Although Vivaldi remained with the Ospedale through virtually his entire life, his music became known throughout Europe. He also composed some 40 operas, not for the school, but for public performance in Venice.

Vivaldi wrote over 500 instrumental concertos and sacred choral works. Under his tenure, the Ospedale’s choir and orchestra built a strong reputation. He proved himself to be indispensable to the school, and was given the position of maestro di concerti in 1716. Vivaldi was tasked with composing new works for every major church feast, as well as teaching music and voice, and instructing the girls to play various instruments. Starting as a teacher in 1703, Vivaldi had as his pupils the girls at the Ospedale, for whom music was a key part of their curriculum. Vivaldi spent most of his career at a single institution – the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for the illegitimate children of Venetian noblemen and courtiers. At the age of 15, he began to study for the priesthood, and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1703. He studied music as a child with his father, a violinist. NICHOLAS McGEGAN, MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATEīorn in 1678, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi is closely associated with his native city of Venice.VALÉRIE SAINTE-AGATHE, CHORALE DIRECTOR.SPECIAL EVENT: Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula.*NEW!* Coffee & Cake: Bach’s Brandenburgs.It’s a score brimming with life and – in a great performance – it can just about make you forget its ubiquity as elevator and telephone hold music. There’s a reason why this music is so popular and performed by so many violinists: Vivaldi paints his scenes vividly to depict birdsong, thunderstorms, a galloping hunt, slipping on the ice. The violin concertos known as The Four Seasons are part of a collection of 12 works published under the title Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione ( The Contest Between Harmony and Invention). Throw in some choral works and one discovers a composer of infinite variety far beyond the narrow lens of The Four Seasons – although, almost inevitably, that’s where we begin our Vivaldi journey. Any staged Vivaldi opera is still considered a rarity, but the number of recordings available has grown in the past few decades, opening our ears to some great music.

Vivaldi was a prolific opera composer too, writing about twice the number of Handel, yet many are lost or unperformed.

Vivaldi most famous works