In fact, during the thirty odd years here, Vivaldi produced over four hundred works comprising concertos and similar pieces. Described as the ‘Red Priest’ for his flaming red hair and being baptized immediately after he was born at Venice in 1678, Antonio Vivaldi was the eldest of a large family, who studied violin with his father.Ībandoning priestly duties, he engaged himself in a girl’s orphanage and musical conservatory, La Pieta, as a music director, composer and violin teacher. Even after three centuries, besides remaining a concert favourite, it has been featured in many films such as ‘Indecent Proposal’, in ‘Pretty Woman and ‘Shine’, besides ‘The Simpsons’. ![]() 1, No.Vivaldi wrote his iconic ‘The Four Seasons’ exactly 300 years ago in 1721. I confess that many times I restrained my ardour, mindful of your merit and mistrustful of my talent.”įor more of the best in classical music, sign up to our E-NewsletterĪntonio Vivaldi: Trio Sonata in D minor, Op. It is dedicated to a Brescian nobleman, and on the frontispiece, Vivaldi writes, “My devotion, ambitious to make itself known to Your Excellency, has suffered enough from the torments of desire. Opus 1 is a set of trio sonatas, still one of the most popular instrumental genres in Italy. In the event, “The Red Priest,” started his association with the “Ospeddale della Pietà” in early 1704, and his first publication appeared in or before 1705. Immediately after eating, I can usually move about, but never on foot this is the reason why I do not celebrate Mass.” It has been suggested that his ailment became a convenient pretext to shift his attention toward the practice and business of music. Vivaldi writes, “Barely ordained a priest, I said Mass for a year or a little longer, and then I abandoned it, having had to leave the altar three times because of the same complaint. This decision, as a biographer writes, “was in keeping with his humble origins, and it promised some hope of social mobility.” On 18 September 1693, Vivaldi received his tonsure, and on 23 March 1703, he was ordained as a priest. 4 (Piero Toso, violin Giuliano Carmignola, violin Gianni Chiampan, cello Edoardo Farina, harpsichord Claudio Scimone, cond.)Īt the age of 15, it was decided that Antonio would be directed toward a career in the priesthood. In fact, the “hand of Antonio’s principal copyist, from the mid-1710s to the mid-1730s, is believed to be that of his father Giovanni Battista, with whom he shared a succession of apartments in Venice.”Īntonio Vivaldi: Trio Sonata in E Major, Op. They also became involved in operatic management, operating as co-impresarios during the 1713––15 seasons at the Teatro Sant’Angelo. They travelled widely to perform at assorted church festivals, and in 1729, the pair spent an entire year in Germany. Giovanni Battista and his talented, and subsequently famous son Antonio closely collaborated in musical matters. He did, however, receive some instructions in playing the harpsichord. ![]() We have reports that young Vivaldi played on occasion in the orchestra of St Mark’s, but it seems doubtful that he received, as is frequently reported, comprehensive composition lessons from Giovanni Legrenzi, maestro di cappella at St Mark’s. 9 (Roberto Baraldi, violin Alberto Martini, violin Francesco Baroni, clavichord)Ĭhurch of the Pietà – Saint Mary of the Visitationĭespite his ailment, young Vivaldi was a precocious musical talent, and he received his first violin instructions from his father, a professional violinist at the church of Santa Cecilia. “I have not said Mass for 25 years, nor will I ever again, not because of a ban or an order but from choice, because of an ailment from which I have suffered from birth and by which I am afflicted.” And he later adds, “For this reason, I almost always live at home and go out only in a gondola or carriage, since my chest ailment, or constriction of the chest, prevents me from walking.”Īntonio Vivaldi: Trio Sonata in A Major, Op. This particular ailment was to trouble Vivaldi throughout his life, as we read in a resignation letter of 1737. That danger is generally considered to have been, what he later describes as “strettezza di petto” (tightness of the chest), possibly a form of bronchial asthma. On we read in the baptismal register of San Giovanni di Bragora, “Antonio Lucio, son of Signor Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, son of the late Agustin, instrumentalist, and his wife Camilla Calicchio, daughter of the late Camillo, born on 4 March last, who was baptized at home, being in danger of death, by the midwife Madama Margarita Veronese, was today taken to the church and received the exorcisms and holy oils from me, Giacomo Fornacieri, parish priest…” It seems that young Vivaldi was in mortal danger around the time of his birth.
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