The Four Seasons (brief overview)

Almost three centuries ago, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) composed his most famous works and the most significant examples of Baroque program music. The Four Seasons are the opening works in his Opus 8 concerto set published in 1725. That set actually contains twelve violin concertos, but the brilliance and popularity of the first four have generally—and unfortunately, I believe—obscured the remaining works. Learning about Baroque music, there is simply no getting around the Four Seasons. They epitomize various aspects of Vivaldi’s mature concerto style, but they also were influential in celebrating the “pictorial” connections between program music and an accompanying narrative. Vivaldi chose to publish each concerto with a corresponding sonnet, and they are reproduced below.
The musical year begins with Spring and continues around the cycle. Certain features are held constant as we make this journey, including the three movement fast-slow-fast arrangement that Vivaldi’s generation bequeathed to subsequent composers. Each lasts about nine minutes and offers a splendid platform for the soloist. What draws us to this music is certainly its animation and absolutely brilliant, idiomatic violin writing. It hardly needs pointing out that Vivaldi himself was one of the greatest violinists of the day. In addition, there is the color and drama attending his use of mimicry. For instance, the suggestion of bird calls or barking dogs in “Spring,” the tempests of “Summer,” the riveting icy chills of “Winter.” We sometimes argue about reading stories or images into the music, but here Vivaldi seems specifically to be asking us to make that leap with him.

(c) Jason Stell