Vivaldi’s violin concertos called "The Four Seasons" are one of the best known and loved collections of string music in our time. Their programmatic nature, based on the lines of sonnets printed along with the music, brings seasonal sights and sounds readily and delightfully to the ear: the bird calls in "Spring, " the swarm of wasps in "Summer, " the hunters’ horns in "Autumn, " the winds and icy snow of "Winter."This volume contains these wonderfully evocative masterpieces along with eight other concertos that comprise Vivaldi’s complete Opus 8 — including "The Storm at Sea, " "Pleasure, " and "The Hunt."Dr. Eleanor Selfridge-Field, a recognized authority on music of the Italian Baroque, has researched primary sources in Italy to prepare this specially commissioned, authoritative new edition. Together with its excellent scores — new music plates have been prepared to create an unusually pristine and elegant edition — the volume provides a thorough introduction to Vivaldi’s music and times, a new English translation of the original sonnets (with a guide to their linear placement in the scores), and extensive editorial notes for students of the period.