His father, a baker and a talented violinist himself (some have said he was a virtuoso), had helped him in trying a career in music and made him enter the Cappella di San Marco orchestra, where he was an appreciated violinist. In 1703 Vivaldi became a priest, soon nicknamed Il Prete Rosso, "The Red Priest", probably because of his red hair. Not long after, in 1704, he was given a dispensation from celebrating the Holy Mass because of his ill-health (he apparently suffered from asthma), and became a violin teacher at an orphanage for girls called the Pio Ospedale della Piet