The Vivaldi Compendium will serve as the most reliable and up-to-date source of quick reference on the composer Antonio Vivaldi and his music. This takes the form of a dictionary listing persons, places, musical works and many other topics connected with Vivaldi; its alphabetically arranged entries are copiously cross-referenced to guide the reader towards related topics. The Vivaldi Compendium also provides a gateway to further reading via an extensive bibliography, to which reference is made in most of the dictionary entries. These two sections are complemented by a biography of the composer and a carefully organized list of his works.
Knowledge about Vivaldi and his music is still advancing at an incredible rate - many discoveries occurred while the book was in preparation - and every effort has been made to ensure that The Vivaldi Compendium represents the latest in Vivaldi research, drawing on the author's close involvement with Vivaldi and Venetian music over four decades.
MICHAEL TALBOT is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Liverpool and a Fellow of the British Academy. He isknown internationally for his studies of late-baroque Italian music, which include recent books on Vivaldi's chamber cantatas [2003] and the same composer's fugal writing [2007].
Industry Reviews
[A] a musicological masterpiece. It is also one of the most practical books ever published, a book that enables anyone [.] to find reliable and detailed information on almost every subject connected with Vivaldi within seconds. One cannot be grateful enough to the author for this painstaking and most helpful publication. * EARLY MUSIC *
This fact-packed reference book incorporates the latest research on Vivaldi's life and music and is written in a terse, yet engaging, style. [...] this is an impressively wide ranging guide. * EARLY MUSIC TODAY *
This amazingly comprehensive volume packs a huge amount of expert scholarship [...] into an extraordinarily small space. [...] an indispensable addition to the shelves of anyone with an interest in Vivaldi, whether scholar, student, performer or music lover. * THE CONSORT *
[Ein] vorteffliches Buch [...], das durch Klarheit und Verstaedlichkeit in bester Angelsaechsischer Wissenschaftstradition besticht. * CONCERTO *
It's called a compendium, but it could also be termed a dictionary or pocket (almost) encyclopedia dedicated to a composer whose present popularity worldwide far exceeds the actual knowledge of his life and works. The completeness of this realization [...] is praiseworthy. * MUSICA *
[T]here is nobody internationally as well-placed as Talbot to provide such a versatile and friendly guide to Vivaldi [...] The Vivaldi Compendium will become an indispensable companion. * GRAMOPHONE *
This compact volume by Talbot provides an excellent orientation and quick reference to the state of scholarship on the life and music of Antonio Vivaldi. [...] The scope of this bibliography is impressive [...] Highly Recommended. * CHOICE *
[Talbot] is, at least as far as the Anglophone world is concerned, THE expert. ... I am sure that I will consult the Compendium frequently. * EARLY MUSIC REVIEW *
The Vivaldi Compendium is an extremely useful encyclopaedia [...] All the subject matter is dealt with in a scholarly and expert way. It will provide the reader with an exhaustive and informative one-stop source for Vivaldi's life, music and world. The production of The Vivaldi Compendium, too, is well up to Boydell's high standards [...] For Vivaldi collectors and specialists The Vivaldi Compendium is almost a required item. Its scope exceeds anything otherwise currently available and is managed extremely well by an expert. Strongly recommended. * CLASSICAL.NET *
