ABSTRACT
From the time of Stradella and Legrenzi onwards, the characteristic means of putting together a recitative movement is simply additive. Among the many fundamental differences between aria style and recitative style in the cantata repertory from early times is the treatment of tonality. In opera and other large-scale dramatic genres there are really no rules governing the succession of keys in consecutive arias. The mutual proximity of the keys of the arias making up a chamber cantata, which constitute its fixed tonal points, has consequences for the tonal design of recitatives. Vivaldi's approach to text setting is in general highly manneristic. Very occasionally, cantatas of the period contain modulations dependent on enharmonic change, as when one or more notes of a diminished seventh are explicitly or implicitly respelt or a German sixth transmutes into a dominant seventh; these sit well with the contemporary taste for bizzarria.
