Vivaldi - Cello Sonatas RV 47, 46, 44 (Critical Edition, Secondary Sources)

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) was a prolific composer, someone many composers, including J.S. Bach, looked up to. Vivaldi composed for practically every instrument available during his lifetime. In the twentieth century, six of Vivaldi’s cello sonatas gained popularity as pedagogical works.

These works contain similar features to Bach’s Cello

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) was a prolific composer, someone many composers, including J.S. Bach, looked up to. Vivaldi composed for practically every instrument available during his lifetime. In the twentieth century, six of Vivaldi’s cello sonatas gained popularity as pedagogical works.

These works contain similar features to Bach’s Cello Suites: simple forms, attractive melodies, the stylistic variety between the sonatas, challenging string crossings, and range limited to the first four positions with few exceptions.
Vivaldi mainly used the tenor range of the cello. The cello part in all the sources uses a mix of bass and tenor clef. Vivaldi tended to use tenor clef in passages where the music went above F4. Our edition gives preference to the bass clef in several passages where the tenor clef was originally used. The use of the C string is not as prevalent as in Bach’s Suites. Most of the occurrences of C-string usage are found around cadences.

The main text is based solely on the following sources: Naples for RV 47, 44, 39, Paris for RV 41, 43, 45, 40, 46, and Wiesentheid for RV42. Changes to the text have been footnoted. The repeat signs at the end of the non-binary movements have been removed.

This edition also includes scores based solely on secondary sources: Paris for RV 47 and Wiesentheid for RV 46 and 44. This set includes a playable cello/basso score only.