Friday, July 28, 2023

It is the 28th of July 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

A little irony I’d like to note: last weekend, on the Weekend Edition, I told the story of the faith and life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach. And on that show, the intro comes from his contemporary Antonio Vivaldi. On this daily show, we use Bach as intro music, and today, I will be telling you the story of Antonio Vivaldi. But wait, there’s more: Bach and Vivaldi both died on this the 28th of July, only years apart. And while Bach rightly is credited for his work in both secular and sacred music, Vivaldi was as, if not more, involved in the church, having been ordained a priest and spent most of his life in service to the poor and disadvantaged in his hometown of Venice.

Vivaldi was born in 1678 in the Republic of Venice. We know little of his growing up except that his father was a violinist at the St. Mark’s Cathedral and was likely Antonio’s first teacher.

He received a theological education and was set to enter the priesthood. He was ordained in 1703. But he only celebrated one mass- it is a curious incident that has received a lot of attention. Why did he stop performing the mass but didn’t give up his orders? Later in life, he wrote that he was struck with a tightness in his chest when he performed the sacred duty- it seems he was struck with a kind of holy dread. Nevertheless, in that same year, his skills as a violinist landed him a job as a violin teacher at the Ospedale della Pietà. This was a home for many of the city’s abandoned children- Venice was, in this time, something analogous to Las Vegas. Many wealthy Europeans would travel to the city for the sites, and local destitute women would turn to prostitution. The abandoned girls could be sent to the Pieta to be trained in music. Vivaldi would spend the rest of his life at different parts, teaching at the school and serving as its headmaster and primary composer.

He worked on music for the church. His Gloria in D major from 1708 is likely his most famous work. In 1711 His music was picked up by a publisher in the Netherlands who published it across Europe (this is how Bach came across him and borrowed from him).

In 1713 he caused something of a stir when he composed his first opera- this was a kin to a modern Classical musician making music for a Marvel movie- it was secular and vulgar. But it was popular, and he came under the patronage of the prince of Hessen- Darmstadt.

Traveling and performing with his singers brought more controversy as he was a priest living with two women- and though there is no evidence that anything untoward took place, it hurt his reputation.  

With his work in Venice less popular, he accepted an invitation to work in Vienna under the Holy Roman Emperor, but upon coming to Vienna, the emperor died, and Vivaldi was without work. He would die a broke and broken man. His music, Baroque- of which he may have been the most technically astute was falling out of favor. X Classical music- the more subtle and emotionally expressive style of orchestral music championed by the likes of Mozart and Beethoven displaced the likes of Vivaldi and Bach. And while Bach was championed by Mendelssohn in the next century, it wasn’t until the 20th century that Vivaldi was rediscovered and celebrated, rightly for his genius in both the sacred and secular forms. Check out his Gloria (RV 589) for the best of his sacred work, and you might very well be familiar with his most famous secular piece: the Four Seasons.  

The Red Headed priest, a giant in his (albeit dying) musical genre and teacher of abandoned girls at the Pieta Antonio Vivaldi, was 63 when he died on the 28th of July in 1741.

  

The last word for today comes from- changing things up from Frederick Lehman- from the hymn “The Love of God."

The love of God is greater far

than tongue or pen can ever tell;

it goes beyond the highest star,

and reaches to the lowest hell.

The wand'ring child is reconciled

by God's beloved Son.

The aching soul again made whole,

and priceless pardon won.

 

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

and were the skies of parchment made;

were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,

and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;

to write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry;

nor could the scroll contain the whole,

though stretched from sky to sky.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 28th of July 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Antonios include Vivaldi, Banderas, creator of the Bossa Nova Carlos Jobim, and the Anteater from Animal Crossing- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who heard Four Seasons. Here we have 2 and a half at most. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.