In a special edition of Tales from the Stave Frances Fyfield heads to Edinburgh to tell the story of what was thought to be a lost Vivaldi Flute Concerto.

It's a rare and thrilling moment for a classical music researcher to unearth a manuscript that has been hidden for centuries. But that was the lot of Andrew Woolley when he found, nestling in the Marquesses of Lothian's family papers at the National archives in Edinburgh, a Flute concerto by Antonio Vivaldi.

In this Tales from the Stave Special, Frances follows the research, cross checking and confirmation that followed Andrew's discovery and lead, very quickly, to the first recording and first recorded performance of the concerto known as Il Gran Mogol.

The manuscript, copied out from a lost original and probably sold to Lord Robert Kerr during a continental journey, tells the story of Vivaldi's composing methods and the cross fertilization of Southern European creativity and the Scottish Enlightenment. Andrew Woolley and the Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot help tell the concerto's story.

Producer: Tom Alban. Show less