La Stravaganza - Antonio Vivaldi, The Red Priest

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- Concerto No. 2 in E Minor, RV279 Allegro. - Sculpture, 'Dornauszieher' (1879-86) by Gustav Eberlein.

- 🎼 Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist & impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators & admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique & programatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form into a widely accepted & followed idiom, which was paramount in the development of Johann Sebastian Bach's instrumental music.

Vivaldi composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin & a variety of other musical instruments, as well as sacred choral works & more than 50 operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as the Four Seasons. Many of his compositions were written for the all-female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children. Vivaldi began studying for the priesthood at the age of 15 & was ordained at 25, but was given dispensation to no longer say public Masses due to a health problem.

Vivaldi also had some success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua & Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for royal support. However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival, & Vivaldi himself died in poverty less than a year later. After almost 2 centuries of decline, Vivaldi's musical reputation underwent a revival in the early 20th c. with much scholarly research devoted to his work. Many of his compositions, once thought lost, have been rediscovered – in one case as recently as 2006. His music remains widely popular in the present day & is regularly played all over the world...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi