Canon your personal critical-acclaim atlas
← back to classical

Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi
Dates
1678–1741
Era
Baroque (1600–1750)
Recognition
essential popular
Wikipedia

Where to start with Vivaldi

Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles
  1. Orchestral
    Bassoon Concerto in E minor, RV.484
  2. Vocal
    Gloria in D major, RV.589
  3. Chamber
    12 Violin Sonatas, op. 2
  4. Keyboard
    2 Pieces in A major, for organ, RV.746
  5. Stage
    Argippo, RV.697
  6. Orchestral
    Concerto for Strings in G major, RV.151, "alla rustica"
  7. Orchestral
    Flute Concerto in G minor, RV.439, "La Notte"
  8. Orchestral
    The Four Seasons — Four violin concertos, op. 8
  9. Orchestral
    6 Concertos for 2 Violins, Viola, Organ and Cello, op. 11
  10. Orchestral
    6 Concertos for 5 instruments, op. 6
  11. Orchestral
    6 Concertos for Flute, 2 Violins, Viola, Organ and Continuo, op. 10
  12. Orchestral
    6 Concertos for Violin with 2 Violins, Viola, Organ and Cello, op. 12
  13. Chamber
    6 Sonatas for Violin or 2 Violins and Continuo, op. 5
  14. Orchestral
    6 Violin Concertos, op. 11
  15. Orchestral
    6 Violin Concertos, op. 12

Listening guide

Hand-curated paths into Vivaldi's catalogue
  1. The Four Seasons
  2. Gloria in D major RV589
  3. Nisi Dominus RV608
  4. L\’estro armonico Op. 3
  5. Mandolin Concerto in C major

Most Acclaimed

  1. L\’estro armonico Op. 3 (complete)
  2. La stravaganza Op. 4
  3. Orlando furioso (opera)
  4. Stabat Mater RV621
  5. Violin Concerto ”Il grosso mogul” RV208

Most Weird

  1. Orlando furioso
    3-hour opera about a knight driven mad by love; he wrote it twice; the mad scene is extraordinary
  2. Nisi Dominus
    his most dramatically intense sacred work — especially Cum dederit
  3. Juditha Triumphans RV644
    oratorio — Judith and Holofernes; the most dramatic work he ever wrote
  4. Violin Concerto ”The Night” RV439
    all four movements in minor — unusual; the Phantoms movement
  5. Tito Manlio (opera)
    written in five days according to his own claim

Similar composers

Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinity

Works 597