• Was Vivaldi A Catholic Priest
• Antonio Vivaldi Was Known As The Red Priest For:
• Antonio Vivaldi Was Known As The Red Priest Forever
• What Is Antonio Vivaldi Known For
• What Is Antonio Vivaldi Famous For

Except for his music, not much is known about Antonio Vivaldi (1678^-1741). Born in Venice to musically skilled parents, he learned music from his father and later studied for the priesthood. Ordained at 25, he said mass for only a year until his asthma forced him to retire.

The Red-Headed Priest.by Kiley Swicegood Antonio Vivaldi was the most prolific composer of eighteenth century in Venice, Italy. His works and the styles he used were and are used as models for the works of his contemporaries continuing through the composers of the nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Vivaldi's crop of curly red hair, inherited from his father, prompted friends to nickname the composer 'il Prete Rosso' - the red priest. His father was just nicknamed 'Rossi' - redhead. Don't be fooled by the white hair in the picture - the composer was wearing a wig!

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Antonio Vivaldi, in full Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, (born March 4, 1678, Venice, Republic of Venice [Italy]—died July 28, 1741, Vienna, Austria), Italian composer and violinist who left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music.

Life

Vivaldi’s main teacher was probably his father, Giovanni Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as a violinist to the orchestra of the San Marco Basilica in Venice. Antonio, the eldest child, trained for the priesthood and was ordained in 1703. His distinctive reddish hair would later earn him the soubriquetIl Prete Rosso (“The Red Priest”). He made his first known public appearance playing alongside his father in the basilica as a “supernumerary” violinist in 1696. He became an excellent violinist, and in 1703 he was appointed violin master at the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for foundlings. The Pietà specialized in the musical training of its female wards, and those with musical aptitude were assigned to its excellent choir and orchestra, whose much-praised performances assisted the institution’s quest for donations and legacies. Vivaldi had dealings with the Pietà for most of his career: as violin master (1703–09; 1711–15), director of instrumental music (1716–17; 1735–38), and paid external supplier of compositions (1723–29; 1739–40).

Soon after his ordination as a priest, Vivaldi gave up celebrating mass because of a chronic ailment that is believed to have been bronchial asthma. Despite this circumstance, he took his status as a secular priest seriously and even earned the reputation of a religious bigot.

Vivaldi’s earliest musical compositions date from his first years at the Pietà. Printed collections of his trio sonatas and violin sonatas respectively appeared in 1705 and 1709, and in 1711 his first and most influential set of concerti for violin and string orchestra (Opus 3, L’estro armonico) was published by the Amsterdam music-publishing firm of Estienne Roger. In the years up to 1719, Roger published three more collections of his concerti (opuses 4, 6, and 7) and one collection of sonatas (Opus 5).

Vivaldi made his debut as a composer of sacred vocal music in 1713, when the Pietà’s choirmaster left his post and the institution had to turn to Vivaldi and other composers for new compositions. He achieved great success with his sacred vocal music, for which he later received commissions from other institutions. Another new field of endeavour for him opened in 1713 when his first opera, Ottone in villa, was produced in Vicenza. Returning to Venice, Vivaldi immediately plunged into operatic activity in the twin roles of composer and impresario. From 1718 to 1720 he worked in Mantua as director of secular music for that city’s governor, Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt. This was the only full-time post Vivaldi ever held; he seems to have preferred life as a freelance composer for the flexibility and entrepreneurial opportunities it offered. Vivaldi’s major compositions in Mantua were operas, though he also composed cantatas and instrumental works.

The 1720s were the zenith of Vivaldi’s career. Based once more in Venice, but frequently traveling elsewhere, he supplied instrumental music to patrons and customers throughout Europe. Between 1725 and 1729 he entrusted five new collections of concerti (opuses 8–12) to Roger’s publisher successor, Michel-Charles Le Cène. After 1729 Vivaldi stopped publishing his works, finding it more profitable to sell them in manuscript to individual purchasers. During this decade he also received numerous commissions for operas and resumed his activity as an impresario in Venice and other Italian cities.

In 1726 the contralto Anna Girò sang for the first time in a Vivaldi opera. Born in Mantua about 1711, she had gone to Venice to further her career as a singer. Her voice was not strong, but she was attractive and acted well. She became part of Vivaldi’s entourage and the indispensable prima donna of his subsequent operas, causing gossip to circulate that she was Vivaldi’s mistress. After Vivaldi’s death she continued to perform successfully in opera until quitting the stage in 1748 to marry a nobleman.

In the 1730s Vivaldi’s career gradually declined. The French traveler Charles de Brosses reported in 1739 with regret that his music was no longer fashionable. Vivaldi’s impresarial forays became increasingly marked by failure. In 1740 he traveled to Vienna, but he fell ill and did not live to attend the production there of his opera L’oracolo in Messenia in 1742. The simplicity of his funeral on July 28, 1741, suggests that he died in considerable poverty.

After Vivaldi’s death, his huge collection of musical manuscripts, consisting mainly of autograph scores of his own works, was bound into 27 large volumes. These were acquired first by the Venetian bibliophile Jacopo Soranzo and later by Count Giacomo Durazzo, Christoph Willibald Gluck’s patron. Rediscovered in the 1920s, these manuscripts today form part of the Foà and Giordano collections of the National Library in Turin.

Antonio Vivaldi was nicknamed Prete Rosso (The Red Priest)

Antonio Vivaldi

Was Vivaldi A Catholic Priest

Birth: He was born on 4th March 1678 in Venice
Death: He died on 28th July 1741 in Vienna
Education: His first lessons were in violin from his father Glovanni Battista, who was a barber and a professional violinist, besides being a founder member of trade union of Musicians (Sovregno dei Musicisti d’ Santa cecilia) and a baroque composer.

Health: Antonio Vivaldi had breathing problems from early life. His asthma prevented him from using wind instruments, hence his preference to the violin. He was also excused from attending the Holly Mass due to his short breath.

Priest Hood:

Antonio Vivaldi joined the church to become a priest at the age of 15 years in 1693. He attained Priest Hood in 1703 and became known as “The Red Priest” because of his Red hair, a family trait. In Venice, Antonio Vivaldi became master of Violin at an orphanage known as Ospedale della Pieta and later a member of their renowned Orchestra. He wrote their sacred Music and was promoted Violin instructor in 1704. His relations with the board of Directors was seldom cordial, lost his job in 1709 but due to his important conduct, was reappointed in 1711. Finally was elevated as music director in 1716.

Antonio Vivaldi Was Known As The Red Priest For:

• Professional Career – Collections, operas, concerts
• Launched Opus I – in 1705 Connor Cassara – 12 Sonatas for 2 violins and basso.
• Launched Opus II – in 1709 Collection of – 12 Sonatas for 2 Violins and basso
• Launched Opus III – in 1711-First Collection of 12 Concerts for 1, 2, 4 violins, (L’estro armonica) – His major breakthrough all over Europe in the Musical Field.
• Launched Opus IV – in 1714 La stravaganza – Concerti for Solo Violin and strings.

In 1711 Vivaldi & his father played in a religious festival, his setting of stabat mater (RV621) proved a master piece showing his musical and emotional depth. Antonio Vivaldi continued writing two concerts annually for Pieta who paid him for his works till 1733.

Antonio Vivaldi Successful Operas

Opera entertainment was popular in Venice and was considered good business. Antonio Vivaldi started his carrier in opera performance from Garzarie theatre in Vicenza in 1713. He became opera impresario in Saint Angelo in Venice. His first performance Orlando Finto Pazzo (RV 727) was not impressive but in 1715 Nerone fatto Cesare (RV 724), with Vivaldi in lead of seven composers, was highly successful. His next opera performance, Arsilda Regina di Ponto (RV 700) was a one-man-show and a total success.

Antonio Vivaldi managed many works for Pieta. The important ones being – Moyses Dens Pharonis (RV 643) and Juditha Triumphans (RV 644) Composed in 1716. His sacred masterpieces were organized to celebrate Italian WAR Victories using solo-instruments. He was now able to perform all over Italy till 1732. His out of routine modern style started gaining popularity. His success attracted opposition from leading musicians who defamed him by various means. Antonio Vivaldi moved to Mantua in 1720, as Maestro di Cappell in Prince Philip’s court, then to Rome in 1722. His independent style opted an opportunity to play for Pope Benedict XIII in 1725 in Vienna producing 4 operas. His most popular 4 violin concerts, Four Seasons, was produced in the same period.

Vivaldi, at peak performance years, became well-known among European nobles who sent him gifts e.t.c. He wrote Gloria Imeneo (RV 687) for marriage of King Louis XV (opus9), La Cetra for Emperor Charles VI, who awarded Knighthood and a Gold Medal to him in appreciation and invited him to Vienna.

Vivaldi presented many more operas accompanied by his father in later life. He also composed works in collaboration with other leading music writers of his time. Somehow he got messed-up financially and was forced to sell his compositions for petti sums. Finally, he decided to move to Vienna to avail royal invitation and to take the position of a composer in the Imperial Court. His luck fell short as Emperor Charles died as he reached Vienna. Very dejected, he himself died in July 1728 due to ill health soon after.

Antonio Vivaldi Was Known As The Red Priest Forever

His Style and Influence

Vivaldi’s compositions, operas, and concerts were occasionally successful and became popular due to non – a traditional style which offered lively joyful modes. Somehow much of his work was lost due to being ignored or misunderstood during his lifetime and later. As usually happens with real genius performers, they remain more or less ignored and do not gather a following to be called heroic. They are born at times when the proper audience is missing to appreciate the depth and feel of their extraordinary qualities. But nature is not unjust. The due appreciation on their real hard struggle and great performances is restored and revived at later years when mankind achieves enough internal finer rhythmic progress. It took almost two centuries for Vivaldi’s works to get proper appreciation from masses. People are now getting to understand how great Musical performer he was. French musicians got attracted to Vivaldi’s concertos when some of his lost works were acquired and revived in the early 20th century. Soon after almost all his, lost works were retrieved from different libraries of Lords throughout Europe. His unique style gained audience quickly as musicians discovered the hidden beauty of his classical and innovative works. Vivaldi wrote for the simple masses mostly and also attracted the intellectually advanced music students and performers. Vivaldi’s reputation, as a great writer/composer, is gaining impetus as his lost treasures are being re-discovered and appreciated by modern masters and producers.

The musical world needs to thank people for whose efforts acquisition of the lost volumes was made possible and those who presented these melodies, themes, operas and so on, to the general public for appreciation. To name a few, National University of Turin Library, Mendlesohn, Frity Kreister’s concerto, Marc Pinchele, Alfred Casella …and many more were active in acquiring and reviving the long misunderstood Vivaldi’s music.

Movie

Some enthusiastic people have completed a movie in 2005 named “Vivaldi” a Prince in Venice.

What Is Antonio Vivaldi Known For

Music Therapy

Alfred Tomotis has also introduced theories on effects of music on human behavior and used Vivaldi’s music in Music Therapy on humans.
The World today is again listening to the music of this Great Master. Many of his recovered works have already been played in different continents. The list below may still be incomplete as more lost Vivaldi’s works may come to light in the coming years.

What Is Antonio Vivaldi Famous For

• 500 Ultimate concerti
• 46 Ultimate Operas
• 100 Ultimate Sonatas
• Sacred music uncountable compositions
• Symphonies