Hyperion Records

RV574, whose two instruments named as ‘tromboni da caccia’ are merely trompes de chasse, or horns, is almost certainly an ‘opera-house’ concerto. Its partly autograph score is headed, in Vivaldi’s hand, ‘Concerto per S.A.S.I.S.P.G.M.D.G.S.M.B.’. Many have tried their hand at interpreting this dedication, but a plausible solution arrived only in 1995, when Carlo Vitali completed the initials to read: ‘Sua Altezza Serenissima Il Signor Principe Giuseppe Maria De’ Gonzaga Signor Mio Benignissimo’ (‘His Most Serene Highness My Lord Prince Giuseppe Maria De’ Gonzaga, My Most Kind Master’). Gonzaga, the music-loving younger brother of the duke of the small territory of Guastalla (adjoining Mantua), was in fact Vivaldi’s choice of dedicatee for the printed libretto of an opera performed under his direction at S. Angelo in early 1714, so it would not be too fanciful to identify the concerto as entr’acte music for that very occasion.

from notes by Michael Talbot © 1998