Regina Caeli RV 615 – Antiphon for Trumpet, Strings and Low Brass

This Marian antiphon survives in autograph score among the manuscripts once in Vivaldi's possession, today preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria di Torino. It was evidently originally a four-movement work composed, possibly in 1726, for the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, but the openingtwo movements, which must have occupied one or more separate gatherings, are lost. In these circumstances, a reconstruction of the complete work is not a worthwhile proposition, and the edition is therefore presented as a fragment. Its vocal part was notated by Vivaldi in the tenor clef, which was used at the Pietà by a number of singers among the figlie di coro who, in today's terms, would be classified as “low (or second) contraltos”. The score is of particular interest for featuring two parts named “Trombe” that are almost certainly not for brass instruments but for “violini in tromba marina”: specially adapted violins with only three strings anda distinctive bridge designed to mimic the raucous, rattling sound of a tromba marina.