Volume 25, Number 4 · March 23, 1978
The Vivaldi Numbers Game
By Robert Craft
Marc Pincherle's thematic inventory of Vivaldi's instrumental works was published in 1948. But in 1945, in Rome, Mario Rinaldo had already brought out a 'Catalogo tematico,' in which each work is identified by an 'M.R.' number. The Malipiero scores were marked 'Tomo,' 1 through 535, though Ricordi, who published them, listed the music in the sequence of the company's general catalogue ('P.R.,' for Partiture Ricordi). Finally, in 1968, Fanna's Institute issued still another thematic index ('F.') of the 'complete' orchestral works dividing them into sixteen categories according to instrumentation: concertos for strings, for 'complessi vari,' etc. This attempt to introduce some order was laudable but limited, providing no subdivision beyond an inadequate grouping by key. Thus the entries occur in the sequence C major, C minor, D major, D minor, and so on up the scale to B minor; but since Vivaldi wrote thirty-three solo violin concertos in D major, the classification should have been broken down a step further. Fanna's appendices supply the corresponding numbers between 'F.' and 'P.,' and between 'Tomo' and 'P.R.,' but no concordance for all four, while 'M.R.' is excluded altogether.
Feature, 774 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |