Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer born in 1678 in Venice. He was also a talented violin player and a priest. People called him the Red Priest because of his bright red hair. His most famous work is The Four Seasons, four violin concertos that paint pictures of spring, summer, autumn, and winter using music. Vivaldi wrote over 500 concertos and helped make the concerto one of the most important forms of music.

The Four Seasons

The Four Seasons is one of the most popular pieces of classical music ever written. Each of the four concertos represents a season. Spring sounds like birds singing and flowers blooming. Summer has a thunderstorm with fast, exciting violin playing. Autumn sounds like a harvest celebration. Winter makes you feel cold winds and crackling ice. Vivaldi even wrote little poems describing what each part of the music was about.

The Red Priest

Vivaldi had bright red hair, which was unusual in Italy. He became a priest but spent most of his time teaching music to orphan girls at a special school in Venice. The girls' orchestra became one of the best in Europe, and people traveled from far away to hear them play. Vivaldi wrote hundreds of concertos, operas, and church pieces. His music was forgotten after he died but was rediscovered in the 1900s.

Fun Facts

• Vivaldi wrote over 500 concertos during his lifetime, more than most composers write in several lifetimes.
• He was called the Red Priest because he had bright red hair and was an ordained Catholic priest.
• The girls' orchestra Vivaldi taught at an orphanage in Venice was considered one of the finest in all of Europe.

Did You Know?

Vivaldi's music was almost completely forgotten for 200 years until scholars rediscovered boxes of his old manuscripts in the 1900s!