Alma oppressa

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741)

Psalm 109 for SATB choir, soloists, two oboes, trumpet, bassoon, strings and basso continuo RV807

1. Coro: Dixit Dominus

2. Coro: Donec ponam (coro, contralto)

3. Aria: Virgam virtutis tuae (soprano I)

4. Duetto: Tecum principium (tenore I & II)

Performed by the Kornerscher Sing-Verein Dresden and the Dresdner Instrumental-Concert
Featuring Roberta Invernizzi, soprano I
Lucia Cirillo, soprano II
Sara Mingardo, contralto
Paul Agnew, tenor I
Thomas Cooley, tenor II
Sergio Foresti, bass I
Georg Zeppenfeld, bass II
Directed by Peter Kopp

*RV 807 was only recognized as a Vivaldi work in 2005 by Australian scholar Janice Stockigt and has never been recorded before the present recording. This is the longest and most impressive composition of the four improperly attributed to Baldassarre Galuppi (1706-1785).

Vivaldi's authorship of the Dixit Dominus is established by a number of features, both specific and general. Most specific of all is the almost perfect correspondance of the music of its sixth movement, "Dominus a dextris tuis", to the outer ('A') section of the aria "Alma oppressa da sorte crudele" in the first act of Vivaldi's opera "La Fida Ninfa" (1732). Then there are some strong reminiscences of the settings of the same verse in Vivaldi's two earlier settings of Psalm 109/110, RV 595 (c.1715) and RV 594 (c. 1730). For instance, the second movement of RV 807, "Donec ponam inimicos tuos", sounds like a "composite" of the equivalent movements in the two earlier settings, while the second section of the seventh movement, "Judicabit in nationibus", has exactly the same character and scoring as its counterpart in RV 595. The surprisingly elaborate fugal finale finds close parallels in RV 594 and certain other Vivaldi sacred works. Beyond that, each movement possesses its quotient of peculiarly "Vivaldian" fingerprints - melodic, harmonic, rythmical, textural, or structural.