Francesco Gasparini – musician and writer

Opera composer who gave Vivaldi a job

Francesco Gasparini, captured in a
caricature by Pier Leone Ghezzi

Francesco Gasparini, one of the great Baroque composers, whose works were performed all over Europe, was born on this day in 1661 in Camaiore near Lucca in Tuscany.

Gasparini also worked as a music teacher and was musical director of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice for about 15 years, where he made the inspired decision to employ a 25-year-old Antonio Vivaldi as a violin master.

By the age of 17, Gasparini was a member of the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna. He moved to Rome, where he studied under the musicians Arcangelo Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini. His first important opera, Roderico, was produced there in 1694.

After arriving in Venice in 1702, he became one of the leading composers in the city. He wrote the first opera to use the story of Hamlet - Ambleto - in 1705, although he did not base the work on Shakespeare’s play.

Gasparini was appointed musical director of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage in Venice where young girls received a musical education. The most talented pupils stayed on to become members of the Ospedale’s orchestra and choir.

Listen: Excerpt from Gasparini's "Amore e Ombre"



He engaged the services of Antonio Vivaldi in 1703 to teach the violin. Vivaldi, who had been taught to play the violin to a high level by his father, composed most of his major works while working there over the next 30 years.

Gasparini hired Antonio Vivaldi to teach violin
at the Ospedale della Pietà, in Venice

Gasparini’s Missa canonica, written in Venice in 1705 for four voices, became known to Johann Sebastian Bach, who copied it out in 1740 and, after adding parts for strings and wind instruments, performed it in churches in Leipzig.

While in Venice, Gasparini also taught the Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello and wrote a treatise on the harpsichord, published in 1708, which continued to be reprinted for more than 100 years and was used in Italy well into the 19th century.

Gasparini was the leading composer for the theatre in Venice, having written 23 operas and 15 oratorios by the time he left the city.

After his return to Rome in about 1720, he was maestro di cappello in two churches and taught the Neapolitan composer Domenico Scarlatti. He also taught counterpoint to the German flautist and composer Johann Joachim Quantz.

In his day, Gasparini was the principal composer of the Italian operas presented in London. His last important work, Tigrane, was produced in Rome in 1724.

The composer died in Rome in 1727, aged 66.

Piazza Principale, the main square in Camaiore

Travel tip:

Camaiore, the birthplace of Francesco Gasparini, is a city within the province of Lucca in Tuscany. It derives its name from the time it was a large Roman encampment, Campus Major, and an important station along the Via Cassia. It has two Romanesque churches, the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta and the Church of Santi Giovanni e Stefano as well as a Benedictine Abbey, Badia di San Pietro, that dates back to the eighth century.

Camaiore hotels by Booking.com

The church of La Pietà, also known as Santa
Maria della Visitazione, in Venice

Travel tip:

The Church of La Pietà, or Santa Maria della Visitazione, on Riva degli Schiavoni facing the lagoon in Venice, dates back to the 15th century. It started its life as a foundling home for orphans. After Gasparini was appointed musical director there, he employed Vivaldi to teach the violin and they both composed music for the orchestra and choir. The church is now a regular venue for music concerts.

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More reading:

How Vivaldi enjoyed success but died a pauper

Why composer Antonio Salieri was haunted by rumours surrounding the death of rival Mozart

The lost operas of Tomaso Albinoni

Also on this day:

1923: The birth of cartoonist Benito Jacovitti

1943: The birth of former prime minister Mario Monti



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Antonio Vivaldi – Baroque composer

The success and the sadness in the life of musical priest 

A portrait of Antonio Vivaldi painted by an
anonymous artist in around 1723

Violinist, teacher, composer and cleric Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born on this day in Venice in 1678.

Widely recognised as one of the greatest Baroque composers, he had an enormous influence on music throughout Europe during his own lifetime.

His best-known work is a series of beautiful violin concertos called The Four Seasons.

Vivaldi was a prolific composer who enjoyed a lot of success when his career was at its height.

As well as instrumental concertos he composed many sacred choral works and more than 40 operas.

Vivaldi’s father taught him to play the violin when he was very young and he became a brilliant performer. At the age of 15 he began studying to be a priest and he was ordained at the age of 25. He soon became nicknamed ‘Il Prete Rosso’, the red priest, because of his red hair.

He became master of violin at the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage in Venice, and composed most of his works while working there during the next 30 years.

The orphaned girls received a musical education and the most talented pupils stayed on to become members of the Ospedale’s orchestra or choir. Vivaldi wrote concertos, cantatas and sacred vocal music for them to perform.

Listen to Vivaldi's 'Summer' concerto from The Four Seasons, performed by the Italian chamber orchestra I Musici

His first opera was produced in Vicenza in 1713 and he was invited to Mantua to be director of music for the city’s governor in 1718.

At the height of his career, Vivaldi received commissions from European nobility and royalty. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI he moved to Vienna with the intention of staging some of his operas there. But Charles VI died shortly after his arrival, leaving the composer with no income or royal protection.

Vivaldi became impoverished and died in 1741 following an infection. He was given the equivalent of a pauper’s funeral in Vienna.

The Church of La Pietà. Photo:
Didier Descouens (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Travel tip:

Vivaldi was baptised by the midwife immediately after his birth at his family’s home in the Castello district of Venice. His official church baptism took place two months later at the simple Gothic-style Church of San Giovanni Battista in Bragora in Campo Bandiera e Moro in Castello.

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Travel tip:

The Church of La Pietà, or Santa Maria della Visitazione, on Riva degli Schiavoni facing the lagoon, dates back to the 15th century. It started its life as a foundling home for orphans. From 1703 till 1740 Vivaldi directed the Pietà’s musical groups and composed music for the orchestra and choir. The church is now a regular venue for concerts featuring Vivaldi’s music. 

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More reading:

How Giovanni Gabrieli inspired the spread of the Baroque music style

Tomaso Albinoni, Venetian who composed a famously haunting adagio

Francesco Gasparini, the musical director who took Vivaldi on at the Ospedale della Pietà

Also on this day:

1848: The first Italian Constitution is agreed

1943: The birth of singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla

Selected books:

The Vivaldi Compendium, by Michael Talbot

Vivaldi: Red Priest of Venice, by Susan Adams


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