Antonio Vivaldi's father was a professional violinist in the orchestra of the prestigious Basilica di San Marco in Venice, and Antonio proved to be a highly talented violinist himself. Indeed, his instrumental music marks one of the peaks of Italian Baroque violin composition. According to his own account, within a year of his ordination to the priesthood in 1703, Antonio Vivaldi no longer wished to celebrate mass, possibly due to physical ailments ("tightness of the chest"). It may be, however, that Vivaldi, called the "Red Priest" because of his hair color, was feigning illness-he is said to have left the altar at times in order to write down a musical idea that had suddenly come to him. In the same year as his ordination, Vivaldi was appointed maestro di violino at the Ospedale della Pietà, one of the Venetian girls' "orphanages." (This "hospital" was in fact a home for the illegitimate daughters of noblemen and their numerous mistresses, which is reputed to have housed as many as 6,000 girls; it was generously endowed by the girls' "anonymous" fathers; the young ladies were well cared-for; and musical training was a central part of the curriculum. Many of Vivaldi's hundreds of concerti were exercises that he would play with his talented students.) He was associated with the Pietà, usually as music director, until 1740, teaching violin, composing oratorios and concertos for weekly concerts, and establishing a shining reputation both at home and abroad. During the years in which he composed operas (1713-1739), the Venetian theaters staged more works of Vivaldi's than of any other composer, and he also traveled to Rome, Mantua, and elsewhere to supervise his operas' performances. About 1740 he took a position at the court of Emperor Charles VI in Vienna, where he died.

Vivaldi was a composer who was both unbelievably speedy (he is said to have completed the opera Tito Manlio in five days, and he prided himself on being able to write a concerto faster than a copyist could write it out) and incredibly prolific (approximately 500 concertos exist, as well as 23 sinfonias, 75 solo or trio sonatas, 49 operas, about 40 cantatas, some 50 motets, and many oratorios). Although he is known today for only a few instrumental works (chiefly the cycle of violin concerti known as the Four Seasons), Vivaldi's influence is clearly evident in the forms of later Baroque music, notably in the original compositions of Bach and his German contemporaries, and also in Bach's transcriptions for harpsichord and organ of Vivaldi's concerti. Indeed, Vivaldi was one of the most significant figures in the transition from late Baroque to early Classical style because of the economy of his writing for string orchestra, his theatrical conception of the role of the instrumental soloist; the conciseness of his themes, the grace and clarity of his forms, the driving energy of his rhythms, the continuity of the flow of his musical ideas, and his emphasis on the sonic contrasts and tensions between soloists and larger ensembles. 

The Gloria, a joyful hymn of praise and worship, is part of the Roman Catholic Mass. Its opening phrases have their origins in the song, recorded in St. Luke's account of Christ's birth, that the angels sang to the shepherds. Between 1713 and 1719, Vivaldi kept the Ospedale della Pietà well supplied with sacred music, and this setting of the Gloria, one of two which he composed in D major, is probably among the earliest of these works. It is divided into twelve relatively brief movements contrasting in mood, musical texture, and instrumental and vocal color, yet still coherent in overall musical structure.

Gloria in excelsis Deo
The first movement of Vivaldi's best-known sacred work opens with octave leaps and repeated patterns of notes that establish the triumphant key of D major and set a mood of pomp, grandeur, and anticipation. Trumpet and oboe add regal color to the orchestral palette, and the declamatory entries of the chorus maintain rhythmic momentum.

Et in terra pax hominibus
The tonality changes to B minor in this meditative movement, which features a gently throbbing string accompaniment to the chorus coupled with poignant chromaticism.

Laudamus te
In this joyful G-major duet, a recurring instrumental refrain separates the vocal sections. At first the voices imitate each other and then they join to sing together in thirds.

Gratias agimus tibi
In this six-measure chordal section in E minor, the chorus repeats its solemn thanks to God.

Propter magnam gloriam
God's great glory is praised fugally by the chorus in the key of E minor established by the previous movement.

Domine Deus
A long, lilting soprano solo in C major and 12/8 time, interwoven with an equally lovely instrumental countermelody, played by oboe or violin, together depict God not only as the Almighty King of Heaven but also as a tender and loving Father.

Domine Fili unigenite
This choral movement, in triple meter and F major, features dotted rhythms and the textural contrast of pairs of vocal parts alternating with four-part harmony.

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei
In this D-minor movement, the alto soloist's descending lines, accompanied by continuo, stand in contrast with the chordal petitions of the choir and orchestra for mercy.

Qui tollis peccata mundi
In this binary A-minor chorus, Vivaldi sets a somber mood through the use of chromaticism and of ever-shorter phrases in triple meter that build rhythmic urgency as the chorus implores the one who takes away the sins of the world to hear its prayer.

Qui sedes ad dexteram
Despite its lively 3/8 meter, this B-minor movement maintains the same grave mood as the preceding two penitential movements as strings and continuo accompany the alto soloist.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus
The D-major thematic material of the first movement, including its opening oscillating octaves, returns in this section to balance the formal structure of the entire work.

Cum Sancto Spiritu
With this well-crafted D-major double fugue (a fugue based on two independent themes), the chorus concludes the work on a suitably celebratory note. The music of this movement, which appears with slight modifications in Vivaldi's other Gloria (RV 588), is an adaptation of a fugue from a 1708 Gloria written by the obscure Italian opera composer Giovanni Maria Ruggieri, a fugue that might have remained unknown had Vivaldi not borrowed it.

© 2002 Lorelette Knowles