I love listening to Vivaldi, and sometimes Mozart; but I get confused when I read the titles of the tracks. While it doesn't keep me from enjoying the music, I do want to understand it more. For example, the title of the very first track of my "The Ultimate Four Seasons: Vivaldi's Greatest Hit" reads: Four Seasons #1 in E, Op. 8, RV 269, "Spring" - 1. Allegro Now, I can guess that it's played in the key of E major, and that it's called "Spring". But that's all I know. What do the rest mean? What do "Op. 8, RV 269" and "1. Allegro" mean?
Op. means opus...RV...you got me. I played cello for six years, so I maybe can help you with some terms....but abbreviations? Throw me for a loop sometimes.... allegro is a term for tempo...allegro means "fast" in Italian... adagio is slow tempo, and so on....
RV 269 was his address. it stands for number 269 recreational vehicle in the trailer park. 1 stands for the first movement. spring is primavera in english. hope that helps some...
I looked up the RV thing because I figured it was some sort of catolog number, like the K numbers for mozart, which is exactly what it is. Vivaldi was such a prolific composer that making a simple number catalog was the easiest way to identify a piece.
