Hyperion Records

One of the most important tasks of the choirmaster at the Pietà was to compose music for Holy Week, including a setting of Psalm 50, the Miserere. If Vivaldi composed one, it has been lost, although a setting in C minor (c1733) by Giovanni Porta (maestro di coro from 1726 to 1737) survives. Vivaldi did, however, leave two introduzioni to the Miserere for solo alto—Non in pratis aut in hortis, RV641, and Filiae maestae Jerusalem, RV638 (recorded in Volume 2 of this series, CDA66779). Both works date from around 1715 and allow the final recitative to cadence finally in C minor, although RV641 opens irregularly in F major. My surmise is that these were alternative ‘introductions’ to the same Miserere, the key of which was later adopted also by Porta. Their exceptionally narrow vocal compasses and generally restrained style correspond to those of Geltruda, one of the Pietà’s most celebrated singers during this period.

The emotional core of RV641 is its solitary central aria, which successfully conveys a mood of dignified lamentation appropriate to Passiontide. This movement epitomizes Vivaldi’s ability to achieve overpowering expression by the very simplest means. Geltruda reportedly had a soft voice, and one notes Vivaldi’s constant efforts (by muting, or temporarily omitting, the strings) to ensure that the singer is never drowned.

It is impossible to carry out Vivaldi’s original intention by appending the Miserere, but to allow RV641 to have no sequel at all is equally impossible. This recording resolves the problem pragmatically by following this introduzione with the Stabat mater, which is at least related by key, mood, subject, season and period of composition, even if it belongs to a different liturgy.

from notes by Michael Talbot © 1999