Antonio Vivaldi

The Italian composer and violinist Antonio Vivaldi left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto, influencing the emerging style of late Baroque music. In spite of his widespread popularity today, Vivaldi was largely forgotten after death and his reputation was only re-established in the 1920's. Vivaldi's greatest contribution to the history of classical music was his development of the ritornello form, where recurrent restatements of a refrain...