Vivaldi was an Italian composer and violinist--the most influential of his age.
     Vivaldi was born Venice, Italy and was trained by his father, a violinist at Saint Mark's Cathedral.  Ordained a priest in 1703, Vivaldi began teaching that year at the Ospedale della Pietà, a conservatory for orphaned girls.  He was associated with the Pietà, usually as music director, until 1740, training the students, composing concertos and oratorios for weekly concerts, and meanwhile establishing an international reputation.  From 1713 on, Vivaldi was also active as an opera composer and producer in Venice and traveled to Rome, Mantua (Mantova), and elsewhere to oversee performances of his operas.  In about 1740 he accepted a position at the court of Emperor Charles VI in Vienna.  He died in Vienna on July 28, 1741.
     Vivaldi's works include more than 500 concertos and over 70 sonatas; about 45 operas; and religious music, including the oratorio Juditha Triumphans (1716), the Gloria in D (1708), and masses.  His most famous and somewhat younger contemporary, J. S. Bach, studied Vivaldi's work during his formative years, and some of Vivaldi's violin concertos and sonatas exist only as transcriptions, mostly for harpsichord, made by Bach.

Well Known Works:

• Four Season