Vivaldi: Salve Regina, RV 617

Vivaldi’s sacred music occupies a place of honour in his vast output, dovetailing passages of great tenderness and sombre beauty, rich in cantabile expressiveness, with highly operatic movements of colourful and exciting virtuosity.

Volume 3 of the complete sacred music features the final and expanded version of Vivaldi’s G minor setting of the Magnificat, his setting of the Vespers Psalm 126, Nisi Dominus, with its strongly characterized instrumental accompaniment, and the dramatic yet poignant Roman motet, In furore iustissimae irae (In the fury of most righteous anger Thou showest thy divine power).

Baroque violinist extraordinaire Adrian Chandler has produced two of the most popular and enduring CDs in the Avie catalogue: Per Monsieur Pisendel, sonatas by Albinoni, Pisendel and Vivaldi (AV 0018); and Vivaldi in Arcadia, a selection of pastorale concertos and arias (AV 0031). His scholarship and passion for the works of the Red Priest marry with his dazzling virtuosity and evident glee on his third Avie offering, Music for the Chapel of the Pietà. Vivaldi’s infamous output during his time at the girl’s orphanage Ospedale della Pietà was complemented for a time when he served as the Maestro di Coro at the Pietà, producing the enchanting Salve Regina and the rich Laudate Pueri, presented here with the stunning soprano Mhairi Lawson. The instrumental works, which include two novel concerti for violin and organ, were almost certainly written for intervals in the Pietà’s church services.

For many years after his death, Vivaldi’s vast output of sacred music lay silent and forgotten until Alberto Gentili tracked down an incredible 27 volumes of manuscripts in the 1920s. These volumes contained motets, movements of Masses, the oratorio Juditha triumphans, psalm settings and Marian antiphons. These works ranged from short single-movement works to larger-scale compositions with twelve or more sections.

One of the most famous works unearthed by Gentili was the Gloria. Today, this work is as popular as The Four Seasons and is among Vivaldi’s best-known music. The Gloria, like much of the sacred music by Vivaldi, is easily accessible, like his famous concertos. The music has a very human spirituality – nothing mystic, just a desire to explain the text in a clear pictorial way.

Much of Vivaldi’s sacred music was written for the Ospedale della Pietà, a state-funded foundlings’ home for girls, where he became music director after his ordination in 1703. His writing focused almost entirely on instrumental music, especially concertos, when the choirmaster Francesco Gasparini went on leave and failed to return. Vivaldi was asked to help out, and the results can be heard on these seven CDs.

This set is a must-have for those who love Vivaldi’s music and wish to explore beyond the famous concertos.

New booklet note by Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot.