His artistic nature was a major reason for his interest in music. Vivaldi’s journey from priest to bon vivantĪfter his priestly ordination, Vivaldi blamed an asthmatic condition, which made singing at the obligatory mass more difficult, for quitting his laboriously learned profession after only one year, to seek new challenges. While his father had made it from barber to professional musician, Antonio turned to a religious career at the age of 14. However, the desire for social recognition was bigger than his enthusiasm for making music. Antonio Vivaldi knew how to handle the instrument like a virtuoso from an early age, and was able to frequently substitute for his father in the San Marco Orchestra. Of the nine children of violinist Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, only his first son Antonio inherited the musical talent of his father. Ironically, it was mainly due to his father that Vivaldi soon started writing music history as a composer. His father had actually planned a career as a chastely priest for his firstborn.Īt first, the 25 year old “good son” obeyed his family and applied for his priestly ordination. Background information on the Four Seasons and Vivaldiįrom being a genius, admired during his lifetime, to his forgotten and impoverished death far from home, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) savored all facets of a great artist’s biography.

Antonio vivaldi the four seasons