Lute concerto in D major RV 93

The
diversity and imagination that Vivaldi manages to exhibit in his huge
output of concertos is overwhelming. With over 500 solo concertos
surviving, and many more which have been lost, it is not surprising
that the stylistic structures and models that Vivaldi devised, such
as the three-movement format and ritornello style, became integrated
into the concerto genre for evermore. One reason why Vivaldi managed
to create, for the most part, diverse and interesting material with
each new composition is because he wrote mainly for specific
musicians and occasions. Unfortunately there is not enough remaining
evidence to get even a glimpse of who these people may be, or why
their characters and playing style led Vivaldi to write for them.
RV.93 is an exception though. It is one of the rare examples which
gives a clear explicit clue as to whom Vivaldi intended it for. The
manuscript paper it is written on, for one, is of Bohemian origin,
and bears the inscription ‘Per
Sua Eccellenza Il Conte Wrttbij’.
It is know that Vivaldi spent some time in Prague from 1729-1731, and
this is almost certainly a work written for Count Johan Joseph Wrtby
during this visit. The two lively outer movements of this concerto
encase a sublime largo
with a winning melody, typical of Vivaldi, floating over sustained
upper strings and accompanied by a pulsating bass line. There is
evidence of some influence of folk music in the opening movement,
perhaps inspired by some street musicians Vivaldi met on his travels
to Bohemia, while the ritornello of last movement bears just the
slightest hint of the accompanying styles of the vocal music he was
producing during the same period. When Vivaldi writes that this is a
concerto for lute, he could mean one of many instruments. It is
obvious, though, that the work is intended for the archlute, an
instrument which is a mixture between a Renaissance lute and a
theorbo, but smaller in size than the theorbo making it easier to
play solo repertoire. By Vivaldi’s time, the archlute had become
the instrument of choice for solo repertoire and chamber music, and
it even appears in the list of continuo instruments for many of
Händel’s operas.