Vivaldi: Agitata da Due Venti: For Cello
Here is the sheet music for a cello transcription of the virtuoso aria “Agitata da Due Venti” (“Buffeted By Two Winds”) from the opera “Griselda” (1735) by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). This edition is a transcription of the magnificent version sung by Cecilia Bartoli (viewable here on YouTube). The lyrics describe an imminent shipwreck provoked by a storm with two violent winds blowing in opposite directions: one is the wind of love, and the other, the wind of duty.
Our “Performance Version” is in the original key of D Major but our “Easier Version” is one fifth lower (in G major). Thanks to this transposition down, it doesn’t use thumb position and barely uses the Intermediate Region. Because this “Easier Version” is in a different key, it has its own separate piano accompaniment part which has been revoiced in some of its lowest moments to raise the register.
A play-along audio of the higher-register piano accompaniment can be found here below. If we actually download it then we can play it at different tempi and even in the lower key, with the wonderfully useful and simple Amazing Slowdowner program:
The (high) cello version can be seen on YouTube. The video is from a live concert. The playing is far from perfect, but good enough (hopefully) to get an idea of how this aria sounds on the cello.