VIVALDI, Antonio Lucio
b Venice, 4 March 1676
d Vienna, 28 July 1741, aged sixty-five
Little is known of his early life; his father, a violinist, probably taught him. From the age of fifteen he trained for the priesthood, until 1703 when he was ordained. His greater interest, however, was in music, and he was casual in his priestly duties. In 1703 he began his long association with the Foundling Hospital - a girl's music school - in Venice. As maestro di violino there, and later as maestro dei concerti, he was able to extend himself musically. He spent all his time composing and travelling, playing for the Pope and having audiences with Charles VI. The 1730s show a gradual decline in his popularity; the Church and the Foundling Hospital disowned him; Charles VI, with whom he might have found employment, died in 1740. Vivaldi was buried in a pauper's grave.
1705 (c30)
p Suonate da camera a tre, Op 1
1709 (c34)
p Sonate a violino e basso per il cambala, Op 2
1712 (c37)
p Twelve concerti, L'estro armonico, Op 3 p Twelve concerti, La stravaganza, Op 4 (c1712-13)
1713 (c38)
fp Ottone in Villa, opera
1714 (c39)
fp Orlando finto pazzo, opera Moyses deus Pharaonis, oratorio
1715 (c40)
fp Nerone fatto Cesare, opera
1716 (c41)
fp Arsilda Regine di Ponto, opera Juditha trtumphans, oratorio p Six sonate: four for violin solo and bass, two for two violins and basso continuo, Op 5
p Sei concerti a cinque, Op 6 (1716-c1717)
p Sette concerti a cinque, Books I and Il, Op 7 (1716 c1717)
1717 (c42)
fp Tieteberga, opera
1718 (c43)
fp Scanderbeg, opera
1720 (c45)
fp La verita in cimento, opera
1721 (c46)
fp Siluia, opera
1722 (c47)
L'adorazione delli tre Re Magi, oratorio
1724 (c49)
fp Giustino, opera
1725 (c50)
p Il cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione, twelve concerti of which four are known as The Four Seasons, Op 8
1726 (c51)
Cunegonda, opera
1727 (c52)
Ipermestra, opera
1728 (c53)
Rosilena ed Oronta, opera p Twelve concerti, La Cetra, Op 9
1729-30 (c54-5)
p Sei concerti a flauto traverso, due violini, alto (viola), organo e violoncello, Op
10 p Sei concerti a violino principale, Op 11 p Sei concerti a violino principale, Op 12
1732 (c57)
fp La fida ninfa, opera
1733 (c58)
fp Montezuma, opera
1734 (c59)
fp L'Olimpiade, opera
1735 (c60)
fp Griselda, opera fp Aristide, opera
1736 (c61)
fp Ginevra, Principessa di Scozia, opera
1737 (c62)
fp Catone in Utica, opera
p Il pastor fido, sonates pour la musette, viele, flute, hautbois, violon avec la Basso continuo, Op 13 (c1737)
1738 (c63)
fp L'Oracolo in Messenia, opera
1739 (c64)
fp Feraspe, opera
c1740 (c65)
p Six sonate a cello e basse, Op 14
Vivaldi's total output in the concerto genre numbers over four hundred, including two hundred and twenty solo concerti, some sixty concerti ripieni, forty-eight bassoon concerti, twenty-five cello concerti, plus many works for various instruments. There are about forty-six known operas of the hundred that Vivaldi claimed to have written.