Vivaldi, the second Latin display typeface to be designed in Canada, 1966

Vivaldi is an elaborate European-style italic display typeface designed by Friedrich Peter, a German artist, calligrapher and teacher who immigrated to Vancouver in 1957.

In 1966, Peter entered Vivaldi in an international typeface design competition organized by the Visual Graphics Corporation (VGC). His design was one of 12 runners-up that received a cash prize of $200 USD, as well as a royalty contract. One of the conditions of his contract was that the capital letters be made narrower in order to fit the viewer width of the VGC Phototypositor. Other characters were also changed and three alternate lowercase letters were dropped.

After the competition things did not go as planned, Peter recounts in his own words: “Later I discovered to my surprise one day that the typeface had appeared on the market under the Vivaldi name, issued by a different type foundry, with some changed character designs and insensitive kerning. After talking to Herman Zapf about it, whose typefaces suffered severe plagiarism, I gave up the idea to pursue intellectual property rights and a royalty contract.” “It pains me when I see applications of this bastardised version.”*

From his home in North Vancouver Peter continues to pursue a variety of creative endeavors, including painting, book illustration, and calligraphy. In addition to his artistic work, he has also taught and influenced many aspiring artists and designers.

*From an email to Rod McDonald dated September 6, 2017.