripi-enists in Tartinirsquos op 983090 reflect the composerrsquos practice at the basilica ofS Antonio in Padua where the orchestra included eight violins four violists two cellists and two ldquoviolonerdquo players and at least some part-sharing seems to have occurred And Locatelli is credited with beingldquosomething of a pioneer in publishing concertos whose ripieno partsare to be shared by two players in the modern fashion Solo markings

being instructions to partners to stop playingrdquo (p 983090983090983089) Additional negative evidence comes from the Dresden court to

which Maunder devotes considerable space in his two chapters on Ger-man concertos983090983095 At Dresden concertos were often accompanied by a

983090983093 This point is also made by Michael Talbot in his review of Maunderrsquos book (Musicamp Letters 983096983094 [983090983088983088983093] 983090983096983096) See Maunderrsquos reply in Music amp Letters 983096983095 (983090983088983088983094) 983093983088983096

983090983094 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983093983090983095 Here as throughout the book Maunderrsquos control of the secondary literature is

admirable But he appears to overlook Manfred Fechnerrsquos important study Studien zur Dresdner Uumlberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 983089983096 Jahrhunderts Die Dresdner Konzert-Manuskripte von Georg Philipp Telemann Johann David Heinichen JohannGeorg Pisendel Johann Friedrich Fasch Gottfried Heinrich Stoumllzel Johann Joachim Quantz und

Johann Gottlieb Graun Untersuchungen an den Quellen und thematischer Katalog Dresdner Stu-dien zur Musikwissenschaft 983090 (Laaber Laaber-Verlag 983089983097983097983097)

JM2604_04indd 590 21910 115134 AM

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7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2730

983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

JM2604_04indd 591 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2830

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2930

983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

JM2604_04indd 593 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 3030

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 27: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2730

983162983151983144983150

591

string ensemble configured 983091ndash983091ndash983090ndash983090ndash983089 ldquooccasionally with one extra violin or double bassrdquo (p 983089983097983096) but without part-sharing Maunderrsquosprincipal evidence that each player read from his own part comes from

a manuscript copy of Telemannrsquos Concerto in E Minor for two violinsTWV 983093983090e983092 performed at the court between 983089983095983089983088 and 983089983095983089983089 Hereuniquely in the Dresden collection each part is labeled with a courtmusicianrsquos name It is certainly reasonable to conclude that no part-sharing occurred in this case and in fact rosters of court musiciansfrom the period (not cited by Maunder) offer strong supporting evi-dence However during the 983089983095983090983088s and 983091983088s the number of instrumen-talists employed at Dresden increased so much that if no part-sharingoccurred then only half of the Hofkapellersquos players would have partici-

pated either in concert performances of concertos and overture-suitesor in liturgical performances of concerto suite and sonata movementsin the Catholic court church983090983096

Many of Maunderrsquos determinations about scoring are based onhis own notions of what constitutes good instrumental balance and whether a particular musical texture supports doubling With respectto certain concertos in Mossirsquos VI Concerti a 983094 instromenti op 983091 (Amster-dam ca 983089983095983089983097) he argues that single strings were intended pointingout that the two solo violins cannot have been supported by more than

a single cello during episodes that the ripieno violins cannot have beenmore numerous than the solo violins when there are independent partsfor all four and that the ripieno violins would cause an imbalance witha single cello if doubled In one of Michael Christian Festingrsquos TwelveConcertorsquos In Seven Parts op 983091 (London 983089983095983091983092) a unison bassetto linefor violins 983089 and 983090 supporting a pair of solo flutes ldquomight be thoughttoo heavy with four violinsrdquo (p 983090983091983092) And DallrsquoAbacorsquos Concerti agrave piugrave Is- trumenti op 983094 (Amsterdam ca 983089983095983091983092) contains ldquomany soloistic passagesfor violin 983089 not marked Solo so that part is for a single player hence

surely so also are violins 983090 and 983091rdquo (p 983089983097983093) Maunderrsquos assumptions re-garding balance in Mossirsquos and Festingrsquos concertos are in my view verymuch debatable and his characterization of DallrsquoAbacorsquos violin 983089 partraises the problematic issue of where one draws the line between soloisticand orchestral writing (the passage quoted from op 983094 no 983089 does notstrike me as having an especially soloistic violin part and so could con-ceivably have been performed by multiple players) As is to be expectednot every concerto is susceptible to this type of analysis When an ex-amination of Mossirsquos [XII] Concerti op 983092 (Amsterdam 983089983095983090983095) fails to

provide a definitive answer as to how many accompanying violins wereexpected Maunder throws up his hands ldquothe corresponding obbligato

983090983096 Zohn Music for a Mixed Taste 983089983096983092ndash983096983097

JM2604_04indd 591 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2830

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2930

983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

JM2604_04indd 593 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 3030

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 28: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2830

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592

and concerto grosso parts are in unison with each other much of thetime and it makes relatively little difference whether the violin lines areconsequently played by two or by morerdquo (p 983089983092983093)

Elsewhere readers will have to decide whether to privilege Maun-derrsquos reconstructions of composersrsquo irrecoverable intentions over docu-mented eighteenth-century practice For much of Telemannrsquos Concertoin G for two violins and strings TWV 983093983090G983090 ldquothe six string parts arecontrapuntally independent so it is unlikely that Telemann intendedany of them to be doubledrdquo (p 983097983090) even though the composerrsquos closefriend Johann Georg Pisendel performed the concerto at Dresden with multiple instruments on both of the ripieno violin lines Likewiseone manuscript copy of Matthias Georg Monnrsquos cello concerto includes

doublets for the violin parts ldquoon the whole however the texture sug-gests that Monn had single strings in mind for this concerto and the version with duplicates was copied laterrdquo (p 983089983097983095) Maunder supportsthis assertion with a musical example that as far as I can see provesnothing one way or the other

A final case concerns bass-line scoring a topic on which the bookincludes much enlightening commentary Though concertos wereheard in Berlin and Dresden with a 983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089ndash983089 string ensemble (includ-ing a double bass at 983089983094rsquo pitch) Maunder argues that JS Bachrsquos Leipzig

collegium musicum used this scoring only for the Harpsichord Con-certo in F BWV 983089983088983093983095 Because the sources for the other harpsichordconcertos and for the violin concertos do not mention a violonemdashaside from the Harpsichord Concerto in A BWV 983089983088983093983093 where the in-strument may have been at 983096rsquo pitchmdashldquoit would certainly be wrongrdquo touse a 983089983094rsquo instrument in these works (p 983089983096983090) BWV 983089983088983093983095 is exceptionalamong the harpsichord concertos in that other works have brief pas-sages in which the bass line rises a fifth above the harpsichordrsquos lefthand ldquoif a double bass played there it would be a fourth below the left

hand and the harmony would be invertedrdquo (p 983089983096983091) The example hegives is an excerpt from the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV983089983088983093983090 in which such inversions would occur twice each time for theduration of two eighth notes I imagine that there are some playersand listeners who might find these fleeting transgressions unaccept-able but those like me who have only heard this concerto performed with a double bass and never flinched at the offending inversions must wonder whether Bach would have sent his double bassist home in orderto avoid them Even if he did are modern performers really wrong to

follow the scoring of BWV 983089983088983093983095 (or standard practice of the Berlin andDresden courts) and include a double bass anyway

JM2604_04indd 592 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2930

983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

JM2604_04indd 593 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 3030

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 29: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 2930

983162983151983144983150

593

How we perceive teach and perform baroque concertos shouldnot remain unaffected by the new perspectives offered by MaunderBrover-Lubovsky and McVeighHirshberg Whether or not one agrees

with all of Maunderrsquos conclusions for instance he has made it all butimpossible to sustain an argument that the baroque concerto is inher-ently orchestral in nature At the same time in endeavoring to extracthard-and-fast answers from often inconclusive evidence he replaces thecurrent one-size-fits-all approach (baroque concertos were intended fora chamber-orchestra-size ensemble) with another (they were designedfor one-to-a-part performance) The truth as a variety of eighteenth-century sources indicate surely lies somewhere in the middle Histor-ically minded performers can join scholars and students in reading

Maunderrsquos book for his informative and thought-provoking treatmentof the subject But if they then choose to perform baroque concertos with however many string players are available they may at least capturethe spirit of eighteenth-century practice

A new picture also emerges with respect to Vivaldirsquos tonal practicesand their relationship to the theory and practice of his contemporariesIf the composer rose to fame largely on the basis of his own progressivetendencies we can also appreciate thanks to Brover-Lubovsky the rolethat a more conservative adherence to modal principles played in the

Vivaldian revolution She concludes that the composerrsquos posthumousneglect ldquowas not due to his extravagant individualism and stylistic aber-ration as has been traditionally suggested but was instead caused bynational disparities in aesthetic judgments and diffusion of ideas withineighteenth-century western culturerdquo (p 983090983096983089) In other words Vivaldibecame a victim of Enlightenment fascination with progress and an at-tendant aesthetic marginalization of instrumental music

Finally the importance of McVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos contribution tothe study of the baroque concerto repertory is perhaps epitomized by a

featured surprise in their summary remarksmdashor at least what wouldhave been a surprise to me before reading their bookmdashnamely that thetwo models of Vivaldian ritornello form put forward in an influentialstudy by Walter Kolneder do not correspond to a single first movementin a repertory of 983096983088983088 concertos983090983097 Even when isolated from their accom-panying tutti-solo textural shifts Kolnederrsquos archetypal tonal schemes(IndashVndashvindashI in major and indashIIIndashvndashi in minor) appear in only 983090983088 and983089983088 of the sample respectively983091983088 Other common assumptions about Vivaldian ritornello form as proffered by Charles Rosen and Manfred

983090983097 Walter Kolneder Die Solokonzertform bei Vivaldi (Strasbourg PH Heitz 983089983097983094983089)983091983089983090

983091983088 However the major-mode scheme is the most common one in concertos by Viv-aldi Tessarini and Tartini and the minor-mode scheme is among Vivaldirsquos favorites

JM2604_04indd 593 21910 115135 AM

This content downloaded from 16075222 on Tue 15 Oct 2013 164051 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 3030

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)

Page 30: jm.2009.26.4.566.pdf

7272019 jm2009264566pdf

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljm2009264566pdf 3030

983156983144983141 983146983151983157983154983150983137983148 983151983142 983149983157983155983145983139983151983148983151983143983161

594

Bukofzermdashthat the final tonic ritornello (R983092) is usually a repeat ofthe first (R983089) and that modulatory solos are inevitably surrounded bytonally stable ritornellosmdashmay also now be discarded983091983089 As useful as

such formal models once seemed McVeigh and Hirshberg rightfullyconsider them to obscure the ldquodiversity of optionsrdquo actually found in Vivaldirsquos concertos and to encourage a type of listening in which one judges ldquoall the many departures either unfavorably as stylistic aberra-tions or favorably as heroic acts of liberationrdquo (p 983091983088983089) But are theycorrect that the decades-old studies by Kolneder Rosen and Bukofzerreflect current thinking about the Italian solo concerto A glance atrecent specialist studies of Vivaldirsquos music and textbook-type surveyspaints a less dire picture one in which Vivaldian ritornello form tends

to be represented as a more flexible formal construct than in previousgenerations983091983090

The flexible analytical model proposed by McVeigh and Hirshbergdiffers from earlier formulations in stressing a set of guiding composi-tional principles rather than an unyielding mold for ritornello formthe intermingling of styles in place of a linear development proceedingfrom the Corellian concerto grosso through to the galant solo concertoand the concentration on local and individual approaches to the con-certo instead of compositional schools all within a multilayered his-

torical narrative accounting for processes of exploration selection andelimination of formal strategies This untidy model as the book amplydemonstrates promotes a wealth of new insights relating to the Italianconcerto and so it is to be hoped that future researchers will take upMcVeigh and Hirshbergrsquos challenge and adapt it to other repertories

Temple University

983091983089 Charles Rosen Sonata Forms rev ed (New York WW Norton 983089983097983096983096) 983095983090 Man-fred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era (New York WW Norton 983089983097983092983095) 983090983090983096

983091983090 Perpetuating a traditional view of Vivaldian ritornello form are Karl Heller An- tonio Vivaldi The Red Priest of Venice trans David Marinelli (Portland Amadeus 983089983097983097983095)983094983092 and John Walter Hill Baroque Music Music in Western Europe 983089983093983096983088ndash983089983095983093983088 (New York

WW Norton 983090983088983088983093) 983091983093983090 Adopting a more flexible view or refraining from offering anyabstract model are Michael Talbot Vivaldi (New York Schirmer 983089983097983097983091) 983089983089983088ndash983089983090 PaulEverett Vivaldi ldquoThe Four Seasons rdquo and Other Concertos 983090983094ndash983092983097 David Schulenberg Music ofthe Baroque (New York Oxford University Press 983090983088983088983089) 983090983097983094ndash983091983088983089 and George J Buelow AHistory of Baroque Music (Bloomington Indiana University Press 983090983088983088983092) 983092983094983094ndash983095983089 Talbotrsquosbook marks a retreat from the more schematic view of Vivaldian ritornello form in hisclassic study ldquoThe Concerto Allegro in the Early Eighteenth Centuryrdquo Music amp Letters 983093983090(983089983097983095983089) 983089983090ndash983089983092 Abstract models for Vivaldian ritornello form are also avoided in threerecent surveys of Western art music Mark Evan Bonds A History of Music in Western Cul- ture 983091rd ed (Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Prentice Hall 983090983088983089983088) J Peter BurkholderDonald J Grout and Claude Palisca A History of Western Music 983096th ed (New York WWNorton 983090983088983088983097) and Craig Wright and Bryan Simms Music in Western Civilization (BostonSchirmer Cengage Learning 983090983088983089983088)