Prior to these, he had disseminated a number of concertos in manuscript form. His first opera, Ottone in villa, was premiered in Vicenza in He also wrote for theatres in Venice and Mantua, where the Habsburg governor, Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt, was a famous music lover. Vivaldi remained in Mantua for two years from , writing cantatas and serenatas for the court.
Here he composed more operas under the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni. Further opera work took him back to Venice, where he was involved with the Teatro San Angelo from to From , he visited Vienna and Prague, trying with mixed success to stage his operas in those cities.
He hoped to become composer to the Imperial court in Vienna. But the death of Emperor Charles VI in left him without even a prospective patron.
Vivaldi died in poverty the following year. Among the works he left, the most significant are his concertos, about in all. 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 Teuzzone and Tito Manlio followed. On the score of the latter are the words: "music by Vivaldi, made in 5 days. In Antonio 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.
Antonio 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 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 '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 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 A. Corelli and Scarlatti. Other composers, too, such as Geminiani and Georg Frideric Handel worked in Rome for periods of time.
Like them, Vivaldi profited from the favorable cultural climate in the city. His presence was never required. He also remained director of the Teatro Sant' Angelo, as he did in the , 7 and 8 seasons.
Between and some eight operas were premiered in Venice and Florence. Abbot Conti wrote of his contemporary, Vivaldi: "In less than three months Vivaldi has composed three operas, two for Venice and a third for Florence; the last has given something of a boost to the name of the theater of that city and he has earned a great deal of money.
In the publication Il Cimento dell' Armenia e dell'invenzione The trial of harmony and invention , Op. Vivaldi transformed the tradition of descriptive music into a typically Italian musical style with its unmistakable timbre in which the strings play a major role.
These concertos were enormously successful, particularly in France. In the second half of the 18 th century there even appeared some remarkable adaptations of the Spring concerto: Michel Corrette based his motet Laudate Dominum de coelis of on this concerto and, in , Jean-Jacques Rousseau reworked it into a version for solo flute. He also received several commissions from European royalty. In the last days of his life, Vivaldi received astounding praise and recognition from Emperor Charles VI.
Antonio Vivaldi died on 28 July The cause of his death was unclear, though most historians state that it was his asthma that took his life. He left behind a remarkable legacy that was visible in his Baroque works, one that would inspire future greats such as Johann Sebastian Bach. Home About List Blog Contact. Antonio Vivaldi. Famous Composers A.
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