How long did antonio vivaldi live

Vivaldi was very productive in vocal and instrumental music, sacred and secular nonreligious. According to the latest research, he composed over seven hundred pieces—ranging from sonatas instrumental compositions usually with three or four movements and operas musical dramas consisting of vocal and instrumental pieces to concertos musical compositions for one or two vocal performers set against a full orchestra.

Today the vocal music of Vivaldi is little known. But in his own day he was famous and successful as an opera composer. Vivaldi was also one of the great eighteenth century violin virtuosos, or musicians with superb ability. This virtuosity is reflected in his music, which made new demands on Antonio Vivaldi.

Reproduced by permission of Archive Photos, Inc. In his instrumental works he naturally favored the violin. He wrote the majority of his sonatas for one or two violins and thorough-bass.

Of his concertos, are for solo violin and orchestra. Other concertos are for a variety of solo instruments, including the flute, the clarinet, the trumpet, and the mandolin. He also wrote concertos for several solo instruments, concerti grossi, and concertos for full orchestra. The concerto grosso features a small group of solo players, set against the full orchestra. The concerto for orchestra features differences of style rather than differences of instruments.

Vivaldi's concertos are generally in three movements, arranged in the order of fast, slow, fast. The two outer movements are in the same key; the middle movement is in the same key or in a closely related key. Within movements, the music proceeds on the principle of alternation: passages for the solo instrument s alternate with passages for the full orchestra.

The solo instrument may extend the material played by the orchestra, or it may play quite different material of its own. In either case, the alternation between soloist and orchestra builds up a tension that can be very dramatic. The orchestra in Vivaldi's time was different, of course, from a modern one in its size and constitution.

Although winds were sometimes called for, strings constituted the main body of players. In a Vivaldi concerto, the orchestra is essentially a string orchestra, with one or two harpsichords or organs to play the thorough-bass.

Some of Vivaldi's concertos are pieces of program music, for they give musical descriptions of events or natural scenes. The Seasons, for instance, consists of four concertos representing the four seasons. Each concerto depicts a scene appropriate for each season and is accompanied by a written description.

The musical compositions of Vivaldi total concertos, 90 sonatas, 46 operas and a large body of sacred choral works and chamber music. Vivaldi was commissioned to create music for European nobility and royalty.

The well recognized Cantata ; Gloria , was written for the celebration of the marriage of Louis XV in Additional pieces were written for the birth of the French royal princesses and Vivaldi was given the title of knight from Emperor Charles VI of Vienna.

Vivaldi relocated to Vienna at the invitation of Charles VI who died shortly after, leaving Vivaldi with no one to support him. However, because his music had not kept up with the times, he was forced to sell off his compositions in order to live. Unfortunately, Vivaldi died a pauper and was given a simple burial. The master musician was not even afforded music at his own funeral, only the peeling of bells at St. Interestingly, the young composer Joseph Haydn , employed at the cathedral, had nothing to do with this burial since no music was performed.

His complete catalogue of music was not fully realized until A large collection of manuscripts were discovered in a boarding school in the Piedmont, diligently researched and procured by Dr. Alberto Gentili, a music historian at the University of Turin. World War II stopped the momentum of the Vivaldi renaissance with burned out warehouses and printing presses.

He paired the pieces with four sonnets, which he may have written himself. Vivaldi's fans and patrons included members of European royal families.

Vivaldi's renown as a composer and musician in early life did not translate into lasting financial success. Eclipsed by younger composers and more modern styles, Vivaldi left Venice for Vienna, Austria, possibly hoping to find a position in the imperial court located there. He found himself without a prominent patron following the death of Charles VI, however, and died in poverty in Vienna on July 28, He was buried in a simple grave after a funeral service that proceeded without music.

Musicians and scholars revived Vivaldi's music in the early 20th century, during which time many of the composer's unknown works were recovered from obscurity.

Alfredo Casella, a composer and pianist, organized the Vivaldi Week revival in The choral composition Gloria , re-introduced to the public at Casella's Vivaldi Week, is particularly famous and is performed regularly at Christmas celebrations worldwide. Vivaldi's work, including nearly concertos, have influenced subsequent composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach.

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Over the course of his symphonies, Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn became the principal architect of the classical style of music. A prolific artist, Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart created a string of operas, concertos, symphonies and sonatas that profoundly shaped classical music.