The German patrician von Uffenbach, during a visit to Venice for the carnival of 1715, at long last managed to meet with Vivaldi and order from him “10 concerti grossi”. Three days later, the composer reappeared with all of the requested music, assuring his patron that it had been expressly composed for him. Vivaldi was unquestionably a very quick composer, but he was also a barefaced and extremely capable promoter of his own talents. The collection of twelve concertos for strings, now preserved in Paris, also has all the earmarks of having been a rapidly and cleverly assembled series of previously composed works, with very little new music added. This same modus operandi would mark the genesis of op. 10 and many other collections by Vivaldi. But Vivaldi is an excellent composer, and like a great actor, he succeeds in taking on the appearance of a character by merely donning a hat or imitating a gesture. Thus he manages to outline with a few brushstrokes all of the force of a French entree in the opening of Concerto n. 5, or to fall suddenly into the most moving melancholy when his unusual Ciaccona modulates into the minor key. Even the last movement of Concerto n. 2, despite appearances, is a rare example of a menuet en rondeau camouflaged as an Italian allegro. The beginning of Concerto n. 1, although belonging to the older works, must have been chosen by Vivaldi to open the collection because it resembles a chaconne in binary meter. These, then, are the distinctive elements, obvious and yet quite effective, which render the idea of a well recognizable taste or style—the same style which informed the “Domine Fili” from the Gloria RV 589, the aria “Tornar voglio” from Arsilda, and the final chorus of Il Giustino. Federico Maria Sardelli conducts the famous baroque ensemble Modo Antiquo, in this amazing historical recording.
