Carae Rosae, Respirate RV 624 – Motet for Soprano, Strings & Basso

This motet for soprano, strings and basso continuo, is the only one by Vivaldi to be preserved outside Italy. It is included in two manuscript collections in London: a set of parts in the Royal College of Music and a score in the British Library. The structure is the conventional one of two arias enclosing a short recitative and followed by a brilliant Alleluia. The incompleteness of the sources (the second evidently copied from the first) is of a rather unusual kind. The existing score comprises a vocal part, an instrumental bass and a first violin part. However, it is clear that there was originally at least one middle part (probably two, to match all the other surviving Vivaldi motets), since the bass part pauses frequently, and on these occasions the first violin part continues as an “upper” voice, not as a bass of the harmony. In the reconstruction, inner parts for second violin and viola have been added by the editor. The task was not difficult, since many passages find close parallels elsewhere in Vivaldi's music. The separate parts include a realization of the continuo by the editor.