Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4th, 1678. Though ordained a priest in 1703, according to his own account, within a year of being ordained Vivaldi no longer wished to celebrate mass because of physical complaints ("tightness of the chest") which pointed to angina pectoris, asthmatic bronchitis, or a nervous disorder. It is also possible that Vivaldi was simulating illness - there is a story that he sometimes left the altar in order to quickly jot down a musical idea in the sacristy.... In any event he had become a priest against his own will, perhaps because in his day training for the priesthood was often the only possible way for a poor family to obtain free schooling.
Though he wrote many fine and memorable concertos, such as the Four Seasons and the Opus 3 for example, he also wrote many works which sound like five-finger exercises for students. And this is precisely what they were. Vivaldi was employed for most of his working life by the Ospedale della Pietà. Often termed an "orphanage", this Ospedale was in fact a home for the female offspring of noblemen and their numerous dalliances with their mistresses. The Ospedale was thus well endowed by the "anonymous" fathers; its furnishings bordered on the opulent, the young ladies were well looked-after, and the musical standards among the highest in Venice. Many of Vivaldi's concerti were indeed exercises which he would play with his many talented pupils.
Vivaldi's relationship with the Ospedale began right after his ordination in 1703, when he was named as violin teacher there. Until 1709, Vivaldi's appointment was renewed every year and again after 1711. Between 1709 and 1711 Vivaldi was not attached to the Ospedale. Perhaps in this period he was already working for the Teatro Sant' Angelo, an opera theater. He also remained active as a composer - in 1711 twelve concertos he had written were published in Amsterdam by the music publisher Estienne Roger under the title l'Estro armonico (Harmonic Inspiration).
In 1713, Vivaldi was given a month's leave from the Ospedale della Pietà in order to stage his first opera, Ottone in villa, in Vicenza. In the 1713-4 season he was once again attached to the Teatro Sant' Angelo, where he produced an opera by the composer Giovanni Alberto Rostori (1692-1753).
As far as his theatrical activities were concerned, the end of 1716 was a high point for Vivaldi.
Journalist Jon Krakauer reassembles the fact of life of a young man who leaves his family and society to find true himself. Krakauer intends to reveal Christopher McCandless’s character and nature by interacting people who influenced him. The more people were attached to him, get to know more about him in depth; those who know him from outside often refered him as careless. In the book Into the Wild Krakauer presents McCandless as modest and caring person whereas other may see him as thoughtless.
Antonio Vivaldi born on March 4th 1678, which was the Baroque music style. In 1678 not only was it the baroque period it was also the years just after the Renaissance. 1670s was part of the Age of Abolitionism. The Age of Absolutism was the age when European monarchs struggled to centralize their power. And in Britain the English Civil war and the glorious revolution happened a few years prior to Vivaldi's life. In Russia, Peter the Great and Catherine the great were reforming Europe and trying to improve it. Antonio lived until July 28th 1741, in his life the enlightenment happened, it was the age of reason, philosophy, and age of new music. Great music and composers came out of this era, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Bach, Frederic Chopin, George Handel, Wolfgang Mozart and many more composers. Also under this time ballets and operas became popular to the public. This was the time of the application of the Renaissance. Antonio Vivaldi had an interesting life during this time period, his childhood, his outstanding music and unique style, and influence were special for this time.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, belonging is a human requirement only topped by mental homeostasis and safety. Human relationships have dictated the role of history, from cooperating to solve worldwide problems, to the establishment of globalization. However, human beings are intrinsically gregarious. The survival of humanity depends on reproduction. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, he recounts the psychological journey the Jews in the Holocaust took. Often regarded as a stain in humankind’s legacy, the Holocaust was a genocide, enforced by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, in which six million Jews were systematically murdered. Throughout the memoir, an emphasis is placed on the mental effects the
What was Krakauer thinking when he was talking about Chris McCandless? In the Alaskan wilderness, Peter Christian has described numerous young men who acted and ventured there similar to McCandless. If there are people who had ventured and faced death in the Alaskan wilderness just like McCandless, would Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” be different in regards to quality and character if Krakauer had used any other individual as the main character of his book? Based on how Krakauer wrote his book, Chris McCandless had an interesting story of his travels as told by Krakauer. Despite being an enigmatic and intellectual, however, McCandless shows that he is merely another young adult who had made bad decisions.
Claudio Monteverdi was born on May 15, 1567, in Cremona Italy, Monteverdi was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and the Early Baroque, and is known as the first great composer of the operas. Monteverdi is often view as a composer of the Renaissance and of the Baroque, there is a similar pattern in that is continuous that is often viewed through his work in both styles. Monteverdi often was known as a dramatic composer, while bringing a tremendous meaning from the text he set that often turned each of his pieces into a believable musical and also produced a dramatic statement.
disappearing for 2 years, McCandless was found dead at age twenty-four in the Alaskan wilderness, the world stunned on why an affluent young man with a bright future would give it all up to live in seclusion in the wilderness. In his book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer theorizes the motivations of McCandless and why a seemingly sane person would take such dangerous risks. Krakauer’s major theories of why McCandless did what he did revolve around a singular idea: freedom. Krakauer uses McCandless’s change of identity and wilderness adventures to symbolize freedom and self expression. McCandless was previously burdened by the expectations his parents put on him to
McLuhan included a quote written backwards that requires the reader to look in a mirror in order to read it (53-54), as well as a passage written upside down (55-56). Unlike most books, particularly the ones that are mandatory to read in school, this one isn’t tedious. It’s engaging, almost as McLuhan affirms television to be. Although, what makes the book different from others at this time is its use of visuals; there is some sort of graphic on every page. Most times there is no explanation for a photograph, we have to ask ourselves, “Why did he include this particular photo? What is he trying to tell us?” For example, on page 129 we see a black and white photograph of the Carver theatre in Birmingham, Alabama, and above the marquee reads, “Suspense! Excitement! Susan Hayward’s ‘Back Street’ and ‘Damn the Defiant.’” At first, this might seem like a photograph of the matinee of the day, but on the next page we see the picture in its entirety. The Carver theater becomes the background, and in the foreground is a black woman being apprehended by white police officers (130). “Damn the defiant,” the officers must be thinking, exemplifying the mood of the photograph perfectly. What McLuhan demonstrates on these two pages is that while “seeing is believing,” we can’t always trust with our eyes when others control what we do and do not see. This happens today with various news stations. Some are more liberal
...ts of fever and general ill-health. And in his last ten years in Vienna, the constant need to write commissioned work - for he was the first of the composing freelances, with no regular patrons or court salaries - had worn him down to the point where one bout of fever was sure to finish him off. In July he'd had the anonymous commission to write a Requiem for the Dead; but that had been progressing slowly, because he'd been busy with two operas - La Clemenza di Tito and The Magic Flute - and two cantatas at the same time. Thirty-five years of artistic, social and personal pressure was taking its toll.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was a composer during the Italian Renaissance. He was firstly a composer of sacred music, having composed more than 300 motets, 105 masses, 72 hymns and many more works of a sacred variety. Giovanni was born in his namesake city, Palestrina, a city near Rome. He studied the European style of polyphony under Robin Mallapert and Firmin Lebel in Rome. He spent ten years as the organist for the cathedral of St. Agapito in Palestrina, where he published his first compositions which made such an impression on Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, later to be known as Pope Julius III that the Pope promoted him to music director of the Jullian Chapel. After his time at St. Agapito, he spent the rest of his life in Rome
I can say with absolute certainty that I have always been intrigued by and totally enamored with cultures that were different from my own. I believe this is because I fancy myself to be an imaginative dreamer that has always wished for changes to take place in the world so that it may one day become the way it was supposed to be when the creator of the universe imagined it all those centuries ago.
Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4, 1678, in Venice, Italy, in a time period called the Baroque era, which is between Renaissance and Classical eras. You can imagine Baroque as a memorable era, where people embraced their romance of music and arts. If you had visited Venice at Baroque time, you would have found yourself surrounded with thriving music. Musical institutions, orchestras, and concerti flourished everywhere. Music pieces from Baroque are not as “religious” as those of Renaissance, but are not as hued as those of Classical. You probably would recognize Vivaldi’s most famous concerto – “Four Seasons”. This piece is usually played in documentaries, movies, or in an authentic café. “Four Seasons” consists of four parts, which are “Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter.” Each part pairs with a sonnet (poem), which reflects different stories. The best way to listen to these concerti, if you are not able to attend a live concert, is to use your headphone, which enables you to concentrate and read what Vivaldi was trying to tell.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
In John Cheever’s, “The Swimmer”, on a hot summer Sunday ,while sitting by the pool with his wife and neighbors, as they all complained about their hangovers, a man of higher status named Needy Merrill decides to get home by swimming through the pools in his county. When Needy first starts off his journey he feels young and enthusiastic; he is then greeted in a joyous manner by his neighborhood friends. Apparently, Needy is a well-known and respected man. As his journey progresses he starts seeing red and orange leaves; he then realizes that it was fall. In the middle of his journey he starts to endure some turmoil, but he does not let that stop his journey. As his journey ends, Needy starts to come encounter with some people who constantly mention his misfortune and struggle with his family. Needy does not remember any of the turmoil that had been going on in his life, and starts to wonder if his memory is failing him. Towards the end, many of the people that came encounter with treated him rudely. Needy realizes that something must have went wrong in his life. When Needy arrives home, he sees that his house is empty and that his family is gone. In “The Swimmer “, John Cheever uses setting to symbolize the meaning of the story.
Vivaldi's music is particularly innovative as he gave brightness to the formal and the rhythmic structure of concertos. He repeatedly looked for harmonic contrasts, creating innovative melodies and themes. Vivaldi’ main goal was to create a musical piece meant to be appreciated by the wide public, and not only by an intellectual minority. The joyful appearance of his music reveals a transmittable joy of composing. These are among the causes of the vast popularity of his music. This popularity soon made him famous also in countries like France, at the time very closed into its national schemes. He is considered one of the authors that brought Baroque music to evolve into an impressionist style.
Ludwig Van Beethoven also known as Beethoven was an extraordinary composer known by many. Beethoven was born around December 16, 1770 and died March 26, 1887. In his fifty seven years of life he was able to become a famous composer of classical music. His life may not have been long in our standards, but he had career highlights, music compositions, personal life, and his death.