...Vivaldi Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4th, 1678, in Venice, Italy. His father, a barber and a talented violinist at Saint Mark's Cathedral himself, had sparked interest in music in young Antonio. He helped him in making a decision of taking on a career in music. He encouraged and made him enter the Cappella di San Marco orchestra, where he soon became a highly appreciated violinist (Wikipedia). In 1703 Vivaldi became a priest known by the nickname "The Red Priest", because of his red hair. He was not interested in priesthood and the only reason for joining was his financial situation. That was was the only possible way for his poor family to receive free schooling. Nevertheless, very soon, in 1704, he was pardoned from celebrating the Holy Mass because of his bad health. Later, he became a violin teacher at an orphanage for girls called Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. The orphans soon started to gain appreciation and esteem as Vivaldi wrote most of his concertos, cantata, and sacred music for them. In 1705 the first collection of his works was published. He was a prolific composer producing over 500 concertos, 46 Operas, symphonies, 73 sonatas, chamber music, and sacred music. His most famous work is believed to be the Four Seasons (Wikipedia). Vivaldi's music is especially innovative since he added brightness to the very formal and rhythmic structure of concertos. He constantly searched for harmonic contrasts, creating innovative melodies and themes. Vivaldi’ ultimate...
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...Antonio Lucio Vivaldi Birth: Antonio Vivaldi had been born on March the 4th, 1678. He was baptized immediately after birth Early Adult Years: Antonio Vivaldi was made a priest in 1703. But, according to him, a year later after becoming a priest, he no longer wanted to celebrate Mass due to complaints like “tightness of chest”. This may have been genuine or fake. It may have been genuine, in which case, the illness was probably asthma. It may have been faked due to his greater love of music, so he could spend more time writing it and jotting ideas down instead of celebrating mass. Anyways, Antonio Vivaldi became a clergyman against his own will. He probably became one in the first place because in his days, that was usually the only way a poor family (in Vivaldi’s case, his family and himself) could get free education. He did remain a priest though, even if he did not do all the Mass because of his poor health and asthma. Antonio Vivaldi wrote many great and fantastic musical pieces that earned him a great reputation as a musician, such as Opus 3 and the Four Seasons. But he also wrote lots more small pieces, rather like 5 finger exercises and warm-ups for a beginner, amateur, or student. And this is what they were. Vivaldi worked for the Ospedale Della Pieta for most of the time. An Ospedale is normally termed an orphanage. But this Ospedale was a little different. It was a home for the female children of noblemen, rich men, merchants, wealthy men, etc. and their numerous...
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...Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Vivaldi was one of the leading musicians of the Baroque period. He was a classical composer and musician. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born March 4, 1678 in Venice, Italy to Giovanni Battista Vivaldi and Camilla Calicchio. He was the oldest of five children. Giovanni was a barber who later became a professional violinist. It was Antonio’s father who taught him to play the violin and together they toured Venice and were even noted as one of Venice’s main tourist attractions. When Vivaldi was around 14 or 15 he began the study of priesthood; in the 1600s, this was a common way for a poor family to get a free education for their child. Vivaldi was ordained on March 23, 1703 at the age of 25. He was known as the ‘Red Priest’ because of his red hair. Vivaldi worked at an orphanage which was called the Ospedale della Pieta (Hospice of Mercy) as the maestro di violin This was an all-girls orphanage, which was for the illegitimate daughters of Venice’s noblemen and the school was dedicated to the education and care of young women. The musical standards at Ospedale were among the highest in Venice and Vivaldi served as the music director. At Ospedale, every month he would write two concerti for the girls’ choir to perform, these accounted for the large variety of the music Vivaldi wrote. These concerti were often quite difficult, and the girls of the Ospedale choir must have possessed a great amount of talent to perform them. Several of Vivaldi’s students...
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...Antonio Vivaldi, the composer I chose was known as a virtuoso violinist, teacher and composer. He composed multitudes of concertos during the Baroque period of music. The term Baroque is applied to one of the most diverse and riches periods in Western European music history which lasted from approximately 1600 until 1750. Antonio Vivaldi was first introduced to me during car rides with my mother. She played Vivaldi The Four Seasons frequently and from there my love of the violin began. I never researched his life however, so this paper has been very interesting to me. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678. He is known as a Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. He was one of nine children. His father, Giovanni Battista, who was a barber and a professional violinist taught him how to play. Together they toured Venice, playing their violins. Through his father, Vivaldi met and learned from some of the best musicians and composers in Venice at the time. Although he attempted various instruments, he was not as successful at learning wind instruments due to a chronic shortness of breath. This health issue will play a large role in his future....
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...Monteverdi came around at the end of the Renaissance period leading into the Baroque period, all the way back in the 17th century. Meanwhile, Vivaldi would not come around till the 18th century, much later into the Baroque period. Monteverdi’s writing focused around only vocal pieces, most of which were operas. His first Opera he published, Orfeo, is what really got Monteverdi’s name out there. After his big success from Orfeo, he went on to publish his second Opera, L’Arianna. Monteverdi was very well known for capturing expression and feelings within his compositions. Vivaldi also wrote an opera of his own, called Ottone in villa. Vivaldi, just like Monteverdi, also wrote many vocal pieces. However, the difference is between them, that Vivaldi...
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...of a beautiful spring day. The concerto begins in allegro and slows down and picks up again as if it is telling a story of spring. What I like most about the Four Seasons’ Spring is that I feel refreshed, renewed, everything that spring represents. After listening to all four of the concertos, I was able to relate to each season through the music. I also enjoy jazz music and I can sit and listen to the instruments and they sometimes sound like words that speak to your soul and spirit, soothing and refreshing, creating a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the day. Sayre, H. (2012). The Baroque in Italy. In The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change (Vol. 2, pp. 697-698). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Four Seasons ~ Vivaldi. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8,...
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...Listening Journal 1: Spring The historical piece that I listened to was Spring from The Four Seasons II and III. This piece was composed by one of the most famous composers; Antonio Vivaldi. Vivaldi was a Venetian composer who used various techniques to tell a story within his music. Some of these techniques included a change in tempo to showcase different moods or changes in the atmosphere, and poems to tell along with the music for a better, and more detailed understanding of what was taking place. The Four Seasons was a collection of four different violin solos, also known as concertos. These solos were performed by violinists and each solo illustrated the four seasons; Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. When listening to the Spring...
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...Vivaldi’s violin concerto The Four Seasons (1725) is an excellent example of the music of the Baroque era. The Baroque era was a time of artistic revolution. Virtuosic concertos, especially for stringed instruments like the violin, were great examples of this. Antonio Vivaldi was known for his work on such pieces - his most well known set of concertos is considered The Four Seasons. During the baroque era, it was quite common for musical pieces to tell stories, or invoke specific emotions, also known as ‘program music.’ It was intended to tell a story, and Vivaldi became a legend in the style. The Four Seasons does this wonderfully. In fact, there were sonnets that go along with the piece, describing each season. The piece titled Summer,...
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...In a Tempest of Thoughts The advent of spring is a harbinger in unveiling the conundrum of the seasonal fiesta of nature. It is more like an epiphany-- a small phase by itself but together with its predecessors, reveals the grand design of the entirety of the seasonal cycle. The rhapsodies of emanation of new lives and the bursting of lilacs to their fullest of blooms, the gleaming sunshine and the vibrant sonata of the birds; cumulatively seek to quench the thirsty heart of a love-sucked hart like me! Who, in this unfolding of the symphony of spring, is such an imbecile as not to be enraptured by the wizardry of “Two Tramps in Mud time” by Robert Frost, or not to be enthralled by the pensive T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”, or not to be enamoured by the soft baritone of Nat King Cole’s “Love is an April rose that grows in the early spring”? In this Arcadian backdrop, I was listening to Vivaldi’s seminal composition, “Four Seasons”. The classical concertos, each brilliantly portraying the four essential seasons, “Spring”, “Summer”, “Fall” and “Winter”. As I was ruminating on the opening notes of the piece on “Spring”, I felt that I have been greeted coldly by the winter of despair more often than that of the spring of hope. Was I being unnecessarily cynical? Could it be that I was cocooned in a cobweb of an overblown sense of self-importance so much so that I had turned pretty petulant at the herald of any misfortune...
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...Vivaldi's Spring Concerto (within the “Four Seasons” set) is comprised of three movements, from allegro to largo and back to allegro. The first movement ends at roughly 3 minutes 15 seconds, followed by the second movement ending at about 5 minutes 35 seconds, and the third movement concluding the concerto at 9 minutes and 12 seconds. It is a violin concerto that has a tutti made up of multiple violins, violas, cellos, bass and harpsichord. From the first movement to the last it starts with a fairly basic ritornello form (excepting the free form of the second movement), falling back to the main theme every so often in repetition and carrying what is generally a homophonic texture. The dynamics are highly contrasting based upon the depth of the major/minor key. As the portion of the piece falls into either chord primarily, be it major or minor, it tends to increase in dynamics, boosting the intensity and directly influencing the mood. During the transition, there seems to be somewhat of a fall in dynamics, with a clever drop at certain points to inherently draw the focus of the listener, along with various crescendos and decrescendos leading up to and trailing away from roughly the mid-point and end of each movement. The beat varies throughout all three movements, typically quicker in the first and the last and more subdued and slowed in the second....
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...Water Music. Handel is considered a great in music because of the will he had for playing music and writing it too, I believe that handel is and should be always considered one of the greats. Antonio Vivaldi Was born on the 4th of March 1678, he was born in Venice Italy. He was a Baroque Italian Composer, and an expert at the violin. VIvaldi is widely known for his Instrumental Concertos. When Vivaldi was born he was immediately baptized into the Catholic church by the midwife, and his official Baptism was two months later. Only one of Vivaldi’s siblings was musically talented, he played the violin, he tutored Vivaldi on how to play the violin, and people believe that, that was the way Vivaldi learned to love the violin. Vivaldi’s first music piece was Letatus, written by him at the age of 13 years old. Over his whole life, Vivaldi always had some health problems, like a form of asthma. Then in 1693 when he was 15 he studied to become a priest, he then was ordained at the age of 25 in 1703, his nickname was the red priest, red referring to the color of his hair. When Vivaldi was grossing in his career, in 1703 he decided to be a teacher at a orphan girls school, Vivaldi taught at this school for twelve years then finsihing in 1715. Then later in his peak in his career,Vivaldi died in his sleep from an “internal infection” on July 28 1741. Vivaldi’s four most famous compositions would first would be, The Four Seasons, Second would be, Gloria, third would be, Bajazet, fourth...
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...Review of Handel and Vivaldi Fireworks Handel and Vivaldi Fireworks is a tale of two Baroque cities—London and Venice, performed by Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra and Philippe Jaroussky. The orchestra and the countertenor together presented a fantastic show including several great pieces of music composed by Handel and Vivaldi from great dramas. Their suggestive facial expressions and body movements were visible in the concert, which fully conveyed their feelings to the audience, implying that they put their heart and soul into interpreting the music rather than just singing or playing the tones and notes. In the first part of the concert, Philippe showed his stunning coloratura in Con’l a li di costanza. He always had a smile on his face with his body slightly forward while singing this opera selection. What is more, when he sang to the climax, he held up his hands. Instead of singing with his voice, Philippe sang with every part of his body. He was fully immersed in the music and he might didn’t notice that he had these gestures. Joy took the form of the notes and his body language. Without knowing the lyrics of this song, the audience could still feel the happiness in the music through Philippe’s actions. Both his astonishing singing technique and his expressions enraptured the audience by the bright music. Not only Philippe, but the whole orchestra explained the music with affluent body actions. Unlike some other orchestras where musicians sit motionlessly...
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...Baroque Music Period “Baroque music expresses order, the fundamental order of the universe. Yet it is always lively and tuneful. Follow the development of music through this brief outline, from the earliest times to the present day, with baroque music set in historical context.” The style of polyphonic music containing elaborate ornamentation and contrasting elements, that is how Baroque music is defined. The Baroque era in music is not a set style in music but many diverse styles which may be broken down into at least three distinct periods. A renewed interest in art and music was experienced throughout the Renaissance which then led to the Baroque era which was more of a transitional stage leading up to the maturity of classical music in the Classical era which began as Baroque ended. Many people believe that the word baroque came from two different places. Some believe that it came from the word barocco, which is Italian and means bizarre or strange. Others believe that it is Portuguese and it came from the word barroco meaning distorted or irregularly shaped pearl. The barroco was considered more beautiful because of its uniqueness. Either way the name stuck. Instrumental music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras were called sonatas, concertos, and sinfonias interchangeably. The order and shape of their movements were often very similar. Works that used between five and seven violins with contino were often called sonatas and concertos, though they were more often...
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...styles of music. Music contrast is very important to the drama of baroque music. The different instruments, solos and ensembles, and the difference of soft and loud music all played major roles in baroque music. The baroque music period is described in three sections, early, mid, and late. Early ba-roque (1600-1640) brought us many great musicians such as Monteverdi, Bach, and Vivaldi. Composers of the early baroque period thought the idea of music was better illustrated by using a main melody. The composers of this period performed music with a new found freedom. The mid-baroque period was from 1640 to 1690. During this period the new found music moved from Italy throughout Europe. Compositions were written for certain instruments. Violins were the most popular instrument of this period. The late baroque period (1690-1750) brought about the baroque music we hear today. For the first time during the baroque period instruments were as important as vocal music. This period had many great composers such as Claudio Monteverdi, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederic Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi. Claudio Monteverdi was from Italy. He was one of the most important composers of the early baroque period. He worked at the Court of Mantua. He was a singer, violinist, and later became a music director. Monteverdi created the masterpiece Orfeo. He got little respect or pay although he was a well-known composer in Mantua. His lifestyle improved after he became the music director...
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...Hildegard von Bingen Hildegard von Bingen was known for her many works in history. She is also known as Saint Hildegard. I am researching her as a composer but she was not just a composer, she was very multitalented. Hildegard von Bingen was a scientist, philosopher, and a theologian. She was a very smart woman that really wanted to experience many things to expand her mind. Hildegard von Bingen was a German woman born in 1098 in Bermersheim, Germany. As tradition in those parts of Germany when a family has their tenth child, that child will be given to God. So this meant that Hildegard was the tenth child and she will be brought up into the church. So Hildegard von Bingen manly experienced the working of the Christian lifestyle. Hildegard von Bingen was a woman whose musical work sparked minds of others. She was so remarkably different than any other female composer in the medieval era. She gained much experience while being part of the Divine office which she sang. She had many music forms that she used as a composer. Hildegard von Bingen used antiphons, responsories, sequences, and hymns. Hildegard von Bidgen was well known and will never be forgotten as a musical composer. She was laid to rest in 1179 but she still lives on in her musical work. Fierro, N. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN: SYMOHONY OF THE HARMONY OF HEAVEN. 1997. 05 Novmeber 2012 <http://www.hildegard.org/music/music.html>. "Hildegard of Bingen." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2012. Encyclopedia...
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