VIVALDI, ANTONIO. – Musician, born in Venice, perhaps in 1675; died in Vienna in 1741.
He studied music first with his father, a good violinist in the ducal chapel of S. Marco, and later with Legrenzi. Ordained a priest on 20 March 1703, in September he was appointed to the chair of violin at the musical seminary, known as the Conservatory, of the Ospitale della Pietà, the city’s most prestigious artistic centre. Confirmed in 1711 and 1713, in 1715 he replaced Gasparini as choir director. Little information is available about the following period; in 1739 he was once again in Venice, and in the summer of 1741 in Vienna, where he died.
Among his vast instrumental, violinistic, and operatic output, the sacred works had been most seriously affected by oblivion, owing to the lack of sources. They have now come to light again thanks to the donation made to the National Library of Turin by the Foà and Giordano families, who owned the seven precious manuscript volumes containing numerous sacred compositions by A. V. Among them, particular mention should be made of the Stabat Mater «ad alto solo»; a delicately restrained and highly lyrical «motet» for soprano and strings; the Credo for four-part choir, organ, and orchestra, with a strongly dramatic colour and solid contrapuntal construction; and the Gloria in 11 sections for 2 sopranos, contralto, choir, and instruments, in which Vivaldian art reaches heights never attained before. Alongside the religious works must be placed Juditha triumphans, Sacrum militare oratorium, which, since it does not contain the historical character, is essentially a sacred melodrama on a Latin text, in which the figure of Judith is portrayed with powerful dramatic intensity and noble sweetness.