Concerti da Camera

Description

The Concerti da Camera constitute a unique case in the panorama of Italian music of the first half of the 18th century: Vivaldi is indeed the only musician of this era to adopt the concertante style and language in a chamber form. The term "Concerto da camera," used to distinguish these works from those involving a string group to form the ripieno, is not actually used by Vivaldi himself, who simply calls them "concertos" even though they only involve solo instruments (aside from the continuo) and thus differ from other concertos of the time by the originality of their instrumentation. Works titled "Concerti da camera" are, however, not rare in Baroque Italy, but are either chamber music pieces that do not adopt the concertante writing or concertos in the Corellian model that involve an orchestral tutti – the term "da camera" referring to the style and not to the instrumentation. They therefore belong to a different genre than the one we are discussing, and oppose, by their form derived from the suite of dances, the "Concerto da chiesa," which is based on the alternation of slow and fast movements.
Among the 21 Concerti da camera in the Vivaldi catalog – of which two are of doubtful authenticity – wind instruments (flute, oboe, and bassoon) largely dominate. The violin is not left out, appearing as a soloist or as an accompanist in almost all of these works. The variety of textures, the virtuosity of the different parts, and the interchangeability of the roles of the instruments (melody, accompaniment, counterpoint...) make them both authentic chamber music pieces and true concertos, closely adhering to the form of this genre and perfectly adopting the concertante language.