Paul Everett’s, Michael Talbot’s, and others’ recent research of the manuscripts illuminate the historical context, stylistic treatment, and some performance considerations of the work that should (and have) inform critical editions of Vivaldi’s most well-known and most-often performed sacred choral work. Casella’s version, long considered authoritative, was replete with changes from the autograph that make it irreconcilable with the instrumental parts and unfaithful to Vivaldi’s manuscript. The first modern performance of the work, led by Alfredo Casella on September 20, 1939, in Siena was part of a weeklong festival of revival concerts that led to the first modern edition published by Ricordi.

These multiple versions of the Gloria pose some confusion and editorial choices that merit inquiry by performers and conductors. Vivaldi’s Gloria RV 589 is one of his three settings of this mass section that share similar musical material with each other as well as significant borrowed sections from a double orchestra Gloria by Giovanni Maria Ruggieri.

Gloria rv589