Concerto in D minor, Op 3 No. 11, RV 565

Question 1

Is this piece of the early, middle or late Baroque period?

Answer 1

Late Baroque

Question 2

What kind of work is this?

Answer 2

A concerto grosso (or concertino)- a work for a group of soloists.

Question 3

What are the solo instruments in this work?

Answer 3

Two violins and a cello.

Question 4

What instruments accompany the soloist(s)?

Answer 4

Strings and harpsichord (cembalo) or organ continuo.

In the anthology version, a cembalo continuo is used

Question 5

What nationality was Vivaldi?

Answer 5

Venetian (Italian)

Question 6

Where and when was the work first published?

Answer 6

Amsterdam, 1711

Question 7

What wider work was this piece part of?

Answer 7

It was one of 12 concertos forming L’estro Amornico (Harmonic Inspiration/Fancy)

Question 8

What was the exact date of composition?

Answer 8

The exact date is unknown. The piece may have been written way before 1711.

Question 9

What is the violone?

Answer 9

The violone was the direct ancestor of the double bass. It is a large, bowed instrument as violone literally means “large viol”

Question 10

Is there any pizzicato in this work?

Answer 10

No, the strings are bowed throughout.

Question 11

What is the violin range?

Answer 11

It extends up to D, just over two octaves above middle C.

Question 12

What is the range of the solo cello?

Answer 12

The cello extends to G above middle C (G above the stave).

Question 13

What is the sonority of this work?

Answer 13

• Resonant exploitation of open strings at the start of the work.
• Contrast of forces throughout (popular in Venetian music e.g. music of Monteverdi and Gabrieli)
• The central part of the slow third movement (Largo e spiccato) is for UPPER STRINGS ONLY (bass and continuo rest).

Question 14

What is the notation for this work?

Answer 14

• Each part allotted its own line
• Violins 1 and 2 are soloists
• Violins 3 and 4 are ripieno (the body of instruments accompanying the Concertino in baroque concerto music)
• Solo cello line on stave above continuo.

Question 15

What are the typically Baroque features of the score?

Answer 15

• Figured bass
• Terraced dynamics
• Italian performance instructions

Question 16

What is figured bass?

Answer 16

A system of harmonic shorthand, where numbers or symbols are used to indicate chords and intervals which should be played in relation to the bass notes they are associated with.

Question 17

What does ‘tasto solo’ mean, and where can it be found in the work?

Answer 17

‘Tasto solo means that only the bass line, without chords, should be played at this point. It can be found in the second movement, at bar 58.

Question 18

What are the different sections of the piece? How many are there?

Answer 18

There are four main sections:
•Allegro
•Adagio e spiccato (brief) - leading into Allegro
•Largo e spiccato
•Allegro

Question 19

What are the metres of the four sections?

Answer 19

1. Allegro - 3/4
2. Adagio e spiccato; Allegro - common time
3. Largo e spiccato - compound quadruple 12/8
4. Allegro - common time

Question 20

What typically Baroque type of rhythms characterise the rhythm in movements I, II and IV?

Answer 20

‘Motor rhythms’ - mechanical, engine-like rhythms, helped along by the almost percussive harpsichord continuo.

Question 21

What are the rhythmic features of the opening of movement I?

Answer 21

Movement I opens with continuous quavers, leading to running semiquavers.

Question 22

Describe the rhythm of the short Adagio section at the start of movement 2.

Answer 22

It is rhythmically simple with four even quavers followed by a minim with a pause.

Question 23

What rhythms does Movement III draw on?

Answer 23

Rocking Siciliano rhythms.

Question 24

What are siciliano rhythms?

Answer 24

Dotted-quaver-semiquaver-quaver patterns, like a slow jig or tarantella. A siciliano is a slow dance in compound time.

Question 25

What are the melodic features of the work, and where can they be found?

Answer 25

• Broken chord patterns (opening bars of the first movement)
• Scales (movement II, descending at bar 13 and inverted to rise at bar 37)
• Frequent sequences (movement II, bars 25-26 or at bar 37)
• Leaps (e.g. movement II, bars 25-26 (5ths) or movement III, bar 4 (7ths)
• Chromatic (movement IV, bars 4-6)
• Ornaments - confined to occasional trill

Question 26

What type of harmony is used in the work?

Answer 26

Functional harmony with a strong drive towards cadences.

Question 27

What does the harmonic vocabulary draw on?

Answer 27

Root position chords, first inversions and 7ths.

Question 28

What harmonic device is used frequently? Give an example of where this is used.

Answer 28

The circle of 5ths - movement II, bars 33-35.

Question 29

Give an example of where a suspension is used in the work. What suspension is it?

Answer 29

A 4-3 suspension is used in movement II, bar 50.

Question 30

Where does an unusual false relation occur? What is it?

Answer 30

An unusual false relation occurs in movement 2, bar 3. E.g. the Eb in the c minor chord becomes an E natural in the following A major chord, but appears in a different part (in the viola!)

Question 31

Name three harmonic features of the work, and note an example of where they may be found in the work.

Answer 31

• Neapolitan 6th chord (e.g. III, bar 2, beat 2)
• Diminished 7th (III, bar 5, beat 2)
• Dominant pedal (II, bars 58-69)

Question 32

What does Vivaldi base his tonal scheme on? What is it defined by?

Answer 32

Vivaldi bases the tonal scheme on functional harmonies, which are defined by cadences.

Question 33

What does the system of functional tonality allow?

Answer 33

Modulations.

Question 34

What keys does Vivaldi mainly modulate to?

Answer 34

Related keys, such as:
•A minor (dominant) - II, bar 32
•G minor (subdominant) - II, bar 48
•F major (Relative major) - II, bar 52

Question 35

What unusual, unrelated key does Vivaldi move to in movement 3, bars 7-8?

Answer 35

F minor.

Question 36

What additional devices are used to underline tonality in this work? Give an example of where each device is used.

Answer 36

• Circle of 5ths progressions (e.g. II, bars 33-35)
• Dominant pedal (II, 58-69)
• Tierce de Picardie (II, bar 70) - this unusually leads to a conclusion in the tonic minor.

Question 37

What is a Tierce de Picardie?

Answer 37

•Major third in the final tonic chord of a passage in a minor key. Basically, finishing a minor bit with major instead. So passage in Cm (I) ends on C major.

Question 38

What bars are covered by movement I?

Answer 38

Bars 1-31

Question 39

What is the adagio section of the second movement? Where does the allegro section begin and end?

Answer 39

The introductory adagio covers bars 1-3, leading into the Allegro, bars 4-73.

Question 40

What type of textures are used within the contrasting tutti-solo sections in movement II?

Answer 40

Fugal textures are used. beware: The Allegro is not a complete fugue.

Question 41

What is the structure of movement II in fugal terms?

Answer 41

• Subject- the theme is announced in the bass in the tonic at bar 4.
• Answer- the second entry of the theme is in the viola in the dominant at bar 8.
• Countersubject- ‘countermelody’ to answer in bass at bar 9.
• Countersubject 2- additional counterpoint to both subject and countersubject (bass, bar 12)

Question 42

What form is movement III in?

Answer 42

Ternary form (A-B-A)

Question 43

What is the form of movement IV?

Answer 43

Movement IV is in a loose ritornello form. The recurring ritornello theme embraces the solo and tutti sections - identifiable by reference to motifs at bars 1,7 and 11.

Question 44

What is ritornello form?

Answer 44

A baroque structure where:
•Instrumental sections (ritornello) introduce the musical ideas
•Ideas then return in shortened versions and related keys
•The complete ritornello returns at the end in the tonic.

Question 45

What is the basic outline of Movement IV?

Answer 45

Bar 1 - Ritornello - Dm
Bar 14 - Episode
Bar 19- Ritornello - Am
Bar 30- Episode
Bar 53- Ritornello (shortened) - Dm
Bar 59 - Episode
Bar 68 - Ritornello (final motif) Dm

Question 46

What is the texture of movement I?

Answer 46

•Opens with 2-part canon a crotchet beat apart.
- this lengthens to a bar between imitations at bar 6.
•A cello melody with continuo accompaniment features at bar 20 (almost MDH)

Question 47

What is the texture at the start of movement II (adagio)?

Answer 47

Homophonic

Question 48

What is the texture of the Allegro of movement II?

Answer 48

Fugal

Question 49

What is the texture of movement III?

Answer 49

• Melody-Dominated Homophony

* Lower strings and continuo omitted in the central section.

Question 50

What is the texture of movement IV?

Answer 50

•Contrapuntal opening
•Other passages more homophonic
-Notice the differentiation between:
‣Accompaniments of crotchet chords and crotchet rests (e.g. bar 7)
‣Accompaniments of continuous quavers (e.g. bar 36)