Since the beginning of the twentieth century, when Vivaldi’s personal collection of music was miraculously discovered, only a handful of further works by the composer has come to light.
The resurfacing of a few opera arias, several cantatas and fragments of instrumental works, and a number of secondary sources for previously known compositions has always been an exciting and instructive event, albeit of only modest importance.
If the three important finds since 2002 are any indication, however, the twenty-first century, appears to be off to an excellent start in terms of Vivaldi discoveries.
The first item, a collection of arias from the opera La costanza trionfante (Venice, 1716), turned up in Bristol; the second, a Nisi Dominus dating from 1738, was identified in Dresden; and finally and most importantly, the score of Montezuma, an opera first performed in Venice in the autumn of 1733, reappeared in Berlin among the newly-returned treasures of the Singakademie. |
|
|
|