Why should you listen to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"? - Betsy Schwarm

Summary

Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is famous for its bright, appealing sound and for telling stories through instrumental music. When the concertos were published in 1725, each was accompanied by a poem describing scenes represented in the music. The poems and music align closely:

• Spring: Birds sing happily before a thunderstorm brings thunder and lightning, frightening them.
• Summer: A turtle dove calls out before hail devastates the fields.
• Autumn: Hunters hurry out in pursuit of prey.
• Winter: People shiver in the cold and warm themselves by a fire, then venture back outside and slip on the ice.

This kind of expressive instrumental storytelling, known as program music, did not become popular until the early 19th century. Vivaldi explored it much earlier, using a small ensemble of solo violin, strings, and harpsichord.

Vivaldi favored accessible melodies over the intricate fugues associated with his contemporary Bach. In the Spring concerto, for example, the opening theme returns at the end, giving listeners a familiar musical landmark. This direct, engaging style helped attract audiences.

Vivaldi sometimes performed as the star violinist. At other concerts, students from the Pietà—a Venetian girls’ school where he was music director—performed. Many of the students were orphans, and musical training could offer them a possible career.

The music appealed to more than aristocrats, and its vivid imagery remains recognizable today, including the sense of horses trotting.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Narrator: The lesson’s voice-over narrator; the subtitles do not identify the speaker by name.
• Antonio Vivaldi: Composer of The Four Seasons, represented through the musical excerpts discussed in the narration.
• The poems accompanying The Four Seasons: Descriptive texts outlining the seasonal scenes represented in the music.