Antonio Vivaldi, and: Antonio Vivaldi und seine Zeit (review)

Rarely do two books on the same subject with such commendable content emerge at so nearly the same time. Neither of these titles is readily available in the United States; they must be ordered from an overseas distributor. Pozzi's book was published in 2007 but was in slight circulation until 2008. Rampe's book appeared in 2010 and was undoubtedly in preparation by the time Pozzi's appeared.

Both works owe their existence to the steady accrual of new sources and information that have appeared since the third centenary of Vivaldi's birth in 1978. Streams of new information regularly appear, together with musical supplements, in the Studi Vivaldiani. The proceedings of the four decadal conferences on Vivaldi have produced voluminous proceedings. For 1978, 1988, and 1998 they were published (in book form) by Leo S. Olschki; the most recent proceedings actually took place in 2007 and are available online (www.cini.it/en/publication/detail/5/id/1040, accessed 6 July 2011). Multiple series of editions of Vivaldi's works outside the realm of instrumental music have been published by Ricordi under the auspices of the Vivaldi Institute (at the Fondazione Cini, Venice), which has also sponsored monographs exploring particular genres among the composer's oeuvre (Michael Talbot's on sacred music, Reinhard Strohm's on operas, Federico Maria Sardelli's on flute music, Cesare Fertonani's on violin music). Taken together, they provide ample new scope for examining the music, as the contours of the repertory grow and change. Additionally, Ryom's comprehensive catalogue (Antonio Vivaldi: thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke (RV) [Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2007]), which continues to be updated in the Studi Vivaldiani, brings coherence to several decades of manuscript studies. Continuing biographical research by Micky White regularly injects unanticipated findings into the Vivaldi family portrait. Pozzi and Rampe have taken full advantage of all of it. Both weave this miscellany into different tapestries, of course, but both do so faithfully and with a commendable balance of content.

Pozzi's book presents Vivaldi's life in seven chapters. This block of material is preceded by two chapters on Venice and its musical life; it is followed by three topical chapters—one each on sources, style, and reception. Unnumbered tables add up to thirty-two in Pozzi's work and address a variety of topics. The chapter on musical style contains thirty-four music examples, many with several component parts. The twenty-nine figures provide valuable images of various kinds, although roughly half appear to come from scans of images that are not clearly reproduced. Sources are acknowledged in Pozzi's book, but permissions to reproduce them are not included.

On balance, the book is attractively presented. The text is easily legible throughout; the listings, especially at the rear, are helpfully indented, with search terms in boldface. When it comes to the legibility of musical detail, some elements of the design prove to be problematic. The music examples, and an occasional harmonic scheme, vary in size from "small" to "too small to read." In example 10 (p. 499), in which extracts from three different works with similar melodic shapes are being compared, the work-location indications and most of the analytical markup have shrunken into oblivion. Twelve bars (mainly containing eighth and sixteenth notes) have been fitted into a width of 3 13/16" and a height of 1 5/16". Example 13 (p. 505), showing more than 4 measures from the second concerto of L'Estro armonico, is fitted into a slightly taller space (1¾") and is much clearer. In example 18 (p. 525)—a single staff showing the opening bars of the sixth concerto of La Cetra—the three bars of notes...