Antonio Vivaldi During The Baroque Era

As one of the most prominent composers of the Baroque era, Antonio Vivaldi contributed a number of significant works and stylistic innovations during his lifetime. Music was a constant in his life. Both as an violin player and composer, Vivaldi centered his career around music. By his immense skill as a violinist and as a composer, he gained fame and popularity in his own time in the Baroque era. He also produced a legacy that has lasted into modern times.

Vivaldi had humble beginnings in Venice, Italy, late in the seventeenth century. At the time, Venice was a center of art and culture. As a center of commerce and culture, Venice attracted many prominent musicians. This prosperous Italian city was even the home of notable violin makers, such

as the Amati and Stradivarius families ("Antonio Vivaldi: Venetian Virtuoso"). Vivaldi’s father himself was a musician. Influenced by his father, Vivaldi took interest in the musical arts. Because of his asthma, he was not able to master wind instruments ("Antonio Vivaldi”). Instead, he was taught to play violin by his father, who soon realized that Vivaldi possessed prodigious skill. However, Vivaldi began to pursue a life in the priesthood, despite his virtuosity ("Antonio Vivaldi: Venetian Virtuoso"). His involvement the priesthood and his flaming red hair led to him earning the nickname of “the Red Priest” (“Antonio Vivaldi”). Once he was ordained as a priest, Vivaldi’s interests returned to music. He was hired as the violin master at an orphanage called the Ospedale della Pieta, which translates as the Devout Hospital of Mercy (Paterson). At the orphanage, he served as the violin teacher of young children. He worked at Ospedale della Pieta consistently until 1709 through 1711 and then returned after 1711. Not only did Vivaldi begin to teach music, but he also began to write it.
To provide exercises for his students, Vivaldi began to compose music during this time of his life ("Antonio Vivaldi: Venetian Virtuoso”). His composition continued as he began to take interest in operas. In the 1710s, he composed the operas La constanza trionfante and Farnace (“Antonio Vivaldi”). As he composed more interests, patrons began to take notice. Patrons from Mantua and Rome began to fund his work (“Antonio Vivaldi”). He even gained the notice of European leaders, such as King Louis XV of France and Emperor Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire (“Antonio Vivaldi”). King Louis XV even commissioned works from Vivaldi. During the 1720s, Vivaldi took interest in concertos. He composed many concertos during this time, including his most famous and lasting work, The Four Seasons (“Antonio Vivaldi: Venetian Virtuoso”). His work took him throughout Italy, moving from Venice to Mantua to Rome. In the next decade during the 1730s, Vivaldi returned his attention to operas, composing both Agrippo and Bajazet (“Antonio Vivaldi”). During this time, he only wrote instrumental music for individuals or the Ospedale della Pieta (“Antonio Vivaldi: Venetian Virtuoso”). Throughout these decades as a prominent composer, Vivaldi remained connected to the Ospedale della Pieta. It was not until 1740 that Vivaldi finally retired from the orphanage. He planned to leave Italy and move to Vienna, where he expected Charles VI to be his patron. He was driven to leave Italy because of the decline of his popularity and style. Other younger composers were emerging in Italy as the Classical period began. Vivaldi hoped to regain popularity in Austria. However, Charles VI died suddenly, leaving Vivaldi without money in a new country.In 1741, Vivaldi succumbed to his chronic illness of asthmatic bronchitis (“Antonio Vivaldi”).
Despite his death in 1741, Vivaldi’s music and influence continued on.

Composers of emerging the Classical period, such as Mozart and Beethoven were influenced by Vivaldi’s innovations of the concerto (Paterson). A concerto is a piece that consists of a solo instrument supported by an orchestra. Vivaldi’s innovations of the concerto form included making the solo piece more prominent (Paterson). By making the solo piece more elaborate, Vivaldi highlighted the skill of the soloist. Mozart and Beethoven included this characteristic in the concertos that they composed during their lifetimes. Another innovative characteristic of Vivaldi’s concertos was that they were often programmatic. A programmatic piece of music consists sounds meant to evoke the audience’s imagination to create an experience (Paterson). Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is an example of a programmatic piece of music because it includes sounds resembling bird calls to make the audience think of springtime (Paterson). Program music was a relatively new form of music that Vivaldi helped develop through his compositions. Although Vivaldi made these significant contributions to music, he has been criticized for predictability and repetition in his pieces of music (Paterson). Since he has written almost five hundred concertos, his music is likely to have some repetitive elements (“Antonio Vivaldi”). But much of his music included innovative characteristics, seen in the music of later composers, such as Haydn

(Paterson).
Not only did Vivaldi make an impression on later composers, but he also created a legacy of beautiful music for later generations to appreciate. Vivaldi’s music was revived in the early 1800s (Paterson). Admiration of Vivaldi’s works has continued into the twenty-first century, with performances of his works and teaching of his works in classrooms.