Editing Antonio Vivaldi (section)

===Youth===
His father, Giovanni Battista, was a barber before becoming a professional violinist and was one of the founders of the {{lang|it|Sovvegno dei musicisti di Santa Cecilia}}, an association of musicians.{{sfn|Talbot|1978|p=36}} He taught Antonio to play the violin and then toured Venice, playing the violin with his young son. Antonio was probably taught at an early age, judging by the extensive musical knowledge he had acquired by the age of 24, when he started working at the {{lang|it|Ospedale della Pietà}}.{{sfn|Heller|1997|p=41}}

The president of the {{lang|it|sovvegno}} was [[Giovanni Legrenzi]], an early Baroque composer and the {{lang|it|maestro di cappella}} at [[St Mark's Basilica]]. It is possible that Legrenzi gave the young Antonio his first lessons in composition. Vivaldi's father may have been a composer himself: in 1689, an opera titled {{lang|it|La Fedeltà sfortunata}} was composed by a Giovanni Battista Rossi—the name under which Vivaldi's father had joined the Sovvegno di Santa Cecilia.{{sfn|Heller|1997|p=40}}

In 1693, at the age of fifteen, he began studying to become a [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]].{{sfn|Landon|1996|p=16}} He was ordained in 1703, aged 25, and was soon nicknamed {{lang|it|il Prete Rosso}}, "The Red Priest";{{sfn|Pincherle|1957|p=16}} {{lang|it|[[Wikt:rosso|Rosso]]}} is Italian for "red" and would have referred to the color of his hair, a family trait.{{refn|In 1704, a year after his ordination, he was given a dispensation from celebrating [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]], most likely because of his ill health. Vivaldi said Mass as a priest only a few times, and appeared to have withdrawn from liturgical duties, though he remained a member of the priesthood. It is thought{{by whom|date=June 2021}} that this is also due to his habit of composing while celebrating Mass. That he remained committed to his vocation is suggested by the entry in the Vienna death records for him that reads, "Antonio Vivaldi, Secular Priest".{{sfn|Heller|1997}}|group=n}}