# Vitali's Chaconne in G minor



## AntonioVitali (Jun 17, 2013)

I am a student doing a project researching the identity of the composer of the violin solo piece, "Chaconne in g minor". The piece is accredited to Antonio Vitali, a composer in the late Baroque era. The piece itself is an anomaly of a baroque piece as it includes many characteristics from the Romantic era - having an extremely forward looking design. There is not a lot known about the origins of the piece, except that an original manuscript exists from the early 1700s that is labeled "For Antonio Vitali". The main reasons the composer has been questioned are because of the romantic style the piece is written in which differed drastically from Antonio Vitali's more traditional composing style and the manuscript does not specifically label the piece as composed by Antonio Vitali. The piece was also not very popular until it was edited by Ferdinand David in 1867 (about 150 years after it was first published).

A German publisher by the name of Wolfgang Reich published an article in 1965 questioning who wrote the Chaconne. He discarded the hypothesis that the piece was written by Ferdinand David with the evidence of the original manuscript, and produced his own hypothesis: Antonio Vitali composed the piece and sent it to the publisher where an aspiring composer/editor added romantic characteristics to produce the work it is. 

I have produced my own hypothesis: Antonio Vitali and his father Giovanni Vitali had a strong relationship as they lived together for most of Antonio's life and Antonio edited Giovanni's work. Is it possible that Giovanni composed the piece "for Antonio Vitali" and had the publisher give the piece to Antonio after Giovanni's death?

This hypothesis makes sense as Antonio was a violin player, it explains why the manuscript says "for Antonio Vitali", and Giovanni had motivation to compose this piece for his son as an act of love. 

My research includes analyzing other pieces composed by Giovanni Vitali for Baroque and Romantic characteristics and comparing those pieces to the Chaconne in g minor to assess for any correlations in the composing styles.

What do you think about my hypothesis? Do you have any other hypotheses? Any thoughts about the project?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'm not a music scholar, but I am a little puzzled why this piece is thought to have romantic elements based on the modulations alone. Remote modulations would not have been completely unheard of during the baroque, would they?



Wikipedia said:


> Of a concert in 1742 conducted by Handel, the following anecdote was told: Dubourg played a cadenza in which he wandered far from the theme creating complex modulations of it. When he finally returned to the original theme, Handel said: "Welcome home, Mr. Dubourg."


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## AntonioVitali (Jun 17, 2013)

Thank you for your question! The reason the piece has more romantic elements is found less in the structure and more in the solo violin line itself. You are correct in saying that modulations were common and accepted in the baroque era (especially as chaconnes are modulations of each other) and the piece was written with basso continuo - another baroque characteristic. The romantic characteristics include the solo line requiring a large amount of vibrato (uncommon in the baroque era), changes in keys into D# minor for one modulation, and the usage of rubato when performing (among others). The easiest way to identify the romantic characteristics is to listen to it:


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## Armanvd (Jan 17, 2017)

I can't help you , Sorry , but i have a question ,do you have any idea why this piece is so under-appreciated ?
IMO This is one of the most beautiful pieces written for violin .


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I'm not a musical scholar, but the piece does seem to have some non-Baroque features. I'm not sure about the chord sequences and harmony as non-Romantic. I am currently learning to play the piece and it is very difficult technically. That's how I would characterize the piece as having some non-Baroque features: it's a show piece technically. Ricochet bowing (bouncing), very high double stops, intervals more than one octave, double stop trills and double stop tenths. Yes, there are other pieces in the Baroque repertoire that also use these techniques. 

In structure, the piece is a theme and variations (a chaconne), which was used during the Baroque and less so in the Romantic era. It's a very forward looking piece of music meant to show off the violinist's skills.

I'd like to know why there are few recordings of the piece. It seems to be a piece that was part of the standard repertoire in the early 20th Century, but it's fallen out of fashion. (That's my impression). 

I can play through the entire piece from start to finish, but it would be embarrassing for me to perform it in public. I make many mistakes, or some notes simply get messy. But it is a great piece of music, and long enough for me not to get bored with it, as I can work on different sections each day.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

armanvd said:


> I can't help you , Sorry , but i have a question ,do you have any idea why this piece is so under-appreciated ?
> IMO This is one of the most beautiful pieces written for violin .


Perhaps it has something to do with taste, nor everyone has the same taste, thank goodness.


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## Armanvd (Jan 17, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Perhaps it has something to do with taste, nor everyone has the same taste, thank goodness.


I Don't Think It's About Taste This Time Pugg , It's Because Vitali Isn't As Known As Bach or Vivaldi . For Example Bach's Partita For Violin BWV 1004 : Chaconne Is Much More Recognised And Appreciated Because Of It Was Written By Bach And More People Listen To Bach.IMO If This Piece Was Composed by Bach More People Would Have Listened To It . Poor Vitali .


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

armanvd said:


> do you have any idea why this piece is so under-appreciated ?


Ear candy and nothing more.

The continuo seems redundant, pointless.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

armanvd said:


> I Don't Think It's About Taste This Time Pugg , It's Because Vitali Isn't As Known As Bach or Vivaldi . For Example Bach's Partita For Violin BWV 1004 : Chaconne Is Much More Recognised And Appreciated Because Of It Was Written By Bach And More People Listen To Bach.IMO If This Piece Was Composed by Bach More People Would Have Listened To It . Poor Vitali .


The composer scored the piece for violin and continuo. There are at least one hundred versions on You tube, so the piece seems to be performed very much, but none of these are played on period instruments. And as well as all are played on modern violin and piano.This makes the piece sound more romantic than is good (violin vibrato, fat piano sound).


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

This piece is bitter and sweet. It is complex, with many different musical colours and ideas. If you like violin music, you must own it for your enjoyment. Sarah Chang's rendition is a great example. 

Once you completed your research, please share you findings with us.


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