VIVALDI FAMOUS for Four Seasons

Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678. Though ordained a priest in 1703, according to his own account, within a year of being ordained Vivaldi no longer wished to celebrate mass because of physical complaints (“tightness of the chest”) which pointed to angina pectoris, asthmatic bronchitis, or a nervous disorder. It is also possible that Vivaldi was simulating illness - there is a story that he sometimes left the altar to quickly jot down a musical idea in the sacristy....

In any event he had become a priest against his own will, perhaps because in his day training for the priesthood was often the only possible way for a poor family to obtain free schooling.

Though he wrote many fine and memorable concertos, such as the Four Seasons and the Opus 3 for example, he also wrote many works which sound like five-finger exercises for students. And this is precisely what they were.

The reputation of baroque Venice as a musical centre was one of the highest in Europe, due largely to its four conservatories of music. Beginning as charitable foundations they developed gradually as seats of musical

learning, and by the early 1700s their excellence was unrivalled. This was confirmed by Charles de Brosses, French Magistrate and President of the Parliament de Dijon, who visited Italy in 1739, reporting in his *Lettres

familières écrites d’Italie* and published posthumously in 1799, that “the Ospedali have the best music here. There are four of them, all for illegitimate or orphaned girls whose parents cannot support them. These are brought up at the State’s expense and trained exclusively in music. Indeed they sing like angels, play the violin, flute, organ, oboe, cello, bassoon...

Vivaldi was employed for most of his working life by the Ospedale della Pietà, generally accepted as being the best of the four Ospedali, and many of his concerti were indeed exercises which he would play with his many

talented pupils. The brilliance of some solo writing in his “student exercise” concertos testifies to the extremely high standard attained by “his” ladies.

Vivaldi’s relationship with the Ospedale began right after his ordination in 1703, when he was named as violin teacher there. Until 1709, Vivaldi’s appointment was renewed every year and again after 1711. Between 1709 and

1711 Vivaldi was not attached to the Ospedale. Perhaps in this period he was already working for the Teatro Sant’ Angelo, an opera theater. He also remained active as a composer - in 1711 twelve concertos he had written were published in Amsterdam by the music publisher Estienne Roger under the title *l’Estro armonico* (Harmonic Inspiration).

In 1713, Vivaldi was given a month’s leave from the Ospedale della Pietà to stage his first opera, *Ottone in villa*, in Vicenza. In the 1713-4 season he was once again attached to the Teatro Sant’ Angelo, where he produced an opera by the composer Giovanni Alberto Rostori (1692-1753).

As far as his theatrical activities were concerned, the end of 1716 was a high point for Vivaldi. In November, he managed to have the Ospedale della Pietà perform his first great oratorio, *Juditha Triumphans devicta

Holofernis barbaric*. This work was an allegorical description of the victory of the Venetians (the Christians) over the Turks (the barbarians) in August 1716.

At the end of 1717 Vivaldi moved to Mantua for two years to take up his post as Chamber Capellmeister at the court of Landgrave Philips van Hessen-Darmstadt. His task there was to provide operas, cantatas, and

perhaps concert music, too. His opera *Armida* had already been performed earlier in Mantua and in 1719 *Teuzzone* and *Tito Manlio* followed. On the score of the latter are the words: “music by Vivaldi, made in 5 days.”

Furthermore, in 1720 La Conduce o siano Li veri amici was performed. In 172O Vivaldi returned to Venice where he again staged new operas written by himself in the Teatro Sant’ Angelo. In Mantua he had made the acquaintance of the singer Anna Giraud (or Giro), and she had moved in to live with him.

Vivaldi maintained that she was no more than a housekeeper and good friend, just like Anna’s sister, Paolina, who also shared his house.

In his Memoires, the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni gave the following portrait of Vivaldi and Giraud: “This priest, an excellent violinist but a mediocre composer, has trained Miss Giraud to be a singer. She was young, born in Venice, but the daughter of a French wigmaker. She was not beautiful, though she was elegant, small in stature, with beautiful eyes and a fascinating mouth. She had a small voice, but many languages in which to harangue.” Vivaldi stayed together with her until his death.

Vivaldi also wrote works on commission from foreign rulers, such as the French king, Louis XV - the serenade *La Sena festeggiante* (Festival on the Seine), for example.

This work cannot be dated precisely, but it was certainly written after 1720.

In Rome Vivaldi found a patron in the person of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a great music lover, who earlier had been the patron of Arcangelo Corelli.

And if we can believe Vivaldi himself, the Pope asked him to come and play the violin for him at a private audience.

Earlier, in the 1660’s, musical life in Rome had been enormously stimulated by the presence of Christina of Sweden in the city. The “Pallas of the North,” as she was called, abdicated from the Swedish throne in 1654. A few years later she moved to Rome and took up residence in the Palazzo Riario.

There she organized musical events that were attended by composers such as Corelli and Scarlatti. Other composers, too, such as Geminiani and Handel worked in Rome for periods of time. Like them, Vivaldi profited from the favorable cultural climate in the city.

Despite his stay in Rome and other cities, Vivaldi remained in the service of the Ospedale della Pietà, which nominated him “Maestro di concerti.”

-Internet