The Art of the Oboe
Famous Oboe Concerti

The oboe, perfected in France around the middle of the seventeenth century, gained acceptance in Venice during the 1690s. The first known Venetian operas to include a part for it dated from 1692, and by 1696 at the latest it had been heard at the Basilica of San Marco, which two years later recruited its first permanent player of the oboe. Several other oboists of note established themselves in the city, and the four ospedali grandi (the charitable institutions caring for foundlings, orphans and the destitute) added the instrument to the teaching curriculum.

It was logical, given Italy's – and, indeed, Venice's – pioneering rôle in the development of the concerto, that sooner or later the first concerti with parts for oboes would be written. The big question was how, if at all, should they differ in style and form from violin concerti? For Vivaldi, as for most Italian composers, the problem was easily re