Summary: Lucie Skeaping looks at Vivaldi's ground-breaking Op.3 set of concertos for one, two or four violins, entitled "L'Estro Armonico", which appeared in the early 1700s. Vivaldi had them published in Amsterdam, which meant they were readily available throughout northern Europe. The 8 part-books even landed on the desk of JS Bach, who found them so inspirational he set about making transcriptions of some of them for keyboard instruments. Lucie looks back on the history of the set and ponders the collection’s unusual name.
