Vivaldi, Antonio (1678–1741)
VIVALDI, ANTONIO (1678–1741)
VIVALDI, ANTONIO (1678–1741), Venetian composer and violinist. Vivaldi produced numerous instrumental and vocal works during his lifetime, but he is best known for his concertos for a diverse group of instruments. An important and influential musician during his career, his music figured prominently in the baroque revival of the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in Venice on 4 March 1678, Vivaldi suffered from what was described as strettezza di petto (tightness of the chest), which was probably bronchial asthma. This illness plagued him throughout his life and exerted a strong influence on his personal and professional behavior. Vivaldi studied the violin with his father, and he was also trained as a priest, but his asthma prevented him from effectively saying mass. Because of the red hair he inherited from his father, Vivaldi was known throughout his career as il prete rosse ('The Red Priest').
In September 1703, Vivaldi accepted his first position, as maestro di violino for the Pio Ospedale della Pietà, one of four "hospitals" established in Venice to care for poor orphaned children, and he would remain intermittently associated with this institution for much of his career. Musical training was an integral part of the curriculum for the young girls at all of the ospedali, and Vivaldi's responsibilities included teaching violin, buying new instruments, and maintaining the collection. He was dismissed from this position on 24 February 1709—the first of several dismissals and rehirings, largely the result of the precarious financial conditions at the hospital—but used the freedom to meet bothGeorge Frideric Handel (1685–1759) and Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757), who were in Venice at the time, and to begin writing operas. He returned to the Pietà in 1711, becoming maestro de' concerti in 1716, and successfully produced sacred and instrumental music, including trio sonatas, violin sonatas, the set of twelve concertos for one, two, and four violins called L'estro armonico (1711), and the oratorio Juditha Triumphans (1716).
Vivaldi spent 1718–1720 in Mantua, devoting himself to opera composition, and later traveled to Rome to produce three operas for the 1723 and 1724 carnivals, but he also wrote 140 concertos for the Pietà. Among these are Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (in which we find his most famous work, the violin concerto The Four Seasons [Le quatro stagione ]), La Cetra, flute and string concertos, and Il pastor fido.
Vivaldi's questionable relationship with the singer Anna Girò and her half-sister Paolina dates from this period. Vivaldi vigorously denied all accusations of sexual impropriety, but the widespread rumors had a detrimental effect on his career and reputation.
Between 1729 and 1735 Vivaldi traveled widely to Vienna, Prague, and several Italian cities to supervise productions of his operas, and he ultimately returned to Vienna at the age of sixty-two, in the hope of securing patronage from Charles VI. His efforts met with limited success, and he died on 28 July 1741, receiving a pauper's funeral at Vienna's Cathedral of St. Stephen.
Vivaldi was extraordinarily prolific, producing over five hundred concertos for almost every combination of instruments, solo and trio sonatas, instrumental sinfonias, and an impressive body of sacred music, including oratorios, masses and motets. Twenty-one of his operas have survived, at least in part, although their full artistic and dramatic power has yet to be evaluated.
Vivaldi's highly distinctive and recognizable musical style had a profound impact on his contemporaries and future composers such as Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770). His greatest influence was in the development of the concerto. Vivaldi has been credited with inventing or at least regularizing "ritornello form," usually employed in fast movements, in which a "refrain" played by the full ensemble alternates with freer, modulatory episodes played by the solo instruments. His deft coordination of melody and harmony was much admired by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), who absorbed Italian style through his study and transcription of Vivaldi's concertos and trio-sonatas; this influence is particularly apparent in Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Other distinctive elements of Vivaldi's style include a fluid alternation of major and minor tonalities, a highly progressive use of dissonance and rich harmonies, and an innate melodic gift, particularly in slow movements. His vocal music has been criticized for perfunctory text-setting and violinistic vocal writing, but there are examples of great skill and inspiration in this genre, such as his Gloria (RV 588) or Magnificat (RV610), and his virtuosic and highly expressive motets for solo voice. Vivaldi was unquestionably a master orchestrator who explored the idiomatic potential of the many instruments for which he wrote. The Four Seasons, for example, not only illustrates his skill in writing for the virtuoso violinist, but also his ability to depict extramusical or programmatic ideas in a manner that anticipates the Romantic era.
See also Bach Family ; Music ; Venice .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Heller, Karl. Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice. Translated by David Marinelli. Portland, Ore., 1997. Translation of Antonio Vivaldi (1991).
Landon, H. C. Robbins. Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque. London, 1993.
Talbot, Michael. Antonio Vivaldi: A Guide to Research. New York, 1988.
——. The Sacred Vocal Music of Antonio Vivaldi. Florence, 1995.
——. Venetian Music in the Age of Antonio Vivaldi. Aldershot, U.K., 1999.
Wendy Heller, Mark Kroll
Vivaldi, Antonio
Among contemporaries who appreciated Vivaldi was J. S. Bach, who transcr. 10 Vivaldi concs. as hpd. or org. concs. Like Bach's, Vivaldi's mus. fell out of favour for many years, but the 20th cent., in particular since the revival of interest in authentic methods of performing baroque mus., has seen it re-est. Once regarded merely as the composer of works for str., his genius as an opera composer is now recognized (he said he wrote 94, but fewer than 50 are extant) as well as the Venetian splendour of his church mus. No composer did more to establish the vc. as a solo instr., and he displayed a keen interest in the use of unusual instr.: it is the infinite variety and invention of his work that has made it so beloved 300 years after his birth. There have been several catalogues of his work, the most recent (Leipzig 1974) by Peter Ryom (works are numbered with the prefix RV = Ryom-Verzeichnis). Prin. works:OPERAS: Bajazet (Tamerlano) (1735); Catone in Utica (1737); Dorilla in Tempe (1726); Ercole sul Termodonte (1723); Farnace (1727); La fida ninfa (1732); Il Giustino (1724); Griselda (1735); L'incoronazione di Dario (1716); L'Olimpiade (1734); Orlando finto pazzo (1714); Orlando furioso (1727); Ottone in villa (1713); Rosilena ed Oronta (1728); Rosmira (1738); Il Teuzzone (1719); Tito Manlio (1719); La verità in cimento (1720).PUBLISHED WORKS IN HIS LIFETIME: Op.1, 12 sonatas for 2 vn. and basso continuo (1705); Op.2, 12 sonatas for vn. and basso continuo (1709); Op.3, L'estro armonico (Harmonic inspiration), 12 concs. for various combinations (4 vn., 4 vn. and vc., etc.) (1711); Op.4, La stravaganza (The extraordinary), 12 vn. concs. (c.1714); Op.5 (2nd part of Op.2), 4 sonatas for vn. and 2 sonatas for 2 vn. and basso continuo (1716); Op.6, 6 vn. concs. (1716–21); Op.7, 2 ob. concs. and 10 vn. concs. (1716–21); Op.8, Il cimento dell’ armonia e dell’ inventione (The Contest between Harmony and Invention), 12 vn. concs., the first 4, in E, G minor, F, and F minor being known as The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) (1725); Op.9, La cetra (The lyre), 11 vn. concs. and 1 for 2 vn. (1727); Op.10, 6 fl. concs. (c.1728); Op.11, 5 vn. concs., 1 ob. conc. (1729); Op.12, 5 vn. concs. and 1 without solo (1729); Op.13, Il pastor fido (The Faithful Shepherd), 6 sonatas for musette, viella, recorder, ob. or vn., and basso continuo (1737, doubtful authenticity).
The rest of Vivaldi's instr. output is so vast that it can only be summarized:
10 sonatas, vc., basso continuo; 28 sonatas, vn., basso continuo; 4 sonatas, fl., basso continuo; sonatas, 2 vn., basso continuo; concs. for various instr. (fl., ob., recorders, vns., bn., etc.) and basso continuo; over 60 concs., sinfonias, and sonatas for str. and basso continuo; 170 concs. and sinfonias for vn., orch., and basso continuo; 7 concs. for viola d'amore; 28 vc. concs.; mandolin conc.; 9 fl. concs.; 2 recorder concs.; 14 ob. concs.; over 40 bn. concs.; many concs. for 2 vn., 2 vc., 2 mandolins, 2 ob., 2 hn., 2 tpt., etc.SACRED MUSIC: Mass; Kyrie for double ch.; 3 Glorias; 2 Dixit Dominus; 3 Laudate pueri; 2 Magnificat; 3 Salve Regina; Stabat Mater; Juditha triumphans (oratorio, Venice 1716); also many secular cantatas, etc.
Vivaldi, Antonio
Antonio Vivaldi
Born: March 4, 1678
Venice, Italy
Died: July 26, 1741
Vienna, Austria
Italian composer, violinist and priest
Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian violinist and composer whose concertos—pieces for one or more instruments—were widely known and influential throughout Europe.
Childhood and early career
Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy, on March 4, 1678. His first music teacher was his father, Giovanni Battista Vivaldi. The elder Vivaldi was a well-respected violinist, employed at the church of St. Mark's. It is possible, though not proved, that as a boy Antonio also studied with the composer Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690).
Antonio was trained for a clerical (religious service) as well as a musical life. After going through the various introductory stages, he was ordained (authorized) a priest in March 1703. His active career, however, was devoted to music. In the autumn of 1703 he was appointed as a violin teacher at the Ospitale della Pieta in Venice. A few years later he was made conductor of the orchestra at the same institution. Under Vivaldi's direction, this orchestra gave many brilliant concerts and achieved an international reputation.
Vivaldi remained at the Pietà until 1740. But his long years there were broken by the numerous trips he took, for professional purposes, to Italian and foreign cities. He went, among other places, to Vienna, Italy, from 1729 to 1730 and to Amsterdam, Netherlands, from 1737 to 1738. Within Italy he traveled to various cities to direct performances of his operas. He left Venice for the last time in 1740. He died in Vienna on July 26 or 27, 1741.
Vivaldi's music
Vivaldi was very productive in vocal and instrumental music, sacred and secular (nonreligious). According to the latest research, he composed over seven hundred pieces—ranging from sonatas (instrumental compositions usually with three or four movements) and operas (musical dramas consisting of vocal and instrumental pieces) to concertos (musical compositions for one or two vocal performers set against a full orchestra).
Today the vocal music of Vivaldi is little known. But in his own day he was famous and successful as an opera composer. Most of his operas were written for Venice, but some were performed throughout Italy in Rome, Florence, Verona, Vicenza, Ancona, and Mantua.
Vivaldi was also one of the great eighteenth century violin virtuosos, or musicians with superb ability. This virtuosity is reflected in his music, which made new demands on violin technique. In his instrumental works he naturally favored the violin. He wrote the majority of his sonatas for one or two violins and thorough-bass. Of his concertos, 221 are for solo violin and orchestra. Other concertos are for a variety of solo instruments, including the flute, the clarinet, the trumpet, and the mandolin. He also wrote concertos for several solo instruments, concerti grossi, and concertos for full orchestra. The concerto grosso features a small group of solo players, set against the full orchestra. The concerto for orchestra features differences of style rather than differences of instruments.
Orchestral music
Vivaldi's concertos are generally in three movements, arranged in the order of fast, slow, fast. The two outer movements are in the same key; the middle movement is in the same key or in a closely related key. Within movements, the music proceeds on the principle of alternation: passages for the solo instrument(s) alternate with passages for the full orchestra. The solo instrument may extend the material played by the orchestra, or it may play quite different material of its own. In either case, the alternation between soloist and orchestra builds up a tension that can be very dramatic.
The orchestra in Vivaldi's time was different, of course, from a modern one in its size and constitution. Although winds were sometimes called for, strings constituted the main body of players. In a Vivaldi concerto, the orchestra is essentially a string orchestra, with one or two harpsichords or organs to play the thorough-bass.
Some of Vivaldi's concertos are pieces of program music, for they give musical descriptions of events or natural scenes. The Seasons, for instance, consists of four concertos representing the four seasons. But in his concertos the "program" does not determine the formal structure of the music. Some musical material may imitate the call of a bird or the rustling of leaves; but the formal plan of the concerto is maintained.
Vivaldi's concertos were widely known during and after his lifetime. They were copied and admired by another musician, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). In musical Europe of the eighteenth century Vivaldi was one of the great names.
For More Information
Heller, Karl. Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1997.
Kolneder, Walter. Antonio Vivaldi: His Life and Work. Edited by Bill Hopkins. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970.
Landon, H. C. Robbins. Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Morgenstern, Sheldon. No Vivaldi in the Garage: A Requiem for Classical Music in North America. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001.
Vivaldi, Antonio
Antonio Vivaldi
1678–1741
Composer
Violinist
The Red Priest.
Vivaldi was both a prolific composer and a noted violinist. His father was a violinist at the ducal chapel of San Marco in Venice, and Antonio began his musical education at home. He was ordained a priest, though chronic respiratory problems (probably asthma) kept him from many clerical duties; due to his red hair he acquired the nickname il prete rosso, meaning "the red priest." In 1703 he accepted a position as violin teacher at a girls' orphanage and foundling home in Venice, the Pio Ospedale della Pietà. These orphanages provided musical training as part of their educational mission; the girls gave regular concerts, which attracted large audiences and garnered the institution an international reputation. Vivaldi was eventually promoted to concertmaster, and despite many years of travel during his career, he continued his association with the institution until 1740.
Concertos.
The frequent concerts at the Ospedale required a constant supply of new compositions, as audiences expected to hear new works. In 1723, for example, the institution asked Vivaldi to produce two concertos for them each month. Vivaldi continued to comply, and grew quite proud of his ability to compose not only well but quickly; he boasted that he could compose a concerto in all its parts faster than a copyist could transcribe them. About 500 of his concertos survive. Vivaldi wrote them for a number of different solo instruments and combinations that reflect not only the popularity of various instruments, but also the variety of players over the years at the Ospedale. Nearly half are for a solo violin and orchestral strings. He also wrote for other solo instruments, such as flute, cello, oboe, and even mandolin. Others are double concertos for two soloists. Some use three soloists in the form of a concerto grosso, or in other combinations. Most of these works are in three movements, fast-slow-fast. Many fast movements use a form called ritornello, in which the larger orchestral group of strings plays a thematic section that returns several times in various keys, and alternates with freer sections for the soloist or soloists. This form allows for virtuoso writing and provides passages through which the soloist can display his or her skill. Often the soloist is allowed an improvisatory section near the final cadence of the movement, and because of its location such passages are called cadenzas. The slow movements of Vivaldi's concertos feature aria-like melodies. Vivaldi named many of his concertos. The names might refer to any number of features about the work, such as the original soloist, the person to whom it was dedicated, some technical aspect about the composition that was especially prominent, or a theme or subject that the music described, for example "Storm at Sea" or "The Hunt." For his famous "Four Seasons" concertos, he wrote a sonnet on the subject of each one and published them together with the compositions.
Later Life.
As he matured, Vivaldi also began to write operas, where his flair for the dramatic can also be seen. Some 21 works survive in whole or in part, though he wrote many more. At first, he produced them in Venice, but by 1718, he was invited to Mantua to present his current production. In the 1720s, he also spent several years in Rome, before returning to Venice, where he continued to produce operas and write instrumental compositions. But by the 1730s, he was traveling further afield. His last trip was to Vienna, where he died in 1741. Although he had made enormous sums of money during his lifetime, he spent just as extravagantly, and was given a pauper's burial in Vienna. Vivaldi's works were extremely popular for most of his career. Both the volume of his compositions and their high quality made them very influential. He published his works with care, dedicating them to prominent patrons and choosing presses with high-quality printing and good distribution. Etienne Roger of Amsterdam published his set of violin concertos, L'estro armonico, in 1711, dedicated to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. This choice both acknowledged the interest of northern Europeans in Italian composers, and helped to continue to expand that market. His work influenced other major composers; Johann Sebastian Bach transcribed some of his works for the keyboard, and many other northern composers studied them with great interest. Vivaldi helped to standardize the writing of concertos, and to popularize the combination of virtuoso soloist with orchestra. Especially to those in northern Europe, he seemed to embody the best of Italian style in the later Baroque era. Some, however, were more impressed by his abilities as a fiery performer. The composers in the Galant and Sensitive styles that followed the later Baroque period singled out Vivaldi, criticizing him for having continued to write in an archaic style. They desired to separate themselves from elements of Vivaldi's style, including what they felt were an overemphasis on sheer virtuosity, display, and overly contrived passage-work. Unlike other figures the Galant and Sensitive composers of the mid- and later eighteenth century criticized, Vivaldi had largely abandoned the contrapuntal style of Baroque composers. His influence on Bach later inspired a renewed interest in his works after his death, and his instrumental writings in particular continue to enjoy frequent performance and great popularity.
sources
Denis Arnold, et al., eds., Italian Baroque Masters: Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Cavalli, Corelli, A. Scarlatti, Vivaldi, D. Scarlatti (London: Macmillan, 1984).
H. C. Robbins Landon, Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque (London: Flamingo, 1995).
Michael Talbot, Venetian Music in the Age of Vivaldi (Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 1999).
—, Vivaldi (London: Dent, 1978).
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian violinist and composer whose concertos were widely known and influential throughout Europe.
Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678. His first music teacher was his father, Giovanni Battista Vivaldi. The elder Vivaldi was a well-respected violinist, employed at the church of St. Mark's. It is possible, though not proved, that as a boy Antonio also studied with the composer Giovanni Legrenzi.
Antonio was trained for a clerical as well as a musical life. After going through the various preliminary stages, he was ordained a priest in March 1703. (He was later nicknamed "the red priest" because he was redheaded.) His active career, however, was devoted to music. In the autumn of 1703 he was appointed a violin teacher at the Ospitale della Pieta‧ in Venice. A few years later he was made conductor of the orchestra at the same institution. Under Vivaldi's direction, this orchestra gave many brilliant concerts and achieved an international reputation.
Vivaldi remained at the Pieta‧ until 1740. But his long years there were broken by the numerous trips he took, for professional purposes, to Italian and foreign cities. He went, among other places, to Vienna in 1729-1730 and to Amsterdam in 1737-1738. Within Italy he traveled to various cities to direct performances of his operas. He left Venice for the last time in 1740. He died in Vienna on July 26 or 27, 1741.
Vivaldi was prolific in vocal and instrumental music, sacred and secular. According to the latest research, his compositions may be numbered as follows, though not all these compositions are preserved: 48 operas (some in collaboration with other composers); 59 secular cantatas and serenatas; about 100 separate arias (but these are no doubt from operas); two oratorios; 60 other works of vocal sacred music (motets, hymns, Mass movements); 78 sonatas; 21 sinfonias; one other instrumental work; and 456 concertos.
Today the vocal music of Vivaldi is little known. But in his own day he was famous and successful as an opera composer. Most of his operas were written for Venice, but some were commissioned for performance in Rome, Florence, Verona, Vicenza, Ancona, and Mantua.
Vivaldi was also one of the great violin virtuosos of his time. This virtuosity is reflected in his music, which made new demands on violin technique. In his instrumental works he naturally favored the violin. He wrote the majority of his sonatas for one or two violins and thorough-bass. Of his concertos, 221 are for solo violin and orchestra. Other concertos are for a variety of solo instruments: recorder, flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, viola d'amore, and mandolin. He also wrote concertos for several solo instruments, concerti grossi, and concertos for full orchestra. The concerto grosso features a small group of solo players, set in contrast to the full orchestra. The concerto for orchestra features contrasts of style rather than contrasts of instruments.
Vivaldi's concertos are generally in three movements, arranged in the order of fast, slow, fast. The two outer movements are in the same key; the middle movement is in the same key or in a closely related key. Within movements, the music proceeds on the principle of alternation: passages for the solo instrument (s) alternate with passages for the full orchestra. The solo instrument may elaborate on the material played by the orchestra, or it may play quite different material of its own. In either case, the alternation between soloist and orchestra builds up a tension which can be very dramatic.
The orchestra in Vivaldi's time was different, of course, from a modern one in its size and constitution. Although winds were sometimes called for, strings constituted the main body of players. In a Vivaldi concerto, the orchestra is essentially a string orchestra, with one or two harpsichords or organs to play the thorough-bass.
Some of Vivaldi's concertos are pieces of program music, for they give musical descriptions of events or natural scenes. The Seasons, for instance, consists of four concertos representing the four seasons. But in his concertos the "program" does not determine the formal structure of the music. Some musical material may imitate the call of a bird or the rustling of leaves; but the formal plan of the concerto is maintained.
Vivaldi's concertos were widely known during and after his lifetime. They were copied and admired by a colleague no less distinguished than Johann Sebastian Bach. In musical Europe of the 18th century Vivaldi was one of the great names.
Further Reading
There are two books in English on the life and works of Vivaldi: Marc Pincherle, Vivaldi: Genius of the Baroque (1955; trans. 1957), and Walter Kolneder, Antonio Vivaldi: His Life and Work (1965; trans. 1971). For the historical background, Donald Jay Grout, A History of Western Music (1960), is recommended. □
Vivaldi, Antonio
VIVALDI, ANTONIO
Illustrious baroque composer and violinist; b. Venice, c. 1675; d. Vienna, July 1741. The son of a violinist at St. Mark's, Venice, Vivaldi achieved fame as an executant while still quite young. In 1693 he received the first of the minor orders of priesthood, and in 1703 was ordained. In the following year he set about his duties as violin teacher and player at the Venice Ospedale della Pietà, whose chorus and orchestra of orphaned girls he soon molded into an ensemble of world-renowned excellence. In 1716 he was named maestro de concerti, a position he held until 1740, except for extensive travels with his friend and patron the Marchese bentivoglio. He was welcomed in every city except Ferrara, whose ecclesiastical authorities forbade a proposed visit on the grounds that he did not say Mass. In a letter to Bentivoglio, Vivaldi explained that although he said Mass for a little longer than a year after his ordination, he was compelled to give it up on account of an illness he described as a severe pain and constriction in the chest. On leaving Venice he went to Vienna, probably with the hope of writing operas with his compatriots Zeno and Metastasio, but he died within that year.
Vivaldi's contract with the orphanage bound him to write two concertos a month for the orchestra, but he also composed much religious music during this period. Since the church music was not published in his lifetime—the best of his concertos were—his European fame rested upon his amazing skill in making the most of contemporary instrumental fashion (J. S. bach modeled his own concerto style on Vivaldi's concertos and transcribed six of them) and his ability to write at great speed: it was said that he could compose music faster than a copyist could copy it. While his church music is still largely unknown, the few available works indicate that he was equally conversant with vocal and instrumental style, and capable of massive and brilliant effects (as in the oratorio Juditha triumphans ) as well as of texture of a more intimate nature (the Magnificat for solo voices and small orchestra). He wrote also an oratorio on the subject of Moses, a Kyrie, a paired Gloria and Credo, 14 settings of Vespers, and various psalms and motets; and much of his instrumental music was intended for use in church.
Bibliography: Opere (Milan 1947–). m. pincherle, Antonio Vivaldi et la musique instrumentale, 2 v. (Paris 1948); Vivaldi: Genius of the Baroque, tr. c. hatch (New York 1957). m. f. bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York 1947). p. h. lÁng, Music in Western Civilization (New York 1941). r. eller, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. f. blume (Kassel-Basel 1949–). c. fertonani, La musica strumentale di Antonio Vivaldi (Florence 1998). p. hurley, "The Vivaldi Lute Music," Lute Society of America, Inc. Quarterly 31:2 (1996) 4–11. j. parsons, Orlando, in International Dictionary of Opera 2 v., ed. c. s. larue (Detroit 1993). f. ricci, "Il Concerto Funebre de Antonio Vivaldi: Alcune ipotesi storiche," Esercizi: Musica e Spettacolo 12 (1993) 31–45. m. talbot, The Sacred Vocal Music of Antonio Vivaldi (Florence 1995).
[d. stevens]