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Gloria (Vivaldi) Antonio Vivaldi wrote at least three Gloria compositions, settings of the hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo, with words probably dating back to the 4th century, and an integral part of the mass ordinary. Two of them have survived: RV 588 and RV 589.
The Gloria itself is a joyful hymn of praise and worship divided into 12 relatively brief movements, ranging from festive brilliance to profound sadness. Yet it’s a mark of Vivaldi’s skill that the work overall maintains a cohesive structure.
Often known simply as the Vivaldi Gloria, the enduring piece isn't Vivaldi's only setting of the religious text: he's known to have written at least three. Only two survive, but it's not confirmed which one was written first.
Vivaldi ended up being responsible for sacred vocal composition at the Pietà until around 1718, despite being a violinist and an instrumental composer. An additional Gloria, RV 588 (fated to be known as “the other Gloria,” thanks to the popularity of RV 589) is almost identical to 589; Vivaldi was a big self-borrower.
Vivaldi’s Gloria received its first performance in modern times in September 1939 in Siena, Italy. After Vivaldi’s death in 1741 the work had been forgotten for 200 years. The performance took place as part of the first “Settimana Musicale Senese” (“Sienese musical week”) in September 1939, when several other works by Vivaldi were ...
The host of pioneering concertos he wrote – for the Ospedale della Pietà, the famous Venice orphanage for girls and women, and then for wealthy music lovers throughout Europe – formed his day job, as it were, and opera was his chief distraction from it.
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi composed this Gloria in Venice, probably in 1715, for the choir of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls (or more probably a home, generously endowed by the girls' "anonymous" fathers, for the illegitimate daughters of Venetian noblemen and their mistresses).
