What's the meaning of a note before the time signature?
I'm working on a project using music sheets, but I don't understand music theory or notation.
The sheet I'm studying is The Four Seasons, from what I gather the sheet was written with the musescore software (the accompanying MIDI has the name of the music and author at the meta event 09 and 10). Before the time signature for the piece there's a eighth note with the fortissimo mark.
There is a meaning for the note?
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It must be an anacrucis, but generally, the time signature is found before the note/s rather than after it. When there is an anacrucis, the last bar usually has enough beats so that the two add up to a full bar. Maybe this way, the package has decided that the last bar will be a full four beats. The 'ff' mark will apply to the next part too, not just the anacrucis.
It's an engraving mistake. The time signature should come straight after the key signature, before the first note.
Here's the opening of the Ricordi edition, from IMSLP. The f indication is in brackets, this indicates that's it's an editorial addition, not in the original manuscript.
imslp.eu/Files/imglnks/euimg/f/f2/IMSLP386586-PMLP126432-Vivaldi__Antonio-Opere_Ricordi_F_I_No_22_scan.pdf
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