(It.: ‘flourishing’, ‘thriving’, ‘full of life’).
As a tempo designation in its own right it appears in scores from the mid-17th century on and in most of the theorists as a tempo roughly equivalent to allegro. Beethoven marked the theme of his Diabelli Variations vivace, and the second movement of his Ninth Symphony molto vivace. As a qualification, vivace was especially popular in the 19th century and often designated a mood rather than a tempo. Beethoven marked both the last two movements of his First Symphony allegro molto e vivace, but he also used andante vivace, a favourite of Piccinni. Schubert’s use of vivace as a qualification seems normally to indicate not an increase of tempo but merely a more vivacious approach to performance. The superlative forms vivacissimo (adjective) and vivacissimamente (adverb, as in the finale of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op.81a) are also found.
In the 18th century vivace often meant something rather slower. The anonymous A Short Explication (1724) put it between largo and allegro; Leopold Mozart (1756) said that vivace and Spiritoso meant ‘that one should play with understanding and intellect … they are the median between quick and slow’; and Charles Cudworth (‘The Meaning of “Vivace” in Eighteenth Century England’, FAM, xii, 1965, p.194) gave examples where the word clearly indicates a slowish tempo.
The French form vif was equated with vivace by Rousseau (1768) and contains the same ambiguities.
For bibliography see Tempo and expression marks.
DAVID FALLOWS