Antonio Vivaldi Free Sheet Music, Program Notes, Recordings and Biography

The Red Priest of Venice

A popular legend tells of a young priest in Venice who, in the middle of celebrating Mass, suddenly turned from the altar, rushed into the sacristy to scribble on a piece of paper, and then returned to finish the service. The priest, it was said, was Antonio Vivaldi, and the reason for his interruption was that a musical theme had just popped into his head and he was terrified he would forget it. While likely untrue, the story perfectly captures the essence of a man whose mind was so consumed by music that it seemed to overflow into every aspect of his life. Known to his contemporaries as "il Prete Rosso" (The Red Priest) for his flaming red hair and his holy orders, Vivaldi was a force of nature who composed with astonishing speed and energy, becoming the undisputed master of the Italian concerto.

A Venetian Prodigy

Antonio Vivaldi was born in the vibrant and dazzling city of Venice, the son of a professional violinist. He learned the violin from his father and was a prodigious talent, likely performing in the orchestra of St. Mark's Basilica as a boy. Following a path common for those seeking a respectable education and career, he also trained for the priesthood and was ordained in 1703. However, he suffered from what was likely asthma ("tightness of the chest"), and after about a year, he was given a dispensation from celebrating Mass, a convenient excuse that allowed him to dedicate his life almost entirely to music.

The Priest and the Pietà

Shortly after his ordination, Vivaldi took up the position that would define his career. He was appointed maestro di violino (violin master) at the Ospedale della Pietà, one of Venice's four great charitable institutions for orphaned and illegitimate girls. The Pietà provided exceptional musical training for its female wards, and Vivaldi's job was to teach, rehearse, and compose new music for them.

For nearly forty years, Vivaldi transformed the orchestra and choir of the Pietà into one of the most celebrated musical ensembles in all of Europe. Visitors to Venice would flock to the Pietà’s church to hear the "orphan girls" perform behind a grille, their virtuosity a thing of legend. It was for these talented young musicians that Vivaldi composed the majority of his vast output of concertos and sacred music, tailoring the virtuosic solo parts to the specific skills of his star pupils.

Master of the Concerto

Vivaldi was an astonishingly prolific composer, with over 500 concertos to his name. More importantly, he was a great innovator. He was the key figure in establishing the solo concerto as the leading form of instrumental music. He standardized the three-movement (fast-slow-fast) structure that would become the norm for the next two centuries. He also perfected the use of ritornello form, in which a recurring theme played by the full orchestra alternates with virtuosic solo passages.

His most famous work, Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), is a set of four violin concertos published in 1725. It was a revolutionary piece of "program music." Each concerto is accompanied by a sonnet (possibly written by Vivaldi himself), and the music vividly depicts specific scenes from the poems: the birdsong of "Spring," the violent thunderstorms of "Summer," the joy of a "Harvest" festival in autumn, and the chattering teeth and slipping on ice of "Winter." The work’s brilliant originality and descriptive power made it an instant sensation.

Vivaldi's influence spread rapidly across Europe. His published collections of concertos were hugely popular and were studied intensely by other composers, most notably Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was a profound admirer of Vivaldi's style and transcribed several of his concertos for keyboard and organ as a way of mastering the Italian's brilliant techniques.

The Opera Impresario

In addition to his duties at the Pietà, Vivaldi was also a successful and highly sought-after opera composer and impresario. He composed dozens of operas for theaters in Venice, Mantua, and Rome. This was a far more lucrative, but also more turbulent, career path. He traveled extensively to oversee productions of his works, gaining a reputation for being a difficult and vain personality. While his operas were hugely popular in his lifetime, they fell into complete obscurity after his death and have only been rediscovered and revived in the 20th century.

Fame, Neglect, and a Pauper's Grave

For several decades, Vivaldi was one of the most famous and successful musicians in Europe. However, in the 1730s, his music began to fall out of fashion in Venice. Tastes were changing, and the public began to favor the newer, simpler styles of the emerging galant period. Seeking to revive his fortunes, the aging composer, then in his early 60s, traveled to Vienna in 1740, hoping to find a position at the Imperial court of Emperor Charles VI, who had long admired his work.

Tragically, the Emperor died shortly after Vivaldi arrived in Vienna. Left without a patron and with his money running out, Vivaldi fell into poverty. He died of an "internal inflammation" in July 1741 and was buried in a simple grave in a hospital cemetery. His death went almost unnoticed, and the once-great "Red Priest" of Venice was quickly forgotten. For nearly 200 years, his name was known only to a few music historians. It was not until the "Vivaldi Revival" of the mid-20th century, spurred by the discovery of a vast trove of his manuscripts, that the world rediscovered the breathtaking genius and boundless energy of his music.

Section 4: References and Further Reading

• References and Further Reading

• Talbot, Michael. Vivaldi. J.M. Dent & Sons, 1993.

• Landon, H. C. Robbins. Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque. Thames & Hudson, 1993.

• Heller, Karl. Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice. Amadeus Press, 1997.

• Kolneder, Walter. Antonio Vivaldi: His Life and Work. University of California Press, 1970.