In addition to his nice concertos for the mandolin, I understand he sometimes used the mandolin "obligato" in the orchestra. I would like to know what "obligato" is (it wasn't in the dictionary) and maybe some more info on his further use of the instrument - outside of the concertos. I am sure there are some historians aboard who could shed some light on this. I get the idea that maybe Vivaldi sometimes subsituted mandolins for violins.
Rook
As I understand it, obligato intitially meant a part that was obligated to be played to make sense of the musical whole; i.e., it could not be omitted. #It came to mean an elaborated or decorative line accompanying the main melody. #The only place other than concerti where I know Vivaldi specified a mandolino obligato line was in the aria "Transit aetas" from his only oratorio, Juditha Triumphans. #It is a nice aria.
What Eugene said. And it`s an "international" word with Latin roots. What comes to my mind is Vivaldi`s popular "Concerto con violino solo obligato" in A minor.
It's more often spelled "obbligato", even though it looks wrong. You'll find better references that way.
Yes. Just like contrabbasso (my own instrument), abbassare, repubblica, et al., where the first "b" concludes one syllable, while the second one initiates the next one; it all has to do with quantitative/qualitative distinction of the vowels in each, respective syllable.
An obbligato line is not only *obligatory* (as Eugene correctly writes) but is also ob-ligato, i.e. bound with, attached to, connected with, "interwoven with" some other one (hence "ligature", etc.). Such a line goes therefore hand in hand with some other, vocal or instrumental line; hence the various arias, where an instrumental part is thus obbligato to the vocal line.
Enough turgid professor-speak.Back to picking Vivaldi's merry tunes!
It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)
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