Vivaldi, a baroque composer

He left a decisive mark with his popular Baroque music, but as far as we know from his modest funeral, he died in poverty and obscurity, and was almost forgotten until the 20th century.  A new movie brings him to life.

A steady flow of new recordings of his music, biographies and films depicting his life are being released, most recently the French film Antonio Vivaldi, A Prince in Venice.  But who was this Vivaldi born in Venice in 1678 and who died some 63 years later in Austria?

The Red Priest
Vivaldi was ordained as a priest in 1703, and was soon nicknamed “the red priest” due to his red hair.  Shortly after his ordination he gave up celebrating mass because of his ill health, and is most famed as an excellent violinist and composer.  The same year he was ordained, he was also appointed violin master at an orphanage called the “Pio Ospedale della Pietà” in Venice.  The girls at the orphanage received musical training, and the most talented stayed and became members of its choir and orchestra.  Vivaldi wrote concertos, cantatas and sacred music for the girls, and their performances of his works secured the school considerable donations and legacies.  This collaboration didn’t always please the church, which did what it could to damage his reputation as a musician and composer.  The church and the Bishop of Venice resented his refusal to perform mass due to his poor health, whereas he didn’t seem to have difficulties working as a composer and musician.

Emporers, popes and fans
Vivaldi seems to have enjoyed the life as a freelance composer of sacred vocal music, operas, cantatas and instrumental works, and in the 1720s while at the peak of his career he was receiving commissions from European nobles and royalty such as Louis XV and Emperor Charles VI, and was even knighted.  Times changed and Vivaldi’s music was no longer fashionable as before, so in 1740 he left for Vienna to produce operas and be under the protection of Charles VI, one of Vivaldi’s faithful fans.  Unfortunately, the emperor died and Vivaldi did not live to see his opera “L’oracolo in Messenia” in Vienna.

Music galore
Vivaldi’s productivity is flabbergasting: 500 concertos, 73 sonatas, approximately 50 sacred vocal compositions (hymns and oratorios), 46 operas, and cantatas.  A composer such as Johann Sebastian Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias.  For many years, experts assumed that Vivaldi’s work had been lost; however, in 1926 fourteen folios of Vivaldi’s religious and secular works were found in the library of a monastery in Piedmont.  In 1930 the missing volumes were found by way of the Grand Duke Durazzo’s heirs.

Reference
Michael Talbot: "Vivaldi, Antonio." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia, www.britannica.com/eb/article-7737

Visit Vivaldi sites
Church of the Pietas, Venice.  This is where Vivaldi worked and taught for many years orphan girls.  
The National Library in Turin has 27 volumes of Vivaldi’s works in their Foà and Giordano collections
Vienna: The simple grave at the Hospital Burial Ground is next to the Karlskirche.  There are memorial plaques at Vivaldi's burial spot where the Technical Institute now stands.  The Hotel Sacher replaced the house where he lived.  On the Rooseveltsplats stands a monument commemorating Vivaldi.