The creator of hundreds of spirited, extroverted instrumental works, Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) is widely recognized as the master of the Baroque instrumental concerto, which he perfected and popularized more than any of his contemporaries. Vivaldi's kinetic rhythms, fluid melodies, bright instrumental effects, and extensions of instrumental technique make his some of the most enjoyable of Baroque music. He was highly influential among his contemporaries and successors: even as esteemed a figure as Johann Sebastian Bach adapted some of Vivaldi's music. Vivaldi's variable textures and dramatic effects initiated the shift toward what became the Classical style; a deeper understanding of his music begins with the realization that, compared with Bach and even Handel, he was Baroque music's arch progressive. Though not as familiar as his concerti, Vivaldi's stage and choral music is still of value; his sometimes bouncy, sometimes lyrical Gloria in D major (1708) has remained a perennial favorite. His operas were widely performed in his own time.

Vivaldi probably composed his Double Concerto in B flat major, RV 548, in the 1720s and he probably composed it for the Osperdale del Pieta, the girl's foundling orphanage in Venice for which he had worked in the early decades of the century. Scored for violin and oboe concertante with strings, plus basso continuo ripieno, the work is in three movements. The opening unmarked movement, presumably an allegro, opens with a robust ritornello for the ripieno followed by the entrance of the soloists, then a modulatory sequence for the concertante and the ripieno, then an episode for the soloists with the oboe's long-breathed melody over the violin's sixteenth notes, then an episode in the minor for concertante and ripieno, then back through a sequence for the soloists to the final return of the ritornello. The central Largo in the minor takes up the idea of the central episode of the opening movement with the oboe's long-breathed melody over the violin's sixteenth notes over a simple choral accompaniment for the ripieno in a siciliano rhythm. The closing Allegro in the tonic major is a lighthearted gigue-like movement in 6/8 alternating between the ritornello for the ripieno and cheerful episodes for the soloists.

Source: AllMusic (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/antonio-vivaldi-mn0000 685058/biography ).

Although originally created for Violin Oboe, Strings & Continuo, I created this Interpretation of the Concerto in Bb Major (RV 548) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).