A. Vivaldi
(1678-1741)
Credo RV591
The Credo in E minor (RV 591) by Antonio Vivaldi is the only extant setting the composer wrote of the Nicene Creed. Another setting exists (RV 592) but is of dubious authenticity. RV 591 is comprised for four movements, all choral. In a style similar to his psalm setting of In exitu Israel (RV 604), the first movement adorns the chorus' simple rhythms of crochets and minims with the orchestra playing semiquavers and quavers. The second movement is a brief choral episode in the stile antico, borrowing thematic material from the composer's Magnificat. In the third movement, based on the Crucifixus portion of the Nicene Creed, Vivaldi establishes pain and grief with constant quavers (followed by a rest of the same duration) in the orchestra and the use of the lamento pattern (chromatic steps descending from the tonic to the dominant). The last movement is similar to the first, based on the similar semiquaver-quaver motif, yet ends with a fugue. RV 591 is connected to Gloria RV 588 by the rhythmic similarity in the first and fourth movements and its date of composition.