It’s estimated that all 39 concertos were composed between 1728-1737. The bassoon at this point was still not as versatile as we know the modern bassoon is, which makes Vivaldi’s concertos even more challenging. However, it wasn’t until much later that it reached Venice. The more bassoon started to be developed in Paris in the 1660-70s and by 1680 had gained much popularity over Europe. The predecessor of the bassoon, the dulcian, was swiftly going out of fashion in the 1600s, which makes it even more interesting that Vivaldi chose to go down this route. At the time that Vivaldi was composing these concertos for the bassoon he was working in Venice, where the bassoon had never been used as a solo instrument. Out of the 39 bassoon concertos that Vivaldi composed, two of which remain incomplete.

No less than 230 of those are for violin, with the second most popular concerto soloist being the bassoon for Vivaldi. Antonio Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto in E minor ContextĪntonio Vivaldi composed a vast amount of concertos for a range of different instruments.

Vivaldi cello concerto in e minor