Sometimes history is fair. Like all of Vivaldi's sacred works, the Gloria RV 589 was completely
forgotten for nearly two centuries after the composer's death, until it
was performed again in September 1939 by Alfredo Casella during a Vivaldi Week at the Accademia Musicale
Chigiana in Siena. Soon after, musicologists such as Marc Pincherle
pointed out the work's closeness to the music of Johann Sebastian
Bach. Since then, the work has enjoyed increasing international
popularity and has also been widely recorded on CD. Justice has been done and Vivaldi's Gloria RV 589 in D major is once again one of the best known sacred works after centuries of oblivion.
"Gloria in excelsis Deo" (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest") is a Christian hymn (often simply called "Gloria"). It begins with the words that the angels sang when announcing the birth of Christ to shepherds in Luke 2:14. Other verses were added very early, forming a "doxology" (a hymn of praise). The Latin version probably dates from the 4th century.
The Gloria has been sung to a wide variety of melodies. Almost all settings of the Mass also include the Gloria. In addition, there are a number of settings of the Gloria alone, besides the present one, for example by Monteverdi, Charpentier, Handel, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Poulenc, Walton and Rutter. There is also one more version by Vivaldi (RV 588).
Vivaldi's Gloria traverses a wide range of keys, and displays a full range of mastery between festive, sublime movements and delicate, transparently orchestrated solo passages. In the opening "Gloria in excelsis Deo," the choir is accompanied by festive trumpet fanfares. The following "Et in terra pax" in B minor, also set for choir, is characterized by a dramatic structure with surprising harmonic turns. The duet for two sopranos "Laudamus te" and the choral section "Gratias agimus tibi" are followed by the soprano aria "Domine Deus," accompanied by either oboe or violin, which contrasts with the rhythmically moving choral section "Domine Fili unigenite." The altar aria "Domine Deus, Agnus Dei" in D minor with cello accompaniment is interrupted by interjections from the choir, which also takes over the following "Qui tollis peccata mundi." After another altarpiece "Qui sedes," now in B minor, the chorus repeats some elements of the opening movement in the "Quoniam" and concludes with the fugal "Cum Sancto Spiritu," in which a weighty theme is juxtaposed with a dance-like contrasting subject.
The richness of the contrasts and musical devices seems to follow the inner logic of a large-scale, multi-movement concerto grosso rather than to be inspired by the structure and content of the text. The inner coherence that Vivaldi achieves through the motivic interlocking of the numbers, and the consistently high compositional level, make this Gloria one of the most important sacred vocal compositions of the early 18th century.
A date of composition around 1715 during Vivaldi's first period of activity at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice is assumed.
Listen to this performance at La Pieta, Venice:
Choral Masterworks