Vivaldi lived in a period in which much of the Italian peninsula was under the yoke of foreign monarchs. At the time of his birth, the major Italian states of Milan, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia were all under Spanish Habsburg dominion. Vivaldi witnessed the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701-14, which saw Spanish Habsburg power replaced by Austrian Habsburg power in Italy.
In 1735 Vivaldi wrote the opera L’Adelaide. He dedicated the libretto of the opera to Antonio Grimani, Captain and Podestà of Verona. It is in this dedication that Vivaldi reveals his patriotic sympathies. He recalls how Italy fell under foreign dominion when the last Italian kings were deposed by the Holy Roman Emperors, and proudly extols his native Republic of Venice as a guardian of Italian liberty and source of comfort for the Italian nation, since it had never fallen under the dominion of foreigners:
“It was truly fitting to dedicate this drama to a Venetian Patrician, since the period of history in which the action is set could only give great displeasure to a good Italian — one who, unlike so many today, is not an enemy of his Nation. It will remind him of how, after the expulsion of the last Italian Kings, poor Italy fell under the yoke of foreigners, and has been unable to free herself of this most deplorable misfortune. Our only relative consolation for this is the illustrious Republic of Venice, in which Italian freedom has been maintained from its birth up to the present day, and may God continue to preserve it until the end of time.” - Antonio Vivaldi, Dedication to Antonio Grimani, 1735
« Era parimente convenevole, che ad un Veneto Patricio fosse questo dramma dedicato, imperciocché non potendo la storia, ond'è ricavata l'azione, che sommamente dispiacere ad un buon Italiano che non sia, come tanti sono oggidì, di sua Nazione inimico, facendogli sovvenire, come discacciati gli ultimi italiani Re, ricadde la misera Italia, per non più liberarsene, sotto giogo straniero, a tale deplorabilissima sciagura solo dà qualche compenso l'inclita Veneta Repubblica, in cui dal suo nascimento fino ai nostri giorni l'italiana libertà si conserva, e voglia Iddio sino al finire dei secoli conservarla... » - Antonio Vivaldi, dedica dell'opera L'Adelaide del 1735 a Antonio GrimaniVivaldi was not alone. His patriotic sentiments and sense of Italian identity was shared by many heartfelt Italians in the centuries leading up to the Risorgimento, and was expressed most notably by men such as Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Niccolò Machiavelli, Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Gian Rinaldo Carli and Girolamo Tiraboschi.
References:
• Dante Alighieri (De Vulgari Eloquentia, 1302-1305)
• Dante Alighieri (Letter to the Princes and People of Italy, 1310)
• Dante Alighieri (The Divine Comedy, 1320)
• Petrarch (Letter to Enea Tolomei, 1331-1332)
• Petrarch (Letter to Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, June 21, 1333)
• Petrarch (Letter to Doge Andrea Dandolo, March 18, 1351)
• Petrarch (Invective Against a Detractor of Italy, 1373)
• Petrarch (Italia Mia in Il Canzoniere, 1336-1374)
• Niccolò Machiavelli (The Prince, 1532)
• Ludovico Antonio Muratori (The First Designs of the Literary Republic of Italy, 1703)
• Ludovico Antonio Muratori (Riflessioni, 1708)
• Antonio Vivaldi (Dedication to Antonio Grimani, 1735)
• Gian Rinaldo Carli (The Fatherland of the Italians, 1765)
• Girolamo Tiraboschi (History of Italian Literature, 1772-1782)
