Vivaldi used this period to write the majority of his concertos, cantatas and arias. The talented were selected for the conservatory's orchestra & choir, which gained high regard both in Venice and abroad. Here the boys were taught a trade, whilst the girls were given a musical education. By late 1703 he was unable to maintain his practice in the priesthood due to ill health and sought employment as a tutor of music, retaining his reverential title.īy 1704 he worked as maestro of violin in Venice at the orphanage of the Devout Hospital of Mercy, an institution known as Conservatorio dell'Ospedale della Pietà, providing shelter to orphaned and abandoned children. Mark's Basilica in 1681.Ī redhead like his father, Vivaldi took up the course of attaining a priesthood in 1693 and became ordained in 1703, referred to by those around him as 'Il Prete Rosso' because of his red hair. As a youth, touring and performing around Venice in accompaniment on the violin with his father, he is likely to have been influenced by Legrenzi who had become maestro di cappella at St. His father was Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, a founder of the Sovvegno dei musicisti di Santa Cecilia, an early musician's collective, who's President was the Baroque operatic composer and tutor Giovanni Legrenzi. Vivaldi's career as a violinist and composer was almost inevitable. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as 'The Four Seasons'. He is known mainly for composing many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. He is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. Died July 28, 1741, Kärntnertor, Vienna, Austria. Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric.īorn March 4, 1678, Sestiere di San Marco, Repùblica Vèneta, Italy.

Vivaldi antonio