The Neue Mozart Ausgabe taught me that Mozart’s Marches most of the time aren’t stand alone pieces, but are paired with a full divertimento, acting much like a “prelude” to the divertimento. In this case however there is no divertimento following the march, it is a stand-alone piece (well, let’s hope there wasn’t a lost divertimento that followed, or else that it will be discovered in the future!).
This is actually a five-voice canon with three themes. Each theme is repeated with a two-bar shift between the voices but always at the same pitch. Obviously you can’t do this on the piano so I resorted to octave transposing, with some liberties… the score in the video will only show the beginning of the three sections, and the ending (get the full original score from the Neue Mozart Ausgabe). For a recording of the original, I recommend the Vocaloid girls one you can find on YouTube (CYPLvZ1HrOI) 🙂 that’s also the recording I found by chance and the one that made me discover and want to transcribe this piece.
This quartet’s nickname (sometimes also called “Rider”) stems from the fourth movement’s first theme rhytmic pattern, I guess… but then also the first theme in the first movement could apply there.
The quartet is officially in G minor but if you consider the time ratio, most of the time the piece is in major mode – e.g. minor mode is mostly a façade, there are no moments that are truly moody or sad.
The Largo is actually in E major (a key “far” from G minor). I transcribed it at the digital piano and then ported it on the computer. I like it a lot but I’m especially proud of how its last bars turned out (I really dig that last low E, it gives me goosebumps everytime 🙂 it must be played pp but with “tre corde” pedal ) The accelerando in the middle section is a liberty I took while playing.
original piano transcription of Antonio Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in E major Op 8 No 1 / RV 269 ‘La Primavera’ (Quattro Stagioni) (‘Spring’, of the “Four Seasons” cycle)
composition date: 1723
transcription date: 2011 (April 29, 30)
complete piano transcription (piano solo arrangement) of all 3 movements:
In Spring 2011 I decided to embark a most ambitious project: the complete piano solo transcription of Vivaldi’s Quattro Stagioni (Four Seasons). At the very beginning I was mostly spurred by the “Estate”, and actually that’s the first concert of the four that I started transcribing, but I soon switched to Primavera, and (I still can’t believe it) completed it in a couple of days.
I went all out in this project, pouring in all my techniques, all my musical art. I couldn’t/didn’t devote all my time, though. Every time I completed a concerto the significance I perceived in the accomplished feat made the next target seem bigger and tougher, making me hesitant to approach it. Not to mention that the closer I grew to complete a concerto the more a stickler for details I became. Over time my perception of the project’s significance in my transcribing endeavours became bigger and bigger, up to the point where it became the lifetime’s work, so I wanted to make it as best as I could.
The idea was to transcribe each Concerto during its own Season and complete the whole project within a year. I manage to complete it within the assigned year, but not always following the seasons. “Spring” (this one) was indeed transcribed during Spring, but I started “Summer” in Spring and completed it in Autumn. I transcribed “Winter” during the coldest period of Winter, but I had skipped “Autumn”, that I later started and finished before next Spring came.
Project codes were assigned in advance as multiples of 10: tbpt60 – Spring; tbpt70 – Summer; tbpt80 – Autumn; tbpt90 – Winter, so that I later found myself, inevitably, with plenty of “open slots” to fill between them.
The YouTube video features all movements in one video. On IMSLP you can stream and download individual mp3 files.
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