On Vivaldi’s Sonatas For Violoncello (No.1-6)

This thesis is a study of Vivaldi’s six sonatas for Violoncello(RV 40, 41, 43,45,46,47), which is started with the description of the historical and cultural background of Venice in the early 18 th century, and of the development of sonata, an important instrumental genre in the Baroque era. The main characteristics of these pieces has been pointed out through a detailed music stylistic analysis. The whole thesis consists of four chapters. Vivaldi’s life background and compositional process has been referred to in chapter 1, and the music analysis in chapter 2 and 3. The last chapter is a summary, from which the music meaning of these works has been explored, and hopefully, last of all, this thesis will be of help for the cellists who play them as well.