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Antonio Vivaldi Facts & Worksheets

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, teacher, and violinist regarded as one of the best composers of his time.

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Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, teacher, and violinist regarded as one of the best composers of his time. He has become one of the most celebrated European classical musicians.

See the fact file below for more information on the Antonio Vivaldi or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Antonio Vivaldi worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy, on March 4, 1678.
  • He learned to play the violin through his father, Giovanni Battista, who was a professional violinist.
  • Many believe that Antonio was taught at a young age, based on the extensive knowledge in music he had when he was 24 years old.
  • It is also thought that Antonio received his early lessons in composition from Giovanni Legrenzi.
  • Antonio had problematic health, including chronic strettezza di petto (“tightness of the chest”), considered a form of asthma. This kept him from playing wind instruments.
  • In 1693, he started studying to become a priest.
  • In 1703, he was ordained and later on nicknamed il Prete Rosso, because of his hair color.
  • Shortly after being ordained, Vivaldi stopped celebrating mass due to his chronic ailment, now believed to be bronchial asthma.

CAREER

  • When he was 25, Antonio became the master of violin at the Ospedale Della Pietà orphanage.
  • He stayed with the orphanage for more than 30 years and made most of his major compositions while he was the master of violin.
  • The orphans received lessons in trades (for boys) and music (for girls).
  • The most talented musicians became part of the orchestra and choir that played Antonio’s compositions.
  • The orchestra became internationally known while under the leadership of Vivaldi.
  • Printed collections of his trio sonata appeared in 1705, while his violin sonatas were seen in 1709.
  • His first and most famous set of concerti for a string and violin orchestra was published in 1711 by the music-publishing firm of Estienne Roger. Three more concerti collections and a sonata collection were also published under Roger.
  • In 1713, Antonio debuted as a sacred vocal music composer.
  • His sacred vocal music was so successful that other institutions soon commissioned works from him.
  • In the same year, Vivaldi’s first-ever opera entitled Ottone in villa was produced in Vicenza.
  • The Pietà also commissioned Vivaldi to write liturgical works.
    By 1715, he started writing opera scores regularly, in addition to making choral music and concerti for the orphanage’s orchestra.
  • Antonio was then promoted as the director of instrumental music in 1716.
  • Starting from 1717 until 1721, Vivaldi worked as the director of secular music for the governor of Mantua.
  • Vivaldi preferred being a freelance composer, so the post in Mantua was the only full-time one he had.
  • While in Mantua, many of his major compositions were operas, making just a few instrumental works and cantatas.
  • It was during his stay in Mantua that he wrote his most famous four-part masterpiece, The Four Seasons.
  • In the 1720s, Vivaldi stayed in Venice but often traveled supplying instrumental music to customers and patrons in Europe.
  • Vivaldi stopped publishing his works in 1729; he instead printed them in manuscript and sold them off to individual buyers.
  • During the 1720s, he received generous commissions for operas.
  • Vivaldi wrote a cantata for King Louis XV’s wedding. Emperor Charles VI, also a fan, publicly named Vivaldi as a knight.

LATER LIFE AND LEGACY

  • Although he was very famous in his early life, the change in musical taste during his time made his compositions outmoded.
  • Vivaldi decided to leave Venice and traveled to Vienna, Austria, probably hoping to get a post in the imperial court of the place.
  • Vivaldi didn’t find a prominent patron, however.
  • He died on July 28, 1741, in a house near the former Carinthia Gate in Vienna, Austria.
  • He died a year before the production of his opera, L’oracolo in Messenia.
  • He had a simple funeral, suggesting that he died in poverty.
  • A vast collection of his musical manuscripts were bound into 27 large volumes after his death.
  • After its rediscovery in the 1920s, the manuscripts became a part of the Foà and Giordano collections found in the National Library of Turin.
  • There are about 500 surviving concerti of Vivaldi.
  • More than 300 of these are for a solo instrument with string orchestra and continuo.
  • The other concerti are either chamber concerti, concerti grossi, double concerti, or concerti ripieni.
  • Antonio Vivaldi perfected the musical style of what became the classical three-movement concerto.
  • He was one of those who established the characteristic fast-slow-fast plan of the three movements of the concerto.
  • Vivaldi was also the first one to regularly employ the ritornello form in his concerti.
  • The passion, energy, and lyricism of the concerti of Vivaldi and their instrumental color and humble dramatic effects swiftly became part of music’s general language.
  • Many late Baroque composers took Vivaldi’s concerti as their model forms.
  • In the early 20th century, scholars and musicians revived Vivaldi’s music.
  • Many of his unknown works were recovered from anonymity during the revival.
  • In 1939, Alfredo Casella, a pianist and composer, planned the Vivaldi Week revival.
  • Casella’s Vivaldi Week re-introduced the choral composition Gloria, a famous song performed regularly at Christmas.
  • In 2005, the movie Vivaldi, a Prince in Venice was completed under the direction of Jean-Louis Guillermou.
  • ABC Radio National commissioned Sean Riley for a radio play about Vivaldi in 2005.
  • The play entitled The Angel and the Red Priest later on had a stage adaptation performed at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts.

Antonio Vivaldi Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Antonio Vivaldi across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Antonio Vivaldi worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Antonio Vivaldi who was an Italian composer, teacher, and violinist regarded as one of the best composers of his time. He has become one of the most celebrated European classical musicians.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Vivaldi’s Life
  • Filling Music
  • Terminal Music
  • Tale of a Priest
  • Concerto Vivaldi
  • A Violin’s Past
  • Parted Violin
  • Baroque Sight
  • My Four Seasons
  • Vivaldi-lized

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Link will appear as Antonio Vivaldi Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, May 4, 2020

Use With Any Curriculum

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