They also had extramusical influence from sonnets, poems that were written into the scores, but which composition, the text or the music, came first is debated. Those two things might not jump out at us today, but we’re coming up on three hundred years since these works were published, so Vivaldi’s reputation as an innovator may be difficult to appreciate from such a chronological remove.Įach of the four concertos is in three movements, fast-slow-fast, and have programmatic elements, which we shall discuss. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is a set of four concertos for violin, each obviously depicting one of the seasons of the year, but were published with another eight concertos (a whole dozen!) and the entire set was titled Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention). Interestingly, though, despite Vivaldi’s practical explosion on the European musical scene, his disappearance was almost equally swift, and by the Classical and Romantic eras, even this, his most famous work, was “unknown in its original edition”, says Vivaldi’s Wiki. People may think of Bach as the absolute king of classical music, the point at which much of what we know as music tradition finds its roots, but Vivaldi was one of those people who was a significant influence on J.S. More details about the trajectory of his career could fill books, and have, but that’s all for now.
Earning a gold medal and being knighted didn’t make much difference, because his music started falling out of favor, and his apparently persistent health problems got the best of him, and he died poor at the age of 63. He met Charles VI in Trieste, and the emperor was very impressed. It seems he had quite a musical upbringing because he apparently already showed great expertise in his early 20s, not only as composer but as violinist. He had eight siblings, and their father was a musician and taught Antonio the violin and even toured a bit through Europe. He was apparently dedicated to the priesthood very early, perhaps the very day he was born. Vivaldi’s birth was so long ago that he was born, not in Venice, Italy, but in the Republic of Venice. He moved to Vienna, hoping to hit it big with Emperor Charles VI there, but said ruler died not long after that, and Vivaldi’s death followed. He wrote much for an ensemble at an orphanage (?) associated with his position there as a priest, in two chunks of time. Aside from this set of violin concertos, he wrote many other concertos for other instruments, (obviously) some sacred work, and a large number of operas.
Aside from being a composer, he was a violinist, teacher and a priest. But do you know all the rest of the works? There’s more to it than just enough to fill a 30-second commercial.īut Antonio Vivaldi was serious business in his lifetime, which began on Main Venice. It’s that classical music thing, maybe in jewelry commercials, school plays, and perhaps even as the punchline of some unspoken jokes. It’s the one people call to mind when they think of a fancy, hifalutin classical music piece to accompany a powdered wig, or viewing a piece of art in a museum, or eating a canapé or something off of a tray held by a man with vest on.
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