19 Amazing Antonio Vivaldi Facts For The Music Lovers

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian music director and composer of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy on March 4, 1678. When this famous composer was young, he has given the nickname 'Red Priest' by his friends and family. 

The name Red Priest was given just because Antonio Lucio Vivaldi had red hair, just like his father. His father, Giovanni Battista Vivaldi was also given the nickname Redhead.

Although Antonio Vivaldi was ordained as a priest when he was young, he chose to pursue his passion for music instead. He was a prolific composer and Vivaldi wrote hundreds of pieces, but he is best known for his Baroque-style concertos.

Vivaldi was well-liked in several European countries during his lifetime, including France, but his popularity waned following Vivaldi's death. Vivaldi's published concerti became relatively unknown after the Baroque period ended and were mainly overlooked.

During the Classical and Romantic periods, even Vivaldi's most famous work called 'The Four Seasons" became unknown in its original publication. The work of Vivaldi was then again rediscovered in the twentieth century.

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Antonio Vivaldi Compositions

During Vivaldi's career, he wrote a number of instrumental concertos for instruments like the violin.

He was a professional violinist and also wrote religious choral pieces and around fifty several operas. He scribbled poetry pieces on the manuscript for the famous 'The Four Seasons,' and no one knows who wrote them.

They could have very well been written by a prolific composer, i.e., Vivaldi himself, who also gave us tracks like 'The Barking Dog' in the spring, 'The Drunkards Have Gone Asleep' in the autumn, and 'Languor Due to the Heat' in the summer.

Although 'The Four Seasons' is the best and famous Vivaldi's work, he also composed over 500 other stage play concertos for instruments such as the cello, mandolin, flute, recorder, viola d'amore, and lute.

Around 230 of them are for violin practice, as he, like his father, was a freelance musician. Many of his major works at the time were created for a home for abandoned children known as the Ospedale Della Pietà and their all-female finest musicians ensemble.

Vivaldi's music isn't simply popular in concert halls; it's also been featured in a number of more modern styles movies.

In Indecent Proposal, listen for his Concerto No.

8 from 'L'estro armonico, whereas 'The Four Seasons' opera in Pretty Woman, and 'Nulla in Mundi pax sincere from the movie Shine.

When the famous 'Gloria E Imeneo', chamber music of Vivaldi was found, Alfredo Casella was so taken with the Italian composer that he organized a 'Casella's Vivaldi Week' in 1939, during which the Gloria and the l'Olympiade were recreated.

The Vivaldi Week and Antonio Vivaldi music were still famous among classical composers.

Antonio Vivaldi Biography

Vivaldi was appointed as Maestro di Violino at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà which is the Devout Hospital of Mercy in Venice, in September 1703. While Vivaldi is best known for his compositions, he was also considered a master violinist. While working there for the next 30 years, he composed the majority of his important works.

Vivaldi was granted a prominent new job as Maestro di Cappella at the court of prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was the governor of Mantua in northwest Italy, around 1717 or 1718. He stayed there for the following three years and wrote several new operas, including Tito Manlio.

When he was in Milan in 1721, where he performed the pastoral drama La Silvia, from which nine arias have survived. In 1722, he relocated to Rome, where he added a new style to his operas.

Vivaldi was invited to perform for the new Pope Benedict XIII. He returned to Venice in 1725, when he wrote four operas in one year.

Vivaldi, like many other composers of the time, struggled financially in his later years of life. His compositions were not held in high regard in Venice and shifting musical preferences swiftly rendered them obsolete. In reaction, Vivaldi decided to sell off many of his manuscripts at low prices to fund his move to Vienna.

Antonio Vivaldi Family

According to the registry of San Giovanni in Bragora, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was the son of Camilla Calicchio and Giovanni Battista Vivaldi. He was born on the March 4, 1678 in the city of Venice, which was the Venetian Republic's capital at the time. Bonaventura Tomaso, Cecilia Maria, Margarita Gabriela, Zanetta Anna, and Francesco Gaetano were Vivaldi's known siblings.

Antonio's father was a musician, and he taught his firstborn everything about music. Because of Giovanni, Antonio got interested in music in the first place.

Vivaldi met and learned music from some of the best composers and musicians in Venice at the time through his father. Before the age of 24, Antonio learned so much about the music that Vivaldi wrote the music on his own.

At such a young age, Vivaldi was called by Charles VI to Vienna to start his career, which went pleasantly until Charles VI died. Even after this, he continued his career and was eventually recognized for his talent.

Antonio Vivaldi Childhood

As the young son was born, a midwife baptized Antonio in his home shortly after birth. The reason for this has sparked many a discussion.

It was most likely done because of his ill health or because of an earthquake that struck the city on the day of his birth. Vivaldi's mother may have pledged him to the clergy or priesthood as a result of the earthquake's shock. Two months later, the ceremonies that had been left out were added.

From birth alone, young Antonio Vivaldi's health was a major concern. Chest tightness, known as Strettezza di petto in Italian, was one of his symptoms that had been misinterpreted as a form of asthma.

Vivaldi accepted this and continued to live with the same. This did not hinder him from learning the violin, producing Vivaldi's music, or participating in musical events, but it did prevent him from playing wind instruments at the imperial court.

He even took his role as a secular priest very seriously, earning the label of religious bigot. He left this position later in order to pursue his music dream and to create Antonio Vivaldi songs.

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