10. On the day of his birth, March 4, 1678, a large earthquake occurred in Venice.
9. He was a very talented violinist like his father.
8. #Bach was a great fan of Vivaldi’s.
7. He worked for over thirty years as a master musician at Ospedale della Pieta, a home for abandoned children, composing music for female orphans to play.
6. He became an ordained priest in 1703 and was nicknamed the Red Priest due to his natural red hair. He withdrew from his priestly duties, apparently preferring to dedicate himself to his musical obligations.
5. #Vivaldi suffered from a tightness of the chest/severe asthma throughout his life, which inhibited his speech, and even made him weak and dizzy when he spoke.
4. Nowadays, the vocal music of Vivaldi is not well-known. But in his own day he was famous for composing opera.
3. Much of Vivaldi's music that was lost or hidden is being gradually rediscovered. His flute concerto, Il Gran Mogol, was rediscovered in October 2010 in Scotland, and previously undiscovered manuscript of his opera Orlando Furioso was found in July 2012.
2. Extracts from The #Four #Seasons have appeared numerous times in popular culture. It can be heard in popular television shows such as The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy as well as films such as Halloween II, What Lies Beneath and A View to Kill.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...
1. Antonio Vivaldi's personality can be compared to the likes of Donald #Trump - cocky! He claimed he could compose a concerto in all its parts faster than it could be copied. Many of his claims, however, could not be proved.
There you have it! Today you have learned ten key points about Vivaldi, a vivacious classical music composer. To help jog your memory on whether or not you have heard of his material before, try listening to both "Spring: I. Allegro" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2cIUu-sS7w) and "Autumn: Iii. Allegro" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PapzGRO9edU) from The Four Seasons. These two tracks tend to make the most appearances across different television shows or movies as mentioned in #2 from the list above.