The concerts given by the young ladies at the Ospedale della Pietà, the orphanage/convent/music conservatory where Antonio Vivaldi taught and composed for much of his career, were always a highlight of Venetian cultural life. The program presented on March 21, 1740, for Prince Frederick Christian of Poland, however, was particularly special, and included a number of Vivaldi's most mature and imaginative works—performed, as they were, just months before the composer's death. The concerto RV 558, for example, presented the prince with what Andrew Manze described as a "veritable Noah's Ark" of instruments, including a pair each of theorbos, mandolins, chalumeaux, and recorders. Other concertos on the program, including RV 149 and RV 540, offered more subtle timbral varieties, but nonetheless demonstrated Vivaldi's mastery. The piece that seems to have stood out the most in the Prince's mind, however, was the Concerto per eco in lontana, for four violins, strings, and continuo, in A major, RV 552; a musical connoisseur, he even mentioned the piece in his diary afterward.

The piece is known for, and long identified by, the curious indication in the score of "per eco in lontana." This refers to the three violins that neither interfere with the featured solo violin, nor simply form part of the ripieno string ensemble. Rather, they are designated "echo violins" placed at some distance from the other players. This gives the piece a distinctive spatial dimension (perhaps reminiscent of the famous polychoral traditions of San Marco, another important stop on the Prince's Venetian tour) by emphasizing thematic interplay and contrapuntal imitation through distance—a kind of eighteenth century predecessor of surround-sound.

The piece is cast in the traditional three movements, though the textural variety afforded by the unusual setup seems to lengthen the movements somewhat beyond average. The first movement is a restrained and elegant Allegro, the middle portion of which is highlighted by the nimble exchanges between the soloist and the "echoes"; on the ascending scalar figures especially, this effect brings to mind the "ghost instruments" from Monteverdi's Orfeo. The interplay between soloist and "echos" is a central tenet of the slow second movement, as well, and here again ascending arpeggios and scalar gestures figure prominently in the melodic contours. The third and final movement gives both soloist and echos opportunity for virtuosic flair, each gesture enhanced by its distant-sounding repetition.

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