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You've got Beethoven; everyone knows about him. Then you have Bach. Who hasn't heard about Bach? Brahms, Mozart, Handel. Yeah, yeah, we remember those guys. But Vivaldi? Who's Vivaldi? I dare you to hum one of his tunes. There's no Ba-ba-ba-boom, like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, or dee-dee-dee-Dee-dee, like like Mozart's opera, the Marriage of Figaro. So why is Vivaldi so important? What are we supposed to know about this guy?

Antonio Vivaldi was a Baroque composer, but that isn't the truth. He was born during the Baroque period, he influenced Baroque composers and musicians, but his lasting legacy wasn't felt until the 20th century. You see, Vivaldi was lost. Even when the Romantic composers of the 19th century rediscovered Bach, and championed his place in the musical pantheon, they neglected Vivaldi, except for some small cases, as when Bach transcribed some of his violin work for keyboard.

The 20th century rediscovered Vivaldi's works and brought them to prominence again. And what we discovered was that this musical genius was breathtakingly novel. In a period of time when music was prized for its virtuoso flamboyance, Vivaldi's music was lyrical and playful. It's almost like Vivaldi was skipping over Bach and channeling Beethoven before that genius was born.

Rather than only spending his efforts mired in the traditional stodgy rhythms and static harmonies of his Baroque contemporaries, he continuously pressed against the envelop, experimenting with contrasting harmonies and creative themes. He was an impressive innovator, but never gave off the stink of a rebel. His music was unusually accessible in his own time, but just as accessible to 20th century audiences.

In his magnum opus, The Four Seasons, he almost creates a kind of programmatic style, a highly imaginative effort to musically illustrate concrete images and stories, which was supposedly unknown until the Romantics thought they invented it. Now, I don't want to over-state things, and I'm very afraid I did. Vivaldi is not doing what Berlioz would do later, telling a story musically, but Vivaldi certainly foreshadows that technique in several of his works.

Even though much of his work is academic and religious, Vivaldi was an innovator in creating many works that are purely popular pieces. His concerti, especially, seem almost Classical in their secular populism. The plainly tangible joy and sparkling brilliance of his chamber music is nearly Romantic, skipping over Classicism, in its effort to channel emotion. More so, even than Bach, Vivaldi is responsible for the transition of Baroque music into the Classical. Handel and Haydn may be more obviously bridges between the two musical styles, but Vivaldi is the engine that drove the change.

Vivaldi's name may not come up in water cooler discussions about classical music as often as the big dogs, but he is no chihuahua. Vivaldi has the musical muscle to stand with Bach as an important Baroque composer, but more than that, his work proves that the cliches and traditions of what constituted Baroque music are fragile things, subject to change and growth, just as all musical styles should be.

Learn more about this author, John Devera.
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