Vengo a voi

It was only fairly recently, in 1930 to be exact, that the musical world became aware of Vivaldi’s contributions to Baroque vocal music. In that year two large private manuscript collections were bequeathed to the Biblioteca Nazionale in Turin. Astoundingly, they contained 300 concertos, 18 operas, and over 100 vocal works—all not heard since Vivaldi’s death. Looking back now, we see that his talents extend into realms well beyond the “Four Seasons,” though the quality of music in these manuscripts surely benefits from his mastery of the violin and his ability to transfer that brilliance to other genres.
This union between violin and voice can be heard in one of the few surviving cantatas, “Vengo à voi” for soprano, strings, and continuo. Vivaldi sets two da capo arias around a central recitative. The first aria, a Larghetto in C major, contains typical rhythmic contrasts, including rapid flourishes that mimic bird calls. All of these ornaments occur both in the opening string ritornello and in the voice, where the coloratura melismas offset long sustained notes. Moreover, the whole work is unified by the recurrence of rhythmic patterns and specific ornaments in the second C-major aria. Only the central recitative, which traverses the tonal space from F major to D minor, as well the arias’ central minor-mode sections, provide contrasting mood. In sum the structure bears elements of the major-minor-major architecture of the Baroque concerto for which Vivaldi is still celebrated.

(c) Jason Stell