Editing Antonio Vivaldi (section)

===Mantua and the'' Four Seasons''===
{{Further|The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)}}
In 1717 or 1718, Vivaldi was offered a prestigious new position as ''Maestro di Cappella'' of the court of Prince [[Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt]], governor of [[Mantua]], in the northwest of Italy{{sfn|Talbot|1978|p=64}} He moved there for three years and produced several operas, among them ''[[Tito Manlio]]'' (RV 738). In 1721, he was in Milan, where he presented the pastoral drama ''[[La Silvia]]'' (RV 734); nine arias from it survive. He visited Milan again the following year with the oratorio ''L'adorazione delli tre re magi al bambino Gesù'' (RV 645, now lost). In 1722 he moved to Rome, where he introduced his operas' new style. The new [[Pope Benedict XIII]] invited Vivaldi to play for him. In 1725, Vivaldi returned to Venice, where he produced four operas in the same year.

During this period, Vivaldi wrote the ''[[The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)|Four Seasons]]'', four violin concertos that give musical expression to the seasons of the year. The composition is probably one of his most famous. Although three of the concerti are wholly original, the first, "Spring", borrows motifs from a Sinfonia in the first act of Vivaldi's contemporaneous opera ''Il Giustino''. The inspiration for the concertos was probably the countryside around Mantua. They were a revolution in musical conception: in them, Vivaldi represented flowing streams, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized), barking dogs, buzzing mosquitoes, crying shepherds, storms, drunken dancers, silent nights, hunting parties from both the hunters' and the prey's point of view, frozen landscapes, ice-skating children, and warming winter fires. Each concerto is associated with a [[sonnet]], possibly by Vivaldi, describing the scenes depicted in the music. They were published as the first four concertos in a collection of twelve, ''[[Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione]]'', Opus 8, published in Amsterdam by [[Michel-Charles Le Cène]] in 1725.

During his time in Mantua, Vivaldi became acquainted with an aspiring young singer [[Anna Girò|Anna Tessieri Girò]], who would become his student, protégée, and favorite ''[[prima donna]]''.{{sfn|Talbot|1978|p=66}} Anna, along with her older half-sister Paolina, moved in with Vivaldi and regularly accompanied him on his many travels. There was speculation as to the nature of Vivaldi's and Girò's relationship, but no evidence exists to indicate anything beyond friendship and professional collaboration. Vivaldi, in fact, adamantly denied any romantic relationship with Girò in a letter to his patron Bentivoglio, dated 16 November 1737.{{sfn|Talbot|1978|p=67}}