Vivaldi: Concerto per 2 violini, archi & basso continuo

The concertos for two violins by Vivaldi are a lesser-known part of his oeuvre. He composed a considerable number of them, though. The 28 concertos for this scoring span almost his entire career. The first examples were included in his collection of 12 concertos which was printed as his op. 3 in 1711 under the title L'Estro Armonico. The latest concerto which can be dated is from 1740. It is not entirely clear for whom these works were intended. Some may have been written as part of Vivaldi's activities as teacher in the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. The character of the solo parts is various, and in many cases they are so demanding that they can only be played by real virtuosos. Vivaldi was such a virtuoso himself. In his liner-notes Fabrizio Ammetto comes up with the suggestion that Vivaldi could have played them with his father, Giovanni Battista, a skilled professional violinist and probably his only formal teacher. The roles of the two violins can greatly differ. Sometimes t