7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

Josquin gradually abandoned cantus firmus technique for
parody and paraphrase. He also frequently used the tech-
niques of canon and of melodic imitation.
In his chansons Josquin was the principal exponent of
a style new in the mid-15th century, in which the learned
techniques of canon and counterpoint were applied to
secular song. He abandoned the fixed forms of the rondeau
and the ballade, employing freer forms of his own device.
Though a few chansons are set homophonically—in
chords—rather than polyphonically, a number of others are
examples of counterpoint in five or six voices, maintaining
sharp rhythm and clarity of texture.

Antonio Vivaldi

(b. March 4, 1678, Venice, Republic of Venice [Italy]—d. July 28, 1741,
Vienna, Austria)

A

ntonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian composer and
violinist who left a decisive mark on the form of
the concerto and on the style of late Baroque instrumen-
tal music.

Life

Vivaldi’s main teacher was probably his father, Giovanni
Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as a violinist to the
orchestra of the San Marco Basilica in Venice. Antonio,
the eldest child, trained for the priesthood and was ordained
in 1703. He made his first known public appearance playing
violin alongside his father in the basilica in 1696. He became
an excellent violinist, and in 1703 he was appointed violin
master at the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned
or orphaned children. The Pietà specialized in the musical
training of its female wards, and those with musical apti-
tude were assigned to its excellent choir and orchestra.