Motets,
O qui coeli & Nulla in mundo pax sincera
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
For a good part of his career, Vivaldi was music director at the Ospedale della Pietà, a girls' orphanage in Venice. One of several such institutions in the city, the Pietà was famous for the high level of its singers and instrumentalists, and its concerts attracted tourists from Italy and beyond, as well as financial support from the city and private patrons. Vivaldi had already been at the Pietà for a decade as a violin teacher and director of the orchestra, when, in 1713, the choirmaster Francesco Gasparini took a sudden and, as it turned out, permanent leave from his post. Vivaldi filled the position on a temporary basis for six years, directing the choir and writing religious and other vocal music in addition to fulfilling his regular duties, until a permanent replacement was found.
Among the vocal works that he produced during that time were a number of Latin motets. These were pieces for solo voice with string ensemble, all in the form of aria-recitative-aria-Alleluia. With the three arias, the last of which was a virtuosic Alleluia, they formed a kind of vocal concerto. It was a typical form for Italian motets of the time, the most famous of which is Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate.
While the names of soloists for Vivaldi's motets are not recorded, one wonders whether they were all current students, since some of the motets (e. g. the soprano motets Nulla in mundo and O qui coeli) have quite virtuosic vocal parts, particularly in their Alleluia finales, where the writing can be almost like a violin concerto. On occasion, performers at the Pietà included former residents who had become well known virtuose but who, as women, sometimes had difficulty finding work in the professional world. Perhaps some of the motets were written for such soloists.
While these works are in Latin, they are not liturgical.Their texts may have been meant as moral lessons for the girls at the school, but they are in fact in a rather decadent Latin that can be at times problematic to translate.The unknown authors may well have been local or perhaps even at the Pietà.
Vocal Ornamentation by Martin Pearlman
Boston Baroque Performances
‘Nulla in mundo pax sincera’, RV 630
December 31, 2019 & January 1, 2020
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Maggie Finnegan, soprano
December 31, 2011 & January 1, 2012
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Mary Wilson, soprano
December 31, 1999 & January 1, 2000
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
January 1, 1992
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Patrice Michaels Bedi, soprano
December 31, 1991
Church of the Covenant - First Night, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Patrice Michaels Bedi, soprano
December 31, 1990
St. Paul’s Cathedral - First Night, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Patrice Michaels Bedi, soprano
May 23, 1987
Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
January 30, 1987
Northwest Bach Festival, Spokane, WA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
January 28, 1987
Northwest Bach Festival, Spokane, WA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
October 17, 1986
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
July 28, 1985
deCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
July 25, 1985
King Ridge, New London, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
July 21, 1985
Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
'O qui coeli' RV 631
December 31, 2022 & January 1, 2023
Calderwood Studio at GBH, Boston, MA
Sanders, Theater Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Amanda Forsythe, soprano
January 1, 1995
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
December 31, 1994
Church of the Advent - First Night, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
February 1, 1994
Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
January 1, 1990
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
December 31, 1989
St. Paul’s Cathedral - First Night, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Nancy Armstrong, soprano
January 24, 1986
Northwest Bach Festival, Spokane, WA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
January 22, 1986
Northwest Bach Festival, Spokane, WA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
October 14, 1983
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
July 17, 1983
deCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano
July 10, 1983
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Sharon Baker, soprano