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70-484: Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music . Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel , Vivaldi ranks amongst the greatest Baroque composers and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration , violin technique and programmatic music . He consolidated

140-518: A pamphlet denouncing Vivaldi and his operas. The pamphlet, Il teatro alla moda , attacks the composer even though it does not mention him directly. The cover drawing shows a boat (the San Angelo), on the left end of which stands a little angel wearing a priest's hat and playing the violin. The Marcello family claimed ownership of the Teatro San Angelo, and a long legal battle had been fought with

210-441: A 21st-century virtuosi is primarily a performing musician. As virtuosic playing has gained popularity over the centuries, more exciting music has ingrained itself into the culture in unique ways. Many music pedagogues emphasize technique in private teaching as a way to approach modern, virtuosic repertoire. Additionally, much of classical music that becomes popular among non-musicians tends to lean into difficult, flashy styles. In

280-795: A baroque church in an area that is now part of the site of the TU Wien university. The cemetery existed until 1807. The house where he lived in Vienna has since been destroyed; the Hotel Sacher is built on part of the site. Memorial plaques have been placed at both locations, as well as a Vivaldi "star" in the Viennese Musikmeile and a monument at the Rooseveltplatz. Only two, possibly three, original portraits of Vivaldi are known to survive: an engraving, an ink sketch and an oil painting. The engraving, which

350-531: A bridge to the scholarly catalog dominant today. Compositions by Vivaldi are identified today by RV number , the number assigned by Danish musicologist Peter Ryom in works published mostly in the 1970s, such as the "Ryom-Verzeichnis" or "Répertoire des oeuvres d'Antonio Vivaldi". Like the Complete Edition before it, the RV does not typically assign its single, consecutive numbers to "adjacent" works that occupy one of

420-754: A catalog created in the 20th century by the musicologist Peter Ryom . Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons) of 1723 is his most famous work. The first four of the 12 concertos, titled Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione ("The Contest between Harmony and Invention"), they depict moods and scenes from each of the four seasons. This work has been described as an outstanding example of pre-19th-century program music . Vivaldi's other notable sets of 12 violin concertos include La stravaganza  (The Eccentricity), L'estro armonico  (The Harmonic Inspiration) and La cetra  (The Lyre). Vivaldi wrote more than 500 concertos. About 350 of these are for solo instrument and strings, of which 230 are for violin;

490-453: A composer, he was regarded as an exceptional technical violinist as well. The German architect Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach referred to Vivaldi as "the famous composer and violinist" and noted in his diary that "Vivaldi played a solo accompaniment excellently, and at the conclusion he added a free fantasy [an improvised cadenza] which absolutely astounded me, for it is hardly possible that anyone has ever played, or ever will play, in such

560-484: A different work already given the previous year. In 1715, he presented Nerone fatto Cesare (RV 724, now lost), with music by seven different composers, of which he was the leader. The opera contained eleven arias and was a success. In the late season, Vivaldi planned to put on an opera entirely of his own creation, Arsilda, regina di Ponto (RV 700), but the state censor blocked the performance. The main character, Arsilda, falls in love with another woman, Lisea, who

630-619: A fashion." In September 1703, Vivaldi (24) became maestro di violino (master of violin) at an orphanage called the Pio Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of Mercy) in Venice; although his talents as a violinist probably secured him the job, he soon became a successful teacher of music there. Over the next thirty years he composed most of his major works while working at the Ospedale. There were four similar institutions in Venice; their purpose

700-579: A major composer. Scholarly work intended to increase the accuracy and variety of Vivaldi performances also supported new discoveries that made old catalogs incomplete. Works still in circulation today might be numbered under several different systems (some earlier catalogs are mentioned here ). Because the simply consecutive Complete Edition (CE) numbers did not reflect the individual works (Opus numbers) into which compositions were grouped, numbers assigned by Antonio Fanna were often used in conjunction with CE numbers. Combined Complete Edition (CE)/Fanna numbering

770-603: A much lesser-known, slightly more detailed copy recently discovered in Moscow. The oil painting, which can be seen in the International Museum and Library of Music of Bologna , is by an anonymous artist and is thought to depict Vivaldi due to its strong resemblance to the La Cave engraving. During his lifetime, Vivaldi was popular in many countries throughout Europe, including France, but after his death his popularity dwindled. After

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840-482: A musician was considered a virtuoso by being an accomplished composer , theorist , or maestro , rather than a skilled performer. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the word shifted in meaning, and many musicians applied it without considering merit, sometimes to themselves. Sébastien de Brossard , in his Dictionnaire de Musique ( Paris , 1703), approached the word virtuoso by its Latin root virtu emphasizing exceptional training, especially in theory. This position

910-458: A production running for an extended period of time in any major opera house. In 1717 or 1718, Vivaldi was offered a prestigious new position as Maestro di Cappella of the court of Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt , governor of Mantua , in the northwest of Italy He moved there for three years and produced several operas, among them Tito Manlio (RV 738). In 1721, he was in Milan, where he presented

980-543: A regular occurrence. Ryom-Verzeichnis The Ryom-Verzeichnis or Ryom Verzeichnis (both often abbreviated RV ) is the standard catalogue of the music of Antonio Vivaldi created by Danish musicologist Peter Ryom . Verzeichnis is the German word for catalogue. First published in 1973 under the title Antonio Vivaldi: Table de Concordances des Œuvres (RV) , the Ryom-Verzeichnis has existed in several forms over

1050-562: A renewed interest in Vivaldi by, among others, Mario Rinaldi, Alfredo Casella , Ezra Pound , Olga Rudge , Desmond Chute , Arturo Toscanini , Arnold Schering and Louis Kaufman , all of whom were instrumental in the revival of Vivaldi throughout the 20th century. In 1926, in a monastery in Piedmont , researchers discovered fourteen bound volumes of Vivaldi's work (later discovered to be fifteen) that were previously thought to have been lost during

1120-568: A sideline: his first opera, Ottone in villa (RV 729) was performed not in Venice, but at the Garzerie Theater in Vicenza in 1713. The following year, Vivaldi became the impresario of the Teatro San Angelo in Venice, where his opera Orlando finto pazzo (RV 727) was performed. The work was not to the public's taste, and it closed after a couple of weeks, being replaced with a repeat of

1190-433: A steady source of income. Soon afterwards, Vivaldi became impoverished and, during the night of 27/28 July 1741, aged 63, he died of "internal infection ", in a house owned by the widow of a Viennese saddlemaker. On 28 July, Vivaldi's funeral took place at St. Stephen's Cathedral . Contrary to popular legend, the young Joseph Haydn who was in the cathedral choir at the time had nothing to do with his burial, since no music

1260-441: A year as a freelance musician, he was recalled by the Ospedale with a unanimous vote; clearly during his year's absence the board had realized the importance of his role. He became responsible for all of the musical activity of the institution when he was promoted to maestro de' concerti (music director) in 1716 and responsible for composing two new concertos every month. In 1705, the first collection ( Connor Cassara ) of his works

1330-691: Is associated with a sonnet , possibly by Vivaldi, describing the scenes depicted in the music. They were published as the first four concertos in a collection of twelve, Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione , Opus 8, published in Amsterdam by Michel-Charles Le Cène in 1725. During his time in Mantua, Vivaldi became acquainted with an aspiring young singer Anna Tessieri Girò , who would become his student, protégée, and favorite prima donna . Anna, along with her older half-sister Paolina, moved in with Vivaldi and regularly accompanied him on his many travels. There

1400-470: Is plausible that, in his dual role of composer and impresario , he might have either written or been responsible for the production of as many as 94 operas—given that his career had by then spanned almost 25 years. Although Vivaldi certainly composed many operas in his time, he never attained the prominence of other great composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti , Johann Adolph Hasse , Leonardo Leo , and Baldassare Galuppi , as evidenced by his inability to keep

1470-546: Is pretending to be a man. Vivaldi got the censor to accept the opera the following year, and it was a resounding success. During this period, the Pietà commissioned several liturgical works. The most important were two oratorios . Moyses Deus Pharaonis , (RV 643) is now lost. The second, Juditha triumphans (RV 644), celebrates the victory of the Republic of Venice against the Turks and

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1540-417: Is the performance ability of the musician in question, who is capable of displaying feats of skill well above the average performer. Especially in music, both critics and musicians have mixed opinions on virtuosity. While the skill implied is clearly positive, musicians focused on virtuosity have been criticized for overlooking substance and emotion in favor of raw technical prowess. More commonly applied in

1610-588: The Ospedale della Pietà , a home for abandoned children. Vivaldi began studying for the priesthood at the age of 15 and was ordained at 25, but was given dispensation to no longer say public Masses due to a health problem. Vivaldi also had some success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice , Mantua and Vienna . After meeting the Emperor Charles VI , Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for royal support. However,

1680-561: The Napoleonic Wars . Some missing tomes in the numbered set were discovered in the collections of the descendants of the Grand Duke Durazzo, who had acquired the monastery complex in the 18th century. The volumes contained 300 concertos, 19 operas and over 100 vocal-instrumental works. The resurrection of Vivaldi's unpublished works in the 20th century greatly benefited from the noted efforts of Alfredo Casella , who in 1939 organized

1750-482: The Stabat Mater ( RV 621 ) was played as part of a religious festival. The work seems to have been written in haste: the string parts are simple, the music of the first three movements is repeated in the next three, and not all the text is set. Nevertheless, perhaps in part because of the forced essentiality of the music, the work is considered to be one of his early masterpieces. Despite his frequent travels from 1718,

1820-445: The "triviality and exhibitionist talents of the performer" voicing his opinion strongly: "The real dignity of the virtuoso rests solely on the dignity he is able to preserve for creative art; if he or she trifles and toys with this, he casts his honour away. He or she is the intermediary of the artistic idea. " In the nineteenth century, the public beliefs and attitudes surrounding virtuosity in music greatly varied. Many believed that it

1890-606: The "true virtuoso", once again emphasizing theory (" der wahre Virtuose "), while describing the "highly gifted musician" (" der glückselige Musicus ") or "performer virtuoso" as having nothing more than practical facility. The concept of virtuosity today is typically associated with flashy, technical performance rather than accomplishments as a composer, theorist, etc. Modern virtuosi are known for fast, exciting works and often for using their talents in spaces like international competitions. While historical virtuosi like Niccolò Paganini and Franz Liszt were performers as well as composers,

1960-543: The Australian scholar Janice Stockigt. The Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot described RV 807 as "arguably the best nonoperatic work from Vivaldi's pen to come to light since ... the 1920s". Virtuoso This word also refers to a person who has cultivated appreciation of artistic excellence, either as a connoisseur or collector . The plural forms of virtuoso is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation virtuosos , and

2030-461: The Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival, and Vivaldi himself died in poverty less than a year later. After almost two centuries of decline, Vivaldi's musical reputation underwent a revival in the early 20th century, with much scholarly research devoted to his work. Many of Vivaldi's compositions, once thought lost, have been rediscovered – some as recently as 2015. His music remains widely popular in

2100-467: The Ospedale paid him 2 sequins to write two concerti a month for the orchestra and to rehearse with them at least five times when in Venice. The orphanage's records show that he was paid for 140 concerti between 1723 and 1733. In early 18th-century Venice, opera was the most popular musical entertainment. It proved most profitable for Vivaldi. There were several theaters competing for the public's attention. Vivaldi started his career as an opera composer as

2170-635: The Style of Vivaldi (which he passed off as an original Vivaldi work) helped revive Vivaldi's reputation. Kreisler's concerto in C spurred the French scholar Marc Pincherle to begin an academic study of Vivaldi's oeuvre. Many Vivaldi manuscripts were rediscovered, and were acquired by the Turin National University Library as a result of the generous sponsorship of Turinese businessmen Roberto Foa and Filippo Giordano, in memory of their sons. This led to

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2240-403: The age of thirteen, Vivaldi wrote an early liturgical work – Laetatus sum ( RV Anh 31). In 1693, at the age of fifteen, he began studying to become a priest . He was ordained in 1703, aged 25, and was soon nicknamed il Prete Rosso , "The Red Priest"; Rosso is Italian for "red" and would have referred to the color of his hair, a family trait. Although Vivaldi is most famous as

2310-603: The ballets found within those works. At the height of his career, he received commissions from European nobility and royalty, some of which were: Like many composers of the time, Vivaldi faced financial difficulties in his later years. His compositions were no longer held in such high esteem as they had once been in Venice; changing musical tastes quickly made them outmoded. In response, Vivaldi chose to sell off sizeable numbers of his manuscripts at paltry prices to finance his migration to Vienna . The reasons for Vivaldi's departure from Venice are unclear, but it seems likely that, after

2380-564: The catalogue and chose Ryom-Verzeichnis . Ryom continued to work on the catalogue at intervals after 1974. He continued to study manuscripts, cataloguing newly discovered and newly assigned works, describing insights into orchestration and analysis of authenticity. This eventually led to a major revision in 2007 with the publication of Antonio Vivaldi. Thematic-Systematics Verzeichnis Signaller Work (RV) . A total of 809 works are included. In July 2007 Peter Ryom appointed Italian musician Federico Maria Sardelli to continue his work of cataloguing

2450-519: The composer's single opus numbers. Its goal as a modern catalog is to index the manuscripts and sources that establish the existence and nature of all known works. The German scholar Walter Kolneder has discerned the influence of Legrenzi's style in Vivaldi's early liturgical work Laetatus sum ( RV Anh 31), written in 1691 at the age of thirteen. Vivaldi was also influenced by the Composer Arcangelo Corelli . Johann Sebastian Bach

2520-630: The context of the fine arts , the term can also refer to a "master" or "ace" who excels technically within any particular field or area of human knowledge—anyone especially or dazzlingly skilled at what they do. The meaning of virtuoso has its roots in the Italian usage of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, signifying an honorific term reserved for a person distinguished in any intellectual or artistic field. The term evolved with time, simultaneously broadening and narrowing in scope as interpretations went in and out of fashion and debates unraveled. Originally

2590-795: The course of its development. The catalogue is often used to identify Vivaldi's works by a simple number. RV numbers below 741 were assigned systematically, with vocal works following 585 instrumental ones; as additional works are discovered or confirmed, they are assigned numbers above 740. Instrumental works were first sorted by category, instrumentation and key (beginning with C Major), and then assigned sequential numbers. For example, Vivaldi's celebrated Four Seasons , made up of four violin concertos (not sequentially numbered because they are in different keys), and his famous lute concerto are named and numbered as follows: Earlier catalogues of Vivaldi's work exist. Marc Pincherle (Paris, 1948) only contained instrumental works. Mario Rinaldi (1945) described

2660-407: The emerging concerto form into a widely accepted and followed idiom. Vivaldi composed many instrumental concertos , for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments , as well as sacred choral works and more than fifty operas . His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons . Many of his compositions were written for the all-female music ensemble of

2730-552: The end of the Baroque period, Vivaldi's published concerti became relatively unknown, and were largely ignored. Even his most famous work, The Four Seasons , was unknown in its original edition during the Classical and Romantic periods. Vivaldi's work was rediscovered in the 20th century. A composition by Vivaldi is identified by RV number , which refers to its place in the "Ryom-Verzeichnis" or "Répertoire des oeuvres d'Antonio Vivaldi",

2800-518: The entire oeuvre, but the catalogue contained numerous errors and had a whimsical numbering. The classification according to the Italian music publisher Ricordi was also incomplete because it only contained their own published work. When the complete index of Antonio Fanna was finished (Milan, 1968), Ryom had already begun to work on his catalogue; therefore, a supplement appeared in Fanna's catalogue, containing previously unknown items that Ryom had discovered in

2870-476: The feminine forms are virtuosa and virtuose . According to Music in the Western civilization by Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin : ..."A virtuoso was, originally, a highly accomplished musician, but by the nineteenth century the term had become restricted to performers, both vocal and instrumental, whose technical accomplishments were so pronounced as to dazzle the public." The defining element of virtuosity

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2940-505: The founders of the Sovvegno dei musicisti di Santa Cecilia , an association of musicians. He taught Antonio to play the violin and then toured Venice, playing the violin with his young son. Antonio was probably taught at an early age, judging by the extensive musical knowledge he had acquired by the age of 24, when he started working at the Ospedale della Pietà . The president of the sovvegno

3010-542: The historic Vivaldi Week, in which the rediscovered Gloria (RV 589) and l'Olimpiade were revived. Since World War II , Vivaldi's compositions have enjoyed wide success. Historically informed performances , often on "original instruments", have increased Vivaldi's fame still further. Recent rediscoveries of works by Vivaldi include two psalm settings: Psalm 127 , Nisi Dominus RV 803 (in eight movements); and Psalm 110 , Dixit Dominus RV 807 (in eleven movements). These were identified in 2003 and 2005, respectively, by

3080-506: The late 18th century, people began to use the term to describe an instrumentalist or vocalist who pursued a career as a soloist. The tension about the merit of practical virtuosity started to grow at the same time and intensified in the 19th century, only to remain an open debate since then. Franz Liszt , considered one of the greatest of all virtuosos, declared that "virtuosity is not an outgrowth, but an indispensable element of music" ( Gesammelte Schriften , iv, 1855–9). Richard Wagner opposed

3150-464: The management for its restitution, without success. The obscure text under the engraving mentions non-existent places and names: for example, ALDIVIVA is an anagram of "A. Vivaldi". In a letter written by Vivaldi to his patron Marchese Bentivoglio, in 1737, he makes reference to his "94 operas". Only about 50 operas by Vivaldi have been discovered, and no other documentation of the remaining operas exists. Although Vivaldi could have been exaggerating, it

3220-552: The meantime. Fanna's catalogue, however, only includes instrumental works. For the sake of concordance, the Ryom Verzeichnis provides reference to the numbers of Fanna (F.), Pincherle (P.), and Ricordi. Ryom first considered to call his classification Vivaldi-Werke-Verzeichnis , abbreviated VWV, analogous to the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV). After consulting a scientific colleague, he decided to link his own name to

3290-485: The older Pincherle numbers as the (re-) discovery of more manuscripts had rendered older catalogs obsolete. This cataloging work was led by the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi, where Gian Francesco Malipiero was both the director and the editor of the published scores (Edizioni G. Ricordi). His work built on that of Antonio Fanna, a Venetian businessman and the institute's founder, and thus formed

3360-427: The orphans began to gain appreciation and esteem abroad, too. Vivaldi wrote concertos, cantatas and sacred vocal music for them. These sacred works, which number over 60, are varied: they included solo motets and large-scale choral works for soloists, double chorus, and orchestra. In 1704, the position of teacher of viola all'inglese was added to his duties as violin instructor. The position of maestro di coro , which

3430-805: The others are for bassoon , cello , oboe , flute , viola d'amore , recorder , lute , or mandolin . About forty concertos are for two instruments and strings, and about thirty are for three or more instruments and strings. As well as about 46 operas, Vivaldi composed a large body of sacred choral music, such as the Gloria , RV 589; Nisi Dominus , RV 608; Magnificat , RV 610 and Stabat Mater , RV 621. Gloria, RV 589 remains one of Vivaldi's more popular sacred works. Other works include sinfonias , about 90 sonatas and chamber music. Some sonatas for flute, published as Il Pastor Fido , have been erroneously attributed to Vivaldi, but were composed by Nicolas Chédeville . Vivaldi's works attracted cataloging efforts befitting

3500-400: The pastoral drama La Silvia (RV 734); nine arias from it survive. He visited Milan again the following year with the oratorio L'adorazione delli tre re magi al bambino Gesù (RV 645, now lost). In 1722 he moved to Rome, where he introduced his operas' new style. The new Pope Benedict XIII invited Vivaldi to play for him. In 1725, Vivaldi returned to Venice, where he produced four operas in

3570-514: The present day and is regularly played all over the world. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born on 4 March 1678 in Venice , then the capital of the Republic of Venice . He was son of Giovanni Battista Vivaldi and Camilla Calicchio, as recorded in the register of San Giovanni in Bragora . He was baptized immediately after his birth at his home by the midwife , the reason for which has led to speculation. It

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3640-521: The recapture of the island of Corfu . Composed in 1716, it is one of his sacred masterpieces. All eleven singing parts were performed by girls of the orphanage, both the female and male roles. Many of the arias include parts for solo instruments—recorders, oboes, violas d'amore , and mandolins—that showcased the range of talents of the girls. Also in 1716, Vivaldi wrote and produced two more operas, L'incoronazione di Dario (RV 719) and La costanza trionfante degli amori e degli odi (RV 706). The latter

3710-461: The same year. During this period, Vivaldi wrote the Four Seasons , four violin concertos that give musical expression to the seasons of the year. The composition is probably one of his most famous. Although three of the concerti are wholly original, the first, "Spring", borrows motifs from a Sinfonia in the first act of Vivaldi's contemporaneous opera Il Giustino . The inspiration for the concertos

3780-536: The success of his meeting with Emperor Charles VI , he wished to take up the position of a composer in the imperial court. On his way to Vienna, Vivaldi might have stopped in Graz to see Anna Girò. Vivaldi probably moved to Vienna to stage operas, especially as he took up residence near the Kärntnertortheater . Shortly after his arrival in Vienna, Charles VI died, which left the composer without any imperial patronage or

3850-481: Was Giovanni Legrenzi , an early Baroque composer and the maestro di cappella at St Mark's Basilica . It is possible that Legrenzi gave the young Antonio his first lessons in composition. Vivaldi's father may have been a composer himself: in 1689, an opera titled La Fedeltà sfortunata was composed by a Giovanni Battista Rossi—the name under which Vivaldi's father had joined the Sovvegno di Santa Cecilia.In 1691, at

3920-459: Was a musician himself, and Vivaldi probably met him in Venice. L'estro armonico was a resounding success all over Europe. It was followed in 1714 by La stravaganza (Opus 4), a collection of concerti for solo violin and strings, and dedicated to an old violin student of Vivaldi's, the Venetian noble Vettor Dolfin. In February 1711, Vivaldi and his father traveled to Brescia , where his setting of

3990-506: Was also defended in Johann Gottfried Walther 's Musicalisches Lexicon (1732) favoring the theorist over the performer. Johann Mattheson 's Der brauchbare Virtuoso (1720) maintained the respect for the traditional " theoretische Virtuosen " (theoretical virtuoso) but also paid tribute to the " virtuosi prattici " (performer virtuoso). Johann Kuhnau in his The Musical Charlatan ( Der musikalische Quack-Salber , 1700) defined

4060-441: Was at one time filled by Vivaldi, required a lot of time and work. He had to compose an oratorio or concerto for every feast and teach the orphans both music theory and how to play certain instruments. His relationship with the board of directors of the Ospedale was often strained. The board had to vote every year on whether to keep a teacher. The vote on Vivaldi was seldom unanimous and went 7 to 6 against him in 1709. In 1711, after

4130-450: Was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias (recalled in his St John Passion , St Matthew Passion , and cantatas ). Bach transcribed six of Vivaldi's concerti for solo keyboard, a further three for organ, and one for four harpsichords, strings, and basso continuo (BWV 1065) based upon the concerto for four violins, two violas, cello, and basso continuo ( RV 580). In the early 20th century, Fritz Kreisler 's Concerto in C, in

4200-475: Was especially common in the work of Italian groups driving the mid-20th-century revival of Vivaldi, such as Gli Accademici di Milano under Piero Santi. For example, the Bassoon Concerto in B ♭ major, "La Notte", RV 501, became CE 12, F. VIII,1 Despite the awkwardness of having to overlay Fanna numbers onto the Complete Edition number for meaningful grouping of Vivaldi's oeuvre, these numbers displaced

4270-411: Was essential for success, while others believed it was a detriment. The celebrity status obtained by such performers was often fueled by tabloid-like rumors, mythical comparisons, and manipulative marketing tactics. On one such occasion, a London theatre critic referred to a Paganini concert as his "fifth and final concert." Purposefully presenting misinformation to gain publicity for the performers became

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4340-428: Was most likely done due to his poor health. There is a false rumor that an earthquake struck the city that day. This rumor may have originated from an earthquake that struck Venice on 17 April 1688. The baptismal ceremonies which had been omitted were supplied two months later. Vivaldi had five known siblings: Bonaventura Tomaso, Margarita Gabriela, Cecilia Maria, Francesco Gaetano, and Zanetta Anna. Vivaldi's health

4410-522: Was performed on that occasion. The funeral was attended by six pall-bearers and six choir boys ( Kuttenbuben ), at a "mean" cost of 19 florins and 45 kreuzer . Only a Kleingeläut (small peal of bells), the lowest class, was provided, at a cost of 2 florins and 36 kreuzer . Vivaldi was buried in a simple grave in a burial ground that was owned by the public hospital fund – the Bürgerspital-Gottesacker cemetery, next to St Charles Church ,

4480-448: Was probably the countryside around Mantua. They were a revolution in musical conception: in them, Vivaldi represented flowing streams, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized), barking dogs, buzzing mosquitoes, crying shepherds, storms, drunken dancers, silent nights, hunting parties from both the hunters' and the prey's point of view, frozen landscapes, ice-skating children, and warming winter fires. Each concerto

4550-401: Was problematic. One of his symptoms, strettezza di petto ("tightness of the chest"), has been interpreted as a form of asthma . This did not prevent him from learning to play the violin, composing, or taking part in musical activities, although it prevented him from playing wind instruments. His father, Giovanni Battista, was a barber before becoming a professional violinist and was one of

4620-659: Was published by Giuseppe Sala. His Opus 1 is a collection of 12 sonatas for two violins and basso continuo , in a conventional style. In 1709, a second collection of 12 sonatas for violin and basso continuo appeared (Opus 2). A real breakthrough as a composer came with his first collection of 12 concerti for one, two, and four violins with strings, L'estro armonico (Opus 3), which was published in Amsterdam in 1711 by Estienne Roger , and dedicated to Grand Prince Ferdinand of Tuscany . The prince sponsored many musicians, including Alessandro Scarlatti and George Frideric Handel . He

4690-469: Was so popular that it was performed two years later, re-edited and retitled Artabano re dei Parti (RV 701, now lost). It was also performed in Prague in 1732. In the years that followed, Vivaldi wrote several operas that were performed all over Italy . His progressive operatic style caused him some trouble with more conservative musicians such as Benedetto Marcello , a magistrate and amateur musician who wrote

4760-430: Was speculation as to the nature of Vivaldi's and Girò's relationship, but no evidence exists to indicate anything beyond friendship and professional collaboration. Vivaldi, in fact, adamantly denied any romantic relationship with Girò in a letter to his patron Bentivoglio, dated 16 November 1737. Vivaldi collaborated with choreographer Giovanni Gallo on several of his later operas stage in Venice with Gallo choreographing

4830-478: Was the basis of several copies produced later by other artists, was made in 1725 by François Morellon de La Cave for the first edition of Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione , and shows Vivaldi holding a sheet of music. The ink sketch, a caricature , was done by Ghezzi in 1723 and shows Vivaldi's head and shoulders in profile. It exists in two versions: a first jotting kept at the Vatican Library , and

4900-439: Was to give shelter and education to children who were abandoned or orphaned, or whose families could not support them. They were financed by funds provided by the Republic. The boys learned a trade and had to leave when they reached the age of fifteen. The girls received a musical education, and the most talented among them stayed and became members of the Ospedale's renowned orchestra and choir. Shortly after Vivaldi's appointment,

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