Concerto Il Sospetto Del Vivaldi / RV 199 in C minor (Autograph score)

For solo violin, strings and basso continuo I. Allegro (0:00) II. Andante (3:56) III. Allegro (6:08) Composed: Turin source: Giordano 34 ‘Il Sospetto’ (or perhaps ‘Il Sospecto’ in the manuscript) is Italian for Suspicion, and is the title of one of Vivaldi’s ‘mood’ concertos (along with Pleasure, Restlessness, Rest, and Retreat). As with the more progressive aspects of The Four Seasons, the music is largely impressionistic and not merely descriptive or imitative. The first movement is especially interesting in this regard. The first violins begin with a serpentine motif (a symbol of deceitfulness) that is repeated throughout, followed by a series of descending scales suggesting fatality and inescapability. That’s all there is to the theme; no new material is introduced afterwards, and there is no reprise of the theme in the major mode. The most eminently descriptive element, however, is found in the second violins: a low note, followed by a high note, sometimes cons