Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy, on March 4, 1678, and died in Vienna, Austria, July 28, 1741. In addition to the solo cellos, the Concerto is scored for strings and continuo. Approximate performance time is ten minutes.

Antonio Vivaldi, one of the most prolific musicians of the Baroque era, was influential as a composer, violin virtuoso, and teacher. The son of a professional violinist, Vivaldi originally trained for the priesthood and was ordained in 1703. However, Vivaldi suffered from an ailment he described as strettezza di petto (“tightness of the chest”); in all likelihood, asthma. As a result, Vivaldi later recalled: “I said mass for a year or a little more. Then I discontinued it, having on three occasions had to leave the altar without completing it because of this ailment.”

After leaving the priesthood, Vivaldi began his association with Venice’s Ospedale della Pièta, a home for orphaned girls that was renowned for its excellence in musical education. Despite extensive travels throughout Europe, Vivaldi remained affiliated with the Ospedale for the better part of four decades.

Although Vivaldi enjoyed great success throughout much of his life, the composer was poverty-stricken when he died in Vienna on July 28, 1741, at the age of 63. Like Mozart, Vivaldi was buried in a pauper’s grave.

Antonio Vivaldi’s compositions include numerous chamber works, sacred vocal music, and operas. But it is in the realm of the concerto that Vivaldi exerted his most profound influence. Vivaldi composed approximately 550 concertos in which he explored a wide variety of instrumental combinations. Among these are more than 25 known concertos for solo cello, as well as a single work featuring two solo cellos, in G minor, RV 531.

Many of the techniques Vivaldi employed in his concertos (including RV 531) became a model for subsequent composers. They include the use of a three-movement, fast—slow—fast (Allegro—Largo—Allegro) structure. In the outer movements, Vivaldi makes ingenious use of a ritornello, a recurring and unifying musical phrase. The writing for the soloists blends virtuoso demands and a rapt sense of dialogue.

Program notes by Ken Meltzer