Violin Concerti from Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Invenzione, op. 8, nos. 7, 8, 9

Numbers seven, eight and nine of Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione stand outside the programme that made the collection famous: they carry no sonnets and no titles, and they follow the four seasons as plain ritornello concertos. The seventh is in D minor, the eighth in G minor and the ninth again in D minor; the ninth exists in a parallel version for oboe, which Vivaldi noted in the same print. The Amsterdam edition of 1725 was the first time these pieces reached a market beyond Venice, and it made his name across northern Europe.