Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 28 July 1741
- Vivaldi arrived in Vienna just before his death. It seems that he hoped for employment at the court of Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg, the father of Maria Theresa. A memorial service for Vivaldi was held at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, just like for Mozart 50 years later.
On this day in 1741, the famous Italian musician Antonio Vivaldi died.
He belonged to the Baroque period in music history and today is best known for his series The Four Seasons (Italian: Le quattro stagioni). This set of four violin concertos is today one of the most performed and most popular of all baroque musical repertoire.
It is particularly interesting that Antonio Vivaldi was ordained a priest of the Catholic Church. Due to the red color of his hair, he was also called “The Red Priest” (Italian: il Prete Rosso).
Vivaldi was born in Venice, where he spent most of his life. However, it is interesting that he did not die in Venice, but in Vienna, where he arrived just before his death. It seems that he hoped for employment at the court of Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg, the father of Maria Theresa.
However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi’s arrival. The composer, apparently, lost his job, became impoverished, and soon died.
A memorial service for Vivaldi was held at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, just like for Mozart 50 years later. Vivaldi was buried near the St. Charles’s Church (Karlskirche) in Vienna.
