Antonio Vivaldi – Critical Editions

Between 1947 and 1973 the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi, in collaboration with Casa Ricordi, supervised the publication of 529 instrumental works and 13 sacred vocal works by Vivaldi, appointing Gian Francesco Malipiero as Artistic Director. The composer and world-famous scholar of Italian music of the 17^th-18^th centuries, had already revised Claudio Monteverdi’s Opera Omnia. From 1984 onwards The Istituto, continuing its collaboration with Ricordi, initiated the Critical Edition of Vivaldi’s works, which is still being published today. The ambitious project aims to publish the scores of all the operas, and all the serenatas, the sonatas, concertos and sinfonias, sacred and secular compositions, unfinished or incomplete works and new recent discoveries, starting with the works contained in the published collections (with or without opus number) that appeared during his lifetime.

Each volume includes, in addition to the authentic works within a given published collection, the most significant variants of the manuscript tradition. However, instrumental works preserved only in manuscript sources are published individually or in groups of similar works (linked by scoring, destination, source location etc.). The guiding principles behind the Critical Edition are set out in detail in the New Editorial Norms prepared by the Editorial Committee of the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi. The edition aims at maximum fidelity to the composer’s intentions as ascertained from the sources in the light of the contemporary notational and performance practice. The editorial method employed for single work or groups of works is described in the Introduction. A Critical Commentary, concerned with original readings and their interpretation, lists all variations existing between the main source and the collated sources. All instances of editorial intervention which go beyond simple transliteration of the old notation or which do not conform to a precise system of graphical conversion described below will be mentioned in the Critical Commentary or shown by special signs.

Managing Editors:
Reinhard Strohm and Alessandro Borin
Editorial Board:
Fabrizio Ammetto, Alessandro Borin, Cesare Fertonani, Karl Heller, Antonio Moccia, Federico Maria Sardelli, Reinhard Strohm, Michael Talbot, Colin R. Timms