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everything you need to know about
Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Vivaldi
The 18th-century Italian Baroque composer who is probably one of the best known classical names. Highly prolific and imaginative, he wrote hundreds of concertos which include some of the earliest programme music, as well as secular cantatas, sacred music and operas. He was also a virtuoso violinist.
Listen [in RealAudio] need audio help? Basic Details
Listen Four Seasons (Spring)
Manze, Amsterdam Baroque/Koopman
Erato 4509 94811-2
Listen Gloria (Quoniam tu solus Sanctus)
English Concert/Pinnock - Archiv 437 834-2
 Born: 1678
Died: 1741
Venice

... he appended a cadenza which really frightened me, for such playing has never been nor can be: he brought his fingers up to only a straw's distance from the bridge, leaving no room for the bow - and that on all four strings with imitations and incredible speed.

An eye-witness account of Vivaldi's violin playing.
See Also [closely related to this]
within bbc.co.uk music:
Vivaldi biography
Vivaldi discography
Classical news, reviews and listings
Profiles A-Z listing
elsewhere on bbc.co.uk:
h2g2 The Four Seasons: Read the original sonnets for each of the movements
h2g2 Vivaldi: a brief overview
BBC Proms: What’s On
elsewhere on the web:
The Antonio Vivaldi Homepage
"A good all-round introduction to Vivaldi ..."
taken from the
Classical Web Guide
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
VIVALDI IN ONE MINUTE
  • Influential Italian Baroque composer, often referred to as "the Red Priest" due to the colour of his hair
  • Vivaldi composed more than 500 concertos, including the ever popular The Four Seasons
  • His music is universally associated with his native city of Venice
  • He made the girls’ orchestra at the Ospedale dell Pietà (a Venetian orphanage) one of the most admired and accomplished in Europe
  • Stravinsky once described him as "a dull fellow who could compose the same form so many times over"
  • When Vivaldi died the young Joseph Haydn was one of the choirboys who sang his Requiem Mass
  • Forgotten for many years, the revival of his works during the early 1900s firmly established him as a universally popular composer
Suggestions? [different angles on this]
related by time:
Telemann biography
J S Bach biography
Domenico Scarlatti biography
related by location:
Albinoni biography
Monteverdi biography
Giovanni Gabrieli biography
Mahler profile
Stravinsky profile
related by genre:
A quick history of Baroque music
h2g2 Baroque Music
Classical Music Homepage
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Vivaldi
GOOD RECORDINGS
 A GOOD READ

The Four SeasonsThe Four Seasons
Manze, Amsterdam Baroque Orch/Koopman
Erato 4509-94811-2
Popular concertos.

GloriaGloria
Kirkby, Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood
L’Oiseau-Lyre 455727
Inspirational recording.

Juditha TriumphansJuditha Triumphans
King's Consort/King
Hyperion CDA67281/2
Wonderful period performance of oratorio.

12 Concertos Op.3 (L'estro armonico)L'Estro Armonico
Europa Galante/Biondi
Virgin Veritas VMD5 45315-2
Fleet-fingered violinist.
Robbins Landon: Vivaldi - Voice of the BaroqueVivaldi: Voice of the Baroque
by H C Robbins Landon
(Chicago UP, 1996)
Good, factual biographical exploration.

Talbot: Vivaldi - Master Musicians SeriesVivaldi: Master Musicians Series
by Michael Talbot
(Oxford UP, 2001)
Latest scholarship from Vivaldi specialist.

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