It was his father, Gianbattista Vivaldi, a violinist himself, who introduced him to the world of music when he was a child. In 1704, when Antonio was 25 years old, he was ordained a priest but never left his true vocation of music. In this same year, he started working at the "Ospedale della Pietà", a conservatory for orphan girls, where he worked as a music director until 1740. These young girls sang and played with every instrument, made music their main occupation and had the best masters so their performances were therefore famous all over Europe. In addition to dedicating his time to teaching, he composed a large part of his work during this period, including his best known work: The Four Seasons (1723). It is truly a pity that we do not really know that much about Vivaldi's life – his life events are very poorly covered by historical material and biographies had not been written at his time. However what we do possess are records which exhibit numerous travels all around Europe, as well as his earnings. "The Red Priest", as he was also known because of the colour of his hair, spent a good part of his life composing works for the nobility and Royal Houses throughout Europe. Between 1718 and 1724 he was living in Mantua and Rome, and in the following years in numerous European cities, especially in Germany and the Netherlands. There he both worked as a violinist and as an impresario of his own operas, recruiting singers, directing rehearsals, and controlling the takings.
In that period he was requested by the major European courts and the publication of his many scores made him quite rich. It is this period in his life in which he gained his maximum celebrity. When he came back to Venice, he composed the collection of concerts entitled "Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Invenzione" of which his most famous work is part of: "Le quattro stagioni".
After these times of prosperity his late stay in Vienna was crowned by the sympathy of the emperor Charles VI. But after the death of the emperor in 1740 which resulted in the war of the Austrian Succession Antonio Vivaldiwas left without an income and the theaters were closed. He stayed in Vienna and even had to sell his last manuscripts and died one year later, poor and lonely due to an intestinal inflammation.
Le Quattro Stagioni
This opera earned in a very short time a great success all over Europe. When you listen to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, you can hear the sounds of nature played as they alternate from season to season. If we focus on the choice of tonalities, we have the brightness of E major (Spring), the sweetness and melancholy of G minor (Summer), the rustic character of F major (Autumn) and the desolation of F minor (Winter). The richness and harmonic research with which Vivaldi obtains the typical sounds and textures of every season is beyond impressive. It is interesting to note that each season is preceded by an explanatory sonnet in Italian and it is assumed that they might have been written by Vivaldi himself.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons: 1) Spring
Birdsong; a shepherd resting with his dog; the dance of spring.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons: 2) Summer
An approaching summer storm; a frightened shepherd; the violence of the storm.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons: 3) Autumn
The season of Bacchus: the grape harvest; the intoxication given by the wine; and then the hunt.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons: 4) Winter
An icy wind rages; slow-falling rain; serenity in the face of winter's harshness.
