LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Antonio Vivaldi: Composers
built 252 days ago
Antonio Vivaldi was the most prolific composer of eighteenth century in Venice, Italy. His works and the styles he used were and are used as models for the works of his contemporaries continuing through the composers of the nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Much of his life, thrity-seven years, was spent as a composer, violin teacher, conductor, and violin virtuoso at the Piet� asylum for orphaned young women and girls.
Source:
Antonio Vivaldi, as well as being a composer, worked at the Ospedale della Pietà for much of the first half of the 18th century. This was one of four such institutions in Venice - a home for abandoned and unwanted babies, often the children of prostitutes. The boys there were trained in stone cutting, weaving and shoe making, so they could leave at 16 with a skill for the future. The girls ... unless they got married or became nuns, stayed there for the rest of their lives.
Source:
Although he enjoyed fame and no small degree of wealth at the height of his career, Vivaldi suffered a series of setbacks during his final years. During the late 1730s a number of his operas failed to please audiences for various reasons, most apparently related to flaws in their production. In 1738 the Ospedale della Pieta refused to renew his contract, probably out of dissatisfaction with his incessant traveling. In light of these difficulties, Vivaldi decided in 1740 to leave Italy for Vienna. Little is known of this final journey or what the composer did in the Austrian capital in his last year. Apparently, though, he could not adapt his spending habits to his new circumstances.
Source:
Vivaldi studied for the priesthood as a young man and received ordination 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 surfaced; perhaps Vivaldi simply wanted to explore new opportunities as a composer. It didn't take him long.
Source:
The concertos that Vivaldi wrote helped define the genre in the Baroque and into the Classical era. These normally comprised three movements (fast, slow, fast); the fast movement regularly employed a ritornello form. In this form, an orchestral melody alternates with the freer sections that feature the soloist or soloists. The repetition of the ritornello provides a point of reference for the listener, allowing the soloist to stand out. It ... allows the composer a greater degree of freedom in how the soloist's material is treated.
Source:
Vivaldi was always Italy's most distinguished baroque composer, but as his vast output was brought to light, so his reputation grew. And great though they may be, Vivaldi is distinguished from other industrious baroque composers by his vitality, melodic invention, and originality. And in contrast to many later nicknames appended to classical works, all Vivaldi's titles are his own.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Composers