He died at the age of 63 in July 1741 in Vienna, where he was buried in a pauper’s grave.

In large part because of the scandals that dogged his name, Vivaldi was effectively exiled from Venice, the city he loved so well. Many people in high places-especially the Red Priest’s fellow clerics-were very unhappy with this arrangement. She became his favorite prima donna and, along with her older sister, traveled with Vivaldi throughout the rest of his stormy career as an opera impresario. When he was 46, the Red Priest sponsored the operatic debut of a young contralto of questionable virtuosity named Anna Girò. On the side, Vivaldi wrote and produced operas, winning riches and accolades but always walking along the edge of a financial precipice. In 1716, he was given the title of Maestro de’ Concerti and resident composer, producing a prodigious body of both choral and instrumental works that kept the foundling home-through its highly touted public performances-financially afloat. He was the lead teacher for violin and viola all’inglese for the famed orchestra of the Pietà, teaching the best performers-among them, Anna Maria-who would, in their turn, teach others according to his methods. His association with the Pietà lasted, with various ups and downs, for 37 years. (Then, as now, it was difficult for professional musicians to get by without a day job!) In 1703, at the age of 25, Vivaldi was anointed as a priest and, later that same year, appointed violin master to the foundling girl musicians at the Ospedale della Pietà.īecause of his flaming red hair, Vivaldi came to be known as il Prete Rosso (the Red Priest).

At the age of 15, young Antonio began his training for the priesthood, despite-or perhaps because of-his extraordinary aptitude as a violinist. Antonio Vivaldi, the Red Priest of VeniceĪntonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678, the eldest child of a violinist who was also, by trade, a barber.

Vivaldi red priest