Antonio Vivaldi

1678 – 1741 · died at about 63^[1][2]

Music

Fun Facts About Antonio Vivaldi

• Antonio Vivaldi was an ordained priest nicknamed "The Red Priest" for his red hair, but a health problem excused him from saying public Masses.^[1]
• Vivaldi wrote many of his works for the all-female musicians of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children in Venice.^[1]
• The Four Seasons was unknown in its original edition through the Classical and Romantic periods. In 1926 researchers found lost volumes of Vivaldi's music in a monastery in Piedmont.^[1]
• Johann Sebastian Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi and transcribed six of his concertos for solo keyboard and three for organ.^[1][3][4]
• Emperor Charles VI is said to have talked more with Vivaldi in one meeting than with his ministers in two years. He died soon after Vivaldi moved to Vienna, leaving him without patronage.^[1]
• Fritz Kreisler passed off his own Concerto in C as an original Vivaldi work, and it helped revive Vivaldi's reputation in the early 20th century.^[1]
• Antonio Vivaldi was alive at the same time as Catherine the Great — their lives overlapped for 12 years (1729–1741).^[1][2][5][6]
• Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach died on the same day of the year, July 28.^[1][2][3][4]

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form, especially the solo concerto, into a widely accepted and followed idiom.^[1]

Contemporaries

Johann Sebastian Bach

56 yr overlap

George Frideric Handel

56 yr overlap

Isaac Newton

49 yr overlap

Peter the Great

47 yr overlap

Voltaire

47 yr overlap

Christopher Wren

45 yr overlap

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

38 yr overlap

Louis XIV

37 yr overlap

Benjamin Franklin

35 yr overlap

Carl Linnaeus

34 yr overlap

Leonhard Euler

34 yr overlap

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

29 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Antonio Vivaldi

When was Antonio Vivaldi born?

Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4, 1678, and died on July 28, 1741.

How old was Antonio Vivaldi at death?

Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4, 1678, and died on July 28, 1741, at age 63.

What was Antonio Vivaldi known for?

Antonio Vivaldi was known for: The Four Seasons. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form, especially the solo concerto, into a widely accepted and followed idiom.

Who was alive at the same time as Antonio Vivaldi?

Antonio Vivaldi's closest contemporary was Johann Sebastian Bach. Their lives overlapped for 56 years.