VIVALDI, ANTONIO. - Musician b. in Venice perhaps in 1675, d. in Vienna in 1741.
He studied music first with his father, a good violinist of the ducal chapel of St. Mark's, then with Legrenzi. Ordained a priest on 20 March 1703, in September he was called to the chair of violin at the musical Seminary, known as the Conservatory, of the Ospitale della Pietà, the most esteemed artistic center of the city. Confirmed in 1711 and 1713, in 1715 he replaced Gasparini, director of the choir. Little information is available about the following period; in 1739 he was again in Venice and in the summer of 1741 in Vienna, where he died.
Among his vast instrumental output for violin and his operatic output, the sacred part had been the most affected by oblivion, because of the lack of sources, which have now come to light thanks to the gift made to the National Library of Turin, by the Foà and Giordano families who owned them, of the seven precious manuscript volumes containing numerous sacred compositions by A. V. Among them should be noted the Stabat Mater "for solo alto," a "motet" delicately restrained and highly lyrical for soprano and strings, the Credo in four choral parts, organ and orchestra, of strongly dramatic coloring and solid contrapuntal construction; the Gloria in 11 parts for 2 sopranos, alto, choir and instruments, where Vivaldi's art reaches heights never before seen. Alongside the works of a religious character must be placed Juditha triumphans, Sacrum militare oratorium, which, since it lacks the character of the historian, is substantially a sacred melodrama on a Latin text, where the figure of Judith is depicted with powerful dramatic intensity and with noble sweetness.
Bibliography3 works
Luisa Cervelli