Vivaldi - Concerto Grosso in D minor

- Vivaldi was a leading Baroque composer

- Contemporaries include Bach and Handel

- Vivaldi was a virtuoso violinist and this influenced many of his string works 

- Part of a greater work called L'estro Armonico, a 'harmonic inspiration' similar to Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier. Bach worked as a transcriber, and therefore Vivaldi could have influenced his own work. 

- Standard trio sonata group and string orchestra

- Continuo was standard accompanient in Baroque music

- Ritornello type instrumentation in the fugal section in the 2nd movement 

- Cello has virtuosic solo music, perhaps unusual as this was reserved for the violin

First Movement: - 2 solo unaccpanied solo violins

                             - Canon and continuo come in

Second Movement: - Begins with 3 bar chordal tutti

                                  - The rest is fugal in character

Third Movement: - Tutti passage is followed by a solo 1st violin with the theme

                              - Accompanied by the rest of violins playing slow, continous quavers

                              - NO CONTINUO

Fourth Movement: - Begins similar to the 1st movement - 2 solo violins unaccompanied

                                - Semiquaver cello solo similar to 1st movement (unifys the concerto) 

                                - Imitative structure means solo instruments play over isolated tutti chords and circle of fifths. 

                                - Ends with 6 bar tutti 

- Key is D minor, and mainly stays in the tonic

- Some modulations to related keys (e.g G minor and A minor)

- Remote modulation to F minor (3rd movement)

- Uses 'functional tonality' 

- Functional harmony

- Common 7th chords

- Suspensions and chromaticism are frequent (e.g 4th movement in bassline and tutti section)

- Use of real & fugal answer 

- Use of tradic and scalic motion

- Sequences (eg first cello solo Bar 20-25) 

- Combination of conjuct and disjunct (heard in circle of 5ths) 

- 2 part canon (1st mov.)

- 4 part polyphony (Bar 16) 

- Contrapuntal texture (end of 1st mov.)

- Homophonic (Tutti of 2nd mov.)

- Frequent imitation

- 1st mov: 3/4

- 2nd mov: 4/4

- 3rd mov: 12/8, and dotted rhythm of Siciliano Dance

- 4th mov: 4/4. Begins with anacrusis

- Moto perpetuo quavers and semiquavers, typical of Vivaldi