![]() Were they more than friends? It is hard to say, but why not take Vivaldi at his word?ĥ. Vivaldi trained Anna to sing and she had an excellent reputation as a singer. ![]() Further, her sister also shared the house. Though to be fair, he always insisted she was only with him as a housekeeper and friend. In 1720 Vivaldi began living with a woman, Anna Giraud. Not all found Vivaldi’s music as outstanding as many of us do today – An Italian Playwright of the time Carlo Goldoni writing in his memoirs described Vivaldi as “This priest, an excellent violinist but a mediocre composer…” Yet, to be fair, Vivaldi had his fans and patrons, and earned a decent living selling copies of his many concertos, operas, and Church works.Ĥ. The video below shows what such a setting was like, and how Vivaldi would give performances, secular and liturgical with “his ladies.”ģ. At the Ospedali della Pieta where Vivaldi worked, some of the girls stayed on well into adulthood and continued to perform there. In Venice these homes developed a reputation for fine music, as the children were trained in music from the earliest years and concerts were a way the orphanages also raised money. The noblemen funded orphanages like these to care for such children of theirs. And the residents were largely made up of “illegitimate” children of Venetian noblemen who conceived these children in their (sadly common) dalliances. The “Ospedali” where he worked was one of four well endowed orphanages in Venice, some for girls, some for boys. While this may seem an odd and unfruitful place for a composer, actually it was not. He spent most of his musical career working in an orphanage for girls. While it is hard to gauge the accuracy of the story, it is noted in some of his biographies that he would sometimes leave the altar to go into the sacristy and write down a musical idea that had come to him!Ģ. In those days, going to a seminary was often the only way a poor family had to ensure free schooling for a son. But a deeper reason may lie in the fact the he was pressured to become a priest. Most scholars think this is a reference to asthma, though there may have been other causes including heart related matters. Within a year he asked to be excused form the daily celebration of Mass, due to a “tightness of the chest,” which he complained of his whole life. However, it would seem the active priesthood did not suit Vivaldi. He was ordained in 1703 at the age of 25, in Venice. ![]() Just a few things about Vivaldi, that I’d like to share, things you may or may not know:ġ. I consider him to be an especially Catholic treasure given his large body of sacred Latin Liturgical music. It is so light, so bright and tuneful, and Vivaldi loved to go up and down the musical scale, varying the theme a half pitch at a time.Īh Vivaldi, he is right up there with Handel, Bach and Mozart. While I love his secular pieces such as the Four Seasons, I am especially found of his Church music. One of my favorite composers is Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). ![]()
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