Vivaldi's skill as a violinist and his organizational abilities made him an ideal man for the role. That Vivaldi's appointment was made – in part at least – because of his composing abilities seems assured by the fact that his superior at the Pieta was Francesco Gasparini who had been a pupil of Corelli and was a capable operatic composer. It is clear that his family was not well-to-do, unable to support him in the manner of Albinoni who remained a dilettante composer until well into his thirties. It is worth conjecturing that Vivaldi's decision to join the priesthood solved the problem of earning a living while he practiced the art which obsessed him. Thus began the career of the man known to all as "Il Prete Rosso" (the Red Priest) on account of his extraordinary shock of red hair. His relationship with the Pieta was to last for the rest of his life, a central pivot around which his musical activities could revolve. The same year he was appointed as maestro di violino by the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable religious foundation for the education and upbringing of female orphans. With this achieved, Vivaldi gave up any pretence to a life of the cloth and instead concentrated on his musical career. He is understood to have trained as a priest, and was ordained in 1703. Mark's, and there are indications that Antonio received his early musical schooling from within the family. This is ironic, considering this great Baroque composer's close association in the public's mind with everything Venetian – an association only bettered by Canaletto.
For such an outstanding composer, relatively little is known about Vivaldi's life beyond the fact that he was born and raised in Venice.
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