TWO MORE NEW VIVALDI FINDS IN DRESDEN

Abstract

Two further unknown sacred vocal compositions by Vivaldi, a Dixit Dominus and a Lauda Jerusalem, have turned up in a collection that has already witnessed two similar discoveries in recent decades: that of the former Saxon Hofkapelle, today in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek / Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden. Like their predecessors, the newly discovered works were acquired between the mid-1750s and early 1760s from the copying shop of Iseppo Baldan in Venice, who falsified the attribution on the title page to make the composer Galuppi instead of Vivaldi. Whereas the Lauda Jerusalem is an arrangement by Vivaldi of an anonymous stile antico setting of the same psalm in his own collection (and in turn the model for his own Credidi propter quod, rv605), the Dixit Dominus, scored for choir, soloists and orchestra, is an entirely original composition of outstanding musical quality that dates from the composer’s late period. This article explores the background to the Hofkapelle’s purchases from Baldan and provides a description of the new compositions, together with several arguments (based on musical concordances, general stylistic features and notational characteristics) for their attribution to Vivaldi.