Antonio Vivaldi

The Red Priest of Baroque music

His musical reputation revived in the early 20th century after nearly two centuries of decline.^[1]

Quick Facts

Birthplace

Venice

Born

4 March 1678

Died

28 July 1741

Place of death

Vienna

Occupation

Composer
violinist
impresario

Era

Baroque

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Vivaldi was baptized at home by the midwife immediately after birth, likely due to poor health.^[2] He had five known siblings and suffered from a condition interpreted as asthma.^[3][4] Vivaldi began studying for the priesthood at fifteen and was ordained in 1703, earning the nickname "The Red Priest" for his hair color.^[5] His first opera, Ottone in villa, was performed in Vicenza in 1713.^[6]

His most famous work, Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), was composed in 1723.^[7] In his later years changing musical tastes made his compositions outmoded, and he sold manuscripts cheaply to finance a move to Vienna.^[8] While employed at the Ospedale over the subsequent three decades, he produced the majority of his significant compositions.^[6]

What the cited sources add

The Scaramuccia Ensemble notes that two new Vivaldi works were discovered in 2015: the Trio sonata for violin and cello in G major (RV 820) and the Sonata for violin in A major (RV 205/2).^[9] The Trio Sonata in G major was independently identified in 2014 by scholars Federico Maria Sardelli and Javier Lupiáñez and is the earliest known work by Vivaldi.^[9] The Scaramuccia Ensemble states that Dresden is a major archive of Vivaldi's music, compiled by his friend and pupil Georg Pisendel.^[9] The Sonata RV 810 was written around 1710 and preserved in Dresden in a copy made by Pisendel.^[9]

The Anonymous Sonata in D major shares style and quality with recently discovered Vivaldi pieces and was unperformed because the author's name was unknown.^[9] A source regarding the Karlskirche states that Vivaldi's burial site, similar to Mozart's, has not been preserved.^[10]

References

Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: New Discoveries of Vivaldi. Scaramuccia Ensemble. Retrieved 27 October 2023. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kolneder 1982, p. 46; White 2013, p. 11; Talbot 1978, p. 207 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Talbot 1978, p. 207 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Talbot 1978, p. 207; Talbot 1978, p. 207 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Landon 1996, p. 15; Pincherle 1957, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heller 1997, p. 41 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gerard Schwarz, Musically Speaking – The Great Works Collection: Vivaldi (CVP, Inc., 1995), 13. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Antonio Vivaldi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kolneder 1982, p. 46 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
New Discoveries of Vivaldi. Scaramuccia Ensemble. Retrieved 27 October 2023.. facts only, no text reused. scaramucciaensemble.com
"Die Karlskirche Wien". facts only, no text reused. konzert-wien.info

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Antonio Vivaldi (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.