(1678–1741 or 1680-1743*)
Italian violinist, teacher, cleric, and composer of 21 string sinfonie. The time of his greatest influence and success was bookended by two well-known works: L’estro armonico [Harmonic Fancy] concertos, Opus 3 and Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione concertos Opus 8, the latter containing “The Four Seasons”.
J. S. Bach deeply admired Vivaldi’s music to the point of taking over some of the features of formal construction from his concertos, and also arranged several of his compositions for organ or clavier (Bach transcribed three of the solo violin concertos* from L’estro armonico, for example).
The nickname “il prete rosso” may be familiar to you, “the red priest” in English. In spite of most images that show up when you conduct your research of whatever kind, Vivaldi’s hair underneath his typical 1700’s wig was apparently of the fiery persuasion. Was he a priest, then? Well, Mr. Vivaldi was trained on the violin, but particularly employed for most of his life in the cathedral of Saint Mark, in Venice, Italy. His musical services went beyond there, as he also directed the Ospedale della Pietà*. This was a charitable institution where orphaned girls were trained in various fields of music. Examples of his twenty-one [symphonies] include RV 112, which you will hear in a moment; RV 146, in G-major; RV 717 was a C-major sinfonia from “il Giustino,” and so on; the other eighteen are out there somewhere. Oh, yes: and RV stands for Ryom-Verzeichnis, named after the Danish musicologist Peter Ryom* who created the standard catalog of A. Vivaldi’s music.
Audio credits:
The Four Seasons; Summer, Presto – Voices of Music (2017) produced by Meg Bragle
Sinfonia C dur RV 112 – Barocco sempre giovane (2010, Czech Republic)
Sources (in order of *asterisk* appearance):
1 - Wikipedia; The World Book Encyclopedia, respectively
2 - “Antonio Vivaldi: L’Estro armonico, Op. 3”, Boston Baroque Performances – Program Notes
3 - Brian Wise, “Explore Classical Music – VIVALDI AND LA PIETA”
4 - “RV in Music”, ©2023 THEMUSICDICTIONARY.ORG – Mavis Osinski
Applause to the listeners!
