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Jasmin Cameron
AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SACRED MUSIC CONVENTIONS:VIVALDI’S ET
INCARNATUS AND CRUCIFIXUS (RV 591)
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo
factus est.Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et
sepultus est.
And was made incarnate by the Holy Spirit (born of) the Virgin
Mary and was made man.He was crucified also for us under Pontius
Pilate, suffered and was buried.
In the midst of the lengthy and largely doctrinal text of the
Roman CatholicCredo, the Et incarnatus and Crucifixus offered
expressive potential to composersof the Baroque. The Et incarnatus
describes the mystery of the incarnation ofChrist, while the
following section gives a brief account of His Crucifixion.These
descriptive passages are thrown into relief by the framing Credo
text: theyin fact form the core of the Credo. As Bruce MacIntyre
states:
As it has been for centuries, the “Et incarnatus” is the true
heart of the Credo – itstwenty four words describing the mystery,
life, death and suffering of Christ.1
Josef Andreas Jungmann indicates the traditions of genuflection
associatedwith the Et incarnatus in his book on the liturgy, and he
also acknowledges theappeal that the text held for many
composers:
Rightly does this article become the center and the turning
point of the whole creed.In his mercy God wanted it that way, and
so the inconceivable became a reality. Wetherefore fall on our
knees at the words Et incarnatus est, in awe of the mystery. [In
afootnote Jungmann states: “This genuflection certainly goes back
to the eleventhcentury”]. Some of the grandest creations of
ecclesiastical music have here made thedevout offering of their
greatest endeavour, in an effort to help us conceive themeaning
that tremendous descent of the Son of God from heaven to bring
peace toearth. After the mystery of the person of the God-man is
thus sketched out, the Credo turnsto His work, which is again
clearly designated in two steps: first, the lowly path ofpain and
the cross and the grave (with a stressing of pro nobis), then the
victorioussurge of His Resurrection…2
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Jasmin Cameron, 38 Wellside Road, Kingswells, Aberdeen, AB15
8EE, Gran Bretagna.e-mail: [email protected] BRUCE C.
MACINTYRE, The Viennese Concerted Mass of the Early Classic Period,
Ann Arbor, UMI
Research Press, 1986, p. 371.2 JOSEF ANDREAS JUNGMANN, The Mass
of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development, New York,
Benziger Brothers, 1959, p. 296.
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The reasons for such lavish musical attention to these short
sections of textare twofold. First, these central phrases of the
Credo are key to Christian belief(was made man, crucified [and
resurrected]): they are of theologicalsignificance. Second, as
already suggested, these sections of text, despite beingbrief,
harbour opportunities for musical response.
During the Baroque it was customary to set these sections of the
Mass in amusically similar manner. While these are traditions that
remain undocumentedby theorists of the time, an extensive study of
the Crucifixus has demonstratedthat composers seemed to have been
aware of the accepted conventions thatwere in existence.3 Common
topoi are already evident in the Mass settings ofPalestrina and
Monteverdi and are recognizable in the work of such composersas
Lotti, Caldara, Zelenka and J. S. Bach. The tradition persisted
well into theClassical era, where its representatives included
Mozart and Haydn.
For Vivaldi, with his priestly vocation, I suspect that the
words of the liturgywould have carried even greater significance
than for a composer who did nothold such status, and so it is not
unreasonable to expect that Vivaldi would offera heightened musical
response to these texts. Michael Talbot suggests that:
The intimate knowledge of the liturgy brought certain benefits
to him when he cameto set it to music. It was not that he had
privileged access to these texts (which can befound in any breviary
or missal), nor that he had a better understanding of them thana
lay person. It is rather that they were so much a part of his life
that he felt able totreat them with unusual freedom, intercalating
and troping fragments in such a waythat a non-priest might have
considered too disrespectful.4
It is interesting to note that Vivaldi bows to existing Mass
conventions bydividing his Credo setting into four, the Et
incarnatus and the Crucifixus beingtwo separate sections contained
within the overall work. The initial division isone that derives
naturally from the structure of the text itself, but I wouldsuggest
that it also occurred for practical reasons. It was an indication
to thecongregation that this was the point at which they were to
kneel. The nature ofthis division varies between Credo settings.
Sometimes, as with Vivaldi, the Etincarnatus is clearly marked as a
distinct section. In other cases, there might be arest in all
parts, such as occurs in Schmeltzer’s Missa Nuptialis (c.
1660-1680).5 Inthis case, not only is there a change of scoring
(from lower voices, mostappropriately completing the previous
statement “descendit de coelis”, to full
3 See JASMIN MELISSA CAMERON, The Crucifixion in Music: An
Analytical Survey of Settings of theCrucifixus between 1680 and
1800, Lanham, Scarecrow Press, 2006. This study involved the
collectionand analysis of over one hundred settings of the
Crucifixus. The sample of Et incarnatus settings is amore recent
study, a total of thirty-five settings having been examined to
date. The latter originatemainly from the late Baroque period, but
the intention is to broaden this enquiry in the future.
4 MICHAEL TALBOT, The Sacred Vocal Music of Antonio Vivaldi
(“Quaderni vivaldiani”, 8), Florence,Olschki, 1995, p. 56.
5 J. HEINRICH SCHMELTZER, Missa Nuptialis, from Messen von
Heinrich Biber, Heinrich Schmeltzerund Johann Kaspar Kerll, ed.
Guido Adler, Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, vol. 49,
Graz,Akademische Drück- und Verlagsanstalt, 1960.
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coro), but the Et incarnatus is further separated from the
preceding text by theinsertion of a rest in all vocal parts.
Similarly, Gasparini’s Messa a quattro vociconcertata (1) has a
rest of one beat in all parts (organo included) before the
Etincarnatus, as does Scarlatti’s Messa per il Santissimo Natale,
together with achange of metre and an indication that the tempo
should be adagio.6
ET INCARNATUS
Thrasybulos Georgiades states that it was traditional to perform
the Etincarnatus in slow tempo, with everyone kneeling, the
“attitude of reverencealso [being] expressed in the simplicity of
the setting”.7 This is reflected in manysettings, Vivaldi being no
exception (adagio). Adagio is a fairly common tempomarking for the
Et incarnatus, encountered in settings such as Gasparini, Missa
aquattro voci concertata (2) and Draghi, Missa a 9. Sometimes the
movement ispaired, as in Vivaldi’s Credo, with a largo Crucifixus
(for example, in Caldara,Missa in A, Missa in spei
resurrectionis).8 In some instances, composers deemedandante
sufficient to indicate their intentions.
Vivaldi’s Et incarnatus is tonally open – again, a common
strategy for thissection (see Figure 1). From Rigatti (1640) to
Gasparini, Scarlatti and Zelenka,composers frequently cast the Et
incarnatus as a tonally open movement.9 Atonally open approach is
highly appropriate since (through the device ofmodulation) it helps
to give the impression of ‘shifting’, thereby creating the ‘airof
mystery’ required for this section of the Mass. In Vivaldi’s case,
the Etincarnatus has to bridge the gap between E minor (of the
first section) and Aminor (of the Crucifixus).
Et incarnatus settings tended to be through-composed and
largelyhomophonic, although composers would frequently choose to
single out the all-important statement of “et homo factus est” in
several ways. One way ofachieving this was through contrast:
Vivaldi highlights this phrase by changingthe texture from a
homophonic to a contrapuntal one. In many Et incarnatussettings
there is an unexpected twist in terms of modulation or harmony at
thewords “et homo factus est”, possibly intended to illustrate
Christ’s remarkabletransformation into human essence.10 For
example, Scarlatti in his Messa per il
6 Both these settings are found in: Masses by Alessandro
Scarlatti and Francesco Gasparini: Musicfrom the Basilica of Santa
Maria Maggiore, Rome, ed. Luca Della Libera, Middleton, A-R
Editions, 2004.
7 THRASYBULOS GEORGIADES, Music and Language: The Rise of
Western Music as Exemplified inSettings of the Mass, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 1982, p. 66.
8 For details of Gasparini, see note 6. Draghi, Missa a 9 from
Kirchenwerke, ed. Guido Adler,Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel,
1916; A. Caldara, Missa in A (1732), A-KR, Ms. B17, 353; Missa in
speiresurrectionis (c. 1720), A-Wgm, Ms. A 323.
9 GIOVANNI ANTONIO RIGATTI, Messa e Salmi, parte concertati,
Part 1 (1640/1), ed. Linda MariaKoldau, Middleton, A-R Editions,
2003; Gasparini and Scarlatti – see note 6; Zelenka, Missa
OmniumSanctorum, ZWV 21 (1741), ed. Wolfgang Horn, Wiesbaden,
Breitkopf & Härtel, 1989; and MissaCircumcisionis (1724)
GB-Lbl, Add. 32141.
10 BRUCE C. MACINTYRE points to this feature in
Albrechtsberger’s Missa Annuntiationis (1763) inThe Viennese
Concerted Mass of the Early Classic Period, cit., p. 383.
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Santissimo Natale, switches from the key of D major (for “ex
Maria Virgine”)directly to B minor, while Gasparini’s Messa a
quattro voci concertata (1) movesfrom C major to G minor, seemingly
in order to express the transformative effectof incarnation.11
Vivaldi breaks away from the hitherto homophonic setting
byinitiating a lengthy melisma on the “fa-” of “factus”, and
proceeds to movethrough several temporary keys. These bars (8-15)
are a borrowing. The modelwas an ideal choice: its shifting
harmonies could be put to good use in helpingto depict the mystery
of Christ’s being “made man”. As Michael Talbot pointsout, these
actual bars are a topos in Vivaldi’s work, appearing with
littlealteration also in the Magnificat, RV 610/611 (Magnificat
anima mea Dominum andGloria Patri, bars 1-7), the Kyrie, RV 587
(Kyrie eleison I, bars 10-25), the Concertomadrigalesco, RV 129
(first movement), and the bassoon concerto RV 491
(secondmovement).12 Why introduce this particular borrowing in this
part of the Etincarnatus? Clearly, the passage, with its meandering
tonality, held great appealfor Vivaldi; he may have felt it
appropriate to assign this music to the mostsignificant line of the
Et incarnatus. Finally, he further emphasizes “et homofactus est”
by devoting more bars to this textual phrase than to the other
threecombined (i.e., “Et incarnatus est / de Spiritu Sancto / ex
Maria Virgine”).While this bias is observed in other settings,
usually in the ratio of 70:30 or 60:40per cent, the sample studied
did not yield any settings with a greater disparitythan Vivaldi’s
(7 bars for the first three phrases as against 11 bars and 2 beats
for“et homo factus est”).
A significant number of settings employ the Tierce de Picardie
at the end ofthis section and Vivaldi’s is no exception. After the
words “et homo factus est”have been repeated (a confirmation of the
dominating melismatic statement thathas preceded), the Et
incarnatus concludes in D minor. By ending the Etincarnatus with a
major chord, however, Vivaldi sets up a strong sense ofcontrast,
since the Crucifixus opens in A minor. The Tierce de Picardie
appears toserve either of two purposes. As in Vivaldi’s case, it
can ensure the maximumimpact for the opening of a minor-key
Crucifixus setting. Alternatively, the useof this cadential formula
allows the mode to revert to the major in preparationfor a
major-key Crucifixus (or at least a major-key opening to a
Crucifixus).13
While the operation of many conventions is evident within the
brief nineteenbars of the Et incarnatus, the Crucifixus is even
more remarkable in itsdemonstration of Vivaldi’s response to the
text.
11 See note 6.12 MICHAEL TALBOT, The Sacred Vocal Music of
Antonio Vivaldi, cit., p. 482.13 Examples of the former are: A.
Scarlatti, Missa breve e concertata a cinque voci (see note 6);
Lotti,
Missa VII, ed. Hermann Müller, Wiesbaden, Breitkopf &
Härtel, 1959. An example of the latter isCaldara, Missa in spei
resurrectionis (see note 8).
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CRUCIFIXUS
The Crucifixus is the emotional climax of the entire Credo, and
Vivaldiresponds to this fact by setting the scene for the
Crucifixion at the very outset(see Figure 2). The first four notes
in even crotchet pulse are typical of theCrucifixus tradition,
setting up a mesmerizing bass rhythm, which underpins theentire
setting. Such ‘via dolorosa’ bass lines, reminiscent of the tragic
march toCalvary, appear in many eighteenth-century settings, such
as Caldara’s Mass for4 Voices, Heinichen’s Missa 12 and
Albrechtsberger’s Missa Annuntiationis. Thetenor voice, bearing the
first entry of the word “Crucifixus”, follows exactly theoutline of
the bass and thus introduces a melodic motive that, while not
exact,is close to the traditional musical sign of the cross.14 The
introduction of a sharpat the end of Vivaldi’s motive creates a
linear diminished fourth, an‘excruciating’ interval that suitably
expresses the agony of crucifixion. A furtherdimension is that the
sharp itself represents the cross visually in the manner
ofAugenmusik. The use of four ‘measured’ notes to express the word
“Crucifixus”was a frequent occurrence, doubtless generated by the
syllabic properties of theword itself, but probably further
prompted by the imagery of these foursyllables, which could
represent the four points of the cross.
The “Crucifixus” motive is used in imitation, and here Vivaldi
introduces afurther dimension to depicting the Crucifixion in
music. He causes his voicesliterally to ‘cross over’ one another.
This rhetorical figure (metabasis or transgressus)was described by
both Mauritius Vogt and Meinrad Spiess in their respectivetreatises
and cited by Dietrich Bartel in his recent lexicon of Baroque
musical-rhetorical figures: “The voices ‘step over’ each other,
creating in fact a two fold‘transgression’”.15 Bartel goes on to
point out that “such voice crossing is considereda compositional
irregularity in traditional counterpoint”. This device was
oftenused for the literal depiction of the text and occurs in many
Crucifixus settings.16
14 The musical sign of the cross appears in many early- to
mid-eighteenth-century settings of theCrucifixus: Examples occur in
G. A. Perti, Missa Canone a 3 (early eighteenth century)
(a'-g#'-c''-b');GB-Lcm, Ms. 661/27; and A. Caldara, Crucifixus a 16
voci (c. 1730) (a'-f''-g#'-a'), D-MÜs, SANT Dr 127.Irving Godt
discusses the musical sign of the cross in: Italian Figurenlehre?
Music and Rhetoric in a NewYork Source, in Studies in the History
of Music, eds R. Broude and E. Beebe, New York, BroudeBrothers,
1983, 1, pp. 178-203: 186. Godt gives examples of various “cross”
figures and cites musicby Ludwig Senfl (Missa super signum cruces)
and Biber (Mystery Sonata X) as examples that explicitlypresent
musical signs of the cross.
Musical sources: A. Caldara, Mass for 4 Voices (c. 1720),
GB-Lcm, Ms. 105; J. D. Heinichen, Missa12, D-Dl, Mus. 2398-D-11; J.
G. Albrechtsberger, Missa Annuntiationis, in BRUCE MACINTYRE,
TheViennese Concerted Mass of the Early Classical Period, cit.
15 DIETRICH BARTEL, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures
in German Baroque Music, Lincolnand London, University of Nebraska
Press, 1997, p. 319.
16 The example given by Vogt, and cited by Bartel (loc. cit.),
describes the text as “Take me withyou; seize me in your [arms]”.
As the voices intertwine, one voice ‘seizes’ the other and ‘drags’
italong. Other examples occur in Bach’s Crucifixus from the Mass in
B Minor, BWV 232, Facsimileedition, ed. Alfred Dürr, Leipzig,
Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1965, rev. 1981, and in Zelenka’s
MissaS. Caeciliae, ZWV 1 (c. 1711), D-Dl, Mus. 2358-D-7a.
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The following two phrases, “etiam pro nobis” and “sub Pontio
Pilato”, areneutral, narrative phrases, and in the majority of
Crucifixus settings are treatedin a speech-like, syllabic manner.
Vivaldi is no exception. However, he goes onestep further: “etiam
pro nobis” is actually offset against the ensuing
Crucifixus‘subjects’ that appear in close imitation in the first
five bars. Its very neutralityis contrasted with the ‘tortured’
entries of successive “Crucifixus” subjects.Caldara adopts the same
approach in his Crucifixus a 16 voci.17 While the“Crucifixus”
subject itself is the musical sign of the cross, it is there set
againstthe plain setting of “etiam pro nobis”. In addition, Caldara
contains “etiam pronobis” within the span of the “Crucifixus”
subject, thus creating a metabasis, asthe main subject steps its
way around its short countersubject (see Figure 3).
The use of small falling intervals, the rhetoricians’
pathopoeia, was anotheraccepted tradition in association with this
section of the text.18 Commonlyemployed in order to express pathos,
this device was used in connection withthe words “etiam pro nobis”
in settings such as Zelenka’s Missa NativitasDomini, ZWV 8,
Schmidt’s Missa Sanctae Caeciliae and, of course, Vivaldi’s
ownsetting.19 Meanwhile, “sub Pontio Pilato” features only twice in
Vivaldi’setting,where it functions as a connecting phrase between
“Crucifixus etiam pro nobis”and “passus et sepultus est”.
Preservation of the order of the textual phrases was important
to Vivaldi:both the Et incarnatus and the Crucifixus reflect this
priority. The propersequence of the text was similarly respected by
many other composers. If therewas any jumbling of text, this tended
to occur in the Crucifixus. Nonetheless,there is still a strong
sense of ‘beginning–middle–end’, since all settings beginwith
“Crucifixus” and end with “et sepultus est”. In the Crucifixus
Vivaldi runsthrough the text twice but takes care to preserve the
order of the phrases eachtime.
“Passus” is given the expected traditional treatment. In order
to express thesense of duration that “suffering” implied, composers
would often draw out themusical phrase that corresponds to this
word. The two syllables of the word“passus” lend themselves well to
this task. The available devices includedmelisma, syncopation and
longer note values (relative to what had appearedbefore), together
with chromatic and dissonant devices to express suffering.Towards
the end of the first statement of the text Vivaldi sets “passus” as
a plainsyllabic setting (thus mirroring the earlier syllabic
“Crucifixus”), butintroducing longer note values – for the first
time we see the appearance ofminims, offset in each part, to create
a lengthening effect through syncopation(bars 9-10). The second
appearance of “passus” (bar 16 onwards) introducesmelisma (tenor,
bars 17-18; alto, bars 20-21) in conjunction with a falling
17 See note 14 for details.18 Pathopoeia was also used for the
words “sub Pontio Pilato” and “passus”.19 J. D. Zelenka, Missa
Nativitas Domini, ZWV 8 (1726), D-Bsb, Mus. ms. 23539; F. Schmidt,
Missa
Sanctae Caecliae (before 1746), in BRUCE MACUNTYRE, The Viennese
Concerted Mass of the Early ClassicalPeriod, cit.
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chromatic fourth. The master-stroke in this setting, however, is
the reversal indirection of the chromatic fourth at bars 23-25 (S
and B). This leads to the highestnote of the entire setting since
bar 7 for the soprano and creates the potential forthe descent
(achieved by extending the descending soprano line beyond
itsfalling chromatic fourth) that is required to express (in
relative terms) “etsepultus est”. The lowering of the body was
usually conveyed either by literalvocal descent, or as a relatively
low-register statement compared with what hadgone before.20 Here,
“et sepultus” is a low-voiced chord, the soprano remainingon a
monotone for this final statement.
TRANSMISSION OF MASS CONVENTIONS
Et incarnatus and Crucifixus conventions were handed down from
onegeneration to the next during the late seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Andwhile these topoi tended to be further
modified and moulded by eachindividual, definite trends and
patterns of influence are nonetheless evident.21Composers often
began their careers in the cori of the religious institutions
ofvarious musical centres, thus absorbing from an early age the
style of Masssettings. Various printed and copied materials were in
circulation at the time,permitting access to a range of music from
which the developing (and expert)musician could learn. Composers
from Italy frequently travelled north of theAlps, taking up
positions in various German and Austrian cities: for example,Lotti
worked at the court in Dresden, while Caldara was based in Vienna.
Onthe other hand, Hasse was employed at one point by the Ospedale
degli Incurabili,and also spent some time in Naples, studying with
Scarlatti and Porpora. As aconsequence, the style, certainly as far
as the Mass was concerned, was a fairlyinternational one.
Vivaldi’s own collection of music demonstrates that he was aware
of theneed to study the sacred vocal manuscripts of others before
embarking on hisown compositions.22 Furthermore, his work as a
violinist in various orchestras
20 The final bars of Bach’s Crucifixus present us with a fine
example of the tradition, remarkablein that while most of the
Crucifixus is a reworking of the first section of an earlier church
cantata,Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12, these last few bars
are a new addition – therefore, at thispoint in the Crucifixus
setting Bach was no longer constrained by the original musical
setting. Also,Perti, Messa Canone a 3 (see note 14). Haydn offers a
late example of this convention in his MissaSanctae Theresiae
(1799) from The Complete Works, Ser. XIII, vol. V, ed. Friedrich
Lippmann, München-Duisberg, G. Henle Verlag, 1966.
21 See JASMIN CAMERON, The Crucifixion in Music: An Analytical
Survey of Settings of the Crucifixusbetween 1680 and 1800, cit.,
pp. 65-66, 216-221.
22 For example, the autograph scores of Giovanni Maria
Ruggieri’s settings of the Gloria arepreserved in Vivaldi’s volumes
of music (Gloria in D, RV Anh. 23: I-Tn, Foà 40, ff. 63-97, Gloria
in G,RV Anh. 24: I-Tn, Giordano 32, ff. 64-89). These two scores
appear among nineteen non-Vivaldiancompositions present in the
sacred music volumes. It is evident that Vivaldi studied these
scorescarefully, and even – famously – borrowed from Ruggieri’s D
Major setting. He was not the onlycomposer assiduously to collect
sources available to him: CHRISTOPH WOLFF lists the contents
ofBach’s personal library of Latin sacred music in Der Stile antico
in der Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs,Wiesbaden, Franz Steiner
Verlag, 1968, pp.161-162.
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would have no doubt introduced him to many more examples of Mass
settings.His Et incarnatus and Crucifixus certainly demonstrate his
awareness of currentMass-setting practices of the time, but what is
also evident from this short studyis his expertise in setting and
depicting words. Out of the two movements, it isthe Crucifixus that
offers the musical high point of the Credo. It is a
remarkableexample of its kind, exhibiting an extreme response to
the imagery of the tragicCrucifixion text: Casella described it
most aptly as a “fearful nocturnal funeralprocession”.23
Hence the evidence we see before us today is that Vivaldi,
despite respectingconventional Mass-setting practice, created
settings that were uniquely his.Observing tradition created no
boundaries for him – it rather seemed to open upthe path to
inspiration.
23 ALFREDO CASELLA, Le composizioni sacre e vocali di Antonio
Vivaldi, in Antonio Vivaldi. Note edocumenti sulla vita e sulle
opera, ed. S. A. Luciani, Siena, Ticci,1939, pp. 15-22: 19.
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Figure 1. A. Vivaldi, Et incarnatus from Credo, RV 591
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Figure 2. A. Vivaldi, Crucifixus from Credo, RV 591
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Figure 3. A. Caldara, Crucifixus a 16 voci
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