Concert for cello solo, 2 violins, viola & b. c. (with obligato bassoon), Urtext edition, edited by Markus Möllenbeck with a piano reduction by Ulrich Lüdering. Series Il Violoncello concertato.

The present concerto, RV 409, derives its distinctive appeal from the explicit use of a bassoon in the basso continuo. In the first movement, this creates the impression of a double concerto—though it is certainly not one. Overall, Vivaldi departs from the conventional fast–slow–fast movement structure in this work: in the first movement, the melancholic dialogue between the solo cello and the bassoon is repeatedly interrupted by brisk tutti interjections, while in the second movement, brief, almost braking Adagio cadenzas from the tutti punctuate the rapid sixteenth-note passages of the cello, accompanied by drum-like eighth notes in the continuo. This concerto represents a particularly original contribution by Vivaldi to the cello concerto genre.

Range of the solo part: E - b1, medium difficulty