His parents were Giovanni Battista Vivaldi and
Camilla Calicchio
Vivaldi's father was a professional violinist who taught
Antonio how to play. They then toured Venice together
performing the violin
It is also thought that Vivaldi studies with
Giovanni Legrenzi as a boy, but there is no
evidence to support this speculation.
His five siblings were: Margatira Gabriela, Cecilia
Maria, Bonaventura Tomaso, Zanetta Anna and
Francesco Gaetano
Vivaldi's health was a problem, he had a
form of asthma. This did not really affect his
musical endeavours but he did have to stop
playing wind instruments.
He began training to become a
priest in 1693 (age 15) and was
ordained in 1703 (age 25)
In 1704 he was excused from
celebrating Mass because of
his ill health
He was nicknamed il Prete Rosse (The Red
Priest) because of the colour of his hair
In autumn of 1703, he was appointed as a violin teacher at
the Ospitale della Pieta in Venice; a few laters later he was
made conductor there
Vivaldi composed both vocal and instrumental
music, as well as sacred and secular music.
He composed over seven hundred pieces (sonatas,
operas, concertos - 221 solo violin concerto's)
Vivaldi is considered to be one of the greatest
eighteenth century musicians with superb ability
He favoured the three movement concerto (fast - slow - fast)
The two other movements are in the same key, the middle movement
is in the same or closely related key
Concerto grosso: a small
group of solo players, set
against a full orchestra
He wrote concertos for many solo
instruments (flute, the clarinet, the trumpet
or the mandolin)
Some of his music was thematic, giving
musical descriptions of events or natural
scenes
The Seasons
His music was extremely popular during and after his
lifetime. His pieces were copied and admired by J.S.Bach.
Vivaldi was one of the great names of the
European music scene in the eighteenth century