Vivaldi Church Venice and the Red Priest

Why Vivaldi was called the Red Priest

The nickname is literal. Antonio Vivaldi was a Catholic priest, and he had red hair, a trait that ran in his family. He began studying for the priesthood in 1693, at 15, and was ordained in 1703, at 25. He was soon nicknamed il Prete Rosso, since rosso is Italian for red. A health problem got him a dispensation from saying public Masses. One recorded symptom, strettezza di petto or tightness of the chest, has been read as a form of asthma. He kept the title and put his working life into music.

The Ospedale della Pietà, his workplace

The Pietà was one of four Venetian ospedali, charitable homes for children who were abandoned, orphaned or whose families couldn't support them, funded by the Republic. Infants could be left through the scaffetta, a window just large enough for a baby. Boys learned a trade and left at 15. Girls received a musical education, and the most talented stayed on in the orchestra and choir. Vivaldi joined in September 1703 as maestro di violino, the violin master. The board voted on every teacher each year, and in 1709 it voted 7 to 6 against him. It recalled him unanimously in 1711.

• 1703: violin master
• 1704: viola all'inglese teacher as well
• 1716: maestro de' concerti, in charge of all the music
• 1723 to 1733: paid for 140 concertos

The orchestra behind the grille

The Pietà's musicians were known as the figlie di coro, and its orchestra counted up to sixty players, all of them female. They often performed for select audiences of important visitors, separated from them by a metal grille, as in a convent. Vivaldi wrote concertos, cantatas and more than 60 sacred works for them. In 1716 his oratorio Juditha triumphans was sung entirely by girls of the Pietà, the male roles included. Some became famous in their own right, such as the violinist Chiara della Pietà and Anna Maria della Pietà, one of his favourite pupils.

Which church is the real Vivaldi church?

The Pietà, also called Santa Maria della Visitazione, on the Riva degli Schiavoni. Vivaldi worked at the Ospedale, whose chapel was an earlier church. It stood to the right of the one you see now and has since gone. Giorgio Massari designed the present church, built from 1745 to 1760. Vivaldi died in Vienna in 1741, so he never played inside it. The original Ospedale building is now part of the Hotel Metropole complex. A plaque on the church says tradition credits its acoustics to Vivaldi's advice. Tradition is the plaque's own word for it.

• Vivaldi's Pietà: the Ospedale and its old chapel, on and off from 1703 to 1740
• Today's church: built 1745 to 1760, facade finished in 1906
• The Four Seasons concerts are held in today's church

Inside the Pietà

The interior is oval. Along the side walls run two galleries fronted by wrought-iron grilles. In Vivaldi's day, the Pietà's musicians performed for visitors from behind grilles like these. Look up for Giambattista Tiepolo's ceiling frescoes: Strength and Peace above the entrance, the Triumph of Faith over the choir, and the Theological Virtues over the presbytery, painted in 1754 and 1755. The altarpiece of the Visitation was begun by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and finished after his death by his pupil Giuseppe Angeli.

San Vidal: a different church, a different ensemble

San Vidal is the other church whose concerts are often sold as Vivaldi nights. It's a former church at one end of Campo Santo Stefano, near the Accademia bridge, now deconsecrated and used for concerts by the chamber group Interpreti Veneziani. Its own history runs through Doge Vitale Falier, who founded a church here in 1084, and the composer Baldassare Galuppi, who is buried there. We found nothing tying the building to Vivaldi. The Vivaldi link belongs to the Pietà. Either way, Carpaccio's 1514 altarpiece of San Vidal on horseback is worth a look.

Read next: Venice Vivaldi concerts: how to choose, and why the venue matters

San Giovanni in Bragora, where his life began

For the start of the story, go to San Giovanni in Bragora, a church in the same Castello district. Vivaldi was born on 4 March 1678, and the register of San Giovanni in Bragora records his birth. It's remembered as his baptismal church. Strictly, the midwife baptised him at home straight after the birth, probably because he was frail, and the missing ceremonies followed two months later. His family is thought to have lived close to the church at the time. Its present look dates from a renovation of 1475 to 1505, and it holds Cima da Conegliano's Baptism of Christ, painted in 1492.

Where the Four Seasons was written

You might assume the Four Seasons was written for the Pietà's musicians, but the evidence points elsewhere. The four concertos were probably composed around 1718 to 1723, while Vivaldi was court chapel master in Mantua, although one scholar dates them as early as 1716 to 1717. They were printed in Amsterdam in 1725 by Michel-Charles Le Cène, as the first four of twelve concertos in Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, his Opus 8. Each came with a sonnet, possibly by Vivaldi himself. All four together take about 40 to 43 minutes to play. It's still Venetian music, played beside the place he worked.

Read next: The Four Seasons: A Listener's Guide

The Four Seasons concert at the Pietà

The concert we link to is held in the Church of the Pietà, Santa Maria della Visitazione, not San Vidal. The Vivaldi Baroque Ensemble plays the Four Seasons live, and your ticket covers entry to the church and the performance. The provider is More Than Web s.r.l., and you meet at the church itself. Arrive about 45 minutes before the start to find good seating, and dress as you would for a church. Photography isn't allowed during the performance, with or without flash, and neither is audio recording. Pets, smoking, food and drinks aren't allowed. Check the start time for your date when you book. You can cancel for a full refund up to 24 hours ahead, or reserve now and pay later.

Getting to the Pietà

The church stands on the Riva degli Schiavoni, the waterfront in the Castello district that runs from the Ponte della Paglia, beside the Doge's Palace, along the San Marco basin. If you come by waterbus, the San Zaccaria stop is on the same waterfront. The old orphanage stood beside the church, on Calle della Pietà. On the outside of the church, look for a plaque from 1548. It threatens curses and excommunication on parents who abandoned their children at the Pietà when they had the means to raise them.

Who this isn't for

If you want to stand exactly where Vivaldi played, no building offers that: his chapel is gone, and the present church came after him. If you hate queuing, note that good seats go to early arrivals, so plan on about 45 minutes' wait. If you want photos or video of the music, you can't take them during the performance. If you're hoping for his sacred choral music, the programme here is the Four Seasons. If you'd rather hear another ensemble, Interpreti Veneziani at San Vidal is a fair alternative, without the Vivaldi link.