By: Alexis Fallin
Antonio Vivaldi born in Venice on
March 4th, 1678.
Father: Giovanni Battista
Vivaldi
And
Mother: Camilla Calicchio
Vivaldi had five siblings:
Margarita Gabriela, Cecilia
Maria, Bonaventura
Tomaso,.Zanetta Anna, and
Francesco Gaetano
3 Types of Compositions
1
Twelve sonatas for two
violins and basso
continuo
1705
2
Twelve sonatas for violin
and basso continuo
1709
3
L'estro Armonico
(Harmonic Inspiration),
twelve concertos for
various combinations.
Best known concerti are
no. 6 in A minor for
violin, no. 8 in A minor
for two violins and no. 10
in B minor for four
violins
1711
4
La stravaganza (The
Extraordinary), twelve
violin concertos
. The
solo concerto, however,
has remained a vital musical
force from its inception to this
day.
Video and Song/Spring
 http://youtu.be/SUf5v0VySw0
Given the difficulties of travel and communication two
centuries ago, it might easily be assumed that composers
would know relatively little of other composers and other
countries. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Travel by
stage-coach may have been lengthy, and probably only for
the well-to-do. But the many post-coach monuments still to
be found in Germany, with their journey timings between
towns precise down to one-eighth of an hour attest to the
high degree of organization and reliability in this mode of
travel. Music-making was highly prized by many of the
princely and kingly courts, and leading musicians would
often be financed for their journeys to bring back the latest
styles and compositions. During the first half of the 1700s,
German music adopted the Italian forms of the concerto and
sonata, and with them, much of the Italian baroque
"vocabulary" together with the latest Italian compositions
.