Vivaldi was an ordained cleric and was known as the "red priest" in his native Venice, the cultural capital of Baroque music. Vivaldi worked extensively in the concerto form, and he passed this form along to Bach, who would explore it even further. Vivaldi indeed provided the experimental base on which Bach would extrapolate a new idea in music, the harpsichord concerto (Mordden 63). Vivaldi was a highly successful composer whose musical talents fit perfectly with the Italian public of his time. Venice in particular was a city filled with music, from the streets to the salons and the theaters and courts. In addition to his well-known concertos, Vivaldi wrote some 49 operas, of which 21 survive (though they are rarely heard), 90 solo and trio sonatas, and many cantatas, motets, oratorios, and lesser works (Swafford 55-56).
Bach was born into a musical family and benefited from the tutelage of his father, a violinist, who expected his sons to follow in the family trade. Bachs had been German Lutheran musicians for six generations. Bach was first trained in the violin by his father, but after his mother died he was sent to live with his older brother, Johann Christian Bach,. an organist. Bach later trained as a singer in a church choir, and after his voice changed, he stayed on as a church harpshichordist and violinist (Swafford 67-68). Bach is noted as the inventor of nothing but the perfecter of everything he touched, and he demonstrated the universality of music in his many works.
Handel lived in the Baroque era along with Bach, but unlike Bach, Handel was an international celebrity, whereas Bach was unknown in his own time. Handel was an anomaly in his time. The Baroque era was the era of concertos, for the symphony was as yet unknown. Yet Handel's music is innovative and symphonic in its style (Mordden 74-75). However, Handel's long-term reputation rests largely on a single work, the Messiah, a magnificent orato...