«Al fragor dei corni audaci»

The use of horns in Vivaldi’s scores, documented in 1714 at the latest, coincides with the introduction of the instrument into Venetian art music. As is known, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the horn began slowly but not completely to abandon its traditional role as a ‘hunting’ instrument. From then on, it played a purely concertante role in Vivaldi’s music, both in chamber music and in opera. This role is characterized by its own musical idiom and by the adoption of only the horn in F. Nevertheless, even today there are many open questions regarding the use of horns in Vivaldi’s music; they are linked both to the identification of the instrument models that the composer had in mind for his compositions, and to the correct reading of the horn part as written on the staff. In fact, Vivaldi adopted different types of notation and therefore it is not always easy to identify the absolute pitch of the notes that the horn players should play. The article deals with these problems, thanks to an in-depth study of the manuscript sources, to comparison with other compositions by his contemporaries and, above all, to the definition of idiomatic melodic modules . Furthermore, the article reconstructs the development of Vivaldian writing for horn, suggesting the dating of some hitherto undated compositions. Finally, some advice is offered on issues of historically informed performance.