Two unknown sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi have surfaced, which have collected dust and (doubtless) delighted the bugs for more than two centuries. This is the second find of Vivaldi compositions within a short time. A lost
flute concerto has re-surfaced in Edinburgh and was
performed earlier this fall.
If we read
closely, however, parts the flute concerto "Il Gran Mogol" were already known to the musical world.
This frenzy of rediscoveries brings back dear memories of the six lost piano sonatas by Joseph Haydn, of which previously only the beginnings were known (because Haydn kept a thematic catalogue of his works). The sonatas were "found" in the early nineties, and
fooled several specialists in the field, among whom the Nestor among Haydn scholars H C Robbins Landon. Eventually,
doubts arose about the authenticity of the works.
The person who had "found" these sonatas was no other than
Winfried Michel, a flautist who was well known to insiders because he earlier had blessed the world of historical performance practice with tongue-in-cheeky Post-Neo-Baroque pieces "by" a certain Giovanni Paolo Simonetti (a fictional composer whose name was allegedly derived from an ice cream salon in the Hague).
Back to Vivaldi (who also was called the Red Priest), a group
with the same name takes a playful approach to matters of copyright and plagiarism in the 18th century, including Simonetti in their programs. Seen the way this
group approaches the repertoire, Vivadi's rediscovered works might turn out to be a
spooky addition to the canon.
Sonata in C will be performed by the La Serenissima ensemble as part of the Cornerstone Festival at Liverpool Hope University's Cornerstone Theatre.
I hope someone performs them soon in London: my curiosity has been piqued.
posted by ersatz at 2:51 PM on November 18, 2010