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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Classic Violin Music
Classical - Released by Classic Records on 27 Apr 2017
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This is Vivaldi
Classical - Released by Classic Records on 19 Apr 2017
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Vivaldi: Concerto's
Lounge - Released by Classical Times Records on 18 Nov 2016
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Best of Violin
Classical - Released by Music Ware on 14 Oct 2016
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Skiing Classical Music
Classical - Released by Music Ware on 24 Dec 2015
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Vivaldi: Violin concertos
Classical - Released by Bomba-Piter on 2 Jul 2015
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Vivaldi - Concerto Grosso Nº 6
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 12 Mar 2015
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Gold Classics Collection - Vivaldi
Musici Di San Marco, Camerata Romana
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on 26 Nov 2014
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Antonio Vivaldi, The Four Seasons - Maestros del Milenio
Musici Di San Marco, Zagrebački Solisti
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 13 Oct 2014
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Vivaldi / Respighi - Donizetti - Bazzini - Busoni - Sgambati: Musique romantique d'Italie
Jean-Claude Bouveresse, Bénédicte Péran
Classical - Released by VDE-GALLO on 26 Sep 2014
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Grandes Maestros, Obras Clásicas Vol. 4
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 22 Sep 2014
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Antonio Vivaldi
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 1 Sep 2014
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Antonio Lucio Vivaldi: Las Cuatro Estaciones
Chamber Music - Released by RHI on 15 Apr 2014
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Clásicos del Milenio, Las Cuatro Estaciones
Camerata Romana, Salvatore Accardo
Classical - Released by Piros - Send on 17 Apr 2014
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Clásicos del Milenio, Los Conciertos
Das Rundfunkorchester des Südwestfunks
Classical - Released by Piros - Send on 12 Apr 2014
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Clásicos del Milenio. Las Cuatro Estaciones
Classical - Released by Piros - Send on 29 Mar 2014
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Favorite Songs
Classical - Released by Plaza Mayor Company, Ltd. on 14 Apr 2014
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Las Cuatro Estaciones
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 5 Feb 2014
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Masterpieces of the Baroque
Radio Luxembourg Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Black Pearl on 15 Jan 2014
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50 Must-Have Spring Classics
Classical - Released by Cobra Entertainment LLC on 18 Feb 2014
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Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 18 Nov 2013
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