“Gloria in excelsis Deo” is a hymn that dates all the way back to the 100s in the golden age of the Roman Empire, making it over a millennium and a half years old by the time Antonio Vivaldi wrote his version in the early 1700s.
Vivaldi’s Gloria was written for the musicians of the Ospedale della Pietà, the girls' orphanage in Venice where he served as music director, and eventually lost. It was rediscovered in the 1920s, and it’s been his most popular vocal work ever since, especially around Christmas time. Vivaldi’s Gloria is today’s Midday Masterpiece at 2pm.