Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741)

Life
• Born in Venice, Italy.
• Violinist virtuoso.
• Composer of instrumental, sacred, and vocal music.
• Developed the concerto.
• Started his musical journey in his childhood.
• Became a priest in 1703.
• Violin master at Ospedale della Pietà.
• Earliest musical compositions date from his first years at the Pietà (1705,
1709)
• His career and fame declined by the end of his life.
• Died in Vienna, 1741.

Famous works
• L’estro armónico (harmonic inspiration), Op 3
• La starvaganza, Op. 4
• Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (the contest of harmony and
invention), Op. 8
• La cetra, Op. 9

Influence and innovation

• Vivaldi perfected the concerto form in its three movements: Fast – Slow –
Fast, for one or more soloists and orchestra, which became a standard in
classical music, and influenced future composers such as Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven and on.
• The ritornello (little return): Is a refrain or a musical idea played, repeated,
modified over the course of the movement by the orchestra. Vivaldi was the
first to employ the ritornello form regularly in his concerti.
The Four Seasons
“The four seasons” represents the first four of 12 violin concerti entitled Il cimento
dell’armonia e dell’inventione (the contest of harmony and invention), written
between 1723 and 1725, for violin solo, strings, and basso continuo, based on four
sonnets of unknown authorship which tell stories about each season. Vivaldi
described musically the ideas of these sonnets in narrative manner.

• Concerto No. 1 in E major, "La primavera" (Spring), RV 269

• Concerto No. 2 in G minor, "L'estate" (Summer), RV 315
• Concerto No. 3 in F major, "L'autunno" (Autumn), RV 293
• Concerto No. 4 in F minor, "L'inverno" (Winter), RV 297