Biographies
- Talbot, Michael. Vivaldi. Rev. ed. New York: Schirmer, 1993. 237p. ISBN
0-02-872665-0. ML410 .V82 T34.
First edition, 1978. This revision introduces corrections, new endnotes, and
updated appendixes. The first English-language life and works, also published
in Italian and German. With worklist, bibliography, and index. Talbot also
wrote the Vivaldi chapter for New Grove Italian Baroque Masters(#2459),
which has the reliable Peter Ryom worklist. The scores of 21 operas have sur-
vived, not all complete. Although they are relatively little studied—by Talbot
or other specialists—they are “vital and imaginative.”
Operas in General
- Cross, Eric. The Late Operas of Antonio Vivaldi, 1727–1738.Ann Arbor,
Mich.: UMI Research, 1981. 2v. ISBN 0-8357-1158-7. ML410 .V82 C8.
Background material on Venice and the opera seria;then detailed technical
examination of the Vivaldi works, emphasizing Griselda. Attention to charac-
terization and overall structure. Chronology of operas, with casts and notes.
V.2 is made up of musical examples. Bibliography of about 150 entries; expan-
sive index of names, titles, and topics; separate index of works.
1955.Antonio Vivaldi: Da Venezia all’Europa. Ed. Francesco Degrada and Maria
Teresa Muraro. Milan: Electa, 1978. 161p. No ISBN. ML410 .V82 A85.
Consists partly of papers given at a conference in Venice, 1978. One is: - Garbero, Elvira. “Drammaturgia vivaldiana: Regesto e concordanza dei
libretti.” In Antonio Vivaldi(#1955), 111–153.
A careful chronological inventory of the libretti, presenting for each a list of
the characters and their interpreters, plots, and staging directions, as well as
miscellaneous facts as appropriate and available. - Collins, Michael. “L’orchestra nelle opera teatrali di Vivaldi.” In Quaderni
vivaldiani4 (1988): 285–312.
Compares the accompaniments to arias as written by Vivaldi, Handel, and
their contemporaries. The “dominant tendency” was toward more dense yet
less intrusive accompaniments. - Strohm, Reinhard. “Vivaldi’s Career as an Opera Producer.” In Essays on
Handel(#953), 122–163.
This important article also appeared in Antonio Vivaldi: Teatro musicale, cul-
tura, società(Florence: Olschki, 1982). By 1739 Vivaldi, having written 94
operas, “was almost primarily an opera composer.” But research is showing
that in many of those works he acted rather as a producer and arranger than as
a composer: an impresario. A tabular presentation shows his role in the operas
he produced. With a list of his singers (and brief biographies), his librettists,
the operas he produced by other composers, his pasticcios, and the collabora-
tive compositions. An extensive chronological commentary on the productions
(1713–1739) is of special value.
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