Antonio Vivaldi
The creator of hundreds of spirited, extroverted instrumental works, Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi is widely recognized as the master of the Baroque instrumental concerto, which he perfected and popularized more than any of his contemporaries. Vivaldi's kinetic rhythms, fluid melodies, bright instrumental effects, and extensions of instrumental technique make his some of the most enjoyable of Baroque music. He was highly influential among his contemporaries and successors: even as esteemed a figure as Johann Sebastian Bach adapted some of Vivaldi's music. Vivaldi's variable textures and dramatic effects initiated the shift toward what became the Classical style; a deeper understanding of his music begins with the realization that, compared with Bach and even Handel, he was Baroque music's arch progressive. Though not as familiar as his concerti, Vivaldi's stage and choral music is still of value; his sometimes bouncy, sometimes lyrical Gloria in D major (1708) has remained a perennial favorite. His operas were widely performed in his own time.
Details regarding Vivaldi's early life are few. His father was a violinist in the Cathedral of Venice's orchestra and probably Antonio's first teacher. There is much speculation about other teachers, such as Corelli, but no evidence to support this. Vivaldi studied for the priesthood as a young man and was ordained in 1703. He was known for much of his career as "il prete rosso" (the red-haired priest), but soon after his ordination he declined to take on his ecclesiastical duties. Later in life he cited ill health as the reason, but other motivations have been proposed; perhaps Vivaldi simply wanted to explore new opportunities as a composer. It didn't take him long. Landing a job as a violin teacher at a girls' orphanage in Venice (where he would work in one capacity or another during several stretches of his life), he published a set of trio sonatas and another of violin sonatas. Word of his abilities spread throughout Europe, and in 1711 an Amsterdam publisher brought out a set of Vivaldi's concertos for one or more violins with orchestra under the title L'estro armonico (Harmonic Inspiration). These were best-sellers (it was this group of concertos that spurred Bach's transcriptions), and Vivaldi followed them up with several more equally successful concerto sets. Perhaps the most prolific of all the great European composers, he once boasted that he could compose a concerto faster than a copyist could ready the individual parts for the players in the orchestra. He began to compose operas, worked from 1718 to 1720 in the court of the German principality of Hessen-Darmstadt, and traveled in Austria and perhaps Bohemia. Throughout his career, he had his choice of commissions from nobility and the highest members of society, the ability to use the best performers, and enough business savvy to try to control the publication of his works, although due to his popularity, many were published without his consent. Later in life Vivaldi was plagued by rumors of a sexual liaison with one of his vocal students, and he was censured by ecclesiastical authorities. His Italian career on the rocks, he headed for Vienna. He died there and was buried as a pauper in 1741, although at the height of his career his publications had earned a comfortable living.
© Rovi Staff /TiVo
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Los Grandes de la Musica Clasica - Antonio Vivaldi Vol. 1
Stuttgartt Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Goltz, Baroque Festivach
Classical - Released by ClassicalPirosDigital on 20 Jun 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Las Cuatro Estaciones
Classical - Released by Vibra Music Entertainment S.A.S. on 14 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Descubriendo a ……Vivaldi
Orquesta de Cámara de Salzburgo, Orquesta de Cámara de Eslovenia
Classical - Released by OK Records on 1 Nov 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musikens Mästare
Konstantin Kulka, Karol Teutsch, Warsaw Chamber Orchestra, Antonio Vivaldi
Classical - Released by Music 4me on 14 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Los Grandes de la Musica Clasica - Antonio Vivaldi Vol. 3
Classical - Released by ClassicalPirosDigital on 20 Jun 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi - The Essential, Vol. 3
Kammerorchester Conrad von der Goltz, Camerata Lysy Gstaad, Strings of Zurich
Classical - Released by ISTJDigital on 9 Nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Vivaldi
Classical - Released by Armasi on 16 Jul 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Relax With Vivaldi
Classical - Released by In The Mood on 17 Feb 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlin (Original Mix)
Miscellaneous - Released by DaCosta Records on 26 Apr 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Golden Sunrise (Original Mix)
Miscellaneous - Released by DaCosta Records on 25 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Masterpieces of the Millennium: Vivaldi
Classical - Released by Cobra Entertainment LLC on 29 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Opera Festival Collection
Classical - Released by Blue music on 2 Feb 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Ut Vivere Possit Ire in Sempiternum
Antonio Vivaldi, Orchestre d’Armagnac
Classical - Released by Orchestre d’Armagnac on 10 Jun 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandes Epocas de la Música, Vivaldi, Concierto para dos trompetas, Concierto para Violín
Classical - Released by JamadaClassics on 24 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandes Epocas de la Música, L´estro Armonico , Concerto Nº 7, Nº 8, Nº 9, Nº 10, Nº 11 y Nº 12
Classical - Released by JamadaClassics on 23 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi : The Four Seasons
Classical - Released by Syrinx on 15 Feb 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi (The classical collection)
Classical - Released by Armasi on 24 Jul 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The Best Concerts
Classical - Released by YOYO USA, Inc. on 29 Dec 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Primavera
Nova Filarmonia Portuguesa, Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Marian Pivka
Classical - Released by Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V. on 9 Jul 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Quattro Stagioni / The Four seasons (Concerto for Violin, Strings, and Harpsichord)
Classical - Released by GynMusic Srl on 18 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo