Antonio Lucio Vivaldi Antonio Vivaldi, also known as the Red Priest, was a Baroque music composer. Not only was he a composer, he was expert violinist. Being born on March 4th, 1678 in Venice, Italy, he grew up being a priest in mind. He was then ordained in 1703 obtaining the name “Red Priest” because he had red hair. After his priesting days, he became a violin teacher at an orphanage for girls named Pio Ospedale della Pieta. After writing a little while teaching, he began to see his true potential and so did the people around him. In 1713 he decided to take leave off of the orphanage and play at his first opera in Vicenza named Ottone in villa. Up-starting his career he traveled around composing operas, cantatas and concert music. After countless operas, cantatas and concerts, Vivaldi has reached a magnificent goal of becoming a famous composer.
Before Vivaldi decided to become a composer, he was studying to become a priest. He began at the age of 15. In 1703 he was ordained as a priest, also obtaining the name “Red Priest”. It was said that Vivaldi had an asthma condition. Wearing the priest uniform squeezed his chest making it very hard for him to breathe. About a year into being a priest, he had to quit because of his asthma condition. Moving on, Vivaldi picked up a violin and practiced that. He played at the orphanage for girls named Pio Ospedale della Pieta. Constantly playing there, he was appointed to be a violin teacher. He taught the young girls there from 1703 to 1709.
In 1713, Vivaldi had taken time off from Pio Ospedale della Pieta to play at his first opera in Vicenza. While still playing in the orphanage, Vivaldi created up to 12 concertos. He used these at the orphanage to give the girls an exercise to practice. At the age of 25, Vivaldi had developed many concertos. Vivaldi also wrote a lot of operas and only about 50 of them are remaining today in our time. Two of his operas that were considered his most famous were La Constanza Trionfante and Farnace. He played these two operas throughout his whole life of composing.
Between 1716 and 1717, Vivaldi was reaching a peak of his work. He became a music director. Vivaldi moved to Mantua and also traveled to Rome for a few years. There, he was able to develop a famous piece known to many people across the world known as “The Four Seasons”. Not only developing The Four Seasons, he created many more operas, cantatas and concert music pieces. He returned to Venice planning to teach his new works to the orphanage he started at. He was able to get his students to perform some of his famous works. Even royal families became fans of Vivaldi’s famous works of operas, cantatas and concert music pieces. His music shaped the evolution of Baroque music in his time with more of an Italian touch to it.
Vivaldi was becoming a huge sensation. His music was being played globally. Eight of his concertos moved slowly from Venice to Florence. His works also were played in Amsterdam and France and moved along with him when he traveled to Austria. His makings of concerto music never seemed to have stopped. People even began to make variations of some of his operas, cantatas and concert music pieces. He traveled to Prague with his father and found a Venetian opera company. Between 1724 and 1734 he staged over 60 operas in the theater of Count Franz Anton von Sporck. He ended up going back to Venice, but a year later, in 1732 he went back to Mantua to stage even more of his works. After that he only focused on operas. Years later in 1740 he finally resigns from Pio Ospedale della Pieta and just a year later he died on July 28, 1741. His plan was to move to Vienna and live under Charles VI, but his life was cut short.
Vivaldi was a very successful man in his time, developing many operas, cantatas and concert music pieces. He influenced the Baroque period with his Italian twist. His development of The Four Seasons, became a worldwide known piece people know of today. Over 500 Vivaldi concertos still exists today, as well as 40 cantatas, 22 operas, and more than 60 sacred works. Even going through this oncoming fame, The Red Priest never lost his roots to Pio Ospedale della Pieta, the orphange where all of his works began.

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