1678-1741

Beginning in 1703 and intermittently for many decades, Antonio Vivaldi served as music factotum at the Pio Ospedale della Pietá in Venice, an institution devoted to the care and education of abandoned, orphaned and indigent children. In addition to his duties as virtuoso violinist, violin teacher, orchestra director and instrument purchaser, Vivaldi served as resident composer, producing hundreds of works for various instruments and ensembles, including about 500 concerti, often at a rate of more than two per month. The resident girls were trained in both string and wind instruments, including the organ; as part of their education, Vivaldi composed concertos for every instrument and instrument combination. Many of them were apparently written with specific girl soloists in mind. Boys, on the other hand, were trained as artisans.

Among Vivaldi’s many concerti for wind instruments, are three for “flautino.” The precise identity of this instrument is uncertain but is usually thought to be a sopranino recorder, since the piccolo did not come into use until the middle of the eighteenth century. Today, however, they are frequently performed on the piccolo. Like many of Vivaldi’s concerti, they were not published during his lifetime and the date of their composition is unknown.

Nor do we know the soloist for whom this Concerto was written, but it must have been for an outstanding virtuoso. It adheres to Vivaldi’s “modern” concerto format, alternating a ritornello tutti, in which the soloist was included, with passages featuring the soloist, who executes large leaps and rapid runs. The central movement, in which the ensemble typically plays a merely subservient role, tests the soloist’s expressive ability despite the inherent shrillness of the instrument. The Finale returns to the technical challenges of the opening movement, including rapid trills and arpeggios.